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With the opening of the rabbit, ruffed grouse and woodcock seasons this weekend, small-game hunters now have an expanded menu of opportunities.
These new seasons will complement the squirrel and dove seasons that began back in September. It's probably worthwhile to mention that doves and woodcocks are classified as "migratory" birds, so neither species can be hunted on Sundays.
The archery deer season is also well underway and gives many deer hunters ample incentive to be in the woods this month.
Fall is also a season of transition. One of the greatest of those is the lush green forest canopy of spring and summer changing to brilliant autumn colors. That color palate varies widely from species to species. Beeches and hickories become a golden bronze.
Poplars turn golden yellow, while dogwood turns a lovely purple. Maples and oaks dominate many of the woodlands of our region. Red maples become a brilliant scarlet, and sugar maples turn a beautiful orange. Oaks are the last to show their fall colors of red, brown or russet.
Most of the ridges in our area began to show significant blushes of those colors last week. Tourism agencies and other organizations with an interest in such things have been posting maps and other guides online predicting when the peak of fall foliage will occur for a specific region.
Some years tend to provide a much better display of fall colors than others. Timing is everything, and when most of the trees reach their peaks around the same time, the results can be spectacular. Predicting the "what" and "when" of fall foliage, however, tends to be mostly folklore. But there is some basic science behind how and why leaves change color.
Rainfall, sunlight and temperature can have some effect on the intensity and duration of fall foliage colors, photoperiod is the primary determining factor of when leaves make their fall transition.
Photoperiod is the scientific term used for the relative length of daylight and darkness throughout the year. Photoperiod is also the trigger for many of the remarkable transitions in nature, and fall foliage is certainly one of those. The shorter days of autumn start the biochemical processes in a leaf that ultimately cause the seasonal color changes.
Low temperatures can enhance the formation of anthocyanin pigments that produce the bright reds in maples and other species, but an early frost can weaken the red color. Rainy or overcast days sometimes tend to increase the overall intensity of autumn colors.
In the northeast, trees grow new leaves each spring, and those leaves become individual food factories for the tree throughout the spring and summer. Leaves derive their green color from the pigment of an amazing substance called chlorophyll.
Through an extraordinary chemical reaction, chlorophyll absorbs the energy from sunlight and uses it to transform carbon dioxide and water into sugars that the tree uses for food via the process known as photosynthesis. Most green plants rely on chlorophyll and photosynthesis for their existence.
As fall approaches, leaves stop their food-making processes, the chlorophyll breaks down, allowing other pigments present in the leaves to show their color.
Photoperiod is also the primary trigger for another seasonal phenomenon that many archery hunters keenly look forward to ever since the archery season was expanded to mid-November some years ago. That is the rut or breeding season for whitetail deer.
During the rut, deer in search of potential mates can be more active during the daytime, and even the wariest, old buck can abandon its natural caution when in search of does. For that reason, many bowhunters desire to be in the woods during that brief window of opportunity each fall.
Almost 20 years ago, I was invited to a seminar presented by a well-known deer-hunting expert who had developed a system to predict the peak of the rut for specific regions of the country. His system, as I recall, was based largely on moon phases. A few weeks later, I interviewed a deer biologist, and among other things, I asked him about moon phases and weather-related factors for timing the breeding period for white-tailed deer. His answer was short and compelling.
"The gestation period of a white-tailed deer is about 200 days, or 28.5 weeks. That never varies, and most whitetail fawns are born around the third week of May in Pennsylvania," he said.
He went on to explain the importance of the timing of fawn births. By late May, food sources are plentiful for the doe that needs plenty of nutrition to nurse her fawns adequately. Late May also gives ample time for the fawns to grow and accumulate the body fat they will need to get through the winter.
He then pointed out that if you count back about 200 days from the third week of May, it will put you right about the second week of November, which is generally considered the peak of the rut in our regions, give or take a few days. There is always some wiggle room for anything in nature, but photoperiod, which is consistent from year to year, rather than highly variable weather or moon phases is the primary factor triggering the whitetail rut.