Laurel Ridge Farm: February 2015

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Snowy Deer Tracks

The snow storm ended last night. It was a relatively warm morning and the sun was out so I decided to go for a walk. Not easy to do in 10" of wet snow.

I started out down the Ranger tracks until I found this crowd of deer tracks in the barn field. I had put some corn out here yesterday.

Some of them looked pretty large.

And showed some foot-dragging typical of bucks. So, I just started following them.

It went into the woods and off the side of the hill.

There were several high traffic intersections.

And then I found the bedroom.

Three deer beds each at the base of a tree.

On a south facing slope (for warmth I assume).

Poop of the week - doe pellet pile.

And also a buck bomb.

I thought this big old tree was pretty neat.

Eventually emerged in the pond field. Lots of traffic out here.

This little bit of corn was the cause of some of it.

I went to check the camera and the strap just broke - so did the bracket on the camera. I kind of tied it back up there.

Tracks directly across the pond ice. They appear to be canine. I hope that I don't find a "floater" someday.

Back up to the turnip field.

Quite a bit of activity rooting around for bulbs.

Not sure if you can see all the traffic on this end of the field.

I took a pretty good look for shed antlers. They could easily be hiding beneath the snow.

So I followed the tracks back into the orchard.

Where they did find this little bit of corn. Dave saw this camera going off while he was loading his truck last night. I didn't pull the cards - will wait till next time.

I'm surprised that at each corn site, they didn't finish it. There really wasn't really much there. Anyway, that's it for my walk in the snow today. Going down to zero again tonight - they can use a little corn for energy.

Trailcams and Snow Frolic

There was a good snow cover before we arrived and we had about 8 or 10 inches of fresh snow while we were here. Dave, Dawn, Graham and Grant came for a visit so we had a pretty good time in the wet snow.

We've had exceptionally cold weather this week (below zero) and the pond was pretty well frozen. Only the aerator keeps some open surface. There were some hoof prints on the ice.

It was warmer on Friday afternoon when we arrived but a storm was predicted over night. The deer have been working on the turnip field.

Shortly after we drove in, there were 6 deer out there rooting around. They get the turnip bulbs and I think it is a real winter treat.

Here's one they didn't quite finish.

They were also digging around in the clover field but not to the same extent as the turnips.

We are still in a battle for our food with the mice. This one was on a cabinet turntable.

Saturday morning there was a fresh layer of snow. It was closer to freezing and it continued all day right at the freezing mark.

I think we ended up with about 10" of fresh snow.

We bundled up and headed out for a Ranger tour.

We had to compact a run for the sleds. I used the Ranger to pick up at the bottom of the hill and the snow was so deep that it had a hard time climbing back up the hill.

A little thick and sticky but we got it to work.

Not sure why we picked this spot below the pond stand.

Snow and a little misty rain fell all day.

We decided to build an igloo.

Although I think some were tearing down as fast as we were building.

They ended up with a tunnel thru it.

Supervisors in front of the fire.

Eventually hot chocolate and a serious game of Monopoly.

I had no luck getting photos of the visitors to the feeder. I think these are junkos. We also had red bellied woodpecker, dove, cardinals, and a really small red bird (not sure what it was).

I gave them another taste of corn in front of a couple cameras.

Here I am last time putting a little deer scent under the last (3 week old) piece of venison. I'd been trying (unsuccessfully) to capture some predator photos.