Knowing I was armed only with a camera, this squirrel taunted me during my Bedford County deer scouting trip.

I headed out yesterday evening for a quick urban archery hunt in Roanoke County.

I was delayed by two things. First, I realized I hadn’t yet purchased my hunting license. D’oh! Fortunately the online sales system makes it a snap and I had that done in a few minutes.

Then traffic was horrendous, which I eventually found was due to a wreck at the intersection of Electric Road and Brambleton Ave.

Come on, people! Do not wreck when Taylor is trying to go hunting!

So my buddy and I got to our spot kind of late and headed to our stands, which are pretty close together on the smallish property.

At this place the deer tend to filter down to the lower area on two little finger ridges. The last time we hunted there — last season — they came down my ridge and I killed a monster doe. Well, last night they came down the other ridge.

I didn’t realize this until they started blowing when they busted my buddy, who was a little too exposed in his stand, I think.

Oh, well. It was fun to have action on the first hunt of the year.

The acorn crop is great at the place, which means it could be tough to pattern deer during early archery season.

This morning I went out to another one of my spots, this one  in Bedford County, for some scouting. I thought about carrying a squirrel gun but eventually just opted to take my camera in the hopes of getting some deer shots. Naturally I got no deer pictures and saw three squirrels in gun range!

As for deer hunting, the short of it is this is going to be a tough nut to crack during bow season. The place is filthy with acorns, which means the deer could be anywhere. I am confident that I will see plenty of deer during the archery season. The question is, will any come within bow range?

With the forecast for warm weather on Saturday I’m actually thinking about taking the day off. Next week looks super, though.