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One of the best things I love about fall is what it produces.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love fall because it's hunting season, but it also reminds me of a time long ago when life was much harder but oh so rewarding.

I remember back in Cannel City, Ky., my old home where I would go in the fall with Aunt Blanche and Mom picking fall apples. We would bring them back and dry some on the ol' smokehouse. We'd can plenty, to be eaten in cakes and pies over the winter.

I also remember picking sacks and sacks of walnuts, hickory and hazel nuts and how hulling the walnuts stained your hands for days. Who could forget the swollen fingers and pain from hitting my fingers with the hammer or rock I used to break the shell? Man was it fun. But it was a lot of work. Unlike today, where you can take a simple trip to the grocery store and buy what you want.

However, there's something I still hunt for every year that you can't buy at the grocery store. I'm sure there are others out there who hunt for them each fall, but the only other person I know who shares the fun of finding and eating this fruit is Orville Charles, a good friend of mine from Franklin.

What do we hunt? Paw paws.

Every year we share them with one another when this fruit gets ripe. Very few people anymore know what it is. If not for the song, hardly anyone would even know about it. As a kid, I'm sure you've all sang the song, "Where oh where is pretty little Suzie? Picking up paw paws putting 'em in her pockets, way down yonder in the paw paw patch."

Surely kids still sing this today, or did I just age myself?

If you don't know what you're looking for, paw paw trees could be hard to find. In the fall you can find them, as the song says, in a patch of several trees clumped together. Another distinguishing trait are its leaves. They look almost tropical, large and heavy. Underneath the leaves will be where you'll find the fruit. I can find the trees better in the spring when they bloom, because they have such a pretty eye-catching flower. The flower is a velvety maroon color and will be upside down on the tree, making it very easy to spot.

The fruit is very tasty and sweet. It is kidney shaped and will be anywhere from 3 to 6 inches long. Some think it tastes similar to bananas, although paw paws are much softer and sweeter.

However, this year, the hunt for the paw paws came up empty for both Orville and me. I know of three different locations of paw paw trees, and Orville has a couple he goes to, and all did not produce fruit this year. The only thing we can think of is the drought. I could see one patch not producing, but not all of them.

I'm sure the drought has affected many fall items.

I ran into a fellow hunter the other day. He was telling me about his hunting location, which was a white oak flat full of acorns. However, he said the deer were paying no attention to them. I asked him to inspect the acorns. He called me several days later and confirmed the acorns where mush inside, probably from the drought.

Oh well, that's nature. And I know I will be checking these paw paw patches in the spring to see if they bloom again. It will be just one more thing to give me reason to look forward to fall and all its beautiful splendor. There's still plenty of time to enjoy the great outdoors this fall, and there are so many things to see and do besides hunt or fish.

Who knows? You just might find a paw paw and put it in your pocket.

So until next time, good hunting.