Thursday, October 20, 2005
THE HUNTER'S MOON
It is slightly past now, but its effects continue to widen.
The full moon of October has traditionally been known as the Hunter’s Moon. For good reason.
That’s because, when such things mattered, the crops were in. Remember September’s Harvest Moon? There’s also the great yellow orb in the sky these clear October nights. It throws plenty of light for hunters and their restless, excited coon dogs.
I hear them running at night in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and along the rivers and creeks of Southwest Virginia. Today, kerosene lanterns have given way to powerful battery-pack headlamps worn by coon hunters. But there’s still enough light from the Hunter’s Moon to switch off the lamp from time to time and follow the dogs through the less tangled sections of forest, or along creek banks where coons like to search for freshwater mussels.
It doesn’t matter much whether there’s a coon caught, or just a coon chased. The ancient attraction is to woods illuminated by hound music and moonlight – by the Hunter’s Moon -- and to the other signs that proclaim, once again, the earth has rotated and tilted to the precise and wonderful short period of the year when it’s time to go hunting.
Most people think hunting takes place all year. Not so.
From January through September, wildlife is mostly left alone to reproduce and store up food or fat for the coming winter. Hunting seasons are set for fall and winter, and seldom last for more than two months out of the year.
But unfamiliar ducks and geese are sliding into our creeks and rivers as the great migration away from the frigid north begins.
The color of deer is changing from summer tan to winter brown in order to absorb more sunlight. Squirrels are scampering from dawn to dusk to gather the abundance of hickory nuts and tangy black walnuts that litter the ground. At night, you can hear the hoot of the owl and see migrant birds passing across the bright face of the moon.
The doors to various hunting seasons will begin to fall like dominoes now. Those of us who hunt – whether it be coons or walnuts – will walk though the door, and be renewed again.
It all began, as it always does, with the Hunter’s Moon.
END
The full moon of October has traditionally been known as the Hunter’s Moon. For good reason.
That’s because, when such things mattered, the crops were in. Remember September’s Harvest Moon? There’s also the great yellow orb in the sky these clear October nights. It throws plenty of light for hunters and their restless, excited coon dogs.
I hear them running at night in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and along the rivers and creeks of Southwest Virginia. Today, kerosene lanterns have given way to powerful battery-pack headlamps worn by coon hunters. But there’s still enough light from the Hunter’s Moon to switch off the lamp from time to time and follow the dogs through the less tangled sections of forest, or along creek banks where coons like to search for freshwater mussels.
It doesn’t matter much whether there’s a coon caught, or just a coon chased. The ancient attraction is to woods illuminated by hound music and moonlight – by the Hunter’s Moon -- and to the other signs that proclaim, once again, the earth has rotated and tilted to the precise and wonderful short period of the year when it’s time to go hunting.
Most people think hunting takes place all year. Not so.
From January through September, wildlife is mostly left alone to reproduce and store up food or fat for the coming winter. Hunting seasons are set for fall and winter, and seldom last for more than two months out of the year.
But unfamiliar ducks and geese are sliding into our creeks and rivers as the great migration away from the frigid north begins.
The color of deer is changing from summer tan to winter brown in order to absorb more sunlight. Squirrels are scampering from dawn to dusk to gather the abundance of hickory nuts and tangy black walnuts that litter the ground. At night, you can hear the hoot of the owl and see migrant birds passing across the bright face of the moon.
The doors to various hunting seasons will begin to fall like dominoes now. Those of us who hunt – whether it be coons or walnuts – will walk though the door, and be renewed again.
It all began, as it always does, with the Hunter’s Moon.
END
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Writer Garvey Winegar knows all about "coon" hunting.
He did lots of it in his younger days, moon or no moon.
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He did lots of it in his younger days, moon or no moon.
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: 7:04 PM
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