The National Geographic Channel has been running a series on what would happen to the Earth if human beings were not present and it poses some interesting scientific theories.

If any of you are familiar with abandoned or neglected properties, especially in rural areas, you can quickly see how fast nature and the elements reclaim that piece of the planet for regeneration.

I live in a rural setting with pleasant neighborhood properties that receive regular attention, but the battle between nature and humans seesaw back and forth weekly.

In our case, we leave a habitat swath around the cultivated portion of the property for wildlife and natural flora. Over the years, we have been blessed with numerous wildlife sightings and have observed generations propagated.

The other night, I must have been the sole inhabitant in our neighborhood as I took a walk about and never saw another human. Often, I will run into the neighbor girls walking their 4-H goats or the neighbor lady walking her hound, but not on this day. I didn't meet another soul as I walked along the country lane.

It was during this time that I thought of how different things felt in this solitude without the interruption of humans. Wildlife must have sensed the same change and came out of their daytime resting places.

Numerous small mammals appeared and I was hoping to see the new fawn that my wife saw earlier in the week. It dawned on me as twilight approached that I'd better get home and take the bird feeders down before the raccoons had a field day as they showed the next generation the best way to raid a feeding station.

As darkness approached, I heard some rustling in the bushes and I came face to face with a raccoon who was just as surprised to bump into me as I was to see him. He grudgingly backed off after being cheated out of some fine sunflower seeds.

About this time I heard some more noise and I went over to investigate. You can imagine my surprise when a baby skunk the size of a pop can scooted out of the ferns. This little guy was full of curiosity and was checking out everything.

He was magnificent to watch and I found no fear of him as he certainly didn't mind my presence. At least that's what I thought. But he must have figured out that I wasn't part of the landscape because he came to a halt and stared me down — all 4 or 5 inches of him.

Then, doing what comes natural, up came his tail. When that black-and-white caution flag came out, I slowly stepped back and spoke to him in a soft voice, "Easy little fellow. I'm giving you all the space that you need!"

Even though the tail was up, I guess no one told him that he should turn it around toward the threat.

I made a clean break and escaped the spray, but, unfortunately, my country neighbors would have the fresh greeting from one of the newest inhabitants of Earth.

The new rule changes for the proposed crossbow season continued to be part of a philosophical game of volleyball at the recent Pennsylvania Game Commission meeting held earlier this month.It can be a confusing move for hunters who have bought expensive equipment and licenses and need to schedule hunting-based vacations, especially since license sales have been in effect for more than a month with new deadlines being pushed up by the PGC.As of the time of this article, the PGC Board of Commissioners has proposed more changes for the crossbow saga. The newest will be focusing on when crossbows can be used and setting a separate crossbow season for antlered and antlerless deer which would run Oct. 3 to 17. The new season would allow one deer of each sex as the bag limit.<B><I>Jay E. Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.</I></B>