I love Winter

 

Someone told me I was lying to myself when I said I loved winter the most. Chuckle Chuckle.

I love every season of course. Winter always provides me with so much to see. 

Granted. In the spring and fall, I can walk the woods and not be so bothered by insects. Summer brings its own delights which include much longer days and some un-delights of heat and humidity.

I love flowers which only bloom in my garden from Spring to Fall. But Winter provides me with time on my hands to explore the shapes of trees. Time to watch ice falls develop on a rock and moss sandstone wall.

I am afforded the ability to admire the frost that develops on the rocks in a large spring.

I can hike through the valley and bask in warm sunshine in one spot and be in chilled in the shadows and cold breezes in another.

I can be amazed over and over by an old oak tree's shape against the snow or how it casts shadows over the stream.

I can see how the natural order of things progress. I can find deer beds, coyote dens, 'possum trails, and raccoon tracks. I see how nature cleans up after a death. Who strips those bones clean like that? Not coyotes. But the Titmouse, the Bluejay, and Woodpeckers! 

Death in the valley provides a little something for everyone except the unfortunate whitetail perhaps.

The mice will find important minerals in this buck's antlers that will help them. They find calcium, phosphorous, and minerals that may be lacking in their diet in the antlers of some deer and their bones.

This huge spring provides warm water for scuds and caddisfly larvae to survive cold spells.

The spring comes out of the hillside.

It joins the creek as it flows down hill.

View looking towards the south.

No matter how cold it gets, I've never seen this spring freeze over. The water is about 45 F all year. During a very deep freeze, all the moss covered rocks get covered in a beautiful frost.

The first signs of spring arrive here on near this spring. Skunk Cabbage!

Winter provides me with more challenges to find interesting photographs. There is the snow to deal with which throws off the camera meter. There is the cold to deal with. The cold will drain batteries swiftly. Moving cameras from cold to warm can damage them if precautions aren't taken. 
Dressing appropriately can also be an issue. After years of trial and error, I am coming to a happy medium.

This hike last week involved a small backpack with a thermos of hot chocolate, hand warmer packets, fresh mittens in case mine got wet, my pistol, and camera batteries in my inner pockets. 

The thermometer hanging off my camera strap read -9 F at the spring.

My feet got cold while I explored the Big Spring. But I knew that a hard and fast walk with my snowshoes on would warm my feet up.

Eventually I made it to our ridge trail and headed up out of the valley.

That is my shadow and if you look closely, you might even see the shadow of a Teddy Bear face in my backpack.

Silly, I know, but Bear doesn't mind the cold.

By the time I got home, I was damp with sweat. 

And that

is 

some of the

reasons

I like  love winter.

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.