On Monday, Oct. 1, several small game seasons open, including turkey, grouse, cottontail rabbit and coyote. Squirrel season opened September 1 and remains open until February 29, 2008. As I write this, the temperatures are in the mid-80s, and I find it somewhat of a stretch just imaging what it would be like to be hunting on a day like today. It also makes me glad I don't live in Florida, Georgia, or those other Gulf states where autumn hunting often means sweat and mosquitoes. Oh yes, and snakes and gators.

If the weather prognosticators are correct, cooler, more seasonable weather is due in by the weekend, probably much to the delight of the hunters who plan to go forth on Monday. What they'll be hunting will vary with each hunter's personal taste, habits and habitat they most frequent. Decades ago, the primary small game in our area were cottontails and pheasant, with maybe grouse thrown in. Not so today. Habitat has changed drastically in the past few decades, thereby causing these three species to experience a major decline in numbers. Wild turkeys have become a primary target for many of today's hunters, and that is true in both the spring and the autumn.