Cabin Update, Poopology, And Other Stuff

 The addition is done except for the blinds - they're on order.  Van did a great job.  This week he sealed the tile, installed the shelves and doors on the closets, and finished the trim.  This is our new table and chairs.

 The new closets are pantry type shelves for appliances and linens.

We finally got some rain this week but it is still terribly dry.

 I found quite a selection of poop this week.  I'm not sure what it all is.  Dave and I were reading some tracking books that I have but their pencil drawings of turds weren't much help.  I'm pretty sure that this is coyote.

This stuff looked like caviar or black rasperries.  I have no idea who left it.

 Likewise on these - there's berries of some kind in there.  coyote? racoon? fox?

These berries look suspiciously like the above picture.

 I've had a problem with pigeons nesting in the eaves of the barn porch.  I've been meaning to get a shotgun out and take care of the problem.  It appears that a hawk or a coyote has been on the case.  There's still a few up there though.

 This wasp nest was in a bush right beside the driveway.

The bucks are making scrapes.  They paw up the ground, urinate in it, and rub the branches with their antlers and glands.  This is all a territory marking/dominance behavior.

I've seen more of these scrapes than ever before - don't know if I'm just noticing them more or of the activity is greater.

They are hammering the pine trees.  I think that this is the one that the little spike was working on.

This Weekend's Hunt

Summary - lots of activity but no shooters in bow range.  I saw 6 different bucks inside 100 yards.

Joan and I headed out Friday afternoon.  It was getting late and the wind was from the South/Southwest so I decided to just sit in the turkey blind near the orchard.

This is the turkey blind.  It is set up under the big pines, beside the driveway, with a view of the apple trees and the soybean/brassica field on the other side of the fence.

Here's the view that I had down the driveway.  There's a long fescue field on the left of the driveway and a tree line furhter down that hill.

You can see the fields and the alleyway that I had bushogged from the treeline up to the apple trees.  Last year I had some bucks walk right up this alley.

 This is the view from the blind back to the apple trees and grape arbor.  Thru the fence and off to the right is the new orchard. 

This view is from the driveway looking back at the orchard and the pine trees.  The turkey blind is right under that pine tree behind the power line.

Anyway, I got in the blind around 5:00 and saw the first deer at 6:15.  It was a doe over in the sunflower field by the firepit.  It was there feeding for about 10 minutes and then it got nervous, stomped the ground, stared back to the barn and eventually ran off toward the pond.  I later learned that Joan brought a dog out to pee at about this time.


At about 6:30, I looked thru the fence to the new orchard area and there was a buck standing there.  I couldn't tell at first but eventually I saw that it was huge - really wide racked.  I have no idea where he came from - he was just there.  He gradually walked down wind thru the new orchard, across the field and out of sight near the far tree line.  Almost immediately, two does came running out from where he went in and they settled in the soybean field.  More does started to join them and another buck showed up,  This was a decent 8 point about "ear-wide".  Once the does and this buck were in the field, the monster wandered back out of the tree line and started working his way up the right side of the soybean field.  He eventually got to about 20 yards on the other side of the fence.  I could now get a pretty good look at him - he was a typical 8 point and didn't look all that special from the side.  When he faced you or turned away from you, you could see how wide he was and it was big.

Eventually another 8 point buck showed up and a few more does.  I now had 6 does and 3 bucks within 75 yards but all on the other side of the fence.  I was starting worry about losing light and I wanted to get that big buck within bow range (about 30 yards for me).  So I tried grunting.  As soon as I grunted, one of the bucks ran out of the field and stood on the driveway looking down the hill toward the tree line.  The rest of the deer just ignored it.

A fourth 8 point buck worked it's way up the hill thru the thick cover and emerged up onto the driveway.  The two bucks locked horns and started fighting.  Thru this whole time, the monster buck just peacefully fed on the soybeans and ignored all of the others.  None of them approached him - they all kept their distance.

Anyway, I never got a shot.  It got dark and not one deer came around the fence or under the apple trees.  Eventually I had to just sneak out and go in for dinner.

The next morning I hunted the barn stand.  I got in the stand long before first light.  Just as it was starting to brighten up a little bit, I saw a form moving from up near the barn down the field toward my stand.  As it entered the clover field I finally figured out that it was a coyote.  He was constant motion and I grabbed my bow.  Somehow, in the middle of the clover, he got nervous.  I'm not sure if he picked up my scent or what.  He veered away from the stand to the treeline and then ran full speed along the treeline and down the atv trail.  He went right by the stand but I never had a chance.

I had an encounter with this young guy an hour or so after the coyote.  This picture is from the trailcam just so that you can see him - my phone photos aren't so good.

Anyway, I heard noises in the woods and he emerged into the clover.

 He came right to the stand and was grazing at 15 yards or so.

I was taking his picture and I knocked the holster of my camera onto the floor of the stand.

It startled him a little bit so he went across the field and started rubbing on a pine tree.  Even puny little guys like this are beating up the pine trees.

Dave made it out Saturday afternoon.  He hunted the hanging stand and I went out to the driveway stand.  I had two does and two button buck fawns come into the field at 4:45.  They were only there about 15 minutes and they got nervous and busted out of there.

About 5:00, a lone doe wandered thru the field and was bleating.  She didn't stay long - she headed back into the woods.

At about 5:40, the two button bucks showed up by themselves.  They stayed for the next hour as we started to lose light.  Eventually another lone doe came across the main field and joined them in the soybeans.

I was hoping that a buck would make a last minute appearance but it never happened.  It got dark and I texted Joan to come pick me up in the Ranger so that I could avoid spooking the deer when I got out of the stand.

Dave saw 6 hen turkeys, a few does and an eight point buck.  He said that the buck was a marginal shooter and it was coming out of the field into the woods.  By the time he was close enough for a shot, he was covered by brush.




Sunday morning I went to the newly relocated ladder stand and Dave went to the barn stand.  Dave got busted by some deer shortly after getting into the stand and then he didn't see much afterwards.  I had an 8 point buck who appearred to be searching for does walk past the stand at about 75 yards.  He was walking parallel to the creekbed with his nose down at about 8:45.

There were lots of rubs and scrapes and the deer were very active.  I think that the chasing phase of the rut has started.

Trailcam This Week

I had some success again with the Stealthcam but its batteries died.  I replaced the batteries, reprogrammed the dates etc, and left it overnight.  During that night, I hunted nearby and observed 10 deer in front of the camera before nightfall.  The next morning there were no photos on the camera (counter showed 0000).  I turned off the camera and the display stayed the same (didn't shut off).  Eventually, I pulled a battery and started over.  It appears to be working again...I think.

Anyway, some pretty good action on the cameras.  Here's some of the highlights.

A couple of the good ones were like phantoms.

The "Browbeast" showed up a couple of times.

 

Cabin Update, Hunting Report and Misc Stuff

On the cabin expansion project, Van got the siding up and the ceramic tile down.  Joan and I bought a new table and chairs which we had delivered on Saturday.  Van hopes to finish the project on Monday - seal tile/grout, install the closet doors, and finish out the trim.  Joan and I are ordering miniblinds and then it should be done.

 Here's the new table on the newly installed ceramic tile.  The siding is the same as the rest of the cabin - v-groove pine barn siding.

Chloe seems to like basking in the sun in the new room.

 We originally thought that we would have the tile laid on the diagonal.  Joan selected a 20" tile which requires a very long cut on the diagonal.  Van couldn't locate a big enough saw so we abandoned the plan and had it laid in this pattern.

Van had some long days on this project. Here he is pulling out at 10:40 pm on the day he laid the tile.

The lady bugs are swarming right now and these pictures don't adequately capture the magnitude.  I can literally sweep up a 5 gallon bucket of ladybugs just in the vicinity of the roll up door on the barn.

I'm told that they're not really lady bugs but some form of Asian Beetle that was intoduced to control some other insect infestation.  They're not too bad except for a couple of weeks in the Spring and Fall when they just swarm to the barn siding.

 Here I am walking past one of the trail cameras.  This one is looking out on a soybean field and I planted the edges with brassica and turnips.

 Some of the plantings didn't do too well since there's been virtually no rain.  For some reason, this field has done ok.

This plant is supposed to last late into the Fall and when a hard freeze occurs, the leaves get sweeter making it attractive to the deer.

We haven't had a good soaker rain in two months.  The pond is low - this rock pile is normally submerged.

The entire edge of the pond is covered with animal tracks - the pond is about the only water around.  Most of the tracks are deer tracks.

 I think these claw like scratches are from racoons.

I'm pretty sure all of these dog-like tracks are coyote.

 This is typical coyote scat - they have a pretty varied diet and it makes for interesting scat.

Joan wanted a few apples so Dave and I were glad to assist.

 The woods are really colorful right now.  I don't think that it's optimal since it's been so dry.  Some trees just went straight to brown and dropped their leaves.  The maple and sumac are still pretty though.

More evidence of the bucks rubbing on trees.  This is on the edge of the new clearing below the pond stand.  We've seen lots of deer enter the field on this trail.

The pines are a favorite for the bucks.  This one will probably die since it has been completely skinned all the way around.

Traffic this week included a propane delivery.

And the water company was out to repair the mess that they made when fixing a water leak a couple of months ago.












Hunting report:

Saturday evening - I hunted the driveway stand and saw nothing.  It was quite warm (80) and there didn't seem to be a thing moving.  Dave hunted the hanging stand.  He pushed a deer out of the foodplot on the walk out and he pushed two does out of the main field after dark on the walk back in.  No other activity.

Sunday morning - I sat in the turkey blind by the orchard.  Saw nothing.  Dave hunted the box stand over the clover patch off the barn.  He saw turkeys fly down and then troop into the clover.  I think he said three Toms and seven hens.  The Toms were sparring with each other and at one point they got startled and left the field by walking directly under the stand.  Dave didn't know that Fall turkey season was open so he never took a shot.  He knows better for next time - Thanksgiving is coming.