The Gift

Climbed into a tree stand a few days ago to see if anything was moving about.

Mostly what was moving about was mosquitoes.  Swarms of them.  Thank goodness for the ThermaCell I had clipped to my fanny pack.  It pretty much chased the biting bugs away.

I didn't see anything but I did spook a deer when I did a couple of come-hither soft grunt calls.

All was not lost however.

I did find this gift awaiting me as I climbed into the stand...

 click on the turd to enlarge

BLT

Winding down the garden.  All the tomato plants were pulled last weekend so the supply of ripe, red fruits is dwindling.  And fast.

Eating tomatoes just about twice a day.  And BLTs several times a week.

Check this out.  toasted whole wheat breat from Scaturo's Bakery in Sturgeon Bay.  Locally-sourced smoked bacon from Marchant's in Brussels.  Organically-raised tomatoes from the garden.  Yum!

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Longbreards

It's not just hens getting all of the trail camera action.

The gobblers are moving about rather regularly too.

Check out these longbeards... 

 

Birds of a Feather

...flock together.

I have to say I've no recollection of getting a series of pictures like this.

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A flock of wild turkeys just hanging out in front of the trail camera.  Including one that's making herself quite comfortable. 

Masked Bandit

Low-life predator of my nest boxes.

Time to bait the trap and send a few to racoon Valhalla...

Turkeys on the March

It has been quite awhile since I have spied so many turkeys.  They're also showing-up regularly on the trail cameras in multiple locations.

Hens spread out over an hour.  Strutting their stuff...

 

Fall Colors

The first frosts of autumn has yet to arrive.

Nevertheless the trees are beginning to turn on their fall color scheme.

The oaks in particular...

Swamp white oak

White oak

Look Ma - No Spots!

Almost no spots.

This doe fawn is growing into her adult coat.  The spots that constituted her little girl camouflage are fading rapidly and should be gone for good in short order.

 click on image to enlarge

In case you're wondering how I know this is a girl deer all you have to do is look at the head. The top of the skull in particular.  A dome identifies this deer as a female.  A flattop would identify it as a male.

Road Block

A hazard to terrestrial navigation.  

Trail blocked by a fallen tree.  More evidence of damage from storms that have moved thruthe peninsula in the last week or so.

Strong winds even blew-over one of the guard tower deer stands...

click on the destruction to enlarge

Look Ma - No Spots!

The fawns have been putting on some size and have almost universally lost their spots.

This series of images includes a doe (entering stage right), joined by her fawn and both of them exiting stage left...

 click on images to enlarge

That fawn is almost fully-grown.

Sunset

Another crappy peninsula sunset...

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La Lune

Au clair de la lune - By the light of the moon - is French folk song.

Nice job of the trail camera taking a series of photos of the moonrise on September 11th last week.  In this shot the moon has risen almost beyond the camera's field of view and also includes some scudding clouds in the image.

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Spooky...

The Dandy Boys

Some dandy buck pictures two different dates.

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And two different bucks in each set.

That makes for four different bucks in total.  Their still moving in bachelor groups of two or three which means the rut hasn't started yet.

Once those male glands kick into high gear the dominant bucks will be chasing the subordinate males off of their turf.

Interlopers

Someone's been running their coon hounds again.

Trail camera caught a couple of trespassers from last week.

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Seriously, all you have to do is ask permission.

Beer Hunting

I don't want anybody to think I am superstitious or anything.  But I'll try just about anything to get my deer hunting groove going.

Including have one or two Doe In Heat brewskis from O'so Brewing Company.   Seeking karma...

Superb Owl Salsa

With the gardening season winding down to the finish one of the ways you can use-up alot of remnants is by making salsa.

Last weekend I picked 70 tomatoes, blanched, cored and skinned them and cut them into my largest stainless pot.  Then I added garden onions, peppers and carrots.  One store-bought jalapeno pepper, garlic and spices.

Heat it to a slow simmer and transfer to sterilized jars, add lids and bands and process in a hot water bath for 40 minutes.  Remove to cool.  When the lids pop your jars are sealed.

Yields four gallons of what I call Superb Owl salsa...

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Bucks and Gobblers

Over a period of one weeks observations by a couple of my tireless trail cameras.

A dandy buck.

And a dandy gobbler.

 click on images to enlarge

Getting an itchy release finger...

Longbeards!

All I can say is they are everywhere.

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In this instance they're in the same location as before only much later in the day.  

I can pattern them from here... 

Schlaf Hund

Die blonde Hund schläft...

Classified Ad

Torn from the pages of the Door County Advocate.

This classified advertisement...

More Gobblers

Sometimes the obvious defies explanation.

For instance, why the sudden reappearance of a flock of bachelor wild turkeys?

They're showing up on trail cameras all over the place and even in my yard.

click on the birds to enlarge

Good thing I have a fall turkey permit.  After twenty years of trying I may just yet score a longbeard with my bow...

The Return of the Longbeards

This is interesting to me.

More and more long beards moving thru.

These were in my yard the other day.

Click on image to enlarge

The nerve... 

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road?

Silly question.

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 To get to the other side of course...

Veggies

Root vegetables in particular.

It's harvest time here at The Platz and the bounty is coming-in.

The first row of spuds.  

Yukon Golds to be exact.

Stuttgarter onions.  They're curing in the machine shed on a couple of tarps and will last more than a year if stored properly.

And carrots!  I haven't grown carrots in years.  I did it this year using a nifty seed tape.  No thinning!

 click on the root vegetables to enlarge

I am told that if you mulch your carrots under a thick layer of straw they will remain fresh in the soil and store better over winter.  They're supposed to even grow sweeter.

Return of the Longbeards

More big gobblers.

Same location.

Multiple birds.

All times of day too.  If I think of it I'll drop that camera about a foot so that I get better turkey pics at this location...

Return of the Aliens

Why am I tormented so?

The aliens are back.

This time they are using their Death Ray...

be careful clicking on this image

Longbeards

Still plenty of deer on the trail cams.

But I'm getting plenty of Tom turkeys too.  All in the northeast quadrant.

click on the gobbler to enlarge

Got my fall turkey permit too.

Pickles

Last weekend was the end of the cucumber patch.  Picked the last of the cukes and made pickles.  The rest of the cukes are going to the food pantry and the day job.

Finally perfected the dill recipe.

click on the jar to enlarge

I have a fine supply of dill and sweet in the cellar.

More Sweet Corn!

At four bucks for thirteen fresh-picked daily ears of bi-color sweet corn you absolutely have to gorge yourself on this candy-like treat but put some away.  Not seed corn - but sweet corn in the freezer.

Peel your ears and blanch in boiling water for seven minutes.  Don't crowd your ears.

Plunk them into a sink filled with cold tap water to chill.  After the cobs sink to the bottom of the sink fish them out to drain.

On a cutting board shear the corn from the cob using an exceedingly sharp chef knife.  Transfer to a colander to drain a bit.

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Grab a beer and bag and shrink with a FoodSaver and freeze.

When the cold wind blows snow and sleet on my window pane I am going to be enjoying some of this summer goodness.