It appears, from the smiles on so many faces, that most folks in our fair Valley are surely enjoying the cooler days of Fall. Daddy & Yrs. Truly happened to be gone this past weekend on an inspection tour of such said Mule deer lease out between Sanderson & Marathon, but Richard Barker related that they registered a low of 43 degrees one morning out near the Liveoak-Fairview line. Jr. Goode has taken to wearing his jacket coming in from upper China Creek to Daddy’s in the mornings, and the Golden Girls are saying that the mornings are rather chilly as they solve the “Word Jumble” at the little Table of Knowledge. Some of the Pecans are beginning shuck-split, the deer hunters are starting to get serious, and some folks are already picking Turnip greens. Fall is truly a wonderful season.

Some aspects or activities of Fall have changed a bit though. Certain segments of deer season allow folks to harvest a Whitetail now-days, even before Dove season is done. I know that the “stick-slingers” can hunt early, the Jr. Nimrods start this weekend, and several big bucks have been harvested off the “Managed Land” permitted ranches. I have seen hordes of hunters in & around the Hill Country the past few weekends as they are fixing & filling feeders, setting up or patching blinds, and getting the various sorts of hunting camps semi-habitable. The “Angelo Standard Times” even e-mailed some interested folks a list of Hunter Extravaganzas and Wild Game Dinners held in certain Hill Country towns the 1st couple of weeks of hunting season. I know the Chamber, VFD, and town merchants have come a long way in planning activities welcoming hunters for our area. Shelled corn sales, alone, are somewhat near astronomical for San Saba County.

Taking time to look at the Ag scene, it appears that most of the small grain fields & patches should be about 80-90 % sown. A lot of the big rigs can really get over the acres in a hurry. Some of the fields are already showing good green , thanks to the recent rains received. Just about the time we can rear back & relax, some other malady pops up to plague the farmers.

We saw in the “Standard Times”, Tuesday’s edition, that Jerry Lackey, “Windmill Country” spent an entire column blowing the bugle upon the advent of the Armyworm infestation of several Counties in the upper parts of the Concho Valley. He quoted the the Integrated Pest Management agent for Tom Green & Runnels as having found several fields that have already been hit to the point of having farmers to re-plant. It might prove wise to be wary of the pesky little worms as they can do a lot of damage before we even know they are around. The County Agent’s office can help you with identification of the small critter if you’ve had no experience or you might want to check with Jeff Sloan on the situation as he’s one of the best on finding evidence of early infestation in our area. You see, they hide out in the daylight so one has to be fairly methodical in finding the pests.

Looking at this season’s Pecan crop is not a very pleasant picture. Ripening on what nuts we do have has been a bit slower this year and the trees that have Pecans are few & far between. There are some scattered reports of a few nuts being brought in to the local buyers.

I would remind those producers and home owners that have some nuts to go ahead & put up some samples for our County Pecan Show as there are more squirrels, coons, & crows around in some places than there are Pecans. If we all do our part, we can help our show maintain a respectable level, as some Counties are considering canceling their local shows this season. Besides being the Pecan Capital, San Saba also has the honor of hosting the oldest County Pecan Show in Texas.

Shaw & yrs. Truly have to go to the Range & sight in deer rifles some time this week as Cameron will be coming in from Austin to try & fill a buck tag during the opening weekend for the youth hunt. We have seen several decent sets of antlers out around the County the past few weeks and Sheriff Wells reported seeing a really nice buck out around the Sloan community last week. Looks like there will be plenty of activity to keep us busy, at least for the Mayor & me out around——————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!