First Day Of Fall

According to the astronomical definition, in the Northern Hemisphere, fall begins with the autumnal equinox or September equinox on Sunday....

 

Sunset

Some days you can chill-out in a deer stand and not see a single whitetail within range of a well-placed arrow.

It is not missing the rare sunset show that makes-up for what would appear to be a waste of time.

Yesterday there was this....

 

 

Deer Camp Dispatch

Spent some quality time in the woods along with Braumeister and Smokey Joe looking to bag a whitetail this weekend and ended-up with nothing hanging.

 

 

That said, there is plenty of daylight deer movement for both bucks and does and the rut has most definitely commenced. I have lost count of the number of rubs and scrapes we scouted. 

 

As per usual Southern Door has A LOT of deer on the landscape. Smokey Joe spied a dandy ten pointer that remained out of bow range.

 

 

As a consequence I have a good feeling about prospects.

 

Even the turkeys are getting in the game.

 

Hope you enjoy the highlights........

 

 

Hunting Humor

 This brought a smile to my lips....

And More Buckaroos

The rut is kicking it into high gear now and the chase is on as male whitetails have romance on their minds.

There's been plenty more daylight deer activity so it's appropriate to share some more buck and doe photos.

Including a mutant!

Close of the Weekend

I haven’t seen a single whitetail the last two days of hunting. Sigh.

 

Sunset today was spectacular. 

 

 

And there were BLTs constructed with homemade brick oven bread, locally-sourced bacon and garden tomatoes. 

 

 

Yes, garden tomatoes. 

 

On balance a terrific weekend……

 

Typical Saturday

Busy day yesterday.

Walked the dog.  Fetched gas and diesel. Reinstalled hazards to navigation along the north property line to keep nocturnal road hunters from driving onto the property from the dead-end town road to poach deer.  

This was accomplished by means of returning the oversized boulders to the ditch that the logger had moved.  I also moved a bunch of larger ash pulp bolts to the mix like ginormous pixie stix.  Sure, a determined violator will persist in poaching a deer - my point is simply to provide a deterrent to any easy mark.  Thank the Lord for a bucket on the tractor and high-pressure hydraulics.

There is also a high probability I'll hide a trail camera along the edge of the road to record license plate data.  If there is criminal behavior I'll have something for the warden to follow-up on.

After this I swept and vacuumed the machine shed, gassed-up both 4-wheelers and Jill and I covered the boat.  

Whew!

Cold beers on the porch followed while I fired-up the Forno.

 

At 900 F after only two minutes there was New York-style, cracker-thin pizza for dinner.  Yum!

And there was sufficient dough and toppings to par-bake two additional pies to freeze for easy meals down the road.

Looking forward to clearing the chore list of autumn tasks in the next week as the pre-rut has commenced.

And I saw plenty of deer out in the woods yesterday during daylight.

There is some serious hunting to be done.....

Mr. Buck

Looky who showed-up on the video trail cam.

For any of you deer camp followers thee have been plenty of dandy bucks making appearances in the northern-most logged portion of the forest.  And nary an antlered deer in the southern-most portion.

Of course cameras only survey the ground in front of them.

On balance, there are plenty of deer.

Close Encounter

These videos were taken recently while hunting from the Arm Pit Deer Stand at the edge of the swamp  and creek close to the west property line.  

This deer materializes at a distance of about a hundred yards (beyond bow range) and exits stage left and disappears into the woods in the field of view to the right.

 

Wouldn't you know it - that dang deer materializes roughly twenty paces from my tree and beds down right on the spot.

There's absolutely no shot situation here as I can barely see the animal.  Besides there is nothing but a clutter of branches and debris everywhere that would easily deflect the path of the most carefully placed arrow.

So, I watch this animal for about fifteen minutes and ponder my options.  The most obvious is that when I climb down at sundown the whitetail is going to bolt.  The wind is definitely in my favor.  The deer is oblivious to my presence.  If only I could shift that critter out of its bed and get it to move to a location where I could get a clean shot.

Reaching into my pack for a grunt call the mere faintest of rustling does exactly that. 

Unfortunately, instead of moving to my left and into the clear the animal rises, scratches its chin and moves to my right and remains in the clutter of obstructing branches.

And eventually, unsure of the perceived menace, The animal stamps its feet, gives me the ubiquitous alarm signal of a tail wave and bounds-off and out of sight. 

I suppose that is why these close encounters are called hunting.  Otherwise, Jill tells me it would be referred-to as shopping.

It's the gun opener today.  If you are hunting stay safe.

I'll post an update in the next day or so.

 

 

Hunt

The weather has been absolutely spectacular lately - warm enough to hunt in a long sleeve t-shirt.  

Today marked the second afternoon I spent in a tree stand stalking the wily whitetail.

 

Spied four deer today - with none of them even close to bow range.

 

Nevertheless, a slow day hunting is better than a good day at the day job.

Retirement has its compensations..... 

Observations From the Natural World

Finalized repairs yesterday on a couple of elevated deer stands and scouted some portable blind locations.
 



On the return trip I figured I would mark a handful of oak seedlings that have materialized in a wildlife opening. I was thinking that if I marked them I might carefully brush the opening after it dried-out or the ground froze. Little did I know there were so many little oaks.

I ran out of pin flags.

Now the tentative plan is to ‘tube’ some of the better seedling specimens and mark as many more as we can identify.

click on images to enlarge

I know we cannot locate all of them but it may be useful to revisit them next spring/summer to quantify the survivors of mice, rabbits and deer browse.

It’s encouraging to note that the tiny oaks we planted two and a half decades ago are propagating.



Bonus was a ginormous patch of bottle gentian. Maybe even two species. 

The bottom line is any brushing of the opening is on hold.

My retirement vow to pay closer attention to the natural world around me is spinning-off some dividends.

Cheers!

Changing of the Seasons

You know it is hunting season when this shows-up in the cooler at the local grocery.

Yup.  Big Buck Hunter Special Edition Busch Light.

In stylish blaze orange cans.

Prosit!

Nice Location

Recently I was out bush-hogging trails and as I chopped a single, quarter-mile path directly east-west in the middle of the property I stumbled-across this idyllic clearing in the forest.

click on image tor a closer look



It was clear of many larger, mature trees and was populated with small saplings and dominated by gray-headed coneflowers.  Covered in chaff, dust and debris it was so cool and inviting I stopped to throttle-back the tractor to take it in and snap a handful of pictures.  I thought - what a peaceful, isolated and serene place. 

I had probably been thru here before but never took the opportunity to check it out in detail.  Self-absorbed I likely was.  There had to be an explanation for the naturally occurring clearing in a reforested piece of land.  Soil type perhaps that favored grasses and forbs over trees perhaps?

Upon further reflection it occurred to me that this would be an excellent location for a bow hunting blind....

Long Legs

A couple of weekends ago my Pals Six Deuce and Best Beard were at The Platz for a weekend hunt before the mayhem of the gun opener.  Beard described a bird he spied that for all the world sounded like a heron.  A great blue heron.

Sure as shoot this bird was captured on a trail camera - not far from where he was hunting.

Meet Ardea Herodias - the Great Blue Heron.  Adults boast s gray color, distinctive black eyebrows, a white crown, wispy feathers at the base of  the neck and a long yellow bill.

This is a juvenile.







Brown is the dominant color, with a black crown, dark bill and no wispy stuff on the neck.

First time we've spied one in about a half-dozen years,

click on images to enlarge

 

Migrator passing thru perhaps.......

Run-up to Deer Camp

I spied this buck while bow hunting November 2.  He blends-in rather well in the big bluestem - but he's there, top third of the photo immediately left of center.

click on images for a closer look

 

He was out of range but those wide-set antlers were a perfect identifier.

Last weekend the girls and I hiked the trail camera circuit and fetched the SD cards from six patient sentries that keep track of the comings and goings of the local wildlife.  Including male deer that we have come to identify by the distinctive nature of their headgear.

Including these photos of the very same deer.

This was taken on November 9th.

This one too.

And this one on November 10th.

Precisely on the trail he was following when I spied him a couple of weeks ago.  It is noteworthy that these are all daytime photos - evidence of the rut continuing.   To my deer camp pals it would appear that anyone hunting from the Taj, the Creek Stand and the First Guard Tower might stand a chance of seeing this big boy.

Unless, of-course, the neighbors haven't dropped it beforehand....

It's a Start

Two stops today on the trip back to deer camp.   

Those three boxes on the left contain 55 pounds of deer brats - Miesfeld's Market in Sheboygan.   

The box on the right is Six Deuces' deer from last weekend - butchered into its component parts - steaks, chops, roasts, whole loin and burger - Marchant's Foods  in Brussels.    

All of the basement auxiliary chest freezer and most of the garage freezer are now full and the gun season has not yet commenced.   

Raising a Jägermeister to all of this goodness....

On The Move

Yesterday I published some photos of a determined raccoon on the move from here to there and there to here.

From a couple of weeks ago my pal - Braumeister - a very determined bow hunter on the move from here to there and there to here...

 

 

Roll Of the Dice

From last weekend - the ever-patient trail camera never takes sides and misses nothing.

My Pal Six-Deuce heading east-bound on a trail in search of a spot to ambush a whitetail.

In reasonably short-order is the local prong-horn buck moving west-bound.








None of this is surprising considering Six-Deuce's turkey-stalking skills.

This is why Jill will tell you it is hunting and not shopping.....

Scouting

By the time you read this a couple or more bow hunters will be out in the woods stalking the elusive and tasty whitetail deer. 

Early sign of the rut beginning is this fresh buck rub the girls and I found.

Wishing everyone a safe and successful hunt....

Panorama

I've got to find a better way to do this so that you can actually see what I photographed.  Nevertheless, a 360 degree view from the deer stand above the creek, just north of the house...

click on images for a better look