SLTmay22pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 4/28/22 8:17 AM Page 22
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW
Lingering Too Long at the Road Kill The rural South is often a maze of cultivated fields and timberlands, intersected by narrow roads, some paved, many still dusty dirt paths. Foresters find themselves driving many of these dirt roads and passing
22
l
by these fields and timberland edges on a daily, if not hourly basis. Along this maze a vast array of wildlife also moves, often converging at a point in time and space with the forester. More specifically, it is usually the
bumper, door, or the most expensive part of the forester’s truck, where the convergence takes place. Antill More times than not, the wild animal cannot withstand the collision
MAY 2022 l Southern Loggin’ Times
CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!
caused by the convergence. The result is referred to as road kill. Many jokes have been made about road kill and even some recipes. I will let others share those tantalizing tidbits. Let me, however, share these two pieces of advice: stay upwind, and don’t linger. To linger, according to most dictionaries, is described as “to delay leaving.” We have all done that, haven’t we? Time to leave for an appointment, but the game is in the final seconds, so we have one foot outside the door, but both eyes inside. We linger until we are late. Maybe it is the smell of cookies in the oven, and any idea of going out to mow the yard is forgotten. We would rather stay and enjoy the aroma, and wait to sample the culinary masterpiece; until a wooden spoon comes our way, chasing us out the door. Without a doubt, put “game” and “aroma” together, and it is really, really hard to leave. A few years ago, I was driving through the southeastern portion of Virginia, along the typically narrow, curving secondary roads. The weather was warm. Up ahead, in the right-side ditch, a “convention” of buzzards was gathered along the roadside. They were celebrating the late game, that being a deer that had tried to cross the road. The deceased deer was actively decreasing, thanks to the heat and the enthusiastic buzzards. Upon my approach, the buzzards began to go airborne, and fly away. I proceeded to pass the deer, when out of the bottom of the ditch came the one who lingered. Slow to
