So much for blogging regularly (see my August 17 post). At any rate – I just got back from a dove-hunting trip to one of my favorite places in the world, my cousin’s farm in Bassfield, MS. Actually I spent most of my time down there bush-hogging, which is one of my favorite farming duties. I must have cut 25 acres of grass!
The hunting wasn’t bad either. I only got in one day of hunting because the season opened the day before I returned home. The hunting was poor in the morning, but we did pretty well in the afternoon hunt. The birds weren't flying in our field, but a friendly neighbor allowed us to come and shoot with them. I got 5 birds using 37 shells which is not too bad when it comes to hitting those little gray rockets.
The real excitement on the trip was my encounter with several really scary-looking spiders found in the Mississippi woods. I have been there several times but I had never seen one of these monsters before this trip. My cousin’s property is laced with wonderful lanes that run through pine thickets. We use them for driving four-wheelers and golf carts through the woods. On Friday morning I decided to take a walk using these lanes as my walking track. Sounds peaceful and scenic, doesn’t it? Well it was until I happened upon what South Mississippians call a “Banana Spider.” The spider’s real name is the golden silk orb-weaver spider (genus nephila). Apparently they are found throughout the world in temperate climates. And believe me, they are huge! I saw several that were as big as my hand (honest!). They also weave impressive webs that completely spanned the 6-8 foot lanes I was walking down. What's more, the webs were often head-high; perfect for catching an unsuspecting human. Well... actually they use their beautiful webs to capture all kinds of bugs and insects. An unsuspecting victim flies down the only path available to it, down the lane, and straight into a camouflaged death trap. Scary stuff. In fact, after I almost walked into two or three of the webs I finally turned around and headed back out of the woods the same way I came in.
According to some research I did on the web (pun intended), the spiders I encountered are not particularly poisonous but they do have a nasty South American cousin that is highly lethal. They also did not seem very aggressive. But let me be perfectly honest with you; I didn’t actually get close enough to tell if they were poisonous or aggressive. All I can say about them is they were huge and I would not want to walk into one of their webs, especially at night.
The hunting wasn’t bad either. I only got in one day of hunting because the season opened the day before I returned home. The hunting was poor in the morning, but we did pretty well in the afternoon hunt. The birds weren't flying in our field, but a friendly neighbor allowed us to come and shoot with them. I got 5 birds using 37 shells which is not too bad when it comes to hitting those little gray rockets.
The real excitement on the trip was my encounter with several really scary-looking spiders found in the Mississippi woods. I have been there several times but I had never seen one of these monsters before this trip. My cousin’s property is laced with wonderful lanes that run through pine thickets. We use them for driving four-wheelers and golf carts through the woods. On Friday morning I decided to take a walk using these lanes as my walking track. Sounds peaceful and scenic, doesn’t it? Well it was until I happened upon what South Mississippians call a “Banana Spider.” The spider’s real name is the golden silk orb-weaver spider (genus nephila). Apparently they are found throughout the world in temperate climates. And believe me, they are huge! I saw several that were as big as my hand (honest!). They also weave impressive webs that completely spanned the 6-8 foot lanes I was walking down. What's more, the webs were often head-high; perfect for catching an unsuspecting human. Well... actually they use their beautiful webs to capture all kinds of bugs and insects. An unsuspecting victim flies down the only path available to it, down the lane, and straight into a camouflaged death trap. Scary stuff. In fact, after I almost walked into two or three of the webs I finally turned around and headed back out of the woods the same way I came in.
According to some research I did on the web (pun intended), the spiders I encountered are not particularly poisonous but they do have a nasty South American cousin that is highly lethal. They also did not seem very aggressive. But let me be perfectly honest with you; I didn’t actually get close enough to tell if they were poisonous or aggressive. All I can say about them is they were huge and I would not want to walk into one of their webs, especially at night.
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