The last few days of hunting season were eventful in the wrong ways. Just to the right of the stick is a deer track in the leaves. In order for my mom to prepare and cook what she needed to for Thanksgiving dinner, I stayed home to watch O while Dad and Hubby went out for a few hours. In the afternoon, Hubby stayed home while O took a nap and Dad and I went out. The woods were quiet and calm. We didn't even see a squirrel. Thanksgiving night, O got sick; throwing up sick, which for a two year old is a scary thing. We made the decision to not hunt on Friday morning in case he still didnt feel good. I have been criticized in the past by readers who think that in order to be a good, qualified hunter, you...
This is how hunting is supposed to be! Cold in the morning with a solid front on the ground. Noisy but not enough to give your cover away. And sun. I love the sun. I sat in the Sky Condo, Hubby was in T3 and Dad decided that since time is ticking, he would walk. The plan was for him to walk the piece by T3 in hopes of jumping something towards Hubby. Then, the guys would head my way and split up. Dad would head east and loop around to my treeseat. Hubby would make a loop west then swing east and come out at my treeseat. When I saw Hubby at the foot plot, I was supposed to head immediately to my treeseat. I was excited about this plan because I had not sat in my treeseat all season and I missed...
I had called Dad mid-week to check in and he told me that we had a big buck by the Sky CondoOne 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...
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...
What happens when you tag out in the first 30 minutes of deer season? You get bored and are done hunting. Hubby and Dad both needed to be elsewhere last weekend so we stayed out of the woods. This weekend though, I am going into the woods. I will bring my camera and play photographer but I may also bring my gun and look for some coyotes. We know they are around - we saw a ton of high traffic areas in the snow recently. The issue of coyotes came up recently in a weekly newsletter from the National Deer Alliance. The NDA is a new organization that was started by hunters and managers at the North American Whitetail Summit. The goal of the group is to get all deer hunters involved and talking about the...
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...
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...
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...
