We did have that cool weather visit us for the opening of the firearms deer season. It got as cool as it has at anytime this fall a day before the season opened and it opened on the second cool morning.

I can’t tell that it did much in the way of helping, but what if it had not turned cool. I guess things could have been worse. I was laid up with a bad back, which is not getting any better, so I didn’t get to see but two or three deer that were taken opening weekend and none of them were big. We still have a long way to go during the season and plenty of time for things to turn around.

For those individuals that are not so much into hunting, but do love the outdoors, we have almost reached the time of year to enjoy camping. The reason I say the time of year is it is almost cool enough to keep snakes from crawling and looking around in your campsite for warmth. When there is one less problem to contend with, the better.

At my age, it is better to carry enough food to feed everyone for as many days as you plan to stay. This live-off-the-land attitude that some of the young folks have is a quick way to go on a serious diet. If you happen to get some game to supplement you diet, it is a plus, and you can always carry the food back home that you carried on the trip.

One of my brothers-in-law likes to camp out around the holidays, or really right after the holidays. I think he is reliving his days in the Army, which was a long time ago. He takes food with him as well as a rifle. He might get a young squirrel and cook it over an open fire.

I have tried that and it is not bad with a little salt, and it can be eaten without salt. Without salt it is better if you are really hungry. A potato is good for a camping meal. It can be prepared many different ways and is good regardless. I know that I wouldn’t want to make a meal of just a potato, but it can be done, and I am sure that it has been done more than one time. Get the fixins for swamp gravy. You can make a meal of that potato. The folks up in Colquitt made a play of Swamp Gravy, and it has lasted for a right good many years without spoiling.

I get to thinking about food and suddenly I am hungry. There are not many places open at this time of night, but I may have to find one of them. I did that two weeks ago, and we had to go get something to eat or risk starving to death.

I seldom eat breakfast unless we are camping and it turns out to be the main meal of the day. I have tried several times after coming off a camping trip to eat a big breakfast, but it just isn’t the same. Maybe setting up in the back yard and cooking there would make it better. I would bet that it would bring the neighbors over asking what is going on. They would probably give out the strange looks if I told them I was pretend camping. Maybe next month I can more than pretend camp.

Another good thing for us is the opening of the netting season on November first. It is a three-month season giving us until the end of January to stretch some webbing legally. Helping out already are these cool nights that are cooling the water and making the fish move more shallow.

If this is your first experience with netting suckers, you know that you can luck into a few fish every now and then. The more important thing is knowing how to gash the sucker sides and how hot to have the grease when the sides are dropped into the hot grease. Get an experienced sucker fisherman and cook to show you what to do. Otherwise you might just waste a bunch of time as well as fish because you will not be able to eat them. Ask.