Season Waning - It's Cold

There's only archery left this season and it's almost over too.  The weather is cold, the rut is long gone, and there isn't much moving.  But I still spend a little time in stand when I can.

When Joan and I arrived this week there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground.  We didn't have any in Mason.

It was a perfect time to get my burn pile cleaned up.

I had a ton of cardboard accumulated in the barn plus a pile of branches in the pit.

I got it started pretty well.

And then Joan and I headed out on the camera tour in "her" blue machine.

It was hovering around freezing with a couple inches of snow on the ground.

The camera in the sun made it look warmer than it was.

I decided to sit in the barn stand and I had absolutely no visitors. There was a cold front coming overnight so I thought that I might have some activity.  Nope.

In the morning it was 18F and blowing.  I stoked up the stove.

And made a breakfast sandwich.  I just stayed warm, did laundry and had a lazy day.

On the way out, Joan spotted a hawk on a power pole by the driveway.

He took off before we got close.

I don't check this camera every week.  Here's a shot from the bonus weekend.

The bobcats were active this week.

And the coyotes.

There were a couple shots of the turkeys.

Deer activity was minimal.  I'm amazed that this block hasn't been consumed yet.

Gotta love these shots.

I think that the bucks are back in bachelor groups.

Chores and Cool New Christmas Gifts

 Check out this stuff that I got for Christmas.

Looks like I'm going into the worm ranching business.  It may not be the optimal time of year to start this yet.  It comes with bedding and food - just add worms.  I should be set for bait this year.

I also got this box of metal - some of which needed to be painted.

I cleaned it and then gave it a good coat of white paint.

And then I assembled this tree.

It's a target tree with reactive targets that swing around when hit.  I gave it a maiden voyage with my 22 pistol.  Video here.  Shooting The Tree  It's also good for 22 rifles.  You could have simultaneous shooters trying to put all the targets on the other guy's side.  Sounds fun.

I also got a new battery and installed it in the blue General.  I'm not sure if we got a defective one from the start or if we did something to kill it.  The Polaris dealer wouldn't replace it on warranty (past 6 months) but they did give me a substantial discount on the new battery

So I took the General on the camera tour.

I also did a little organizing and rearranging of the implements in the shed.

This was last week during Muzzleloader season.

Someone left me this present right in front of that camera.

You would think that I would have an action shot of that being deposited.  But I didn't.

I did revert to archery for a night in stand.

It was raining and a cold front was coming in.

I started seeing does early and had high hopes that a buck would follow.

First one, then three, then six does came out to the clover.

Eventually the smart old Momma doe swung around to my downwind side and got a whiff.  That was the end of that.

There was a lot of activity on that camera with the poop in front of it.

I had left a little pile of cracked corn there.

And the licking branch got its normal visitation.

But there was no hint who left the the present.

Lots of young buck activity.

And the does did visit the corn piles and block that I put out.

The turkey flock was also making the rounds.

And the coyotes.

No good photos of the bobcat this week.