Watch Your Step!

I stayed in the woods for about five hours today. I went out this morning and stayed until my feet, hands, and arrow fletching was soaked. Most of me stayed dry, thanks to my Frogg Toggs rain gear. It is made of lightweight, Tyvek-like material that breathes, but is waterproof. I have worn them several times now in extremely wet conditions, and they have worked great. I highly recommend them if you want to do stuff outside during inclement weather.

I sat in my treestand for two hours, then climbed down to go for a walk in the evergreen stands. The thicker canopy keeps out the rain somewhat and I thought the deer may go there for cover. Before I headed off to the stands, I wandered around near my spot to look for fresh sign. I approached a big rotting log and went to step over it. I know that stepping over logs blindly in snake country is a bad idea, but up here there aren't too many dangers like that. As my foot cleared the log, I looked down and saw a baby porcupine almost underfoot!

The porcupine was maybe the size of a volleyball and did not have hardly any quills large enough to have their distinct white coloring. It was sitting with its head under the log and its backside out in the rain. I was surprised and pulled my foot back in time to not step on it. I walked around it a little further away and watched it for a few minutes. I had eaten an apple earlier and chucked the core up the hill toward my stand. I walked over and found it. I wanted to see if I could feed it to the porcupine. But when I returned, it was in time to see it scurrying up a tree. I left the core at the bottom and moved on.

It was a good reminder to me of age-old woods-walking advice; don't step blindly over obstacles. You never know what might be on the other side.