and a strong cup of coffee

We have seen the tracks and scat and now... urgh! There were three pictures of him coming down a deer trail.  We had pictures of a doe walking in the opposite direction about 30 minutes before and then this. I might end up buying a call and seeing if I can lure him into the field by the Sky Condo.  The last thing we want are coyotes around, especially if we have a nice herd of deer and flock of turkey. 

Dad was able to mow the field around the Sky Condo the other day and when we pulled the memory card from the camera, I instantly put it into my digital camera and started turning the wheel to see if we had any bucks.  The first picture that I came to that had hunt-able animals were these: The bird that we swore had disappeared into the ether when we were hunting suddenly came back in full force.  There were all kinds of pictures of turkeys.  Like this one.  I especially like that the jake made sure to show me his beard.  I was more excited about this photo.  Not because it's a button but because that means that the bucks will hopefully start moving around.  We got the first photo of the 10 pointer last year, in August.  Although I can not remember if it was because that is when he started coming around or if that is when we started putting the cameras out. He looks scrawny and not nearly as healthy as some of the does that we have a...

My friend Staci is a fisherwoman.  She had the gear, knows her stuff and has years of experience.  Somehow, someway, I convinced her to take me fishing. We were watching the water height and strength online and it looked promising so that is where we headed.  An hour later we arrived to this:  the water had been released from the dam above and was raging.  I snapped a couple of pictures and we headed to a different spot to try out luck. Staci said this was a little high compared to what it was a few days before when she was there with her husband but it seemed doable and we wanted to be able to cast a few times just to say that we did it.  I had received two pairs of waders from a retiring coworker so I was eager to try them out and hoped that they would hold up. The bridge swung a little as we drove over it We geared up, Staci put some ties on both of our fly rods (I watched her and tried to adjust the waders).  And we headed into ...

There are three does around my parent's house.  One of them looks as though she doesnt have a tail OR that she has a solid white tail.  Over the past few weeks, she has disappeared, presumably to have a fawn.  I couldn't zoom in as much as I needed to, but I think this could be here.  I spotted her after I had put O to bed after his day long birthday party.   Also, there were not a lot of deer pictures on the trail camera when I checked it the day before.  A couple does, a racoon and some caterpillars crawling over the lens.  We need to mow the grass down and hopefully we can get some bucks walking through. But, there are deer around and I will take that any day.

I have written a few times ( here and here ) about the lack of women's clothing in the outdoor industry that fit and do their job.  I have pieced together my hunting wardrobe with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Then, a friend of mine on Facebook posted something about EvoOutdoors and I checked them out.  It was like finding a pot of gold . Not just two pairs of pants that would not fit right or a jacket too big, but actual women's hunting clothes with options!  I wanted in. This is my Classic Mainer look: WOOL! This is how the website describes this awesome group that I am now a part of: EvoOutdoors ProStaff Team members have a passion for the outdoors. They are a group that prides themselves in ethical hunting techniques and passing that tradition to the younger generation. You can find them sharing their talent mentoring others, volunteering in their community, and of course out in the field in the pursuit of game! YES, PLEASE! ...

Slowly but surely, I am going to learn how to fly fish!  There is a blog coming (along with a couple turkey blogs) but until I can sit down and publish them... enjoy the view from the river. We arrived about an hour after they released the water. A little better!

The night before we were going to be heading into the woods, I looked around for my home made box call and slate call and could not find them.  I only had a store bought box call, push call and electronic call.  I have tried and can not use the mouth calls, so those are pointless. I gathered up my camo and got ready for the 4am excursion.  I can't help but wonder exactly why I want to go turkey hunting; it's a season of ridiculously early starts, ticks and warm weather. And ticks!  There is really not much that is appealing about it.  But, Dad and I were going to try to find a turkey.  We started off at the Sky Condo in a ground blind.  We sat and waited. I used the chalked-up box call and the electric call.  I listened and waited.  It was like muscle memory coming back to me since I sit and wait while deer hunting.  I called some more and heard a noise. I motioned to Dad and I watched as one, two, three sets of legs emer...