New Location

Another picture taken by the camera relocated to that deer trail I mentioned a couple of days ago.

It looked well-traveled for a reason.

It is. 

Gosh there is a crap pile of deer on the landscape.

The Sensitive Man

A woman meets a man in a bar. 

They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together.
 
They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment She notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with soft, sweet, cuddly teddy bears.
 
There are three shelves in the bedroom, with hundreds and hundreds of cute, cuddly teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall!
 
It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them and she was immediately touched by the amount of thought he had put into organizing the display. There were small bears all along the bottom shelf, medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf, and huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf. 

She found it strange for an obviously masculine guy to have such a large collection of Teddy Bears, She is quite impressed by his sensitive side but doesn't mention this to him. 

They share a bottle of wine and continue talking and, after a while, she finds herself thinking, 'Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one! Maybe he could be the future father of my children?' 

She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips.  He responds warmly. They continue to kiss, the passion builds, and he romantically lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom where they rip off each other's clothes and make hot, steamy love. She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion, more creativity, more heat than she has ever known. 

After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow.  The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly, 'Well, how was it?' 

The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes, and says:

"Take your pick of any prize on the middle shelf."

Frosty Deer

click image to enlarge

I left the date and time stamp on this trail camera photo so that you can independently verify how cold it was when this whitetail snapped a selfie.

The whitetail deer is a remarkably adaptable animal - all the way down to -15 degrees.

Amazing.

New Location

If you walk from the house on the central trail that curves to the north over the creek, past the first Guard Tower, thru the crossroads and make a right turn as if you were going to Clayton's Stand you will cross a north/south deer trail before you even get to the large, open meadow.

It's been looking like a well-traveled trail so I located a trail camera there a week and a half ago.

First picture.  More to follow...

Ditch Tiger

click image to enlarge

As I have said previously this is absolutely not good.  Not at all.  Not the least bit.  Nothing good will come from this marauding predator - the feral cat.

This is not a fuzzy, cuddly, purring house pet.  This is a lean, mean killing machine.  Number one predator of birds - particularly the most vulnerable of birds - the ground-nesting species.

This is Public Enemy #1 and if I catch it in my sights....

Shoeing

click to enlarge

Nothing better than a sunny day snowshoeing with the girls.  And a bowl of steaming chili afterwards and unsalted peanuts for the Labs.

A-Hole

Backside of a westbound dog.

 click on the rectum to enlarge

Too Many Deer

This has never happened before.

My beautiful cedar trees in the yard are being browsed to oblivion.

The deer come from the west across the front yard.

Eat every delicious, green bough they can reach.

Then retire to the opposite side of the driveway entrance and browse the apple tree.

And exit to the north east.

click images to enlarge

Grrrrrr.   Never thought it would come to this but deer repellent and netting are about the only deterrent.

Wait.  

There's always a more permanent solution.

The Hairy Eyeball

click on the whitetail nose to enlarge

Once again a curious deer giving a camera the hairy eyeball.

I wonder what the attraction is?  You'd think the critter would avoid the device since it has my human scent on it.

Go figure.

Shoeing

Is there such a word as shoeing?

click on me to enlarge

Second time out with the shoes this winter.

Hoofed it 1.27 miles in 21 degrees and a beautiful sunny day.  Was able to take the gloves off to work on the cams.

Life is good.

Sunset

Photos taken January 12 of the same sunset two different locations about a quarter mile apart.

 click on image to enlarge

I never realized that my benign little observers could be so discerning of a beautiful sunset.

Swapping The Cams

Business was slow last week for the trail cameras - not sure if there was a glitch with the SD cards or lack of wildlife movement.  Two the cameras has nothing in their removable electronic brains.  Go figure.

Business was also slow on this location so I moved the camera to cover a well-worn trail just around the corner.

I'll give it a week or so to see if the pace picks-up.

Dog

Blonde Lab took a selfie of herself charging thru the white stuff...

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Wild Turkey Roulades

If you like turkey hunting like me you get a rush twice.

First, the hunt.

Second the feast.

Several years ago my pal, Lawyer shared Field and Stream's terrific recipe for Wild Turkey Roulades. I prepared this for guests at a dinner party here at The Platz.  I also had enough turkey breast that a froze and extra one in Foodsaver wrap.  I pulled it out of the freezer the other evening and cooked it up along with peas and smashed potatoes from the garden.

The Frau and I dined like a king and queen.

click to enlarge

 
It was a feast!

Aliens

Just about the time I figured they had left for the season there is evidence of a return of the alien invasion.

As you can see from this photograph an alien transport is approaching.  There is the glare of the thrusters and the alien commander is firing the deadly space balls.

click on image to enlarge

I wonder if I left a note for them they might take some of the deer back to their home planet? 

Deer Aplenty

I don't like to repeat myself but as I have said before there sure seem to be an abundance of deer on the landscape.

Immediately following the first of the year I relocated two of the five cameras to a couple of clearly-traveled game trails roughly a quarter mile apart.  So I'm reasonably certain I'm not taking pictures of the same whitetail over and over again.

And judging from the abundant deer sign in the woods AND MY YARD There are deer aplenty.

New location number one

And new location number two 

click on images to enlarge

That's just five of the tree-nibbling, furry buggers right there.

Deer aplenty for sure..

Before and After

A little bit of history from the Platz.

The internet is a wonderful tool for researching the history of something so while I was eating my lunch at my desk at the day job this last week I did a wee bit of sleuthing.

For aerial photographs.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder and Google Maps I looked-up some imagery to demonstrate how The Platz has changed over the years.

The property was cleared and settled at the eastern fringe of the Belgian settlement in the later half of the 1800s.  My cursory research in the vault of the county courthouse a number of years ago traced the chain of custody for the farmstead back to February 25, 1888 when the eighty acres was sold to Eli Simon of Brussels for $300.  Prior to that the property was owned by John Leathem and Thomas H. Smith of Sturgeon Bay.  And before them - Charles and Maria Scofield.  

As near as I can figure that makes the joint home to someone for somewhere around 128 years - give or take.

I've written from time to time about the possible and probable history of the property and have a record of the chain of custody up-to and including the purchase by The Frau and I.  Throughout the entire period the eighty acres have remained intact.

From the world wide web I'm adding some aerial imagery.

USDA photograph taken in June of 1938...

And Google Maps imagery from early fall 2014...

 click on images to enlarge

That's the two forty-acre parcels (top to bottom) squarely in the center of each image.  The clearly-defined L-shaped woodland at the top of the photo belongs to the neighbor to the north with a gravel road marking the north property line.  The county highway runs east-west just above the bottom of the image and defines the southern-most boundary.

The creek is still in the same place and a couple of ponds have been excavated for the critters.  What was cleared has largely been planted back in permanent cover - mostly trees.  Not just The Platz but the surrounding landscape is now more densely forested than early settlement times.

Note the ten distinct fields in the 1938 photo.  Pasture and smaller crop plantings.  Work was performed by horse-drawn implements.  The original homestead never had indoor plumbing and electricity did not arrive until shortly before or after WWII.  The footprint of the homestead remains in the same location is the same size.  No barn or barnyard anymore.  And speaking of electricity it sports an outdoor hot tub and three indoor bathrooms.

Change is endless.

The Hairy Eyeball

I'm not precisely sure what compels a whitetail deer to examine a trail camera up close and personally.  Curiosity perhaps?  Who knows.

Nevertheless, it sure results in some rather silly-looking photographs.

Golly, there's a pile of deer on the landscape.  Four different deer, four different locations,  taken from this last week...

 

 click on images to enlarge

How to Cook a Dog

One Labrador retriever

Add exercise

Light the wood stove and bring to roasting temperature

Rollover periodically

Scratch belly

When the dog is snoring it is done

Poetry In Motion

Nice sequence of three shots taken by the trail camera situated in the middle tree plantation.

Middle of the day, soft lighting, good composition and nice choreography...

click on images to enlarge

Murder

A murder of crows...

 

Tracks

Now that the season is closed these tracks are appearing all over the place.

Ringneck pheasant.

Deer Aplenty

IR (infrared) photo of a couple of deer.

The deer on the left (domed head) is a girl deer - a doe.

The deer on the right (with the flat top) is a boy deer - a nubbin buck.

Brother and sister maybe?

There sure a pile of deer on the landscape.

 

Unicorn

click on image for a closer view

Just kidding.

It's just a buck with half his rack.  This is one of five distinctive antlered deer that were photographed in the last couple of weeks.  Like I said the other day - deer aplenty around here.

It strikes me as a wee bit early for antlers to be dropping already.  In prior years it was common to see antlers on the local whitetails well into February.

Nevertheless, individual differences have to be accounted-for and this particular buck may experienced some physical stresses that have cased antler drop already in December.

The Labs are looking forward to antler hunting already.

Little Buck

 click image to enlarge

If you look closely at this deer you can tell it's a boy.  A boy fawn to be exact.

His head is flat on top.  It looks flat because he got tiny antler nubs growing just inside his ears.  That's why a boy fawn is sometimes referred-to as a 'nubbin buck'.  

Does have a domed head.  

Next year he should be sporting antlers.

Deer Camp Selfies

Some more deer camp selfies from last month's last gun hunt of the old year...

click images to enlarge

 

Deer Aplenty

Amazing.

Last year a total of 12 deer were killed here at The Platz.  The neighbors killed plenty of deer too.  We knew coming into the year that the deer herd here on the peninsula was large.  How large?  Large enough to to set a new record of vehicle-deer wrecks.

By the end of November, 2015 a total of 403 deer collisions were reported.  That tied the previous 12 month record set back in 2003.

Judging from all of the deer that are showing-up on my trail cameras in the last couple of weeks we've hardly put a dent in the population.

Too many deer remain on the landscape.

2016 should bring another large number of collisions and the hunting should remain steady. 

Drive safely.

Guess the Critter

A short three shot burst of this critter from earlier in December.

Another short three shot burst of the same critter from mid-December.  Same perspective - from behind.

Who is it?

Deer Camp Selfies

From last year's final deer camp gathering some trail camera selfies...

Busting Trail

Considering that last winter there wasn't enough snow to even use the snowshoes even once This year is starting-off on the right foot.  Pun intended.

Thursday I ventured out with the blonde Lab and tall rubber boots and immediately figured out that with 8 to 10 inches of white stuff on the level boot alone were not going to work.

Yesterday I fetch the snowshoes and we busted 1.5 miles of trail.

Swapped-out the SD cards on the trail cameras.

And worked-up a mighty sweat.

click images to enlarge

  

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from mama and the twins