and a strong cup of coffee

I know that today marks the start of bear season, but nothing get me more excited than seeing bucks on the trail cameras, especially when they are the deer that you have been after for multiple seasons!  I can not wait til opening day of rifle season.  Meat is meat and I will be grateful to fill the freezer, but those two big bucks... they would be a feat! Littlest Little Little Big Biggest From the look at this picture, this is the 'smaller' of the two large bucks that we have around.  Fingers crossed that this season, we can give you a close up picture!

After Steve and I tweaked the bait sites and refilled the barrels and crates, we waited to see if and when the bears returned to the sites.  Three days after we were there, Steve went back to check: bam! bears at both sites and no food left. Other hunters have been seeing the same thing; lots of bears (many of them good sized bears) are already hitting the bait sites hard this season.  When Steve and I were up the first time, we noticed that the blackberries and raspberries were not looking good.  Without a lot of fun and rain, the berries were small and still very green.  The temperature has dropped a few times down to the 40s at night which could kill some of the bear's food source.  There are plenty of apples, which we know the bears are eating but those will only be around for so long before they are gone. This unstable natural food supply means that the bears will need to come to the bait to get those missing calories before they den up. I hope that I...

I shoveled bait from a 55 gallon drum into five gallon buckets and we loaded up the truck. Eight buckets of assorted types of bait, two buckets of disgusting beaver and some secret ingredients and we were off to check the bait sites for the 2015 bear hunting season! A truck full of bait ready to go Steve and Lorri had set up the two bait sites a few days before and we were eager to see if any bears had found the sites.  The monsters from last year were not killed so we knew that there would be some big bears around. We hiked into Site 2 first and carried buckets and tools in.  Steve led the way and we anxiously kept peaking around the corner to see if things has been moved.  They had!! We dropped the supplies and did what almost every hunter does - check the trail cameras! At least two different bears had come in to check the bait.  The 55 gallon drum that is hung up with cables is about three feet off the ground.  Any bear whose back is at leas...

I have been saving all of the 'good' trail camera pictures over the years partially because it is fun to see the animals that were around but also because it is a reference check for what the norm is for our area. We have not had a lot of bucks on the trail cameras yet but I keep telling myself that it's late August when they start showing themselves.  The small buck that we have seen is no where near the size of this guy: he is one of the two large bucks that we have seen over the past couple of years.  No one shot either one last season so they are still around assuming that the winter did not kill them off.  We have seen hawks like the one above, deer, coyotes, turkey, fisher, racoons and a mystery cat on the camera.  I realize that these animals were in the area long before the invention of trail cameras but it is nice to be able to get a sneak peak into the world when we are not there. It is easy to become obsessed with pulling the memory cards and c...

When Staci and I headed to our last spot to fish, we flushed two birds from the trees.  Initially, I could not tell if they were hawks, turkeys or what... it wasn't until they landed on a tree across the stream from us that we could see them! Young Great Horned Owls! We are assuming that they are this year's chicks since they look big but do not have the classic tuffs on the top of their heads.  Any bird experts out there who can confirm?

Staci and I headed out again for our second fishing adventure! For the second time, the water levels where we wanted to go were too high so we headed to my hometown to try our lines in the river. The Kennebec River The Kennebec River It was fantastic to be fishing there since I had never done it but I quickly learned that my lures were way too heavy for the water and the grass and slim covering the rocks.  I would get caught on every two or three casts while Staci was using a fly rod and was able to cast out and relax for a few minutes before casting again. We walked about a mile down the river closer to town and tried again to get a bite.  Seeing town from this angle was great! And the weather was perfect. My lure sunk worst at this spot then the first one and I only cast a few times before I reeled in my line and walked over to watch Staci. The Kennebec River The Kennebec Rive Soon, we decided that we needed lunch and to try a third spot.  One ...

My parents have had a snowshoe hare around the house for a few months.  Typically, we see one and within a week it is gone (via interaction with a vehicle) but recently, there were two and then three.  All of the adults and kids were outside playing and those hare would race across the back lawn, run along the edge of the garden and at one point, one of them ran along the edge of the house.  They were cute at first but they are getting a little too comfortable around humans.  Maybe they will head somewhere else this fall... or maybe their lack of caution will result in more car altercations and less human ones.  Life with wild critters is never calm!

While cutting some firewood, Dad, Hubby and I scoped out some of the land that we hunt on.  We were looking for tracks and maybe a sighting or two.  It was a great day for wildlife; I had seen a 4 or 6 point buck in velvet along the edge of the road that morning when I went to get some coffee. It almost looks like a chair The birds must be eating well The rain wasn't too bad so we explored as threw some firewood into the truck.  It was a quiet, nice day in the woods and we were able to look around and plan our routes into the woods for this fall. The road into the woodlot Tools of the trade Dad can spot an animal track while in a truck traveling along.  I am not nearly as good.  I missed these tracks but Dad had seen two different spots over the course of a week.  The day after this, we saw the moose! A young bull moose track

I watched this female cardinal enjoying some bugs for breakfast.  Even in the city, it's nice to enjoy the wildlife. Female Cardinal with bug Busted!