Geese honking in the night, small game and bird seasons starting to open up with deer around the corner. Colors showing all over, last harvests from our humble wee gardens coming in. Fall run for fish in the salt is on. A couple big hunts coming up. Nothing but good to come for the rest of the year, God willing. Hope other folks are enjoying it and have things to look forward to as well.

Best of all, he loved the fall..

---Hemingway


















Happy first time kills ever from today in SE NH. Took out Nick, a young friend. Met him after he got back from OIF, where he served in the U.S. Army. When in my house over the years he'd go nuts over my hunting stuff and said that he wanted so badly to learn to hunt but had no idea where to start. That was a lucky thing for him, I guess. Like me, he's originally from the city and never grew up hunting. Being that I never had a mentor and had to learn myself, I told him that if he wanted to learn to hunt he'd have to get his hunter safety stuff taken care of first. I promised him that if he did that, I'd offer as much practical advice as he could stand, and that I'd take him out with me if he was game and proved to be a safe companion who played by the rules. I was good to my word and over my girls he got it done today. Made me pleased as hell. And so another joins the ranks. He told me today he has family who've granted him permission to hunt deer on their land in both Maine and NH and that he is welcome to bring a friend. That'll work!

Jealous.

Leaves are turning here and the rain is falling today.

Cheers!

Right now, humidity is low, a lot cooler, best time down here!

It is the best time of the year, for sure! When is your bison hunt?

Crisp mornings, wood smoke perfuming the air, elk bugling the song of life as aspens gild the slopes above.

My favorite time of year as well.

Meh.

Great Pics, as always, Kamo.

Those dogs look like they lead a tough life. 🤠

Thanks Leighton!:)

The very best time of year!

When I saw the title of the thread, I was all ready to jump in with the Hemingway quote, but you already had it covered. I would add:

"A haze on the far horizon, the infinite tender sky, the ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, and the wild geese flying high; and all over the upland and lowland the charm of the golden-rod --- some of us call it Autumn, and others call it God."

William Herbert Carruth

Cut up a moose for my hunting pard last night so got some meat and a bottle of rum for my troubles.

This morning took a nice long walk with the pointer up an old road covered over with hardwoods so the leaves were in full bloom. It was a beautiful morning. Collected two grouse just topped it off.

I love this time of year.

Old pic, same dog

This is a splendid time of year and this year has been great. More grass than I have seen in years, all the dirt tanks have water, lows in the 50's, high temperatures in low 80's and just got enough hay to last until next year if we need it.

Good deal on the mentoring of a new hunter,Some friends for life can be made that way.
I too enjoy the fall,just not what comes after.
Our archery opened today so that's a big plus.
Enjoy it guys

Your a Good Man Leighton, helping a new Hunter and Friend out! Happy Hunting

Crushed Ice .. Fireball.. Cider ..

Get Ya Some ..

September/October

Best..........

High 60's for the high........Mid 40's low

I'll second that. Nice pics as always KG. Much enjoyed.

And congrats to the new hunter friend. I hope he gets to add many more hunting stories in his life.

June is my favorite time of the year

What …

Yeah, yeah. You're not fooling anybody. We all know that beneath that hard exterior you're actually a big romantic sweetie.

Some great shots added above and it sounds like I'm not alone in loving the fall. Truth is, there's something to love about all seasons in my book, but here in New England the changes are measurable and pretty dramatic and fairly constant year to year. I know folks get used to where they know and live, but I cannot fathom living anywhere where there are no real seasonal changes throughout the year, at least by my personal standard. YMMV, naturally.

JC: It was grey here today, with drizzle as well. I like it better crisp and clear, but I'll take what we get.

SR: I've yet to hear an elk bugle, but I hope to change that some day.

CHL: Yes, we've spoiled our girls rotten, but love just about every minute of it.

Barry: You bet!

John/5sd: Always enjoy your input on literary stuff. 'I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.'

--Nathaniel Hawthorne

SC: Moose meat and rum sounds like a good combo. Handsome boy who likes feathers, too!

Rooster: Good memory. I'm heading west mid-month. Can't hardly wait!

AK: I don't really do any sweet booze. A battle to the almost death --at least that's what it felt like-- I had at 12 with a bottle of SoCo cured me of that.

Tikka and MW: Thanks, gents. I appreciate you guys' imput regularly too.

Rong and Saddlering, thanks for that. I like to try to pay it forward and give some folks who really want to get outdoors a chance to see what some of us do. If they take to it, fantastic. If not, that's OK too. Funny, but when I saw that it was going to be raining this morning I was half expecting Nick to cancel. When he called, I thought to myself, 'here it comes...', but nope. He was calling to apologize for the fact that he was going to be maybe 5 minutes late. I'd warned him about not having me wait on him in general but in particular when fishing or hunting was involved.

Nick followed up with a couple of pics from tonight's dinner with his wife and little girl. He'd never tasted of, or cooked pheasant before today. I assured him that pheasant can be delicious if prepared right. Apparently, breaded and fried pheasant has been added to the list of dishes that the family makes together, and really enjoys. Good job, Nicky and fam'!







Any more pics from around the nation as we enter October are more than welcome.

Stop encouraging him. He needs a time out!

Yes, fall is here! I had the chance to get an antelope doe tag in my new home state and our group went 5 for 5 on antelope does. We saw lots of nice bucks and almost got within petting distance of a few, they must have known that they were safe. Also, Balloon Fiesta started in Albuquerque yesterday and my wife sent some pics she took from our backyard after the mass ascension. My apologies to you friend Leighton, I will never be as good with a camera as you. I hope I score some points for an honest attempt.

I wish all twelve months could be November.

Wow! Great pics from all.

Two weeks from now will begin my favorite time. Ends when the snow keeps me out the woods, or the end of February, whichever comes first.

There are two days of geezer antlerless/bear/turkey season coming up Oct. 15-16, then four more antlerless/bear Oct. 20-23. Hoping to make meat so I feel free to bird hunt someplace, plus the chasing should be on by then.

I concur. First deer hunting trip of the season. Going back up end of October.

Addendum

NDSnowman - your hunting pic's look like NE NM.
No where very near ABQ, as far as I can tell.
Region?

We were about 30 miles East of Raton.

Visited Raton once when looking at Trinidad Community College. GORGEOUS country.

The stupid cold hurts. It's 63 here and I have to put a shirt on to go outside. Below 70 I'm uncomfortable/hurting, below 50 I'm miserable and not about to go outside. Luckily, it doesn't frost but once or thrice usually and it'll get up to 80 in the winter on warm days. I need to move back to the caribbean but Mrs. Geno is not interested - no tier one research universities there.

The colors look like a bruise to me.

Anything above 68 and I'm miserable. Give me a hoodie and 30 degrees year round. Happy.

Get some elevation under you and that 68 won't happen all that often. Makes the winters a bit tougher. Maybe a summer place in the hills and a winter place down a little.

Great pictures as usual. I love this time of year. Scheduled to go out and chase some roosters in a couple weeks. Deer a month after that.

Jerry

Been nice here the last couple of days in the lower eighties.

Mid 80s to 60s driving up the mountain 90 minutes East to hunt deer.

My man, I can't tell you how much it makes me smile to see that you're already enjoying your retirement out there. You've made it, and are embracing it. You guys have taken your chances, played fair and square and have won the game, obviously. Big congrats! Loving it!

Your chiquita bonita seems like a total pistol and a gal who'd destroy any preconceived notions about today's females and their 'place', Fats. Love it, mayn. Thanks for sharing. Your tribe is keeping it proud, hermano. Orale pues, vato.

!Andalé Carnale!

Soy gordo y feliz y muy contento, muchacho. Cuándo vienes aquí? We can kill it and have big fun on a quick trip if you want to have a go, perro. Yo promiso.

"Below 70 I'm uncomfortable/hurting"?

LOL! How do you spell S-O-F-T C-O-C-K?

Your offer is generous as you've shown with the posting of your experiences and many friends over the years. Maybe someday I'll be able to take you up on that fine offer.

Great pics y'all

Great idea for a thread Leighton.

Was just thinking about goose music the other morning. Been hearing it for a few weeks now, but it's getting louder. Saw a flock of close to 30 this morning with another one close by of about 20. Some of these might be resident birds forming flocks for the winter. Some I know have come in from the North. Lot of Ibises and duckies on the refuge the other day. Birds are moving, but it's been in the 80's with freezing nights lately. I love it as we can cool the house down overnight to the mid 60s or so, and it hardly warms up over 73 or so during the day. No heating or cooling expenses make me happy.

And, like kamo-gari..........it's harvest time.

Sept 30 harvest of the Modoc reds in the garden across the creek:



12 lbs, all cleaned up and ready to be used/stored:



And they sure were yummy with some broccoli from the house garden and leftover tri-tip.



And I finished digging up that bed yesterday, more Modoc reds, a few russets, and some fingerling tater called Deliciae or some such. Got another 5 gallon bucket full:

If he'll have me, and you're driving.........................


I'll split the gas and driving and bring some taters!

Bro you'd be a great traveling companion.

And I can attest to great flavor of your taters.🤣😂🤣

We'll see how the 4x8 bed in the house garden does. The plants are still green so I'm waiting for a hard enough frost to whack them before I dig. They're covered with some floating row cover and seem to be mostly taking our mornings, which are right at freezing lately. If they do as well as last time, I'll send another box!

Garden across the creek was planted late due to the snow and frost in June. Lots of little tubers on the roots of the plants there, I was disappointed they didn't get another few weeks to mature.

The gardener's favorite words.......................Next Year is gonna be a good one!

Open offer, dude. For real. Look for PM. Peace up.

Rock and roll, paisano! Love it!

Nice! There is nothing quite as good a warm German red tater salad. Had to prune the heck out of the Eureka Lemon to try and save it. We'll see what kind of crop we get this year and I can return the gift in kind.

Never doubted your sincerity amigo.

I love Spring and Fall both…..love to witness the major changes from the “other” two seasons! memtb