Hunting Spots/Tree Stands

After checking on my trail camera, I took a walk out into the woods on the east side of the cabin. I picked out some good hunting spots which I felt had good sight lines and shooting lanes.


Over to that side of the cabin there are a lot of great hunting spots. There is a trail that pretty much runs behind the cabins that sit along the south side of Jacks Mountain, which includes ours. You can see the trail leading eastward in the fourth photo. The trail actually turns southward about 30 yards to the east of our cabin and heads pretty much due south to eventually lead down to Upper Bald Eagle Lane. There are signs of deer and other animals all along the trail.





I followed the trail northeast, then east, then southeast until it led down to the cabin that neighbors ours. I then turned directly north and headed uphill through the woods. I found some really good hunting terrain as I walking including a cleared area that looks like it may have been timbered at some point in the not too distant past. You can see that area in the third picture. I walked mostly north until I came to the first area where the mountain flattened out, a bench as we call it. I then turned west and headed back toward the area behind our cabin. I wanted to see if there were good hunting spots on the first bench above our cabin. I also wanted to check out the two treestands that were left on our property.

As I moved west, I came across a lot of deer scat including some that looked fresh - maybe I had jumped that deer out just ahead of me? The terrain was rocky in some areas, but manageable for hunting. I stopped a few times and just stood for a few minutes to see if any deer or other animals would pass by. I didn't see any deer or other large animals, but as I stood at one spot near a clearing, a hawk swooped down toward a large rock and then took back off into the air. I couldn't tell if it had anything grasped in its talons as it flew away. Either way, it was neat to be so close when it happened.



Eventually, I made my way west to the first of two treestands that are on our property. The first one, which is the one farthest to the east is actually a wooden platform built up a tree. You climb up two wooden rungs nailed into the side of the tree and then pull yourself up onto the platform. Two wooden stools are nailed to the platform. I climbed up into the platform and sat down for a bit just watching the woods and enjoying the peace and serenity. Because the platform is in a tree right at the crest of the hill on the edge of the first bench, it has a commanding view of the terrain below. There are also good views to the east, west and directly behind (north). The wood on the platform has seen better days, but it still seemed sturdy enough. In another year or two though, I don't know that I would trust sitting up there. Maybe I'll replace the wood at some point or else put something more permanent up in that tree. It is definitely a great hunting spot.



After sitting for a time, I made my way down out of the platform and continued my journey west toward the second treestand. The second stand is actually a ladder that probably extends about 15 feet above the ground. Toward the top, the ladder curves forward and the top two steps have a metal mesh on them that would allow a person to sit up there. The ladder is attached to the tree by two ropes. One about mid-way up and a second one at the top of the ladder. I climbed up about five rungs and then turned around. I didn't want to go all the way to the top without some way to harness myself to the tree. The ladder is quite high and it rises straight up into the air. Falling backward off that ladder would not be pretty. After looking at the second treestand, I hiked back down over the hill toward the cabin. It felt good to spend some quality time out in the woods. The nicer part was that I had actually spent a nice chunk of that time on my own land.

Trail Cam Pics

After setting up the trail camera last week, I couldn't wait to go back up to the cabin and check on the pictures that we captured. I took a vacation day from work on Monday 3/21 to go up and meet with a person from Penelec. The first thing that I did when I got out of the car was to go over and pluck the memory card out of the trail cam. I wasn't sure how many pictures to expect, but I was just hoping to have some good ones. Imagine my surprise when I popped the card into my camera and saw 560 pictures! Granted, probably 3/4 of them are squirrels nibbling away on the mineral lick, but we did get some really good pictures of deer, a raccoon and what I think might be an opossum.

Looking at the first picture, you can clearly see the mineral block sitting on a rock right in front of the tree, but in all of the other pictures, it's not visible. That's because they ate the whole 33+ pound block in about a week! I wasn't sure how long it would last, but I was thinking at least a month or so. They loved that mineral lick, especially the squirrels. I must have 450 pictures of them climbing and gnawing on it. Sometimes, there are two or three squirrels visible in the same picture.

More Time Outdoors

This post isn't about the cabin per se, but it is related to the cabin. For the past couple of years, I have been thinking about getting a compound bow and starting to archery hunt. I have also recently started thinking about fishing again. Well, within the last week, I have taken steps toward both.

For at least three years, I have been wanting to start archery hunting. The biggest problem was that I didn't have any place to hunt. To be a successful archery hunter, you really need to spend a lot of time scouting the area where you plan to hunt, learning the bedding, feeding and movement patterns of the deer and picking out some hunting spots that increase your chances of having a deer pass by within 10 to 20 yards. The place where I used to hunt, I would only visit 5 or 6 times a year at most to go hunting. I didn't have the opportunity to spend any real time out in the woods because it wasn't my camp or my land. I just went as a guest with my Dad. I kept saying that once I got my own place in the mountains, I would get a bow and start archery hunting. I was true to my word. Well, I went out and got a bow at least. I haven't actually started archery hunting yet, but I probably will this year as long as I can become proficient shooting the bow. It is definitely not as easy as it looks. I went to Kinsey's Outdoors during their Spring Bow Sale two weekends ago and bought a Bowtech Soldier compound bow. It is very light and is comfortable to shoot. My arrow-placing precision right now leaves a lot to be desired, but I feel that with some solid practice, I'll be nailing bullseyes in no time at all.

My Dad and I used to fish when I was younger, but I'll bet that I haven't fished in at least 25 years. I always enjoyed hunting more than fishing; probably because it involved high-powered weapons, but I remember fishing as being a tranquil way to connect with the outdoors. Amber has also recently expressed some interest in fishing so I got my fishing license at Kinsey's last week. I'm going to buy a cheap rod and reel and just hit some of the local streams. My fishing knowledge is pretty much zero so I'll be relying on the advice of a few friends as to what type of bait or lures to use and where to fish.

I see archery hunting and fishing as two additional ways to enjoy nature and wildlife. Over the last few years, I have been telling myself that I am going to start spending more time outdoors. Now that I have a cabin with thousands of acres of wilderness surrounding it, I plan to make good on that promise. I want to take advantage of every opportunity that I have to get outside and do something enjoyable. Next up on my list of potential outdoor activities: muzzleloader hunting.

Third Visit - Saturday 3/12/11

Our third trip to the cabin saw five of us make the journey. It was Lisa and me, my Dad, Amber and her friend Lyndsy. This was Amber's first time seeing the cabin other than in pictures and of course her friend Lyndsy had never been there either. I was more than a little concerned that Amber and Lyndsy would spend the entire day texting and checking Facebook and I really wanted them to put all of the technology aside and enjoy the simple charm of the cabin and its surroundings. I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the way that things went. Lyndsy and Amber made Jiffy Pop popcorn on the stove, which I think may become a staple of the cabin as it harkens me back to my youth and just seems like the kind of thing you should make at a cabin in the woods. We went for a nice long hike up the moutain and we did a bunch of shooting. It was really a fun day and the girls genuinely seemed to have a good time.

The visit started out auspiciously as we saw four turkeys on our land right at the road before we had even pulled into the driveway. That is more turkeys than I've seen in 25 years of hunting in Juniata County. Even after we drove up the driveway, got out of the car and were unloading stuff, we saw a turkey less than a hundred yards away fly up to roost in a tree.

Amber and Lyndsy sporting their shooting accoutrements \/

We did a whole bunch of shooting. We probably fired close to two hundred rounds of ammunition. I took my Glock 9mm, my Smith&Wesson 40 caliber and my .22 rifle along. My Dad brought along his .22/.22 magnum revolver. My Dad and I did a little shooting, but between the shooting range and the cabin, I can shoot pretty much whenever I want to, so I let the girls just have fun with it. I had paper groundhog targets that I stapled to pieces of cardboard and set up at varying distances on the hillside north of the cabin. They both fired all four of the guns. They were a little surprised by the punch of the .40 and preferred shooting the Glock as its lower recoil and muzzle jump do make it more comfortable to shoot.

\/ Lisa and Amber during the hike

The hike was, shall we say, interesting. To the northwest of the cabin up the mountain and across our neighbor's land, there is a trail that leads into Bald Eagle State Forest. We decided to walk out and look for it. We didn't find it, but let me just say that the terrain on the northwest side of the cabin is much steeper and rougher than to the northeast where Lisa and I had walked. It is very rocky and there were areas where the mountainside inclined so steeply that I had to use my hands on the ground for support. My Dad was with the three girls so I went ahead of them and ended up going to the top of the mountain. I don't think it is as high as the mountain where I'm used to hunting and our cabin is probably at least a third of the way up the side so the top wasn't as far as I may have thought. It was a tough climb though. I was wearing my Glock in a holster and a knife on my belt and had binoculars around my neck, but I was so thankful that I wasn't carrying a rifle. I really needed my hands free to navigate the broken and rocky terrain. I don't know that I'll do too much hunting up that way unless I find an easier path or an area where it isn't quite so steep and rough. My Dad and I were saying that we couldn't imagine trying to drag a deer out of there.

More hike pictures (top to bottom): my Dad, Lyndsy and Amber, a vista looking southeast from Jacks Mountain





I bought some mineral licks at Cabela's last weekend and when we first got to the cabin on Saturday, I put out the big 33 pound one and one of the smaller ones. I placed the big one about 20 yards to the southeast of the cabin so that it was visible from the front deck. After we got back from the hike, my Dad and I set up a trail camera to capture images of anything that comes in to visit the mineral lick. We tried two different trees and a couple of different camera heights before we got it set up properly. Each time we would test it by walking around in front of the camera. During the final test, I captured an image of my Dad that just really tickled my funny bone. He was walking from left to right past the lick within the sight line of the camera. As he passed the lick, he bent down and touched it. The image captured on the trail camera is just before he bent down. In the picture, it just looks like he is walking hunched over. Something about his posture and the woods in the background reminded me of the famous Roger Patterson Bigfoot video and made me laugh hysterically. See below. You be the judge.




All in all, it was another fabulously successful day at the cabin. I came home feeling happy and content. Can't wait to go up again and see what we captured on the trail cam.

Second Visit - Saturday 2/26/11

Eight days after settlement and our first trip to our cabin, Lisa and I returned. It had snowed up on the mountain probably a day or two before and there was a thin white coating on everything. When we got out of the car, we immediately saw a variety of tracks in the snow around the cabin. There were some that looked like turkey tracks and the others appeared to belong to smaller animals and on at least one set of tracks, claws were visible. That was pretty neat to see. I intended to get a picture of the tracks in the snow, but the sun was out and the tracks became blurred by melting before I had the chance.

We had brought some more items from home that we didn't have room for on our first trip. It was cold, so after lighting the propane heater, we unpacked the stuff that we brought and then spent a few hours cleaning and organizing. We had taken mugs, plates and bedclothes home to be washed so we put them away and made the beds up in the loft. By the time we finished, the sun was high in the sky and it had warmed up outside. It was still cool, but comfortable in a fleece or heavy sweatshirt.

We decided to take a hike in the woods. We walked out to the east side of the cabin where I had been the previous week and quickly came upon the trail that I had found on my last visit. We found fresh scat on top of the snow and there were turkey tracks all over the place. We followed the trail northeast for maybe a quarter of a mile. The area and terrain out that way are nice and I plan to do a fair amount of hunting out there. At one point, I heard a kind of snuffling noise coming from the top of a ridge to the north of us and I looked up to see movement. I couldn't see much, but I think that I may have seen the tails of two deer moving from our right to our left at the top of the ridge. We stood quietly for a few minutes, but didn't see or hear anything more. We turned around and began walking back to the cabin. At least two more times, I heard that same noise. I have heard does make that same sort of noise before. Last hunting season, I was watching a group of seven does come across a trail and heard the lead doe make a similar noise as a signal to the other deer.

By the time that we were preparing to leave around 4:00pm, the sun had melted most of the snow on the deck and in the clearing around the cabin. I left that day feeling happy and refreshed. I am convinced that happiness in life is truly about enjoying the simple pleasures that each day brings. A day of cleaning, organizing and a short walk in the brisk winter wilderness with my wife had made me feel completely fulfilled.

Settlement/First Visit

We had settlement for our cabin in Lewistown on Friday, February 18th. The previous owners now live in North Carolina so they were not present at settlement. The only people there were Lisa, myself, the settlement attorney and the realtor. After we were handed the keys, the realtor went out to the cabin with us to show us how to work everything. The cabin currently uses propane for the lights and all of the appliances. There is an electric pole at the bottom of our driveway and we should be hooked up to electric within a few months. Right now, electric is only available in the cabin via a generator on the deck.

The realtor was so helpful in showing us where things were located in the cabin, how to work and light the appliances and telling us about the area where the cabin is located. He was there with us for an hour or two. My parents were there at the cabin with us as well, so my Dad also got up to speed on how everything worked.

We were so surprised by all of the stuff that was left by the previous owners. We knew that they were leaving the furniture and the generator and some other items, but they left pretty much everything there. I don't know if they just didn't want to make the trip from North Carolina to get all of the stuff or if they just figured that they wouldn't have a use for all of it. They left us really neat plates and mugs with wildlife pictured on them, tools, a hammock, a vacuum cleaner and a myriad of other items that we can really put to use at the cabin and now won't have to buy.

We cleaned up a little and "moved in" to the place, placing some of our personal effects and knickknacks in the cabin to make it our own. I was itching to do a little exploring so I took a walk into the woods on the east side of the cabin. Before I had walked more than about 30 yards, I was seeing scat from at least two or three different animals. Some of it was clearly from deer, but there were some that possibly came from turkey and some that I wasn't sure about. About 40 yards east of the cabin, I came into a clearing that I soon recognized was a trail that led northeast up the side of the mountain. I walked up it briefly and then began picking out some good hunting spots and some places where I plan to sit and do some writing. At some point it dawned on me that I already felt at home in the wilderness there even though it was my first real visit. Since the age of 12, I had been hunting in Juniata County where my Dad belongs to a deer camp. To be honest, there was a point where I wondered how I would feel about leaving the familiarity of the place where I had grown up hunting. My brief 45-minute foray into my new domain quickly erased any doubts that I had. I also wondered how my Dad would feel about it. He had been hunting in Juniata County for probably close to 50 years. I asked him if he thought he could get used to hunting at the new place and he actually seemed enthusiastic about it. That made me feel better because I didn't want to take him out of his comfort zone if it wasn't something that he felt good about.

It was a very warm day for February with the temperature climbing into the 60s even up on the mountain. The cabin faces south and since the trees are bare at this time of year, a lot of that sun gets through and warms up the interior. We didn't even need to light the propane heater or the wood stove as it was comfortable inside come early afternoon. We had arrived at the cabin around 11:30 and by 4:30 we were packing up and heading for home. It almost pained me to leave. After so many years of looking and what we went through to get the cabin, I was so happy to finally be there and know that I owned it. I didn't want to go so soon. However, I took solace knowing that I would be returning in short measure. I cast a last wisful look at our little A-frame before climbing into the car.

"The time of my visit never seems so long as the time that I spend longing to see you again."

Cabin Fever

I have cabin fever; only not in the way that most people mean when they make that statement. When I say that I have cabin fever, I mean that - I LOVE our cabin! I created this blog to keep a record of the events that occur in the time that we spend there and to share pictures, stories and anything else cabin-related. I am going to begin with a bit of background on our search for a place in the mountains and what it took for us to become cabin owners.

Since approximately late 2006 or maybe early 2007, we had been looking for a cabin in the mountains. Generally, we checked a few different websites looking for cabin listings. Over the course of the intervening four years, we actually looked at quite a few cabins in several different areas. There were some that we liked, but none of them felt quite right. Sometimes I just didn't like the area because the cabins seemed too close together, sometimes the land was reclaimed from strip mining and didn't really have much vegetation on it other than pine trees and underbrush and sometimes the cabin just seemed a little too rough. Over time I began to wonder if we would ever find a place that would be right for us.

Well, that all changed on December 18, 2010. On Wednesday 12/15, Lisa and I were looking online at cabins and saw a listing that appealed to us. I emailed the listing agent, and asked him if we could take a look at the property the following weekend. I wanted to do it right away because the two following weekends were Christmas and then New Year's. The agent called back and said that someone would meet us on Saturday 12/18 and take us to see it.

We met the realtor and he drove us out to see the cabin. As we were driving, I was looking out the window at the surrounding area and was really liking what I was seeing. There were a few small towns that we drove through which had stores and restaurants. After passing through the towns, we found ourselves surrounded by farmland and mountains. Lisa and I both kept commenting how pastoral and pretty the area was while it also had everything that you would need nearby.

If we enjoyed the drive out to the cabin though, it was nothing compared to our reaction when we actually got there. I fell in love with the cabin the minute that we turned up the driveway and saw the place. It was just a quaint and cozy little A-frame perched on the side of a steep hill. The inside of the cabin was even more impressive than the outside - well-appointed and very clean. Lisa and I both adored it.

We left there very excited about the cabin and on Monday we started the process of trying to purchase it. This process proved to be a lot more interesting than I would have imagined. Within a span of 15 days, we went from excited, to hopeful, to heartbroken and back to excited again. On 1/4, we met with the realtor to draw up an offer on the cabin. The sellers accepted our offer on 1/5. I honestly couldn't believe that we had gone from hopeless to successful in such a short time. After that roller coaster ride, it was unbridled joy for sure when we found out that our offer was accepted! Here I must take the opportunity to say that us getting our cabin absolutely would not have been possible without my parents' help. I will forever owe them a debt of gratitude for what they did for us.

On Friday 2/18/11, we had settlement in Lewistown. It was a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day that saw us take possession of our cabin on Jacks Mountain in Mifflin County. It is a day that I will never forget.