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...
You can find some pretty cool things while walking in the woods and along back roads. I am going to try to share more of these finds with you, more often. First up, these awesome antlers! They were on the side of a hunting cabin at the very end of a dirt road.
As I was frantically trying to get myself and O ready for the day and out the door, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of these birds at my feeder, just 10 yards away (I know this because of my set up shooting my bow.) There was 12 of them, just picking at the bird seed that was on the ground. A few times, my movement would spook one of them and they could take a step or two back and then go back to pecking. I didn't see any beards and I have not seen this flock since, but I spent an extra 15 minutes taking photos and watching them. In my dream world, I could get up, make coffee, grab my bow and go sit on the porch waiting for them to come back. But, if my pattern holds, my turkey tag will remain unfilled and I...
When you kill a bear in Maine, you are legally required to submit a tooth to IF&W so that the bear can be aged and logged into the records. Each tooth is cut, like a tree, and the rings are counted. Biologists can learn about the health of the bear and it's age. Assuming that the tooth gets to where it needs to be. Typically, it takes a year for the data to be published. The link to the information is usually posted all over social media and eager hunters share how old their bear was. I couldn't wait to find out how old this guy was. The popular vote was about 8 years old. When the data was posted, I searched. I looked up my name. I looked up my guide's name. I looked up the tagging station and the...
This is what the owner of the property found the day before we arrived to shed hunt. He wasn't out looking for sheds, just walking around the property. As bummed as we were to see this, the fact that they now had two years worth of matching sheds for the same deer is pretty awesome. The set on the bottom is from 2015 and the set on top is from 2016.
Staci and I found a great place to shed hunt. We knew that there were deer all around and that we would be in the right spot to find something. It had started to snow when we got there but the forecast called for heavier snow in the late afternoon. As outdoors women, we figured that we would be fine. We just started following tracks to figure out where the deer were traveling from. We headed through a field and towards the woods, looking for beds, feeding areas or yards where the antlers may have fallen off. Our plan was to walk the perimeter of the property to see what we could find. It is always a good sign when you see a rub almost immediately. We have seen the sheds that have been found nearby so...
I was going to get the first shot in. I put the pin on the target and released. Hubby spun around, "where did it go?" I shook my head, "I have no idea" And just like that, I was down to five arrows. We put the kiddo down for his nap and lugged our gear outside. This was the first time that we were shooting at our house and not in the archery shop. I lined up again to shoot and realized that I hadn't lined up my peep with my sight for that first shot. I tried to determine how far off my first shot had been but it was pointless. I still haven't found that arrow. I had Hubby take photos and video so that I could look at my form and posture and attempt to fix some of the early issues that I was noticing; like...
These birds were making their way to the little water hole as we pulled into the driveway. There were six total that walked through, each stopping to get some water before continuing on. Just a few more months until the spring season starts!
