It was an emotional rollercoaster of a season. All I wanted was an eight point buck. I will save the story for another time, but it didn’t happen. But what did happen changed my whole perspective on deer hunting. After twenty years of hunting, I am done shooting small bucks. I shot my doe in the first hour of rifle season, so having the ability to shoot a doe AND a buck gave me the opportunity to keep hunting and looking for that big buck. I could sit and watch more of the does and fawns at different spots on the property. One morning, I watched a fisher running around my stand. I enjoyed being in the woods, knowing that I had a specific buck that I was after and that I had already put meat in the freezer. This season was more of...
Reason number 3,657,935 why my Dad is the best: As we were snowmobiling, we approached a bog and three eagles with about 20 crows took off. It could only mean one thing in my book - something was dead. We circled back and walked around in the snow but the birds had left and we couldnt find anything that would resemble a meal. A part of me thinks that we were in the wrong piece of land and should have been on the other side of the bog but in our snowmobile gear, we were not going to cover a lot of ground. I was disappointed that we couldn't find what the birds were eating but I was able to get some good pictures of one of the mature eagles and the immature eagle that were flying...
I found this turtle trying to cross the road on my way home after work. I was the obnoxious person who put their car's hazard lights on and stood in the middle of the road until the turtle was safely on the other side. Once I walked up close to him, he took off and was not wasting any time. It's that time of year! Watch out for them in the roads.
There is something so wonderful about not living in a city; wildlife! The deer are looking fantastic this spring since we had such a mild winter. They are in the process of shedding but if all goes well, they will be big, fat and healthy once fall comes. Yearling deer steps into the driveway Doe eating grass on the edge of the...
After a good rain in the early spring months, you can usually find some great animal tracks. Here, a yearling and cow moose ran down the edge of the road. This is the yearlings track, its the same size as my hand!
You can learn a lot by what animals leave behind. In this case, a bear was able to get a nice chunk of venison. The size and the amount of hair (you can see the white and tan hairs closest to my foot) tells you that this bear took more than just a nibble at the deer. Bear are one of the biggest predators of deer; especially deer fawns in the spring. Clearly there is one less deer in this area then there was before winter started!
Each year, a pair of Mallard ducks land in the pond. Most of the time, they leave after a week or so but this year, they seem to be staying around. We are hoping for some ducklings later on this spring. Female Mallard sits on a potential nest while the male looks on Male and female Mallard Male Mallard...