Pennsylvania Game News - November 2022 - 37

another sunrise Brings
How often in life do moments arrive
when least expected?
There's comfort in planning, preparing,
executing and finding an anticipated outcome.
There is, however, something to be
said for happenstance. For trying, failing
and finding success only when hope has
vanished and hearts have sunk.
The famous Scotsman, Robert Burns,
penned, " The best laid schemes o' mice
an' men go oft astray. " How often is this
the case within our outdoor pursuits?
A longbeard, carefully roosted the
night before, and with decoys and blind
perfectly set, lands and walks the other
way without uttering a sound. A 10-point,
pinned to a food plot he walks past every
evening 30 minutes before dark, disappears
after a stand is carefully placed.
Sometimes though, just when all
seems lost, the quarry suddenly appears
with mere minutes to go. A big brown
trout rises to the fly on the last cast. A
grouse rockets out from a grape tangle
on the walk back to the truck and flies
through the only opening, making for a
perfect shot.
Oh, how our hearts springboard from
the pit of despair to the tallest peak of
elation.
Last trapping season found my good
friend Adam and I bouncing up the side
of North Mountain into Tuscarora State
Forest on a cool, damp morning when
our luck seemed headed the wrong way.
North Mountain stands tall above the
Cumberland Valley and forms the northern
and western edges of this great valley
stretching from the Susquehanna down to
the Potomac.
We are sons of this valley and the agriculture
that lies therein, so time spent on
the mountain offers a sense of adventure
and escape to the wilder places within
easy driving distance of home. We were
more than halfway through a two-week
excursion setting and running a trapline
within the state forest, targeting bobcats,
fishers and coyotes.
unraveling Mystery
Now, let's get a few things straight
before advancing into the story.
We both grew up trapping. Adam,
though, comes from a long line of longline
fox and muskrat trappers. I, like most,
cut my teeth with muskrats, and then
slowly learned the ways of minks, raccoons,
beavers and canines. Only recently
had I dipped my toe into bobcat trapping,
which even then focused primarily on
agricultural flatland.
We were both green to trapping the
mountains, and the year previous was our
first experience setting among the rocks
and trees.
If you're not a trapper, I can testify now
that there is quite a difference. In farmland
settings, soft soil allows for easy digging,
meaning solid trap beds, the ability to
stake traps into the ground, and deep holes
for bait and lure. This equates to quick
set-making and being able to set many
traps within a day's time. Set locations
often also come easy with straightforward
intersections of fencerows, farm roads or
brushy ditches.
For us, the mountain was shrouded in
unKnown PossiBilities
NOVEMBER 2022
37
Adam Chronister
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2022

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