DEER

Today was a rainy one with very high wind that created heavy seas.  I left the boat home and rode the route in the truck.  I pulled into the Walters Bridge parking area and drove down the boat ramp to take a water temperature reading.  No one was fishing and I had the ramp to myself.  Being the observant individual that I am, I noticed something was aerie.  

Now, hears a pickle!

It seems that the boat dock has been submerged.  This is not good and will not sit well with the many hundreds of fishermen who count on this dock to tie their boats too.  What shall I do about this?  I'll dwell on it awhile.

 I guess a fella could tie off to it if he had a submarine.  Some pilgrim to this lake is apt to drive his boat right over that submerged dock and tear his engine off the transom.  I better call it in.

A new highway bridge is going in at Walters Bridge and they're installing it right next to the old bridge, which I happen to like a lot.  Its amazing how fast this construction moves along.

 You can see the old green bridge to the left, facing picture, of the new construction.  The new construction can be seen better in the shot below:

As I mentioned, there was no one at Walters Bridge for the purpose of fishing so I headed up to the Rankin boat ramp.  The road is a tight, curvy ribbon that winds over some very hilly terrain and its best to keep the speed down.  I saw a deer run down the hill to the right of the truck and I stopped the vehicle and switched off the engine.

 Hi there.

 What a pretty bunch of girls;  at least I think they're all girls.

 They all moved as one as if someone said, "come on - lets get outa here".

Wouldn't you know it, they headed straight for the road.  They wanted to cross it to get into the woods on the other side.

Of course, no sooner did the first deer get on the road - a car came rolling up.  I pulled my truck across the double line and held him back until the girls could get safely across the road.

The car pulled beside me as soon as I got back off the road and a lady on the passenger side said, "they were really pretty".  She was all smiles so I guess she wasn't ticked off at me for the minuscule delay I caused them.

 They walked up a shallow, narrow waterway that lead to a thick, wooded area. The scene was really pretty and a picture out of the Leather Stocking Tales.

I spoke to some folks at the Rankin boat ramp and spent about an hour discussing cameras and methods of photographing wildlife.  Nice folks they were.

And on the way home I came across the turkeys.  Notice how large the last turkey is.  He's a big tom turkey and that must be his harem in front of him.  He better keep his head down.  But then, there's so much private property in these parts that I doubt anyone is permitted on the property to hunt anyway.  He's safe.

 He kept opening and closing that great fan tail of his.  What a proud bird.  We are fortunate to have them in such great numbers in Tennessee - thanks to The Tennessee Wildlife Resource's Agency who make so many positive things happen for our wildlife.  They are not perfect but, they do a very commendable job of habitat and wildlife preservation.

That's today in a nutshell.  Tomorrow is another opportunity to enjoy another exciting, thrill packed adventure on the mud hole.  Stay tuned.