Buck Fever

What is the best way to get an old hunter excited? Show him trail cam photos of Big Big Bucks.

Suddenly he is leaning in close with his glasses on peering over your shoulder ooohhhhing and ahhhhhing and breathing heavy. 

No worries, it is an old hunter thing. Seeing Big antlers is like seeing an old Muscle Car. It makes them breath fast and the memory clicks back to that age when they were young and indestructible.

"I need someone to get that old deer stand out back." He says out loud. "Look at that. You can put it up on the Hickory tree." His mind is clicking and whirring. I think I can actually hear it.

Those days of old. He was a marksman and a sure shot. 

"Wow look at these guys! A 9 point non typical buck!"

The buck above has 5 pts on his left side and 4 pts on the other, the antlers are mismatched and unique.

I have a lot of photos of deer in this spot. This would not be a spot I thought I would find a lot of deer traffic. In the last 4 days had about 300 shots of Spike bucks, does, and fawns walking through and pausing to pose for the camera.

This includes, a skunk, raccoon, squirrels, rabbits, 'possum, coyotes, turkeys, and a huge surprise....

....A Pileated Woodpecker!

I keep wishing this camera shot in color, but for whatever reason it doesn't any more.

This Moutrie camera was really worth it. I've had it up in the woods since 2016. It just keeps on clicking.

My goal? I'd love to have a 'trophy photo' of one of these guys. One from my camera in hand. 

I don't dislike venison. Meat from deer hunting has always been an excellent addition to our freezer.

Meanwhile, I can enjoy seeing what happens in the forest when I am not around.

What I found terribly interesting is that the Moultrie records the pressure along with temp and time. I just noticed that the ones with the most activity has a pressure of 28.7ish inHg. 

So...

something I did not know but have learned by watching is obvious to some. The barometric pressure does have an influence on the movement of deer.

If you already knew this, just say Duh and smile. I knew that deer move before weather fronts, I just never thought about it. 

November

November and I have always had an agreement.  I have a hard time enjoying November and she has a hard time pleasing me.

There is that time change and then there is that adjustment to the temperatures becoming cold. I have to hook up the stock tank heater. 

I have to prepare for the dreaded 9 day deer gun season. I don't dislike deer hunters, don't get me wrong. I dislike having to stay in close to the house and dislike the fact that I can't wander about like I normally do.

Those 9 days are spent washing walls, ceilings, collecting cobwebs, organizing the storage down in the little basement and thinking about decorating cheerfully for December.

If we don't get snow, the grass turns brown. The woods turn brown. Everything seems barren. 

I have to try to enjoy November, she and I have to come to agreement. I give her the nod as I put on my insulated coveralls and find reasons to like this part of the year.

Hiking is incredible because I can see through the woods and appreciate the unique land formations. No bugs. No bugs. 

I have to think about Thanksgiving. It used to be a reason for families to get together and enjoy each other's company and conversation.

That changed when my MIL could no longer travel. When I became the soul driver for two folks with severe medical conditions I asked other family members to visit us instead of us making the long day trip.

So now hubby and I have a lasagna dinner on Turkey Day. It passes with just barely a blip. This was how it was pre pandemic. Nothing much has changed.

This November won't be the same. I have decided that I will get along with Miss November... and we will make the most of it.

After all, after November, comes December and we all know what that brings! Short days and colder temperatures. But that is fine. Once the hunters leave the public lands I can go hunt for ice formations. I can proudly wear my Skunk Hat. 

And there ARE no Bugs.

Plus there are those very fond memories of A Hateful Woman or a Stupid Man invented Tree Stands. 

I go back and laugh and laugh at that incident. Hard to believe it was 11 short years ago. I miss those stupid and fun incidents. I really do.

Welcome November!

Charlie & Gun Season....

 

Charlie is bummed. He misses his friend Basil and the new pup Stella that live up the hill.
They haven't been socializing at all and he misses seeing people.

Here he is the other day all dressed up just for fun in his Hawaiian shirt. He used to wear it when we went to the nursing home. Of course he hasn't seen many people this year at all. Once he got to visit with Tom, the UPS guy and once with Danny the farrier when he delivered my custom made Shepard's hook [more about that later!].

Yesterday I took him for a walk with me to the creek and 'round about to the Rock Fort. I had brought a couple of stuffed toys and thought of doing a little 'toy story' sort of like a storyboard thing. I had some ideas bouncing around in my head after my call from Lin. 

While we were back by the Fort, off in the distance, someone was sighting in their rifle for the start of Gun Deer Season.

Charlie literally became a shaking quivering puddle of Pekinhound. I was photographing the toys in the late afternoon sunlight [perfect!!!] when he became instant mush and literally tried to climb my legs. 

To deal with it and still finish what I wanted to do, I placed my toys then sat down in the leaves and dirt so Charlie could climb into my lap and quiver. I offered him a dog treat and he ignored it.

Damn. Time to rescue the poor guy and head to the house. I picked him up and juggled my things. The shooting abated for a bit so I was able to stop and photograph the Twin Fawns.

Someone closer by started shooting again. Charlie ran to me, then turned and made a beeline to the house. I found him at the porch door quivering and shaking.

I opened up the door and he tried to climb up Rich's leg. 

It may be a long nine days for Charlie.
However, if I can have Rich keep the volume up on the TV while he is watching, perhaps it won't be so bad for him.

If he can hear the shots [which there will be an abundance of] he will become the Shaking Velcro Dog.

Sigh.

Good Neighbors Good Fences.

Mostly I have really good neighbors. The ones that are not 'good' neighbors are those that don't live on their land.

Our 25 acre tract is narrow but long. I love our little place. The land is unique and there is always something to explore. The creek runs through it.

There is the Buckthorn Forest where the deer and so many other animals like to travel through.

Coyote, deer, raccoon, and of course the skunks and possums.

I can roam during every season and find something wonderful. Even in the brown season.
The doe below is in a thicket of prickly ash. Is that a real tree? I think so. Charlie and I watched her today just before the sun broke out.

Then I walked up to the back corner of ourland...Oh that purplie/pink thing is still there...and to think that the land owner is a 'well respected business owner' in town! 
Whatever. 

I posted about it in The Fence War...
I went out today and moved things around while staying out of the other person's camera range. So when dude comes back things will be moved around on my side of the fence.

I did it more because I was still in a Halloween Mood and wanted to try a photo with some cool effects.

Ghosts at night
[shot in the daylight]

The Blair Witch Project
[Twanas Stickmen]

I wanted to create from scratch something creepy and beautiful at the same time with a hint of movie fantasy to it. I have not seen The Blair Witch Project but found it fun to make a 'stick' person out of sticks, twine, and damp grass which I tied around the sticks.

It looks kind of cool and a bit creepy... slowly twisting back and forth in the breeze. 

I'd made two and set them down to rearrange my little ghosts.

Can you believe I spent about 20 minutes trying to find them again? They blended so well into the forest floor I had to really search for them.
I was sure I lost my mind. And if anyone had been listening to me, they would have heard me asking Charlie to find them. Charlie was searching out deer pellets and really had no interest in what I was doing.

I had a lot of fun after I found the stick people. 
Imagine morning light and some fog in this photo. Now wouldn't that be cool?
I just have to wait for a snowfall for these to be seen easier.

I built the little hanging ghosts out of balled up plastic grocery bags and duct tape, then took pieces of old white rags and some Sheer Voile Fabric scraps I'd picked up in a scrap bin. They make these little 'ghosts' seem to float in light breezes.

To me they are more like silent wind chimes. 

When I got home I looked at all the photos captured on the Trail Cam. Yes indeed the fella was facing our land with his bow. Now I do not mind harvesting or hunting. But I do mind hunting our land when ... well, this fella has 200 acres of his own land and 100 that he leases...so why bugger up my little back corner? 

Hubby said to take the camera down, he would rather I take more photos of the fine large buck that keeps meandering through the pasture up the hill from our house.

I think he is afraid that the guy in back would be dangerous. 

Though Rich had a funny thought. He said if he was still able to hike, he'd go back there and pick up the offensive object and mail it in a gift box to the landowner's wife with a note asking if she wanted her husband's toy back. I admit, that was pretty funny.

The camera goes back up next week before the gun season starts. I won't go back there for a few days, but I do want to see what goes on during opening weekend, if anything.

In the meantime, I'll have some more fun sorting through junk piles in the sheds and creating more figurines. I mean after all, I'm staying at home now and don't have places to go.

May as well have some creative fun. I'm going to hang out my zombie dolls I made for the neighbor kids when we were doing Treasure Hunts this summer.

Last thought. I sure can't wait to see what the raccoons do with that Purple/Pink thing. They sure love to chew on plastic!

Parting shot. More Gnome Photos.

I'm hoping for a bit of snow so I can do a new photo for Christmas cards this year.

Spring? Guess what! I am going to put the poor busted up barbed wire fence back up. Nice and tight. That is one thing I am good at, rebuilding fences.

Toodles.

The cheap kit lens...and the twins

Sometimes I pine away for a nice pricey prime zoom. You know, the one that causes lens envy?
The kind you see pros walking around with? Those monstrous long lenses that weigh so much and are so big that they need a monopod or a handle on them? I'd need a pack mule just to carry one. Yet, in the back of my mind I keep thinking...

wouldn't that be fun???

And then I think about how I hike through the woods and my goal is to carry much less than much more.

I brushed the 'dust' off a lens I hadn't used in quite a while. I got it with my old Olympus camera, the one that is dying a slow but sure death. I purchased the lens over 7 years ago. It's the cheap $99 zoom kit lens. It works 40-150mm which translates to 80-300mm on a 3/4 mirrorless Olympus.

I had at one time in my life visions of becoming a famous wildlife photographer.
Okay, not visions really, just a passing moment.
I don't have the patience to sit for hours to photograph a trophy buck, awesome turkeys, or even regular wildlife. Sure, they interest me, but I'm not one to sit still for too long.

I walked out with some hot coffee in my little travel cup and started towards the blind I'd set up just after sunrise. I'd fed the mules, the dog, and set things up for hubby. As I came over the rise I could see a doe and her fawn far off in the meadow. Too far off to photograph. See?

I needed the pack Llama and that super big lens! Nah....

I got in the blind and got comfy. I sat on an overturned bucket that I'd placed one of those miraculous warming seats. You know the kind you sit on and it warms up? I guess they work as my rear end got toasty warm.

What can I say about that morning sunlight? Just.
Wow.

What could be more perfect than to have a couple of beautiful deer walk into the scene? So this was the cheap kit lens. 

Okay, not too bad right?

Then a cardinal did the most awesome thing. It landed on one of my favorite trees as I was sipping some hot coffee.

I shot through the blind window, tipping the open coffee onto my knee. 

I got a bird! I got it! I was so tickled that I didn't curse at my now wet coveralls with coffee seeping into my clothes under my old coveralls.

Wow!

I sat with a warm bum, and hot coffee seeping through my clothes and thought to myself. Perhaps I could do with this ol' lens after all. There are drawbacks to it. But the good thing is, it is a fair lens for the cheap price. It isn't fast in low light. 

I was sitting there just daydreaming a bit and watching the meadow when I heard a 4 wheeler in the distance. The meadow belongs to the absentee landowner. For several years we used the meadow to graze our large herd of donkeys and a few mares. The deal was, we kept the meadow grazed and mowed for the dude that owned the land so he could walk through the meadow come gun deer season. We'd reduced our herd drastically after Rich's cancer and stroke so we no longer maintained the meadow.

Without going into a long explanation, I'll say this. People I don't know now show up on this remote land. Especially during bow season. 

Well my morning of waiting to see deer in the meadow was done. 

The dude on the 4 wheeler would scare off critters. I must admit, he was not like the 4 wheelers that trespassed earlier this year. His machine was fairly quiet.

I was done anyway. I decided to come back about an hour before sunset to see if there was any action. 

I had plenty of things to do in the house.

~~~~~

I came back after doing chores.

The late afternoon light was as beautiful as the early morning light. The red oak really was showing off.  

Those yellow leaves are from birch trees. How they are still on the branches is beyond me, but they sure added color to a dull landscape.

OH!

There they were ...! The Twins! I'd seen them off and on all summer in my woods via my Trail Camera. Look at them with no spots! 

I crept into the blind and was able to take my time in grabbing a few shots of them.

Nothing to show off in any magazine or anything, but they were a joy to observe as they ate apples on the other side of the gate.

And after about 20 minutes, they were gone.

I was happy. The lens proved to work just fine. It got me close and personal to the twins.

I'd photographed a bird, I'd taken some nice late season shots of the meadow.
I'd say it was all good.

Sunday? We are supposed to get snow. I may have to take out one of the weather proof lenses and enjoy some more fun.

Stuck inside...and Oh Deer!

Well sort of. When the VA sends out a certain medication, I have to be available for the delivery as Tom the UPS guy has to hand it to a live human being and it needs a signature.

The meds come once a month and it is always handled overnight. So after the order is confirmed, I have to be present until the package shows. 

It was clean up day anyway. Time to take Charlie's dog crate and put it upstairs. He is not like Morris at all. Morris loved the crate and would go in it any time he wanted to be alone and often at night. Charlie doesn't believe in crates. He will go in it if we have company [which we don't] or if we are gone all day for an appointment [hasn't happened in months!]. 
Charlie was quite upset that I moved the crate. However he is quite happy with being King Of The Couch!

I picked the torn and tattered blind that Daryl left in the woods from last bow and gun season. He didn't take it down and when it snowed, rained, and iced like mad last winter...the top of the blind collapsed. The fiberglass rods that held the roof up shattered in the cold. In short. The blind was destroyed. I waited for him to come and claim it, then Covid came and well... I was tired of seeing it laying in my woods. It now resides in the neighbor's dumpster.

The older one that was no longer used was in the back of the shed. I set that up so I could go in the mornings and have coffee and watch the pasture from inside the little blind. A few years ago I had been able to grab a photo of deer leaping the fence.

Photos from November 2018: Shooting Deer.

I moved stock tanks, cleaned gutters, and hooked up the heater for the stock tank. Next was the game of pick up sticks and toss them in the yellow cart so I could take it to the brush pile.

I cleaned out Lil' Richard's stall so he can go inside tonight. He is the only one who doesn't mind being in the shed. I fear the old pony is getting deaf. He never heard me come by him with the 4 wheeler and the rattling cart today.

It is supposed to start raining tonight and all through tomorrow. Sigh. Cold and rain.
I don't like that combination for the critters. 
I also went back and checked the trail cam for some neat shots of bucks who are getting quite active right now.

Below, a few of the visitors around the farm.

So now I'm still waiting for a delivery and wondering if he'll be late this evening or will it be tomorrow?

Well, I've done a fair bit of work and now I'm going to experiment with some Still Life Photography.

Pancakes for supper.

I'm diggin' it.

PS~ No deer hunting on our land this year. Well, other than with a camera that is.

Tree Stand~ The Sequel

Once upon a time about 7 years ago, on November 19th, 2010 to be exact my husband decided to put up one of those neat fancy cool tree stand thingies.

It is called a Tree Stand.
I wrote about how I thought a hateful woman had invented the Tree Stand to simply get rid of her husband easily in a hunting misfortune. Misfortune my ass.
They are built to kill you while putting them up.

This new fangled Tree Stand was brought by our good friends from K-town. It is a 2 person Tree Stand.
I am sorry but I have a hard time dealing with a one person stand yet alone trusting my weight and one other person's to a TWO person Tree Stand. Add deer rifles and you get another level of excitement.

First you unpack the thing and put most of it together on the ground. Haul it out with a skid steer and a 4 wheeler. Oh, and don't forget an audience.

Poke around with the pieces for a bit and see where in the heck they do fit. Scratch your head and swat at the mosquitoes that have decided to come and watch - no doubt they were texting their other bug friends to come and watch the free show.

After one failed attempt to get it up into the tree. Threaten to shoot it.

Okay the guy in camo is not going to shoot anything. It just looked like it when I took the shot with my cell phone.
Here we are all pondering the next step.

Next step. Climb the tree with a tree climbing thingy and pull it up with a rope.

Sounds great! I was astounded. Sort of. I never saw tree climbing thing like this.

Even Scout was amazed or like me, confused.

As the light kept fading and it kept getting darker, things kept on track. There was a lot of sweating but no cursing as the kids had come up from the creek to join in the adventure too.

I stayed out of the way as I'd be absolutely no help what-so-ever.

After some tense moments the tree stand was hauled upright and sort of held in place as my husband held the stand while the other guy climbed up to secure it.

Now there were two wives biting their nails and getting a bit worked up. Both of us were pleading with the hard headed men folk to wait until daylight to finish the job!
My husband was pretty quiet during most of this as he was the guy on the ground holding the extremely flimsy ladder that was not attached to anything while the other male climbed up and strapped the seat to the tree.

I kept checking to see if I had any 'bars' on my cell phone. Nope. In order to call 911 I'd have to sprint to the top of the ridge. I took a few deep breaths and hoped the Tree Stand Gods would allow this to be erected.
I even thought of what sort of sacrifices I could make to said Tree Stand Gods to make sure the job finished safely ... in the twilight.

No sacrifices were made and surprisingly the guys decided it was too dark to continue, but the Two Person Tree Stand was now anchored.

And we headed back towards the house with the lights of the skid steer to guide us.

Yes indeed. The Sequel to putting up the second tree stand was almost as tense as the first one many years ago. But with the kids there the cussing was held to a minimum. And we no longer had the donkey contingency to watch us. However I'm sure the Dexter Cattle would have loved to give their opinion on the matter.

My friends went back early the next morning before they left and finished up securing the Tree Stand.

On Monday I went back to scout the area out. Hmmm.

Well bust my britches.
The view from the top of the stand was incredible.

And I didn't feel like I'd fall down either. I mulled things over and then took another photo down the ridge road in the other direction.
Well, hot diggity dog!

The powers that be completely misnamed this Hunting Tree Stand Thing. It should be more mobile and called "The Photography Tree Stand Thingy."


Okay. Well maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

A Hateful Woman or Stupid Man invented Tree Stands

Mark my words.
A tree stand [for hunting] or photography should never have been designed such as they are.

Who was the retard who engineered these things?
I say a Hateful Woman may have designed these for the soul purpose of getting rid of the Husband-Hunter.
*Here Honey, look what I bought you!* she says gleefully.
Honey immediately takes it out to the woods and uses this flimsy tubular thing that attaches to a tree with little bitty nylon straps.

He is supposed to climb this flimsy piece of lightweight tubular metal and deposit his weight at the top of it with a deer rifle.

Honey explains that this contraption is perfectly safe when strapped down correctly.

So...last night I helped my husband put up one of these contraptions.

Let the record show that I prefer the solid ladder that leads to a nice wide platform built on an ancient oak that overlooks a meadow and hillside. Hell, I could bring my dog up there and sit in the swivel chair that is mounted to the 'rubberized' platform. No need to do a freaking balancing act getting up or down.
[Perhaps someone could add a nice little heater and a roof...but hmmm, that would eliminate the outdoorsy-ness of the whole experience.]

Of course the donkeys had to get involved in the process too. Alas, they were held back by the electric fence.


Of all the trees that could have been picked, he picks the worst one ... in my opinion. A fiasco ensues. A dead branch is IN THE WAY, will I climb the wobbly thing while he 'holds' it and saw the offending branch down?
Sure honey...3/4 of the way to the top, I experience second thoughts, third thoughts...and feel the wobbles under me.
Don't look down is my mantra.
Don't think about falling.
Saw.
This effort fails wonderfully as the light fades and I give it up and ascend down the retarded thing they call a ladder.

Determined hubby [the sort who would beat his chest and howl to prove his manliness and we all know that deer hunting is all about manliness] announces that he must finish what a 'woman' could not.
Would I hold the ladder?
What?
It is not strapped or braced, I begin to point this out to him.

He beats his chest [not really] and begins the ascent. The ladder thingy begins to bow and he has to leap for safety.
So he puts up a brace and tells me to hold it.

By now I am ready to run screaming into the night pulling off my stocking cap with chilled hands.
I think: he's going to get up there, the ladder is going to wobble, he'll lose balance and crash into the logs and nasty stuff below. My finger prints are all over this damned piece of crap they call a ladder.
I could laugh if I wasn't so frightened.

He climbs. He saws. I hold on for dear life. Even with the offending dead limb falls and hits me...
It happens as he descends. The ladder begins to sway. I hear cuss words. In the fading light I feel him jump and thump as he lands.
Curse words.
I'm still locked on to the swaying ladder thingy that is not properly attached and is bent also.

He is okay, he yells at me for not holding this thingy steady. I'm like: WHAT? I can hold 200+ lbs 30 ft in the air on a swaying bending wobbling ladder, get real.

I done in.
He affixes the ladder-tree stand thingy properly and I am amazed. It is actually solid.

When he asks if I want a ride back to the house I stomp off through the darkness. I'm sure he wonders why...

I am convinced that only a Hateful Woman or a Very Stupid Man had come up with this tree stand thingy made out of lightweight materials.
Only the truly insane shall climb these things on Opening Day dressed in Blaze Orange and freeze their asses off waiting for a trophy buck to walk past them.

My nightmare was complete.
Yet I survived.