October - "Smoky Gold"

Excerpts from "A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold, edition published by Tamarack Press, l977. In the essay "Smoky Gold" Leopold, accompanied by his dog, reveals his hunts for grouse, ducks and deer, are also opportunities to appreciate nature's bounty.
"There are two kinds of hunting: ordinary hunting, and ruffed-grouse hunting. There are two places to hunt grouse: ordinary places and Adams County. There are two times to hunt in Adams: ordinary times, and when the tamaracks are smoky gold. This is written for those luckless ones who have never stood, gun empty and mouth agape, to watch the golden needles come sifting down, while the feathery-rocket that knocked them off, sails unscathed into the jackpines."
"The tamaracks change from green to yellow when the first frosts have brought woodcock, fox sparrows, and juncos out of the north. Troops of robins are stripping the last white berries from the dogwood thickets, leaving the empty stems as a pink haze against the hill. The creekside alders have shed their leaves, exposing here and there an eyeful of holly. Brambles are aglow, lighting your footsteps grouseward. The dog knows what is grouseward better than you do. You will do well to follow him closely, reading from the cock of his ears the story the breeze is telling." Essays "Too Early" and "Red Lanterns" continue Leopold's reflections on the hunting theme.