Outdoor columnist Dan Geddings: A new path

When I was a youngster, we had horses. I rode nearly every day. I would ride for hours on the sandy roads, through the fallow fields and around the woodlots near our small town. I learned the lay of the land very well. I also learned the old woodland roads that would make good shortcuts to other roads and new places to explore.

One of my favorite places to ride was out toward an old mill pond. I knew who some of the area landowners were, but I wasn't too concerned about property lines and went anywhere I pleased. It was a different time, and nobody cared about a kid riding a horse out through the countryside.

A work crew came through one year, cleared a wide right of way through the woods near the mill pond and constructed a power transmission line. I rode up and down the hills that the right of way crossed, and I found an old road that led through the woods toward the mill pond, from a nearby farm.

The road had not been traveled in years and was somewhat overgrown. There was a section that was "sunken" three or four feet deeper than the adjoining ground from heavy traffic in the past. Probably from the time when the old mill was running at the nearby pond. I used the old road to make a shortcut to the mill pond on my horse.

Years later we deer hunted this area and were able to lease a big farm near the mill pond. The property line ran parallel to the old road that I had found on horseback. The road was overgrown, but I cleaned up a section good enough to take my tractor through. I planted a big food plot on the powerline and sometimes used this section of the old road for access.

When turkey hunting was opened in this area, I was able to secure permission to hunt the farm that joined our lease. Turkeys favored this area. We used the old road occasionally to travel through the woods to the power line and beyond, while turkey hunting. The property that we leased eventually changed hands, and we lost the lease. A survey was done at the time, and it confirmed the old road was actually on the farm that we could hunt.

We've been able to keep permission to hunt the farm. We've hunted there sparingly and have taken a few nice gobblers over the years. The woods were mature and open - a natural mix of hardwood and pine. This past year the woods were clear cut, and it was not a pretty sight, but it will eventually recover. In the past, we have been able to walk down through the open woods to the powerline and beyond. The clear cut will change that. It will grow back thick and will soon be inaccessible.

This year while turkey hunting the farm, I started thinking about future access, and the old road came to mind. The timber harvest was hard on the land, with big piles of slash and logs left behind. The trees were cut right up to the old road, but it was not damaged. There was some logging debris in the road and some saplings and brush growing on the banks of the sunken section, but I realized it could be cleaned up with a little work.

Clayton and I decided to clear a wide path down the old road from the farm fields to the power line. We waited for some cooler weather and got some this past weekend. We used lopping shears and a small folding saw. The work went very well. We cut and dragged debris from the old road. It will be a good path. If we can keep it wide enough, the turkeys will also use it when the cut-over gets too thick.

We cut a similar path and maintained it for years on the Lowcountry club, but this year I "deeded" it over to a friend and fellow turkey hunter. It will be up to him to maintain it. We have a new path.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.