The Reality of Winter

We're having a tough winter this year.  It's been exceptionally cold and snowy - and we aren't even to February yet.  We didn't head to the farm until Saturday evening this week.  We attended a friend's funeral on Saturday afternoon. 

Joan had a pot roast in the crockpot which worked out well.  It's always a bad sign when you pull into the farm and the yard light isn't on.  The next clue is when you hit the garage door opener and nothing happens.

 So we barreled thru the snow in the dark to get down the driveway.  I went in thru the mandoor, released the opener and manually lifted the garage door.  We pulled in, found the flashlights, lit candles and ate semi-warm pot roast by lantern light in a 50 degree cabin.

I got the wood stove fired up and the cabin was up to 53 by the time the power came back on.  It was really weird with the power off, there was just enough power to partially light up one light fixture. 

I finally figured it out.  I had a new atv battery on a charger "maintaining".  When the power went out, I think this battery was back feeding the cabin with 6v DC.  When I disconnected it, the fixture went out. 

 

We learned something.  Tempurpedic beds at 50 degrees are very similar to rocks.

Hard to see in this picture but the drifts were over a foot deep.  Made it tough to open the gate when we arrived. 

The dogs had a hard time getting out to do their business. 

My morning walk was more cardio than usual. 

Some spots weren't so deep. 

Hard to see in this picture but there are 3 does out in the driveway field.  I took this shot from the turnips at around 11:00am. 

The deer are working all of the fields - digging down to remaining clover leaves. 

They appear to be working awfully hard to get a few bites. It was 7F this morning at sunrise.

Not one dry bean left on any of these stalks in the soybean fields. 

Major excavation work in all of the clover fields. 

I've also seen the deer with their noses in the cedars.  I think that they're after these blue berries. 

It's fun to see the "deer highways" in the snow. 

The ponds are frozen over except where I have an aerator.  It's supposed to get even colder this week with lows well below zero. 

I did get the tractor out and drag plow the driveway.  I ordered propane about 10 days ago and it still hasn't been delivered.  They better make it this week. Getting very low...

Huge canine tracks right down the porch.  Coyote or black lab? 

I went for a ride in the ranger to keep it charged up.  I almost got stuck in these side-hill drifts. 

Last weekend I got my Christmas present from Aunt Karen mounted.  Deer hoof hat rack. 

I decided to stay and sit in the barn stand Sunday evening last week.  We had a beautiful sunset and seven does came out to frolic.  A couple of young ones ran laps around the field like they were playing tag.  I suspect they were just trying to stay warm. 

Here I am on the way to the driveway stand last Saturday afternoon. 

I walked all around under this camera that I put on the stair tower to the hi-rise stand.  It didn't trigger until I was right under it. 

Button buck. 

Doe - looks healthy. 

Looking for more apples - out of luck. 

Fox.  Camera says -6F. 

Coyote.   

Tom 

Tom again.

Why Not? Just One More...

Joan went to Orlando to babysit Lucy while Amy attends a vet conference.  The dogs and I were at the farm.  The season doesn't really end until Feb 2.  Why not sit another night in stand?

But where to sit?  The deer are definitely hitting the turnips but the hi-rise is not a great archery stand.  It is high and in a big open field - only chance brings them into range.  I like the driveway for archery - probably because I took my only archery buck there.

And they have definitely been digging thru the snow to get at the remaining clover. 

It was chilly but still a nice sit.  I saw eight does show up in the turnips (of course).  I think I saw a buck up there at last light.  The lack of activity near me might have had something to do with my clumsiness.  I hooked the trigger of my release in the neck strap of my binoculars and pulled them off a shelf to clunk on the floor. 

Last week I moved a camera to the hi-rise stand stair tower to look down on the turnips. 

Low and behold, this buck walked right under it.  I watched the crowd of deer up in the general vicinity of this camera from my hunting stand. When I checked it the next morning, there were no shots.  I think they have to be very close to trigger it at this angle. 

Here he is in the orchard - he showed up late. 

The does had already sucked up the stale apples that I threw out there last week. 

They seemed to enjoy them.  I hope it gives them an energy boost for this tough winter. 

We had an inch or two of snow over night.  That is always fun because I can follow fresh tracks.  I have always read (and observed) that bucks walk with a foot dragging swagger.  They leave distinctive tracks with the footprints connected. 

Does are "high-steppers".  They walk around like show horses lifting their hooves up high. Of course there's usually a difference in size of the print too.

When I went for my walk this morning, I cut some nice buck tracks right by the barn (near the gutting spot).  I followed them into the atv trail to the drop off where they veered off thru the woods.  I followed them along the ridge parallel to the field edge, below the hanging stand.  Eventually they went past the end of the barn field and followed the same trail as Kristen's doe took a couple years ago.  I gave up when they left the property. 

I came out in the pond field and there were doe and buck tracks everywhere. 

I don't remember seeing this upended tree previously. 

Below the pond hi-rise - they worked this whole field looking for clover. 

It has been a tough winter already and it isn't even February yet.  Everything they have to sustain them quit growing in October. 

As usual, they've worked over the pine trees.  This one will probably die.  It has been skinned 360 degrees. 

I find that these double trunk trees stand a better chance of survival.  They usually retain bark on at least part of their circumference.

This one looks like it has had sprouts killed numerous times in the past. 

This one too. 

Saturday I made a stop at this new store in Northern KY (near CVG airport).  It's similar to a Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop. 

They had some great mounts.  This bull elk was awesome - especially the lower part of its rack. 

This reminded me of Leo's bobcat/duck mount.  There were a few sales that I couldn't resist - a Cuddeback camera was $80 off. 

Ballistic humor courtesy of Leo.  He found this posted over a urinal somewhere. 

Making the camera tour. 

It was chilly.  20F according to this camera. 

Sunday morning stroll. 

The one-sided buck is still running around. 

Our friend, the Lab. 

Coyotes. 

Fox.

Winter food desperation - evidence in all fields.