Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

November 2020 (Part Three)   Between our hunting trips we were back at work, and during the middle of November we had the highest tide that anyone in Ocean Falls could remember seeing.  The very high tide was accentuated by a storm surge.  As storm-force winds pummelled the outer coast, water was pushed inwards up the inlets.  In Ocean Falls it added about four feet to the top of the already high 18-foot tide. Water pushed up Martin River and flooded people’s front yards, and the particular area where the yacht club’s dock ramp is secured to land was under a foot or more of water.  Old moss-covered boards floated away from the area of the old sawmill as the water touched the bottom of the crumbling docks.  It was quite impressive to see!   Since our first hunting trip, Ken had been back out to the same area and stayed in the wall-tent with his son who was visiting. Unfortunately, they also did not see any deer, and th...

November 2020 (Part Two) Over the next few days we were up early, and out exploring and looking for deer at dawn.  Some days we came back to camp for lunch, and other days we packed a lunch and spent the day out.  Either way, we were always out again in the evening, hoping to see a deer.   On the first day of exploring we checked out each branch in the road and walked along many old clear cuts scanning for deer and looking for tracks or fresh buck rub.     Buck rub on the tree. While Jason and I walked the road from the shore to our camp yesterday, we had seen a lot of fresh buck rub and we were very optimistic.  Many of the alders right around our campsite were rubbed clean of bark by bucks; some were so recent that no fading, discolouration, or drying had occurred.  We were sure that there were bucks in the area.   As we made our way along the main road, exploring each branch as we came to it, we got to a large washed out section of th...

November 2020 (Part One) November was a very busy month for us here in Ocean Falls.  Our time was split between working and deer hunting; pretty much when we weren’t working, we were either getting ready to go hunting, or gone hunting.  It was a fun month with lots of camping and exploring, but unfortunately we did not get a deer.  At the beginning of November, on our first time off in the month, we had the biggest thunder and lightning storm that Jason and I had seen in a very long time.  It seemed like thunder cell after thunder cell just kept moving through the area, and we could hear and watch as each system passed by us.  It was very neat to watch the lightning show, and some of it was very close to us.  Some of the thunder cracks were a little too close and loud for comfort, and we could not help thinking about the rock face of Caro Marion looming over us.  With the thunder and lightning came heavy hail, torrential rain, and strong winds, and we ...