The Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area is a 5,100 acre upland tract, situated approximately eight miles west of Dansville, New York. Roughly two-thirds of the area lies in southern Livingston County, while the remaining third lies in northern Allegany County. The tract was purchased in the 1930’s under the Federal Resettlement Administration and is one of several such areas turned over to DEC for development as a wildlife management area.
The area is appropriately named after the Timber Rattlesnake, which may be occasionally found in the more remote sections of the “Hill”.
The area offers an interesting blend of upland habitats such as mature woodland, overgrown fields, conifer plantations, old growth apple orchards and open meadows.
The area is inhabited by a variety of game species and is open to public hunting. The white-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit and woodcock are found on the area. An occasional snowshoe hare may be observed adjacent to thick creek bottom brush or conifer plantation habitats.
A number of small marsh units have been developed and provide limited hunting for waterfowl. Some of the area’s furbearing species such as mink, beaver and raccoon may be occasionally viewed at these marsh units.
Well, hopefully my blog ad revenue will continue at the rate it has the past week for the rest of summer. At $50 a week, it might actually pay for good portion of my truck’s camping trip fuel bills this summer. That said, I’ve not been lazy, and actually been updating and re-doing a lot of maps on my blog lately with the latest datasets. Since September 20th, I have made $700 in ad revenue. It makes the sting of paying $530 for three years of the hosting seem much less of a bite. Of course I’ll have a lot less after the tax man bites.
It’s kind of fun getting paid to tell my story, share photos and maps of the places I love. I put a lot of time into the blog, creating new content and developing ideas. And the blog has certainly helped me develop not only my GIS skills but also my data science experience and knowledge which has been key at getting my position in overseeing the Data Services department. I can do so many amazing things with a few lines of code, mostly thanks to skills learned as a blogger. Made some great connections too through the blog.
I concede I’ve been a bit slow at switching the CSS to reflect pride month, but it’s now upon us. One of the great strengths of nation is it’s diversity, and we should let people live as they so please as long as they’re not impacting our own lives. Live and let live!
I just need to get away from it all this weekend. I was going to head out to Schoharie but I’m leaning towards the Green Mountains as I heard that Forest Road 71 is now open and I can camp along it, ride it on Saturday, go swimming in that swimming hole under the bridge by Somerset Airfield, and just relax and have a good weekend. Maybe the following weekend if the weather is hot and sunny head up to the Potholers, but the forecast could change before then, and this way I have cell service in much of that area, and can work from camp if need be.
Riding into work today, I thought that rear tire seemed a little low. Uh, oh — I realized when I went out to work, I am low on air. 🚴 I am going to bring my bike in the office, and take the wheel home tonight and see if I can patch it. That way at least I can ride home tomorrow if it holds, or I’ll get another tube on Friday when I get supplies prior to heading out camping. Not been a good week for Blackie for sure.
Propane hose had a leak this morning, a bubble started to form in it and before I could get the tank off it went bang. After a WTF moment, I shut off the tank and the let the burner burn off the remaining gas and breakfast continued to cook on the hot frying pan.
Not the only thing that caught fire 🔥 and leaked so far up at camp ⛺ either. Last night when I lit the lantern 🏮 apparently I didn’t have the top fitting screwed in tight and it leaked and caught fire. Used up a bunch of water trying putting it out, ultimately it went out when I grabbed my insulated gloves 🧤 and tightened the connection but not before melting part of the lower plastic surround. Just the decorative part doesn’t impact the ignition or the knob in it. I’ll trim the melted plastic with a knife 🗡.
Went for a ride along Old Route 8B last night. 🚲 Quiet evening, it was close to 9:30 when I got back to camp ⛺ and only barely needed the headlight on my bike. Saw a family of wild turkeys 🦃 driving up and while riding this evening spotted a nice looking buck. Sat down at the infamous Robbs Creek campsite for a while then road down to the lower bridge.
Disappointed that I have no cell service here 📱 as my phone seems to not have as good reception in many places as it once had. 🤫 While I like the quiet I was hoping to work remote from camp and make calls about that house I was looking at. I’m going to have to head to Spectulator sooner than I expected and maybe spend all day there, though some in the kayak 🛶 and beach 🏖 and not all that library working. 🖥 P
I spoke the Forest Service this morning. It wasn’t open during Memorial Day Weekend due to construction. The FS is still working on it, they said their could be delays and some sections are narrow.
The country, the small towns, the rural life that is only a few minutes away when hopping in my pickup truck. While I don’t explore the backroads as much as I did in my younger years, I still spend a lot of time visiting small towns and camping in the wilderness. I always like seeing the farms, the mountains, the charming downtowns and businesses. While I don’t live in the country today, I know some day I’ll will again have that opportunity.
