and a strong cup of coffee

I still have a few trail cameras out to see what the deer are up to.  I have gotten pictures of the big buck that is around and most recently, I got these pictures.  Normally, I wouldn't be too freaked out but now that we have a dog, it is a little unnerving.  Add that this camera is about 50 feet from our lawn and less than 100 feet from our front door... I hope that this one is just passing through. (Sidenote: I put new batteries in this camera so the date and time are wrong BUT  I walked in front of it so it would take my picture and I could figure out what the actual time and date were: 7am Saturday morning.)

If you do not follow me on Facebook , then you don't know that Dad totally schooled us in how to shoot a big buck.  Did some scouting, brought his gun, right place, right time, incredible buck! (Mom's flip phone doesn't take great pictures) So, that leaves Hubs (who has a doe permit) and I (who does not) to attempt to get a shot at one of these big bucks!  The competition is on!

One of the does that we have around the house had twins.  Our landlord asked if we had seen them and at the time, we had not.  I set up my Moultrie, threw out a few apples and waited. I have gotten some great photos but I have yet to see both fawns, which makes me wonder if the other fawn has died or if this is a different doe/fawn combo. I am running out of apples but am planing on keeping my camera up to see if I can get any photos of the two fawns together.  And if not, I will move the camera and try to figure out where the bucks are around here. I may also move this camera up to the Sky Condo and check out some old rub lines to see which bucks are roaming around. It is looking like it will be a good deer season!

They may be small, but I love seeing both of them!

I posted these pictures on the Facebook page and asked people what they thought was going on with my doe's shoulder.  We got a few different responses but I am not sure. Warts? Burdock? a horribly placed bow shot? I am hoping to keep watching her and see.  This is the first time that we have seen a deer with something like this.  On the flip side, she looks very healthy.

How can you not be excited when you are checking trail cameras? The suspense, the unknowing... one of the first pulls of the season gave us quite a shock. A dog.  A big brown, pit bull looking dog at the Sky Condo. It looks healthy enough but the last thing we want is a dog up there.  Is it friendly? Who knows but now we may need to carry more protection than we usually do when we are checking the cameras and making tweaks to the food plots.  I would rather see a coyote; they are skiddish of people and don't tend to come out in daylight hours.  Plus, you can shoot them on sight and resolve the problem. Dad thinks he knows who own's the dog but regardless, it doesn't belong running in the woods. 

There is no snow on the ground and the temperatures have been in the 50s instead of the teens or 20s.  As a result, our deer herd is having a great time getting lots of food without the worry of snow, freezing temps or that coyote that is (still) around. Dad still has the trail cameras out and we are getting some encouraging pictures.  I didn't bother copying the ones of the coyote, but he is still around and solo. But these are always good to see and it means that we will need to change things up for next season if we are going to outwit this deer.  I believe he is about 3.5 or 4.5 years old and knows how to avoid hunters. I can NOT get over the size of his neck! And the next generation of big bucks: From the side, his antlers looked like they are slicked back instead of standing upright.  Hopefully he makes it through the winter.

I had called Dad mid-week to check in and he told me that we had a big buck by the Sky Condo One of the 8's? I eagerly asked No. Bigger If I could have driven up that night, I would have.  But I had to wait until Friday to put the memory cards into the computer and look at what Dad was talking about.  This is, BY FAR, the thickest deer we have ever seen on the camera.  He is clearly all rutted up because he has no neck!  It also looks like his E2 is broken on his right side.  He was on the camera a handful of times over the past week. I am ready to put in some time Wed, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in hopes that one of us will get a crack at this big guy. 

I hate coyotes.  They just freak me out especially when you can hear them but not see them.  On opening day of the 2015 deer season, we heard one howling especially close to where we were headed.  Over the summer, there had been a trail camera photo here or there but it had been quiet until that morning. Then, Dad handed my the memory cards to review before we went into the woods last weekend. As if gloating, here are a few highlights: He actually lays down!  All in all, he spent about one hour in front of this camera.  He was on the camera more than any other bucks were and I am sure the does are not happy about this. I talked to a friend of mine who traps and he has offered me a couple of his traps to see if I can get this guy and help the deer herd.  He is the reason that I won't sure the doe with the fawn - I need to keep the good moms around so more fawns can survive. We will see how this goes, but between trapping and maybe so...

With these deer around, I may want to get my sleeping bag and heater ready for deer season! What do you guys think? Is it too early for these big guys to be going around to their scrapes? This guy is back in the pattern of stopping by twice a night to check things out.

It is like Christmas every time you check the cameras... will the same buck be around? are there new bucks? what about the coyote? how is the fawn? Then, you get a glimpse into the woodland word. I am surprised that this little ones still has its spots but it is healthy! Look at that belly. We have quite a few pictures of this fawn with its mom.  It is the only baby around and I would love to get a chance to watch them while I am hunting. Look how wide those spikes are! No brow tines on this guy.  When you zoom in on the second picture, this looks like a crotch horn. He has a decent body too, which would provide us with some excellent meat this winter. I usually end up squealing when I see these pictures.  I can't help it.  I have never shot a large deer like this.  Dad has not shot a large deer like this since I started hunting with him but we have seen them on the cameras. They are big for a reason and once the rut kicks in, we have found that they s...

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!

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...

Still no bucks on the trail camera but the does and fawns are still around and looking very healthy!  The coyote is still around and the deer tracks in the muddy areas are proving that there are some big deer around.    

When we pulled the memory card a week or so ago, we saw this picture.  Nothing before and nothing after, just this one glimpse in time.  I posted it on my Facebook page and got some great comments about what it could be.  What are your thoughts?

Ever since the season ended on June 6, we have had turkeys on every pull from the trail camera.  Every time! Clearly these guys are just mocking me.

I was thrilled to see these pictures on the camera.  I dont think I have ever seen a fawn this little in the pictures.  We had three of them, but he was in a hurry so this is the least blurry one.  I can not wait to see if there are more pictures when we pull the card next time. Doe and new fawn run across the field And even though we saw the rafter of turkeys, it is nice to see the hen with such a healthy group of babies. Hen with 10 poults It will be great to see them grow over the next few months.  Hopefully they can do that without any interference from this .  Otherwise, Dad and I will have to take care of it.

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...