• Time: Late Autumn.  Pre - dawn.
• Location: Northern Waupaca County, Wisconsin.  Public Fishing & Hunting Land.  Parking lot.
• Weather: Dark, damp, chilly - cold west wind.  Threatening rain.
• Terrain: Wooded hilly bouldery glacier hill & ridge complex.  A real playground!  Typical central Wisconsin public hunting and fishing grounds: hills rocks trees.  And a lake.  Nice piece of real estate.
• Woods: mature oak white pine.  Boulder and rock - strewn.  Loaded with white tailed deer.
• The Plan: Grab the gear.  Walk due west - 300 hundred yards or so.  Down the super dark creepy lane.  Wait quietly at the foot of a hilly ridge.  Wait until I can almost see.  Then climb to the top.  Wait for daylight.  Drink coffee.  Count birds.  Then hike around the property.

Sun Up.  Heavy cloud cover.  Wind still from the west.  Line of dark clouds above the west horizon.  Rain in 45 to 60 minutes.

Earlier: pushed deer in the murky darkness - during the walk in.  Heard snorting and stomping action - but too dark to see anything.  Mallards at very earliest half light.  Usual morning crow and bluejay activity.  Chickadees.  Wood peckers.  Cardinals.  Coyote bark to the south.  Sandhill Cranes to the west - down at the lake.  American eagle.  Two eagles - heading ENE.  Geese.  Canadian geese - in flights of ones and twos and up to twenty.  No pattern.  Squirrels are up.  Then chipmunks.  Mouse working the leaf litter 3 feet away.  Kingfisher.  Nuthatch.  More wood peckers - hairy wood pecker and piliated woodpecker.  Hawks are up.  Deer materializes out of nowhere.  Nice white tail buck - 8 point.  Slinking along east to west - up and over the ridge.  No noise.  No sound.  Disappears.

Rain drops.  Rain sweeping in from the west.  Weak front.  Some thunder and lightning - nothing real scary.  Steady modertate rain.  Then - a big downpour.  A brief let-up.  Then a huge down pour.  Loud.  Heavy rain.  Transformation.  Woods gets close and small - like a cocoon in a thick fog.  Woods heavy and grey with fragments and particles of raindrops.  Rain really coming down.  Overwhelming rain sounds.  All around.  Across the tree canopy.  And hitting the leaf litter.  No other sounds - just heavy rainy woodsy leafy down-pour noise.  Complex forest rain noise - and complex forest smells.  A woody earthy smell - wet leaves & bark, rock moss & lichen, mushrooms and fungus.  Fresh.  Cool.  Clean air.  Easy to breathe.  No dust or pollen. 

Downpour eases.  Slackens to steady moderate.  Drink coffee.  Wait half an hour.  Then hike the perimeter.  Look for wild turkey next.  Great blue heron heading NW.  Kingfisher.  Squirrel and chipmunk reappearing.  Mice back in the leaf litter.  Tighten laces on hiking boots.  Re- check gear: day hike back pack, binoculars, compass, camera, ski pole / walking stick, wallett, car keys, cell phone, coffee mug. Check. Let's Go Hiking!