Savoring the sights (More to bow hunting than the kill)

Steve Myers of Ashtabula County's Rome Township came to appreciate this morning that not every successful archery deer hunt ends in a kill.

All ready having bagged two deer during the first weeks of the season, Myers was out on his stand this morning, looking to make it number three.

Instead he watched as a family of seven river otters climbed out of a small feeder stream to the Grand River and flopped down on a small wooden ATV bridge. There the animals played, the otters less than 15 yards from Myers' tree ladder.

He watched the otters for perhaps 15 minutes, noting how they swarmed on each other and how large they actually are.

Even though Myers saw no deer this morning he has a memory that will far outlast any temporary disappointment at not launching an arrow at another deer.

Along the same lines, I've spent a number of hours in my own deer ground blind, overlooking a bait pile of shelled corn. There have been the usual suspects of cardinals, bluejays, nuthatches and the like that have pestered the corn. But I've also been treated by the appearance of at least one handsome Eastern towhee, formerly called the rufous-sided towhee.

And to add to the mix have been at least one wood thrush plus any number of various sparrows.

Such visits help to pass the time along with providing limitless entertainment.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com