Seasons of the Road Kill: The 9-pointer

In my last post I mentioned the pace at work, which had been deadline intensive since the summer.  We’re in the process of delivering our new 200K+ SF building, with construction finished in August and interior fit out in progress through December - then the 300+ tenants will move in.  I needed a break, so I scheduled a week of vacation at Hawksbill Cabin last week to get in some hiking and enjoy the change in the weather by sitting outside on the brick terrace.

Mary joined me after a few days, and we planned a scouting trip up to the new Woodstock Brew House, one of the Valley’s newest craft brewers.  To get there, we climb over the New Market gap on US 211 and then take the Valley Pike, US 11, north for 20 miles or so.  Maybe it is a long way to go for dinner, but here in the Valley, the drive is worth it for the unique experiences offered.

As we exited the town of Edinburg headed north – and less than five miles to go to our destination – a very large buck appeared ahead.  We caught sight of him just as he crossed the center line into our lane, I saw how big he was and barely made out the right side of his rack – seeing more than four points. 

What a beautiful buck, I thought to myself, while stepping on the brakes.  It is hunting season and rut is on, so they are on the move.  This guy ended up being a 9-pointer, really in his prime, and confidently strolling across the highway.  We ended up catching him square between the front and rear quarters.

We limped the Equinox off to the side of the road and began taking care of the logistics of the accident – neither one of us were hurt and the air bags didn’t deploy – so we called 911 for assistance and to report everything.  An EMT from the fire department was dispatched, followed by a state trooper.

Meanwhile, the folks in the car behind us had seen the whole thing.  They are hunters, and called a friend to be at the ready to take the deer if he’d survived, which I doubted at the time.  They got permission from the trooper and went to put the buck out of his misery, telling us their plan was to take the meat and donate it to a food pantry.

Eventually the car was towed – a punctured radiator and no headlights had rendered it inoperable.  We’re still in the process of working through the insurance issues, but we did go back and clean out our personal items, and took the tags, as instructed.  

We’ll see where it goes.

Seasons of the Road Kill: Black Rat Snakes

It’s a seasonal thing, these migrations, or whatever they are, that provoke the creatures we share this planet with to mosey out onto the pavement.  All jokes aside about what may lie on the other side of the road, a lot of them just don’t make it across. 

This week, Mary and I took a drive down to Lexington, Virginia as one of our vacation outings. While we were there, we visited a little garden on the edge of town called Boxerwood; on our way back, we saw a large black rat snake crossing the road.  I know from black snakes, so I slowed down and let it pass.

Not so with many of my fellow drivers.  On Wednesday I drove into Luray to take Tessie on a walk on the Greenway.  Driving in via Ida Road, there were no less than three black rat snakes dead on the road, including one that was freshly pinned to the yellow stripe.  So fresh, there was still residual nervous movement.

Blogger's Note:  Since I wrote the post this morning, I forgot to make note of a couple of things.  First, friends Marty and Evan both posted photos of large black snakes that they had seen over the weekend...definitely confirming that the snakes are on the move.  And at least two other friends have mentioned the unusual number of roadkill snakes this year.  Finally, one colleague said, "Black rat snakes eat other snakes and rats.  Slow down, people!"

So I'm not the only one seeing this roadkill phenomenon.

The snakes are on the move folks. That means it’s black rat snake road kill season.

Seasons of the Road Kill: Inaugural Post

Since we started coming out to Hawksbill Cabin four years ago, Mary and I have marvelled at the incredible variety of wildlife out there in Page County.  You've got your big animals, bears and such, but those are rare sightings that you have to seek out.  Deer are ubiquitous.  And then there is a full zoo's worth of other creatures great and small.

It wasn't long before we started noticing how many of the animals get hit and killed on the road.  Sometimes the carcass falls into a peaceful repose - my friend Kelly once said of one of these, "Oh, look at the sleeping kitty cat on the side of the road!"  At other times, you get a clear sense of something violent happening out there in the middle of the night.

There is something of a phenomenon going on with all of this.  From month to month, as you progress through the year, you get the impression of mass suicide by the various species, because all the animals tend to be of one type or another.  Over the course of spring, starting in March, you might see only dead squirrels, then raccoons, then opossums, and finally skunks, before the summer takes over and it's something else. 

Since we first noticed the seasonal migrations to "the other side of the road," I've been wanting to document the calendar year with my sightings, and so here we have the inaugural post.  Out of respect for the wildlife (not to mention the readers, if I have any) I won't share photos of what I am seeing out there.  It will simply be a listing, with the number of sightings for that given species.

I don't know what season of road kill we are in right now, but I will be more attentive.  What I will offer today, as an alternative, is a list of all the creatures I have nearly hit (and therefore remain alive - technically not road kill) on the roads this week since I have been spending some time out here in Page County:

1.  A juvenile copperhead (this is the sole confirmed kill of the week, up in Warren County, I couldn't avoid it).
2.  An opossum (after seeing it, I know why so many are killed - they don't pay attention to anything in the night except for the scent they are following; this was a near miss).
3.  A bat, which swooped down out of the sky towards my windscreen as I crossed the Overall Run bridge on 340 (this was a possible kill, as it struck the top of the car - no "residue" of the impact was detected).
4.  A small rodent - a chipmunk maybe, as it seemed bigger than a mouse.
5.  A screech owl (I'm figuring it had landed for some prey that I couldn't see.  For the record, that is my strangest sighting to date).
6.  A box turtle (this one was making it's way across the road as David and I drove to the Dayton Auction on Tuesday morning).

More to follow.  So stay tuned.