Birdshot and backlashes

It is the Drive Careful time of summer. Little critters, new critters, dumb critters are crossing the roads these days.A hen grouse who seemed oblivious to traffic stood on the side of the Fernberg Road, eyeing us suspiciously as we approached. She even took a couple of steps toward us as though ready to charge. Had to have some chicks nearby. We walked slowly up to her as she nervously clucked and fidgeted. Then we saw them. A dozen tiny puffs of down the size of golf balls with spindly legs were squirting around through the weeds, yeeping and peeping.“Now, look here, mama,” we said. “You hustle those young’uns off this blacktop and back into the hills where they’ve got half a chance to grow up. You keep playing around the road and you’re gonna get some of your kids flattened out and maybe you along with them.”Reluctantly, she moved into the roadside weeds, clucking at her brood. Hope they make it through the summer.And then, about half way down the Fernberg Road toward town, a red-coated deer bounced out of the ditch, followed by the skinniest, tiniest fawn ever created. That fawn, the size of a fox terrier, couldn’t have been more than a week or so old, but it had learned how to run and jump and it wanted to show off a little. That scrawny bugger jumped and pranced along the blacktop, making prodigious leaps for a little squirt, and then jumped into the weeds.The problem is, some don’t make it. Some of those kindergarten kids have yet to figure out auto traffic. They can’t seem to connect approach with speed. All too often, they are getting whacked - deer, squirrels, grouse, foxes, beaver, woodchucks…even an occasional raven and a hen duck with a brood. It just isn’t fair that those wild critters can’t seem to understand traffic… and so we have to do it for them. Most people driving the rural roads watch sharply for wildlife, ready to slow down or slam on the brakes whenever necessary.Most of the turtles have finished egg-laying and are staying off the roads, but other things take their place. The problem with deer is that they can make a mess out of a car and/or people. Eddie Clark, who plays piano in our band, along with his wife Betty, were tooling up through Wisconsin when a buck deer jumped into the side of their car. It skidded off the right front fender, hooked the rear view mirror, slammed its head through the window on the passenger side and put a foot through a rear window. Not only did it mess up the car, but the buck’s head bounced off Betty and drove a fist full of broken glass into her face.Luckily, they were not too far from medical help and also, luckily, the deer didn’t total the car. Eventually, they got things straightened out and the car doesn’t look like anything happened. Betty points out that another inch inside the window and the deer might have broken her neck. That’s extreme, but it certainly could happen. With the weeds on the road shoulder extra high this year, it is darn near impossible to see a deer before it leaps.BERRIES GETTING THEREWe picked a few handfuls of blueberries last week. They were big and blue and full of juice, but not quite ripe and not very sweet. Probably take another week… which is about on schedule. Most blueberries are ripe the middle of July. We’re ready.