With school starting, hunting season draws closer.

Hunting season closer with start of school

Like most parents, I have been busy the last couple of weeks making sure everything was ready for Cooper to return to school. Clothes, shoe and school supply shopping was the priority for a few days, as Cooper seemed to hold in his excitement to start first grade.

I knew he was anticipating his first day when he picked out his first day of school outfit about three weeks before school started. He was so coordinated in his chartreuse and black Batman shirt and shorts set with Batman socks and matching gray and chartreuse tennis shoes. He completed his look with his Nike backpack and a big smile on his face.

I can't believe he is in first grade. It seems like just yesterday he was in preschool. We were talking on the way to school Tuesday morning, and he said going to school made him happy because he would see his friends again and because deer season would be here in just a couple of months. I can attest to the fact that I'm pretty excited about fall as well.

Cooler temperatures and the leaves changing are what I look forward to every year. I just want it to cool down enough so we can get a food plot ready! Cooper loves looking at the game camera pictures.

Looking at 1000 pictures every week can be exciting because you never know what will show up in the middle of the night. Raccoons fighting, foxes, a bobcat or even a bear making rounds can give you some pictures of animals you normally don't see while hunting.

My personal favorite is a picture I saved from last year.

The picture was taken in the middle of the night under a full moon. There is a big female bobcat and she has a rabbit in her mouth that she captured. It is a reminder that I'm not the only one on the prowl when I walk to my stands before daybreak. Don't forget that the annual Hunting and Sporting Gazette will come out at the end of August! There will be lots of information for hunting season including rule changes, events and a moon phase calendar so you can plan your vacation days to hunt!

I had many requests come in for me to rerun the venomous snakes IDs with pictures of adults and juvenile snakes that we encounter in South Arkansas so those will be included as well to help out those that wanted to see them again.