My son and I took the dogs out for a run tonight and for a change of scenery, we checked an old bog area I used to duck hunt quite a bit in the 80's and early 90's.
My son wanted to scope it out for this coming weekend but I didn't hold much hope since I stopped hunting it few years back due to a lack of water.
We passed an active harvest in progress on the way in. The threshers were parked for the night and the motors were covered for tomorrows rain.
The bogs we were headed for were active near the turn of the century and show up clearly in the 1930 aerials.
Sadly, all of the old earthen dams and outflow structures blew out in the 1990's and there is little or no open water at all today.
The streams and ditches that transect what's left of the old bog sytem were formed after the blow outs. The streams convey continued storms and periods of high flow and over time, a white sand bottom littered with massive cedar stumps and trunks is coming into view.
The pictures that follow are of areas that I used to wade waist deep to set decoys. The bottom back then was a soft mud with an occasional stump. Now, some of the sreas are nothing but a stump field. The erosion has taken away a lot of the muck to reveal quite a natural wonder beneath.
To someone who had not waded the area 20 years ago nothing looks that unusual but to me it is an amazing transformation.
The dogs had a blast and we stayed till dark to watch a few flocks of woodies come squealing into a nearby stream.
All in all, an hour and a half round trip.
Enjoy.
The threshers.
The stumpage.
A muddy Murph.
Murphy surveying his domain.
My son wanted to scope it out for this coming weekend but I didn't hold much hope since I stopped hunting it few years back due to a lack of water.
We passed an active harvest in progress on the way in. The threshers were parked for the night and the motors were covered for tomorrows rain.
The bogs we were headed for were active near the turn of the century and show up clearly in the 1930 aerials.
Sadly, all of the old earthen dams and outflow structures blew out in the 1990's and there is little or no open water at all today.
The streams and ditches that transect what's left of the old bog sytem were formed after the blow outs. The streams convey continued storms and periods of high flow and over time, a white sand bottom littered with massive cedar stumps and trunks is coming into view.
The pictures that follow are of areas that I used to wade waist deep to set decoys. The bottom back then was a soft mud with an occasional stump. Now, some of the sreas are nothing but a stump field. The erosion has taken away a lot of the muck to reveal quite a natural wonder beneath.
To someone who had not waded the area 20 years ago nothing looks that unusual but to me it is an amazing transformation.
The dogs had a blast and we stayed till dark to watch a few flocks of woodies come squealing into a nearby stream.
All in all, an hour and a half round trip.
Enjoy.
The threshers.
The stumpage.
A muddy Murph.
Murphy surveying his domain.
