I’m a little late writing this, sorry. Today I’m going to write about wildlife. I’ve had two experiences with wildlife in the last week or so that I want to tell you about, dear reader, one good, one bad.

First, the bad, to get it out of the way. I discovered that I have mice in the house. I’m not exactly surprised, as I’d discovered a couple of mice nesting in a shop vac the previous owner had left in the (detached, unsealed, completely uninsulated) garage. But I started noticing what I was pretty sure was mouse droppings under the sink in the kitchen, then I noticed a couple of kids treats that were gnawed open and eaten. One rice cripsy treat, one mini candy bar. Not like the kids snuck them and ate them, but like something with very small, very sharp teeth had opened them. So I took a quick trip to the nearest home improvement store and bought some Tom Cat bait stations.

Despite not bagging a deer, yesterday’s mentored hunt at Occoquan National Wildlife Refuge was a great learning experience for me. This post is a basic recap.

On Friday afternoon, Eddie from DWR called me to let me know that my mentor had missed a flight and wouldn’t be able to join me. As it turns out, we had another mentor who bowed out due to a COVID scare (I hope) as well, so it was left to myself and another mentee, Eric, to go it alone.