I spent some time photographing nature at Fontenelle Forest this morning. When I returned to my vehicle, I found a ticket under my wiper. Apparently I had violated two rules. According to the ticket I had been trespassing and had been observed with a weapon - a compound bow.
I took the ticket to the headquarters building to find out why I had been ticketed. They were unable to get in touch with the person who wrote the ticket. I called back later and spoke to him. Apparently a member of the public - the friendly man with the two dogs who waved at me and wished me luck as I arrived - had reported me. He said I was wearing a camouflage shirt (true), carrying a compound bow (false) and had a backpack with a blind (false but not a bad idea). He assured management that he knew what a compound bow looked like.
Forest personnel went out looking for the hunter. They didn't find me but did record the violation and write the ticket I found under my wiper.
The bottom line is that Fontenelle personnel wasted valuable time because the gentleman in the parking lot was more interested in reporting a violation than getting his facts straight. While I received an apology for the ticket, I'm still annoyed because I wasn't shooting with a bow - I was shooting with a full automatic Canon.
I shot this Brown-headed Cowbird.
Some of the trees are starting to get leaves as shown in this photo of a Harris Sparrow.
The first spring flowers are starting to appear along with the first flying insects. The mosquitoes cannot not be far behind.
