Farm & Ranch see more »

Fall is finally getting a bit closer to winter, down in the bottoms

around our fair valley. Tues. morning held a forecast of the mid to high 30’s, with that average settling in around 37. Shaw & I had discussed the subject briefly during our Monday afternoon round of checking some of the places out above China Creek, by the Bethel, up through Neal Ridge and on back in by Spring Creek, Buzzard Creek, and Fairview. By that time, the wind had settled and the cloud had cleared, so we thought it might approach 35 or so by daylight.

Anyhow, several reports came in ranging anywhere from 35 to

37 degrees. Mark Amthor reported 35 at his place just past the under-pass, while Lady Z registered 37 at the ol’ Carey Franklin House out on Wallace. City National’s “Time & Temperature” told me it was 37 at 7:20 and Daddy’s ol’ George Walker thermometer read 36 at 7:30. T. Noel reported having 35 degrees at upper Algerita by the Gaddy Place and Hibler’s Hog Farm turned in a low of 35 for downtown Harkeyville. Jr. Harrell said the mercury dipped down to 36 down in the Hollow past the Colony Church. If this spell holds a couple of days, we might see a light frost down in the bottoms by the time you get to read this.

Deer hunters are experiencing some scattered results on harvest so far this season. Due to the heavy acorn crop over most parts of the County, hunters are having some difficulty due to deer not coming to the corn feeders. There have been some nice deer brought in to the Locker Plant, though. Larry & Felix said that the heaviest buck , so far, tipped the scales at 141 pounds. Hibler also said that a very nice typical twelve point was brought in from the Oris Golden Place out at Fairview. James Walker, one of Daddy’s hunters down at the ol’ Towerton Place, brought in a fat 7- pt. buck Sat. morning that he shot out the back door of the cabin, after he’d gotten in from hunting all morning.

Shaw & I have been seeing a good number of bucks that have been “chasing” the past week to ten days. Traditionally, I’ve noticed that the peak of the rut in our Hill Country area usually is centered around the 3rd week of November. Most experts on the subject generally agree that if you want to try & get that big buck, you might want to try to concentrate your efforts on the rut, as the smart ol’ bucks get rather secretive following the foolish period. Most of the hunters our age can recall when the 1st day of hunting season was always on the 16th and the school officials turned out classes on that day as most of the boys, & some girls, wouldn’t be there that day, anyhow.

We’re seeing a lot of Pecan harvesting equipment being shuttled around the County, so it’s fair to assume that this season’s harvest is finally getting started.

Kay Millican is getting her crew going and we noticed that she even enlisted the assistance of Mike to help this year.

Bruce Harkey said that he had gathered a fair amount of nuts off the “old” orchard off of Olga’s already. There were several Flory nut pickers being brought in by one of Leonard’s truck Monday morning and I see that the Flores bros. and the Reyes are shuffling their equipment around, as well.

Clinton Collier even brought some bags in the other morning. Kim said she had some pretty nice nuts in the bins down at Bagley’s Nut House this week and I’ve been seeing a lot of sales activity around Alamo Pecan and Oliver’s, as well.

Deer season, Pecan harvest, golfers, and a few special sales out at Jordan’s surely make for a lot of added tourism and resulting commerce for our fair County this time of the year. We got some favorable comments for the “News” from reader faithful this past week. Douglas Crim dropped me a note regarding a farm pond management question and added that he enjoyed reading the Paper and keeping up with old friends and activities.

T. Guidroz, our local Cajun, also commented on the listing of all the special activities around the Town and County that liven the local calendar of events. M. Dwayne Edmondson wrote saying that he would be pulling for the Armadillos to keep up the good work in the State playoffs and wish that he could get to see them this weekend, but wouldn’t be able to come down from Arkansas ‘til a bit before Thanksgiving. Other than that, I’d suppose that the Mayor & yrs. truly will be trying to tend to our part outaround—Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!!!