Trail Camera Basics

In a recent post I mentioned that spring is a good time to scout and pattern deer movements.  That's because whitetails tend to be creatures of habit.  They tend to stick to the three or so miles of cleared and mowed trails I've carved-out or they create their own trails through the woods.

Spring is a good time since the ground is wet and muddy and the deer trails stick out like a cow path leading to a barn.

Like this:

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Which is why I moved one of the cameras directly in the line of this path.  It will be interesting to see who we see.

RCG

Reed Canary Grass (RCG) is an unwelcome invader of wetlands.

It can form a dense, thick, mat of turf and crowd-out all of the desirable native plant species.  Nobody eats it.  It looks like hell. It serves no useful purpose.  Therefore, it must die.

Easy to say.

After almost a couple of decades I will tell you it cannot be killed.  You can burn it, spray it, mow it and short of digging it out with a back hoe - it eventually comes back.

Yesterday I mounted my big sprayer on the quad and did battle with the RCG.  The sprayer holds 15 gallons of Rodeo mixed with a surfactant and some turf dye.  The blue dye is marvelous for helping to know where you've sprayed and where you haven't.

Now is the window of opportunity for spraying.  Many of the natives are still slumbering in the soil while the cool season grasses are lush, green and vulnerable  If I can knock-back the RCG - long dormant seeds and plants will be released.

Tough work.  Had to maneuver the ATV into some remote areas, fording water while driving in low gear with the four-wheel drive engaged.  Tall, rubber boots too.  By the end of the day I applied 45 gallons of herbicide with high hopes of giving some of the natives an opportunity to spring-forth.

Like this Marsh Marigold.

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Wurst

In my initial foray into  charcuterie here is the first batch of chubby breakfast sausages.

This was a trial run with six pounds of pork grinds and a commercial seasoning.  I wanted to make sure all of the equipment was in working order.

Good thing too.

Cabela's had the wrong size collar for the stuffing tube in the box so the sheep casings couldn't be utilized.  Substituted some hog casings instead.

Replacement part is on back order.  Stay tuned...

Haircut

Out walking the dog recently and I came across this pile of hair.

It's deer hair.

And it's clumped around like you see on a barbershop floor.

No hide.

Just hair.

I wonder what the story is?

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Doe

 
Another of the resident deer.
 
A doe.
 
This deer has a domed head - a field mark identifier for a female of the species.
 
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Buck

One of the resident deer.

Do you know how you can identify this whitetail as a buck?

Look closely at the head and you can see that his antlers are just beginning to sprout.

Female deer have domed heads.

Male deer that haven't grown antlers are called 'flat tops'.

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Guess The Critter

The weekend before last I bagged a really nice tom turkey during the spring hunt.  After I processed the bird into its component edible parts I took the remaining parts  - the wings, head and neck and some entrails - and dropped them in front of the game camera. 

I was hoping to attract someone that would dine on this delectable repast.

Sure enough - look who came along.

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Who is it?

The Garden Chronicles

At long last the main garden is getting a makeover.

A raised bed!

No longer will my dirt wash away.  Furthermore, I have a means to mount a seasonal hose bib for a drip irrigation system.

And maybe some day a hoop house.

A local landscape contractor - Baylake Landscaping - completed the project in a day and a half.

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Economics Lesson Of the Day

Even in the world of economics...

Shit happens.

The Local Deer Population

I figure by now you are probably bored out of your skull with a seemingly endless array of trail camera pictures of our local deer herd.

While out turkey hunting last week it was refreshing to observe some of there deer up close and personal.

Last Friday the 13th I spied seven whitetails cruising through my set-up shortly after sunrise.

What looks like snow on the ground is frost.

Overnight lows of 24 degrees.

Brrrrr.....

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Lonesome Hen

While out turkey hunting last week I spied a solo hen.  Let's call her the lonesome hen.

A lonesome hen is not so bad to have checking out your situation as a lovesick gobbler might be attracted to the same situation and allow himself to make a fatal miscalculation.

Turkey hunting was strange this spring. 

My pals, Lawyer, Braumeister and Sid are up next.

Stay tuned...

Kayaker Slain by Swan

With the ice out, and warming conditions the kayaks are out.  Been seeing them traveling on the top of Subarus running up and down the highway lately.

Haven't seen any in the water - but that's another matter altogether.

Since the kayak season is now upon us please be safe and avoid dangerous, mute swans.

Here is a tragic story of a man in a kayak drowning after being attacked by a swan.

Ironically, he was employing dangerous, invasive swans to chase way nuisance geese.

In prior years the DNR has been proactive about controlling populations if non-native mute swans only to draw the wrath of the shoreland gentry.

That's too bad. 

Maybe if a few more kayakers are killed by the swans the gentry will come to their senses?

Smile for the Trail Camera

Last Saturday I left an offering of turkey offal for the denizens of the local forest.

Wings, entrails, a head and neck.

Blech!

Will be interesting to see who recycles it...

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Cub Scouts

Saturday's dinner was courtesy of the local Cub Scout Pack in Brussels. 

Good thing too.  I had to pluck, clean and butcher more than 24 pounds of wild turkey.  I was pooped and famished.

$6 for all you can eat dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (senior rates).  Including tossed salad, choice of dressing, garlic bread, kegged rootbeer, coffee and water.  And homemade desserts!

$10 for raffle tickets

Watching the young boys do the serving...

Priceless.

The Frau even won a cool vintage cherry picking poster mounted on a board and some cherry motif placements.

Big - Assed Gobbler

Nice bird, eh?


Big bird - 24.5 pounds, a ten-inch double beard and 7/8th inch spurs.



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Talk'n Turkey

This is a wake for a deceased turkey.

In the lower right-hand corner of the photo is a turkey I shot.

Dead as a door nail.

Surrounding him at the four members of his posse.

I think I might just have slain the turkey emperor.

You can read all about the spring turkey hunt over at the other blog. 

Lawyer, Braumeister and Sid are on deck...

Silver Creek

This is my navigable stream.

Silver Creek.

It eventually empties into the Ahnapee River which empties into Lake Michigan.

As is the nature of ephemeral water bodies the creek will run dry before too long.

With enough precipitation it will run longer.

Friday the 13th

Someone took a dump on the roof of this nest box.

Probably a disgusting raccoon.

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Smell That Dairy Air

Our neighbor has been shuttling his bazillion-gallon jauchewagen and spreading geysers of liquefied manure on the field across the road.

Whew!

I was turkey hunting more than a mile away and could smell it.  At the house it was enough to make you gasp.  The Frau was out working in her flower beds this afternoon and had to take a shower - not because of gardening - but because she smelled like a barnyard.

The dogs have been luxuriating in the atmosphere.

Smile for the Trail Camera

Interesting composition don't you think?

Early light.

A little fog.

Nice fat deer.

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The Drivers License

A mother is driving her little girl to her friend's house for a play date.


'Mommy,' the little girl asks, 'how old are you?'

'Honey, you are not supposed to ask a lady her age,' the mother replied.  'It's not polite.'

'OK', the little girl says, 'How much do you weigh?'


'Now really,' the mother says, 'those are personal questions and are really none of your business.'


Undaunted, the little girl asks, 'Why did you and Daddy get a divorce?'


'That's enough questions, young lady! Honestly!'


The exasperated mother walks away as the two friends begin to play.


'My Mom won't tell me anything about her,' the little girl says to her friend.


'Well,' says the friend, 'all you need to do is look at her driver's license.  It's like a report card, it has everything on it.'


Later that night the little girl says to her mother, 'I know how old you are. You are 32.'


The mother is surprised and asks, 'How did you find that out?


'I also know that you weigh 130 pounds.'


The mother is past surprised and shocked now.


'How in Heaven's name did you find that out?'


'And,' the little girl says triumphantly, 'I know why you and daddy got a divorce.'


'Oh really?' the mother asks. 'Why?'


'Because you got an F in sex.' 

X Marks The Spot

Been out scouting deer trails in anticipation of the fall hunt.  Because the ground is wetter in the spring the trails are very easy to locate. They're almost like trampled cow paths.

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Sometimes the trails intersect as in the picture above.  X marks the spot!

Shed Hunting

The deer skull that Girlfriend found in the woods cleaned-up really well.

The teeth have even been set with glue.

Unfortunately the antlers lost their natural patina from both laying on the ground and during the cleaning process.

Maybe the commentator from last week can suggest how he/she stained the antlers on the skull they had? 

Having a Blast

A guy buys a new Lincoln Navigator for $42,500.00 with monthly payments of $620. He and a friend go duck hunting in northern Wisconsin. It's early winter and all of the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the ice with their guns, a big, black Labrador retriever and of course the new Lincoln.

They decide they want to make a natural looking open water area for the ducks to focus on and something for the decoys to float on. Making a hole in the ice large enough to invite a passing duck, is going to take a little more power than the average drill auger can produce. So out of the back of the new Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a short 40-second fuse.

The two Rocket Scientists, afraid they might slip on the ice while trying to run away after lighting the fuse, decide upon the following course of action.

They light the fuse. And with a mighty heave-ho, throw the stick of dynamite as far away as possible.

Without skipping a beat the Labrador retriever takes-off across the ice at a high rate of speed and grabs the stick of dynamite (with the burning 40-second fuse) just as it hits the ice.

The two guys swallow, blink, start waving their arms and with veins in their necks swelling to resemble stalks of rhubarb, scream and holler at the dog to stop.

The dog, cheered-on by all of the waving and shouting, keeps coming - picking-up speed along the way.

One hunter panics, grabs the shotgun and shoots in the direction of the dog. The shotgun is loaded with #8 bird shot, hardly big enough to stop a big, goofy, male, Lab.

The dog pauses briefly, slightly confused, and then charges in the direction of the two men - the fuse on the dynamite trailing sparks.

Another shot. This time the unfazed dog becomes totally confused and freaked-out. The dog thinks - These two geniuses have gone insane!

Taking-off to hide from his tormentors the dog runs underneath the brand-new Navigator.

The men continue to scream as they run.

The hot exhaust pipe on the truck touches the dog's rear end. He yelps, drops the dynamite under the truck and takes off after his master.

KABOOM!

The truck is blown into the air, does a summersault and crashes back on the blasted hole in the ice and sinks rapidly to the bottom of the lake leaving the two idiots standing there with a look of shock on their pale faces.

Naturally, the illegal use of explosives is not covered by the insurance company. And the vehicle owner had yet to make the first of sixty - $620 a month payments.

The dog is doing fine.

Mud Season

This picture is a couple of weeks old already but it hasn't dried-out one bit.

Me and my muddy Lab.

Mud season is sticking around for a spell.

Spring turkey hunting is going to be a soggy experience.

No leather boots afield yet.

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Deer Alarm

A classic capture of deer behavior...

The alarm call.

This what deer do when you are bow hunting and the wind you.  That white tail flares out and up, they snort and they're gone!

Wonder what spooked this deer.

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In Search of An Even Better Bloody Mary

My homemade tomato juice is a good start to the perfect Bloody Mary.

But I may have stumbled-upon an even better, and improved variation.

Added a tiny bit of roasted garlic to the mill when I made this batch.


Long Live The Foley Food Mill.

Yum!

Shed Hunting

The Frau was out with Girlfriend the other day and the dog came out of the woods with a real prize.

Not just a shed antler.

Or a leg bone from some carcass.

She returned with this!

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An intact deer skull with the antlers attached.

I'm going to clean it-up and hang it on a wall.  Instant European mount.

Climate Change?

My pal Sid put his boat in the water last Saturday, March 31.  We had a couple of inches of snow on the peninsula early Friday - but otherwise it has been unseasonably warm.

The local Gannet paper - The Door County Advocate (celebrating 150 years of continuous publishing) has a column a couple of times a week witth news items from the past.

Here's a couple of March events that caught my eye:

100 Years Ago:  1912  W.C. Perterson, Sister Bay, hauled 18,000 feet of lumber across from Menomonee last week, using one team and three sleighs.

And H.J. Pleck on Friday drove down from Sister Bay on the ice with his auto, having covered the distance of about 35 miles in a trifle over three hours.

125 Years Ago:  1887 The building purchased from Joseph Bradle by Jacob Trossen was placed on runners last Friday and drawn across the bay ice by one team of horses, the expense incurred being only $8.

And a gentleman cut a hole in the ice near Green Island and reports that in that location it was 28 inches thick, and very solid.  Reports from Sister Bay are that the ice is three and a half feet thick.

Go figure...

A Threesome of Deer

Yup.  Mama and the twins.

In the same hot deer spot.  I'm going to leave the camera here for another year.

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Rites Of Spring

From the weekend list:

Canned and pasteurized ten quarts of homemade tomato juice

Fetched the pick-up from the garage

Fetched the mail from the post office

Fetched the batteries from the garage and installed them in the lawn tractor and the New Holland

Fetched $121 worth of gas and diesel and topped-off all the engines

Filled every rubber tire in sight

Listened to country music on the stereo in the machine shed

Started the big tractor, lawn tractor and other small engine tools

Made a list of maintenance items

Turned down the music at the request of The Frau

Took the deer cutting board back to the garage

Cleaned a really cool deer skull that Girlfriend found in the woods

Filled the wood box in the house

Took Girlfriend for a walk every day

Fetched the memory cards from trail cameras

Scouted deer trails and placed to stalk wild turkeys

Allowed Sister to sit outside and watch what was  going-on

Sprayed the apple trees (I resolve to be diligent in my spraying regimen this year)

Filled the bird feeders

Picked-up dog poop in the yard

Measured and pin flagged a spot to start a raspberry patch

Cleaned the asparagus patch and weeded and cleaned-out the kitchen garden

Drank icy-cold beers at the end of each day

Made an awesome fish fry on Friday with perch caught last year and oven fried potatoes from the garden

Made venison tacos with frijoles and homemade guacamole on Saturday

Stayed up late on Saturday and watch The Wolfman Meets Frankenstein along with Svengoolie

Sunday breakfast was scrambled eggs and taco meat in a soft tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese - yum

Life is good

Alien From Outer Space

I previously blogged about a strange apparition that was appearing in the night sky.

I always thought there might be aliens visiting from another world and the trail camera wasn't just seeing things.

I now have proof.

I am not making this up.

Someone emailed me this picture that someone else's camera captured...

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