Feeding Time

In all the years I've run a circuit of trail cameras I cannot recall catching a picture of feeding activity in fawns.  I'm not talking about a deer nibbling some browse in the trail - I'm talking about nursing activity.

Last week I get three different pictures in two locations of this.

Deer Stand

The left-handed bow stand that heretofore has been enshrined in a creaky old willow has finally met the close of an illustrious career.  Constructed of treated lumber, screws, lag bolts and the remained of a pop-up ground blind it has finally succumbed to the forces of nature.  And a very real possibility that the tree itself is almost ready to topple into the trail.

It is unsafe.

So yesterday Sid and Lawyer and I erected a replacement deer stand.

I purchased it online and Cabela's shipped it to the Green Bay location for a convenient pick-up.

While it was a bit of a puzzle to assemble once we had it together we all tried it out.

It's got a commanding view of both the mowed trail and some swampy cover where the deer like to hang out.

Can't wait to see if it produces...

Walking the Dogs

From our morning walk today.

Girlfriend is still on restriction following her knee surgery but once and awhile she's allowed to walk about off lead as long as there's not rambunctiousness.

On the north side of the creek at the ancestral campsite lots of fresh grass to eat and something really stinky to roll-in...

POWTS

Private Onsite Waste Treatment System.

This is how you handle your shit when you're out in the country and don't have a municipal sewer system.  Everything flows down hill in the plumbing to a 1000 gallon tank where the solids settle.  From there the effluent spills into a smaller tank where it is filtered before being pumped into a mound system.  Once in the mound it slowly filters back into the ground water.  Our own miniature sewage treatment plant. 

Got the three year clean bill of health after having the tanks pumped and inspected
.

That would be right.  Every three years.

The county sanitarian requires it due to the fractured dolomite limestone bedrock that makes-up the Door peninsula.

No leaking or failing septic systems allowed.

I chatted with this fella as he went about his stinky business.  All I can say is .....Whew!

Motorhead

Yesterday brought the annual harvest festival and car show in Sturgeon Bay.

Met-up with brother-in-law and his Frau and enjoyed an adult beverage or two, lunch, classic and old cars along with a huge collection of hot rods and race cars.  This is an annual event for me and every year I see more and more vehicles that I haven't seen before.

Hard to believe there are this many collector cars in northeast Wisconsin.  Or maybe not.  Here's sampling...

The Seasonal Change

Fall is here.  The first of the frost warnings have been issued for parts around here.  This was a good year for the garden.  Everything grew abundantly and well. So it's best I get the last of the tomatoes and peppers in before Jack Frost gets there first. 

It's also been cool to watch some of the little ones develop.  I still think there are way too many deer around here but it's been fun watching them grow-up none the less.

I believe these are the same deer - photos from July and September...

As the leaves are turning in the fall so changes the coat on a deer.

Harvest Time

Just brought the dog in and autumn is definitely in the air.

There's the growling of machinery in the darkness as the field corn and beans are being harvested.

I think fall is here.

While out for a walk with the blonde Lab today we stopped to sniff the asters.  The blooming of the asters signals the start of the fall colors for the trees...

Does and Fawns

Still seeing does with their fawns.  Some of the fawns are sporting their spots while those fawns born earlier in the year are larger and have grown out of their spotted coats.

As the rut begins and these does are bred they'll kick their fawns loose to fend for themselves.

Button Bucks

Yearling bucks often move in small social groups.  Like this pair of button bucks.

They're called button bucks (or nubbin bucks) because their antlers are buttons or nubs.

The Pepper Avalanche

It's been pouring rain all morning here at The Platz - but not enough to dissuade me from venturing-forth in the garden.  Picked another two and a half dozen sweet peppers.

It has been an absolutely phenomenal year for the pepper plants!  I can recall that the first year I attempted to grow sweet peppers my entire harvest was something on the order of a half-dozen runt-like peppers - that arrive late in the year.

Thing have sure turned-around on the pepper production.  Practice makes perfect!

Venison stuffed peppers tonight for dinner.

Velvet's Off

It certainly didn't take long about a week.

A picture of a buck still sporting his velvet antlers...

Now it's gone...

All the other antlered deer pictures are velvetless.

Return of the Bucks

All of a sudden the cameras are recording bucks that I haven't seen before.  As a matter of fact this camera alone recorded the images of three distinct antlered deer over the course of two days.

Including this very curious buck this morning...

Scratching the Itch

Sometimes you simply have an itch so bad that a scratch just won't suffice.

The scratch takes a back seat to the bite.

Wouldn't you wish to be like a whitetail deer and be able to reach around and gnaw on that aggravating itch above your ass instead of picking at it....?

Survival of the Fittest

I got a curious and disturbing photo on one of my silent observers in the forest.  A picture of a three-legged deer.

Word around these parts at the café, or the ball field in Kolberg or in some of the local watering holes is of a doe with three legs.  Not literally three legs - but three functional legs.  Sightings have been reported since last winter.

Seems her right front leg was damaged and is now permanently locked into a flexed position.

The animal is getting around on three working legs.

And she's not looking so good either.

Thin and gaunt with her ribs showing.

Contrast with this healthy doe and her fat and sassy fawn.

The Frau asked me if I would kill the three-legged deer if I encountered her while hunting.  Funny she should ask as I had been pondering that very notion myself.  A mercy killing.  Imagine me the camouflage Kevorkian.

And the answer is no.  Aside from the practical considerations of tagging an animal from which not much useful meat would be obtained or leaving it dead in the woods for the critters - which would constitute a game violation.  Nature will handle this on her own time.  After-all this animal has survived to this point after likely being stuck by a vehicle quite some time ago. 

She may live longer or be taken down by a wolf of coyote.  Nature always seeks a balance.

Door County - where the strong survive and the weak are killed and eaten.

Spotted Fawn

Spotted fawn - a small one at that - is unusual to see this late in the year.

Must be the offspring of a late-bred doe.

Velvet Bucks

In the past week I've captured images of a couple of velvet bucks...

Mugging for the Camera

Two and a half year-old buck mugging for the camera...

Meatball Farming

The food plots are coming-in very nicely...

Family

It has been a busy weekend.

Oma celebrated her 86th birthday and almost the entire, extended famdamily was present to celebrate.  The Canadian contingent was here as well.

And celebrate we did!

There was a winery tour and tasting, a brewery taproom and tasting and a fish fry tasting.

There was grilling.

There was soaking in the outdoor spa.

And everyone queued-up on the septic mound for a family picture...