I took Sophie out for a walk today while I was intent on retaking the coords for a stone I found severalk years ago and somehow forgot to put it in my stone file.I need this stone to potentially plot the infamous Black Map that defeated me in the past.I think I made a mistake as to where this stone was on the map.Instead of the corner I thought I was at I'm thinking it's a stone on a line where it crosses the tracks and will need some tape measuring on the map to hopefully plot it right this time.This map has been hard to pin down to earth.In any case I parked along port cumberland road where the tracks cross.There were three cares parked here,two west of the road and one east (a white pickup) I assumed they walked across manumuskin trestle and were hiking the preserve,very good day for a hike.I pulled past the truck and 50 yards back into the woods on a little dead end road and turned around and parked facing out.I walked south basically on an old atv trail paralleling the tracks,after a hundred yards this trail again sees use and was chewed up by tire tracks.I watched the dirt for fresh tracks in case the truck was a hunter.No man tracks visible (turns out he must of walked the tracks themselves or hung further back to the left in the woods which are very open).This stone I remember being short of where I thought it should be no doubt because it's not the corner I thought it was.It had a metal stake,flags on a trree and a stone at the tree base all decked out in their best day glo orange paint.Must have been cheap paint because when I got there all that was left was the stone,the stake and three very faded flags,no paint.No what I have not mentioned yet as I got about half way out there,the stone was about 1200 ft back from the road I started hearing some kind of animal noise.As I got closer I thought it was turkeys.Now I thought to myself turkey season is in the spring so it shouldn't be a hunter with a call.As I got closer the turkeys turned into a pitiful scream like you'd hear from a fox caught in a trap.I found the stone but now the screaming is deafening.I thought this sound isn't over 50 yards away.Now I had been periodically yelling softly at my dog to stay close and up till that point she was a good girl and listened.She sudenlky took off like a bolt and I went after her.There was a man in camo around 40 years old sitting on the ground with a shotgun and she was all over him.Four letter words started going off in my head.He stood up and I was ready for a confrontation with a slightly younger man my height in much better shape and with a I assume loaded shotgun.I on the other hand had a folded up e tool with a three inch blade and a 70 lb Lab that obviously wanted to kiss him to death. I have had confrontations with hunters in the past and usually they just seemed aggravated but occasionally get verbal and of course being an idiot and knowing no fear when mad I go right back at em and this is what i expected here.I had never had my dog actually jump physically on a hunter before though I did have a husky once that grabbed a horse by the tail with a rider on it in Wharton.This guy stood up smiling and I proceeded to apologize thinking when is he going to explode.He said thats alright and shook his head as I got my dog back under control and he walked further into the woods and I headed back out.He told me he was calling Coyote.I now know what a coyote call sounds like,almost like someone had grabbed a dog by his nether region and squeezed very hard.I knew coyotes were trapped and I half expected to find one in a trap upon realizing close up even a fox could not make that much noise.I did not know people sat on the ground with a gun and called them in.It's a wonder he didn't shoot my dog thing he had a melanistic coyote coming to his call.Whoever you were dude I wish more hunters were like you once again sorry for the intrusion by the big black she wolf that rained on your parade.
