Signs point toward another hectic fall

It’s been almost imperceptive, but daylight hours have been gradually getting shorter since late June. The humidity’s unexpected recent dip, unlikely to last as it is, has tipped the season’s upcoming hand.

While some label such premature glimpses into the future as feeling like football weather, we also know that also signals the start of another fall season: hunting.

Fishermen are still getting in their last licks of summer. The catfish have moved to the front of the pack, and good bass and crappie fishing will again surge soon.

But mostly these dying days of summer see outdoorsmen going through the rituals, patiently waiting for the switch from fishing tackle to the tools of the hunter.

There are decoys to be repaired, repainted, and rigged for fall. Willow whips and broom grass will be cut and attached to blinds and boats.

Retrievers will note the increased attention to familiar things-including new calls being broken in-and serious tail-wagging will commence.

Bowhunters are pounding arrows into the target, dreaming of a frosty date in two months with a wily buck, nose in a scrape and broadside at 20 yards.

Shotgunners are counting down the few short days that remain before they can get out and hunt doves, hoping it doesn’t get too chilly too early, lest the weather chase their quarry south before they’ve had much of a chance at them.

The elusive birds are an ideal entry point for young hunters, and some parents also eye the already-open squirrel season and shortly to be engaged rabbit dates as great opportunities to get their children afield as well.

The Cabela’s, Bass Pro, and Sportsman’s Guide catalogs get a workout while many hunting magazines increase their frequency of publication.

Maps are pored through, on-line aerial photos are examined, and the action on hunting blogs picks up the pace.

Deer antlers have reached their final form and in a week or two, most will rub off the fuzzy covering that has helped protect and nourish them all summer. Highly-visible bachelor groups of bucks are sorting themselves into a hierarchy.

The young of local Canada geese now sport the same plumage as their cantankerous parents. Duck offspring will soon follow suit.

Most turkey poults still look like juveniles but they will catch up to the adults by October. Young-of-the-year rooster pheasants still have two months to mature into their regal appearance; their explosion underfoot will unnerve and excite scattergunners soon enough.

But for now, that excitement has to be reigned in to some degree, especially on those crisp mornings that feel like fall. It may still be the calm before the storm, but there is change in the air and the anxiety for autumn is palpable.