Another morning in the tree...

  Beautiful still morning.  About five degrees warmer than yesterday.  Too warm.  I went in and rattled at about 7:00.  Nothing that I saw.  At 8:00 I climbed down and rattled again.  At 8:40 a beautiful doe, probably the one who came yesterday, came right to the base of my tree and sniffed my plastic horns.

  I'm quiet in the woods but an alert deer makes me sound like the circus rolling through.  Most of it is foot/ground contact.  Four deer feet equal the square inches of ONE of my heels...or less.  And they are careful with them.  They are built for the brush- long and sleek instead of upright.  Still, it is amazing how little noise they make.


  She circled away and disappeared into the brush.  I'm certain she is a doe in heat looking for Mr. Big.  After about 20 minutes I decided to move to another tree about 300 yards away and pick up the cards off two trailcams en route.  I came down my screw-in steps and stopped at the bottom to roll up a cord I had dropped.  Was standing there quiet and still and a nice, legal 8-point walked right up to me.

  He never alerted or even stamped a foot.  15 feet away, max.  I think he was so focused on following the doe that other considerations didn't count.  My rifle was hanging on my shoulder.  I was more tempted to go for my iphone and camera.  He was very handsome but far below the age and size of anything I might be interested in.  After a minute he followed the doe's trail out.  Never even flagged his tail or snorted.  I did have the very slight breeze in my favor.  It's about as close as I have ever been to a live buck in the woods.

  Gathered up my horns and headed for the other tree.  Coming across the powerline I saw a deer move away from the cornpile and cam.  I pulled that card, checked to see if the decoy was still up, put a Carnegie Hall-level horn-rattling performance out and climbed into my seat.  On the card reader I was that I was about three minutes behind a nice buckcrossing the creek.  On the OTHER card, from the corn pile, I saw a very nice deer- the one I had run off.  He looked shootable on the little screen.

  But nobody showed.

Kids built a stand.  They also have a feeder that is vomiting out corn.  Just up the creek.

Mr. Styrofoam.  He's gotten a reaction out of every deer that sees him.  I use him to multiply the coverage area,  Deer that see him snort, approach, et.

This mornings doe.  You can see my rattling horns interlaced just across a log from her.  The little buck I bumped into when I came down walked as close as she is or a little closer.

Leaving.

She's in this photo on the left side.

This little buck rattled up yesterday evening.  I'm about 40 yards to the left watching.  He came in on the decoy side and walked right up to it, sniffed noses.  I think this is the buck I had so close to me this morning at the other tree.

Still nursing, like most doe are.

The only animal uglier than my decoy in the bottom.

This MAY be the same doe I saw at the other stand.  All alone.  Her fawn, if its a buck, may be in his first rut.

VERY little buck.  Might be following mom.

Nice buck in the creek at my crossing.  I was about three minutes behind.  He came from upstream to the left and climbed the far bank up my trail headed to the next cam and corn pile.

At the corn pile.  He left when I came out of the woods on the far side of the powerline.  Nice 8-point.  I know him from previous years.  Not a great rack but it got heavier.  Probably a 3 1/2 year old.

Larabar.  Old on that had been to Camp Perry several times, Canyon de Chelly twice, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Shiprock.  Not bad.   

Brush cam running.

This cam has never had a blind on it.  Back in deep brush where they feel comfortable.

Doe and this years fawn born in May or June.  Still nursing probably.

Two does and two fawns from this year.

Bambi I.  2 1/2 year old.

Bambi II.  2 1/2 year old.

Thumper.

Bigfoot.

Daily Deercam, in the Hunt.

  Up early and into my tree.  Gave it a good 3 minute rattle before I went up and 45 minutes later a very large sleek doe stepped into the open below me.
  All alone.  No yearling fawn along.  She had ditched...him, probably.  The does in our area have never been shot so many of them are as mature as does in the wild get.  She must have smelled me a bit.  I could see her tongue run over the whole end of her nose.  She took a step and chopped with her front foot, then took another step and chopped again.  So close I could hardly blink.  She was there several minutes before I dared reach for my iphone to take a photo.
  She stayed about 10 minutes, left, came back and circled around for another 10 minutes.  Gotta be in heat looking for the bucks that were fighting.

Little buck in the scrape.

Healthy doe.

I know this buck from the past few years.  He's really muscled up with a nice enough rack.  Not big enough for me, but a shooter.  Probably is 4 1/2 years old and weighs 160 on the hoof.  Glad he's getting some corn.  Probably fighting his way through the fall.

Daily Deercam.

Spent the morning rattling for deer in the creek bottom.  No takers.  A doe and yearling fawn were in the side yard when I drove in, then I got snorted at when I came across the powerline at the creek crossing.  After that, just pileated woodpeckers.  Had the decoy up.  Nothing on the cams on this end.  Hmm.  They are there, or they couldn't snort.

Little local buck.  His first year to really see the rut going on.  He's not quite legal.  Hope that saves him!

Bobcat hunting mice at the corn pile.

Looks like a little leopard in the flash.  To the eye they are very grey and brown.

Deer and coons do NOT get along.

Four deer.  I've run this cam position so long that most of these were fed in the womb.  

Armadillo.  God knows.

Same buck as file number 1.

The other local.  First year for horns.

Time is way off of the cam clock.  Try to remember to fix it.  This was this morning around 8:00 I would think.

Daily Deercam 3-take, Opening Day

Hot and not very fun.  Just little buck and does on the cams, plus a coyote.  Lots of sign and crossing the creek on top of very fresh tracks I could smell the buck that left them.

Little buck.

Little buck.  Young and dumb.

Two does in the bottom.

Three does back in the brush.

Coyote on the prowl!

2008, 2010 bucks from the lake.

Latest date for shooting a buck at the lake.  Here he is on cam about 6 minutes before I shot him.

110 yards with Ruger #1.  Left handed.  That's just the way the limb is.

November 25th, 2008.

No buck in 2009.

2010 buck on cam at a scrape.

2010 buck on the same scrape as 2008 buck in the first shot above.  I swapped the cam position.

2010 buck.

Ruger #1.  He fell almost exactly where they 2008 buck fell.  It's a left-handed 110 yard shot.

Big Ten, 2007.

Here's the 2010 buck in March, before dropping these horns and growing next set.

No buck last year, though the guys across the creek killed this really nice one that I had seen on cam the year before.  He had bulked up and had a massive 12 point rack that looked very similar to this rack, only half again larger.  Don't want to shoot them too early.  Better to leave them.  What wonderful genetics this deer would have spread all over the creek bottom for years!  12 points......  I expect he is one of the sons of Big Ten who was a 6 on one side and a palmated stump on the other where it had been torn off at the socket when he was 2 1/2.  I passed on him several times.  His brother was killed the third season.

Daily Deercams, November 1.

Bigfoot!

Does found my corn and cam pretty quickly.

Two days to go.  Weather turning a bit warm.  One cam blank.  Does on the others.  Plus Bigfoot.

Island of the Blue Dolphins.

What a world it must have been before technology.  I've always thought if I could go back in history to any time it would be to the American plains during the Pleioscene.  It must have been amazing to see this island and the sea life around it.