My Girls

It's not often that you can get Labrador retrievers to sit still long enough for a photoraph.

However, if you take them out for the day while you prune oak trees and allow them to run all over the woods sniffing and snuffing and dining on all manner of offal then they're usually pretty content to sit in front of the wood burner and chill. 

Actually it's more like a light roast.

It Was The Best of Times - It was The Wurst of Times

Getting my groove back making fresh sausage.

The Frau and I were busy over the weekend.  Check this out...

One hundred fresh bratwurst sausages!

Too bad the Packers aren't going to the Super Bowl.  Just think about the tailgate party I could throw...

Patterning The Same Deer

I've now successfully patterned the movement of the same group of four deer at the same location at almost the same time of day.

Here you go - suspiciously the same deer, same place, approximately the same time.

Do this during the hunting season and you might end-up dead.

Healthy Forests

A simple explanation and a simple case for sustainable forestry...

Birds Caught in Flight

Not sure if these are pheasants or turkeys but the trail camera caught a couple of birds launching themselves into flight.

If you look carefully you will see two blurred images located center and left of center.

Curious Fawns

A pair of buck fawns (if you look closely they have a flat-top crown to their head) get curious with the trail camera.

Very curious.

And even more curious.

And then bolt for cover!

 

A Bunch of Deer

As you might expect - now that everyone has hung-up their deer rifle or bow for the season the deer are boldly going where no deer hath gone before.  Or at least for the last four months.

Check out this small herd of deer that walked past one of the cameras during daylight hours - and within bow shot of a tripod stand... 

Ice Drinking

Lawyer and Sid and their Frauen are on the peninsula for the weekend.  They're staying at Sid's place on the bay side.  We all got together the last couple of nights for dinner.

Sid and Lawyer have been trying to lure me out on the ice to go ice drinking.  It's too early in the ice season for me.  In the last couple of weeks the Coast Guard has had to rescue a couple of ice drinkers when their ice broke-off and the wind blew them out to sea on their own personal ice floe.  Then another ice drinker had his snow machine break through the ice off of Little Sturgeon and sink in a fathom of water.  Until today it's been well above freezing temperatures so I don't want any part of it.

The Frau and the girls and I spent Saturday in 40 degree weather pruning oak trees.  On Terra Firma.

Sid and Lawyer caught a dozen perch and drank beer.

Local Ass

Here's a good shot of a local ass.

The Frau would tell you that's not a bad ass for an old guy...

Trespassers

The Frau mentioned that she heard dogs barking and gunfire earlier today - and that it was very close.  Probably along the west property line.

I figured it was probably hound hunters running fox or coyotes or possibly rabbit hunters.

In any event the girls and I went out late this afternoon to set-up the replacement trail camera that Moultrie sent this week.  (As an aside I might mention I'm not very happy that they sent me a used, repaired camera.  But that's what I guess 'Manufacturer's Sole Discretion' means in the fine print of the warranty).  We'll have to see how it works out.  I'm hoping to catch a picture of what I suspect is a resident weasel.

Here's what we found in the snow...boot prints!

I suspect rabbit hunters weasels.  And I sure wish they'd ask first...

Ghost Deer

Interesting composition.

A ghostly image of a sprinting buck.

Those antlers will start to fall before too long and the girls and I will be going shed-hunting.

Deer!

Now that the deer hunting season has ended the deer seem even more brazen.

Remember that new camera location I mentioned a few days ago?

Check this out...

Four deer.  That is almost a small herd.

The Hairy Eyeball

This doe was giving a trail camera a very close examination.

People Cam

Not only are pictures of wildlife captured on the trail cameras - but people sometimes are too.

Like this one of The Frau snowshoeing with the dogs...

And this one of me fetching and swapping-out the SD card...

One of the new cameras has died.  It's electronic brain seems to have fried itself.  Down to two cams for the time being.  Waiting on a warranty replacement.

New Location - New Year Deer

Shortly before the end of last year I situated one of the working trail cameras at a new location.

What with all the snow on the ground all I had to do is look for an active game trail and set-up the camera on a likely good location.

So far so good.

A new year deer on the first day of the year.
 

Still Don't Have My Deer

Deer hunting has been an exercise in frustration this year.

Countless hours of sitting and no decent shots presenting themselves.  Not that it's all bad.  There have been plenty of observations.  Lots of quality time sitting in the woods.  Birds to watch too.

But when you see mile upon mile of deer trails like this...

And deer after deer on the trail cameras like this...

 It's all the more frustrating when you don't get your deer.

I still don't have my deer and the season is now at its end.

Modern Day Sledding

On my way to the taxidermist yesterday to pick-up my bear skull I drove through the small town of Denmark, WI.

Denmark High School is home to the Vikings.  I'm going to watch the mighty Green Bay Packers defeat the Minnesota Vikings tonight in the sacred House of Lambeau.  But now I'm getting off-topic.

An interesting phenomenon in the parking lot at Denmark High School was observed.

Snowmobiles.

The students and staff ride snowmobiles to school.  How cool is that?

Anyway - here's the skull.

click on image to enlarge

The mount should be ready by early March.