OUTDOORS: You never know what you'll find

While walking the edge of a hardwood ridge about 300 yards from the truck my eyes suddenly focused on a large deer antler lying in the leaves beside my right foot.

While turkey hunting one morning a couple of weeks ago I drove down a dirt road to check out an area that I hadn’t been to this year. After parking the truck, I called Mary to tell her where I was and what my plans were. She had already taken her two birds and was busy with work at home.

 She wished me luck and I was just starting to say goodbye when a deer walked out of the woods about 40 yards from me. The deer stared at the truck then headed in my direction. I told Mary about it before hanging up then got my binoculars out for a better look. I could see the start of new antler growth and it looked big. The deer was curious, but cautious and after walking up to about 25 yards from the vehicle it stamped its foot, turned and bounded back into the woods.

 “That was a nice start to the morning,” I said to myself as I headed down a path that led to the area I wanted to hunt. While walking I used a wooden box call to scratch out an occasional series of yelps hoping to get a tom to respond and after about a half hour I heard a distant gobble in answer to my call.

 I found a spot to sit with good visibility then scratched out a few clucks and yelps hoping for another gobble, but like so many times this season, the bird wouldn’t answer. Sometimes a tom will come in silently and I sat for an hour waiting, but I never heard or saw a sign of the wary bird. There were other spots to try and I decided to head back and drive to another area.

 While walking the edge of a hardwood ridge about 300 yards from the truck my eyes suddenly focused on a large deer antler lying in the leaves beside my right foot. I counted six points as I picked it up then started scanning the woods with high hopes of finding the other one. I was just getting ready to walk a few circles when I spotted it just a few feet from where I was standing.

 It was an impressive set of 12-point antlers in excellent condition and, as I rotated them in my hands to see all sides, I wondered if the buck I saw earlier was the one that shed them. I’ll never know, but it’s one more of the adventures you can expect to find when you spend time outdoors.

 Sea bass bust: In Buzzards Bay the end of May and beginning of June is the peak time to fish for black sea bass. The bay is loaded with them right now and anglers are flocking to the area with hopes of filling their freezers with fresh filets. Sea bass are considered by many to be one of the best-eating saltwater fish.

 Seafood websites describe locally caught sea bass as an attractive fish with white, firm flesh and a mild, delicate flavor similar to red snapper or striped bass. The skin retains beauty even when scaled and cooked, making these fillets a popular choice for gourmands. According to some buyers, black sea bass that are caught with hooks tend to be the best quality. When fresh filets are available the cost can average $15 a pound.

 The recreational season for sea bass opened May 19. The size limit is 15 inches and you can keep five fish per day. While most anglers abide by the regulations, sea bass poaching is a problem and we’re not talking just a few illegal fish, although in the eyes of the law that’s just as wrong as taking 100.

 On Friday I was checking Capt. Jason Colby’s website (littlesister1.com) to see how the flounder bite was going in Quincy Bay and saw that besides his own fishing report, he had posted the following from the Massachusetts Environmental Police Facebook page:

 “On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 30, 2018, Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers in New Bedford inspected a head boat that had just returned from a fishing trip in Buzzards Bay; 35 passengers aboard the vessel were found to have engaged in fishing.

 “Upon completion of the inspection, officers found 560 pounds of black sea bass over the legal limit, 33 of which were under the legal limit of 15 inches. Officers also located 90 pounds of scup over the legal limit, one undersized striped bass, and one undersized tautog. The illegal catch was donated to the New Bedford Salvation Army. Multiple citations were issued in response to the violations.”

 The Massachusetts Environmental Police urges anyone that sees or is aware of suspicious fish-and-game activity to contact them. Dispatch can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-632-8075. Violations can also be reported online at http://bit.ly/MEPReport.