Out Like a Lamb?

 We arrived at the farm on Saturday and, almost immediately, the 39 degree rain started to fall.  It poured all afternoon and then turned to snow.  Here's Sydney out for a pee at dinnertime and starting to be covered in snow.

 This is what we woke up to on Sunday morning.  March 30.  Out like a lamb - ha!

 So, I went out for a walk and followed the deer tracks.

 The sun came out but it was still snow covered in the woods.

 At some point, I'm going to need to spend some time clearing downed trees from the atv trails.

 This was interesting.  By about noon I was down in the clearing by the valley stand.  This is the view up the hillside toward the ladder stand.

 And this is what I saw when I turned 180 degrees and looked up the hillside behind the stand.  The south facing hills were already clear.  The north facing hills were still snow covered.

 So, I went to do some shooting.  I stopped on the way out to buy some turkey loads.  $25 for 10 shells.

 Maybe they're worth it.  This is the pattern from 35 yards.  That should work.

 I'm working on my plains game targets.  Shooting this target from 78 yards is supposed to be the same as real life from 200 yards.  I set up about 80 yards shooting off sticks, standing.

 I put a bullseye (after the fact) on where I was aiming at this impala.

 The back side of the target says that I probably had 10 fatal shots and 5 misses.  Not great.  No shots were really where I was aiming.  Not sure how I'm going to improve on this - I'll just keep practicing.

 I tried 5 offhand shots from 60 yards.  Four hit paper - one is missing.  Two of them were ok.  I hope that I don't have to shoot offhand.

 At one point, I found a doe standing in the field.  Picture taken with Iphone at about 100 yards.

 White tail departing.

Later, it got up to 50 degrees and Joan came out for a tour.  She brought her new Nikon to practice taking pictures for Africa.  Two deer cooperated.

 Joan took these shots from the barn porch (200 yards +).  Her camera does a little better than my Iphone.

 The sky did clear and most of the snow melted.

 Last week I put out one bag of deer feed on this stump.

 When I returned this week, the stump was clean and the camera had 780 photos on it.

 It took them 3 hours to find the food after I put it out.

 They hit it day and night.

 Day 2

 2nd night.

 It snowed on day 3.

 Night 3

 Day 4

 Looks like a large bodied buck facing off with the birds.

 Six deer in daylight over one little pile of food.

 Night 4

 Day 5 - picked clean and visited by groundhog.

 Even a fox checked it out.

 I moved a camera from the hi-rise stand to this new spot near the driveway.  There were deer tracks in the snow here.

 They are losing their winter coats.  Clumps of hair can be found out in the field.

 Last week I mowed the soybean straw in the orchard field.

 possum

 Some random deer photos.

Various photos of Tom.

Boiled Deer Head Etc.

A few weeks ago I found a buck carcass in the woods.  I saved the head and left it outside the barn so that nature could continue to take its course.

 This is what it looked like - still some fur and flesh left on it.

 I brought a propane tank out.  The last time I did this, I did it with charcoal.  This turkey fryer set up is much better.

 Put the deer head in, filled it with water, and lit it up.

 The first thing that happened was an amazing exodus of beetles.

 It boiled for about 6 hours and was quite fragrant.  Occasionally I pulled it out and did some scraping.

 This is the product after boiling, picking, scraping.

The next step was degreasing in Dawn dish soap.  Then I bleached it overnight in peroxide.  It's hanging in the barn now - could probably use another bleaching.

 I purchased some plains game targets to warm up for Africa.  I decided to start with a Springbok.  The backside of the target shows the vitals.  Shooting at this target from 100 yards is supposed to simulate a 200 yard shot.

 I warmed up on a regular target standing off sticks from 100 yards. Three in the bullseye and three in the 10 ring.

 Next I shot 20 shots at the Springbok.  I aimed at what I thought was the perfect spot (high heart and lungs).  I had much more spread laterally than vertically.

 11 shots would have been immediately fatal - nine were not.  There were two complete misses.  Not one shot hit the heart.  I definitely could have been lower and forward.  Much more work to do.

I tried some offhand shots from 60 yards.  This is something that I never do.  I hit paper 3 of 4 times.  Not good.

I have some more supplemental feed.  I don't usually do this but thought That I'd give it a try now just before green-up.

 There should be action on this camera next week.

 Last week after finding the shed antler.

 It was nice enough last week for Joan to come out for a tour.

 I also did a little spraying (probably too early).

A few signs of Spring.

 My walk this week covered the way back of the property - no additional shed antlers found.

 Another old skeleton found.

 Same bird that likes to land on this camera.

Looking pretty thin.

Still a month until turkey season opens.

Groundhog.

 Coon.

Coyote parade (3).