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NFC: The hazards of collecting evenings when fall is here
After seeing Rays message this morning I decided to help him and whoever
out and I could make the trip to the SRBD site if I left straight from
work and didn't waste any time. I got to the site about 7:15 which
left me with about 45 minutes to collect. After two inches of rain over
the weekend there was more water in the creek (of course) but there was
still mimimal flow ... one rain storm isn't going to bring a normal flow
back to the stream. I caught the usual fish.... silverjaw minnows,
creek chubs, blacknose dace, bluntnose minnows a few others I have yet
to identify. I also caught all three darters found in this stream,
fantail, orange throat and johnny darters. Southern Red Belly Dace
were present but not that common. It took about 45 minutes to collect
a dozen SRBD. Water temperature was a pleasant 63 degrees F. I am a
little curious what the rain did to the hardness of the water.... I
still have to test that.
In the meantime it had gotten pitch black dark. This of course made me
nervous as I know that 1/3 of the deer population is killed by cars each
year in Ohio. Normally I try to follow someone, not too closely but
close enough to get a little warning if there are deer ahead. This time
there was no one else on the road. I was cruising along at about 60
miles an hour when I saw two deer crossing the road ahead of me. I
swerved til I was half off the road thereby missing the deer's head,
just as the car cleared the deer it ran into the back end of the car as
I heard that tell tale thud of a deer smacking metal. I kept going as
the deer continued to run off ... I couldnt tell if it was hurt or not
but it was still moving and disappeared very quickly into the night.
When I reached civilization ( a store) I couldnt tell where the deer
hit the car as there appears to be no damage.... daylight will give me a
clearer picture if there is any damage to the car. In any case I feel
very fortunate to have not hit that deer head on.
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