and a strong cup of coffee

You could ask any deer hunter how the herd is in their area and get a different answer every time.  We all want the best habitat, doe to buck ratio and a very limited number of predators in our area. What I didn’t know, is that like moose here in Maine, we have deer that are collared and monitored in order to help biologists understand the true health of the deer herd. I sat down with Maine’s deer biologist Kyle Ravana to ask him about the collaring program and what he (and IFW) hope to learn from it.    Where are the deer that are being collared? And why those WMDs? Right now, we have deer collared in WMD 17 and 6 and want to expand into either WMD 8 or 1.  17 is good because there is usually a good mix of snow pack levels and human population numbers.  6 is almost split into two regions; the west that has the big woods and the east that has farms and urban areas. We really want to get a slice of every possible habitat the deer live in so that we c...

It's that time of year when deer are yarded up and surviving the harsh winter weather.  I've been fortunate enough to see lots of healthy looking deer while walking through the woods.  In talking with friends about the deer herd in their area, they have mentioned that they want to start feeding the deer to help them make it through the winter.  I quickly respond with NO! Don't feed the deer! It is fun to see deer come out of the woods and munch on grain or corn, but what a lot of people don't realize is that feeding deer these foods during the winter months could have dire consequences and could actually kill the deer that they are trying to help.  Here are the primary reason why you should not feed deer during the winter: Biological Impact : Every animal has bacteria in their gut that helps to break down food. In the case of white-tails, the bacteria changes depending on the season and what their primary food source will be.  In the spring, summer and early...

I am a proud member of the Orange army.   I never really thought about it until I became more involved with the online hunting groups.  So many of my buddies on social media have posted  over the past couple of weeks about trying to get a deer and getting out of the woods before the orange army comes in. There are trail cam pics being posted with spike horns or crotch horns with a note about the likelihood of the deer being shot by the orange army. Allow me to tell you what this proud member does when she puts on her orange.  She is looking for food to feed her family.  She proudly carries her rifle into the woods and knows that with one well placed shot, she can drop a deer dead in its tracks.  She is able to put on that orange and spend time with her Dad in the woods.  She can sit in the stands that they built and watch fawns and their mothers interact.  She is a hunter and proud of it.

We can not hunt in Maine on Sundays but that doesnt mean we can not enjoy the wildlife!  This doe was enjoying the grass when we caught a glimpse of her.  Maybe that means there is a buck or two around.

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.

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 am now going to be stalking the trail camera pictures and probably trying to put out more as the summer goes on.  This is a new buck - a little smaller than the earlier one that I posted which means that at least a couple of them made it through the winter and with the amount of does that are around, I would say that we have a pretty healthy deer herd hanging around! Look at those pedicals

I convinced Dad to put the trail camera back out at the Sky Condo to see what deer are around and made it through the winter... and it was like seeing old friends. Five healthy looking deer! Last year's fawns look good as yearlings If you zoom in, you can see antlers beginning.  This is one of those 8-pointers! It is always great to see the healthy does and in some shots, one looks like she could be pregnant but what I loved was the picture above that shows antlers beginning.  Looking at his body size and shape, I do believe that this is the smaller of the two 8-pointers.  We are keeping these cameras rolling, but in the three days that we had it out, we had almost 450 picture of the deer as they walk through and eat at some of the grass that is beginning to grow. Could this be the year that I land one of the big ones?  Who knows, but at least I know that it's an option.

Well, I can still look at the photos right?  Since Dad and Hubby still need to fill their tags, we are still looking at the trail cameras to see which deer are around.  It is also fascinating to see how the deer change their behaviors as the season progresses and the rut starts. Case in point - those two big 8-pointers that I want the guys to shoot, are still around! These are from a couple week ago.  I forgot to get the newer pictures from Saturday am when they walked through. I have been chasing this second deer for two years now.  If the guys don't get him this year, I want to land him next year! Also, how funny that the two biggest deer around are within three minutes of one another in the woods.

As I walked into the woods with Dad, I noticed many more posted signs than in previous years.  And more than what had been there even two weeks before.  No one had signed them but they were clearly on the property next to ours.  We walked along the property line towards my treeseat.  It was raining hard enough so that I could see the drops flash in front of my headlight but I was in my wool pants and coat so I knew that I should be OK for the five hour sit that I had planned. Dad waited until I had climbed up, got situated and clicked off my headlamp (it was a new purchase that I had made when I decided to go bear hunting and it was very useful now as we walked into the dark woods.)  I settled in and waited for day light to break on opening day of deer season! I wasn't going to sit in this spot.  I had planned to be in the Sky Condo but after viewing the latest trail cam photos and seeing that 8-pointer make his first daylight appearance on Thursday mo...

This could be the best season ever when it comes to trail cam photos of the deer around the Sky Condo.  Hunter or not, how can you not love and respect these great animals?!  I can not wait until deer season starts.

I was so excited when I looked at the trail camera pictures from the past week.  I finally was able to figure out that the deer I had been studying was (and is) the same deer.  Here is my proof.  Note the time and position of the deer.  YEAH!  Mystery solved.  I am looking for one deer, who is probably 3.5 or 4.5 years old.  I have pictures of him from last year and this year. He is smart, stays nocturnal for most of the season but likes to come back to the same areas.  I know that no matter who sees him (us or the nearby neighbors) he will be shot at.  I just need to formulate my plan of attack and be smart about it.  Finally, some peace of mind... ... And then, there were two. The deer above is not this deer . I am not going to get a wink of sleep the night before opening day!

Trail Cam photo.  I wish I had been able to take a shot at him. There are islands off the coast of Maine that have had to eradicate their deer population for the health of the people who live there.  There have also been controlled hunts to help with deer and tick issues that wreck havoc on the health of people in the area. On Mount Desert Island, the issue of a deer hunt is going to be on the ballot this fall . The guidelines are pretty simple.   For the first two to four years, hunters who own property can set up tree stands or ground blinds and hunt from them.  They can have friends and family do the same with permission, on that same property.  Using common sense, there will be an appropriate amount of space between these stationary hunting spots.  Firearms and bows can be used.  If the proposal passes, the hunt will last anywhere from 2-4 weeks.  After this trial period, hunting would only be allowed in October and hunters could only u...

The following pictures are driving me out of my hunting mind!  We are getting these great pictures on a weekly basis but for the life of me (and Dad and a couple other hunters who I have asked) I can not figure out if this is one deer or two! I was sure after this last set of pictures that I had two big deer around.  I still think I might based solely on their G3 tine but when I sent these pictures to two hunters, they both wrote back saying that they could not tell for sure, if it was one or two deer. I was watching hunting shows over the weekend and on two different shows they had deer that looked like the deer in this last picture and when that deer turned, it looked exactly like the first picture (above).  Or visa versa.  Even the pros can not help me determine what sort of deer I am dealing with.  I am losing my mind trying to figure out what type of bucks and how many I am dealing with. One thing is for sure, there is a lot of antler out the...

I have been going back and forth between these photos from last hunting season and the ones below.  Is it the same deer?  The photos are off my two months (Sept vs Nov) but are we looking at the same deer?  It looks like the same antler frame and maybe the same antlers, but I think G3 is longer in the 2013 pictures - or it could be the angle, light and position of the deer. What do you think?  Same deer?

It is pretty cool to be able to see a buck on the trail camera.  This guy was caught on the camera on three different dates but almost at the same spot.  It gives us a cool chance to see how his antlers are growing this season.  This is the first time that we have been able to see the growth, to this extent over a one month period.  I love deer season!!!

Last fall, we had somewhere between 7 and 10 bucks of all sizes around the treestands.  The biggest bucks we have ever seen showed up a few years ago in mid-August.  This year, we had only does on the cameras.  Sometimes two, three or four but never any antlers.  A few weeks ago, we finally saw some velvet.  But this, is more like it! And check out the time of these pictures. I just hope that we start seeing these types of pictures more often now. I dont know if this is the same spike horn as the first picture or not.

Dad has been gathering and rotating the camera memory cards for about a month now hoping to get a picture of something we like.  There are a group of does hanging around which we think are the same group that has been there for the past three of four years.  We kept telling ourselves that 'where there are does, there are buck' but it's just not the same.  Finally!  We saw what we were looking for.  Just two pictures but this one is good enough to get us ready to take to the woods. Bring on deer season! I called tibs on this guy! A nice eight-pointer walking through.