Last hunting trip of the season - Frederick Watershed

Last Saturday, marked the closing day of the small game hunting season here in MD. I took advantage and was out and about with my .17 caliber in hopes of taking a few more squirrels.  Although, it was very cold and windy and the little guys were holed-up, warm in their nests.  Still, the morning made for a pretty hike through the snowy woods of the Frederick Watershed.  Here are a few photos from the walk.

I used to do a lot of freeriding at the watershed; shuttle runs on long-travel bikes, hucking drops and riding ladder bridges & skinnies.  This was back in 2002-2004.  In all that time, I never came across this little swimming hole.  I'm going to have to keep it in mind for this summer.

I stumbled upon this makeshift shelter as well. It reminded me of when I earned my Wilderness Survival merit badge in scouts. We had to make a shelter without any man-made items, and spend two nights in it. It was one of the more fun merit badges to earn. I still remember the older scout teaching me that ferns are natural bug reppellent and I was sure to line the floor of my shelter with plenty of them. Still I don't think I slept much those two nights. Like the rest of the kids in my troop I spent most of the night making fart noises on the back of my hand and fighting off all the thoughts of the creepy-crawlies in my shelter. Scouting was fun. It looks like this old shelter was used more by the squirrels, as a safe haven for meals, than anything else.

Before I left, I took a quick photo of my Marlin XT-17. I am really loving this rifle. It shoots incredibly flat out to 100 yards with no problems. It seems I'm never able to leave the woods without shooting at least a beer bottle at a decent range with this gun. I'm looking forward to spending some time at the range this summer and maybe taking a friend out there to try their hand with this fun piece. I'm really glad I spent the extra money on the scope.