It was a beautiful fall weekend. Low of 28, highs in the 40's, light wind.
One of the other signs of the season - dead Asian beetles all over the place. Sort of like ladybugs.
The food plots are looking pretty good.
Some weeds in the brassica.
Main field clover and chicory.
Driveway.
The pond had oats and brassica mix. Mostly oats now.
Barn field clover. This is the one that I thought was lost to weeds. It's still going to be a battle.
I got the fleet out for some run time. I also put battery maintainers on some of the machines.
I went to the main stand - basically to scout but I took my bow.
Looking back at the barn.
Treeline.
Out the back.
6 does and spikes were out early. Started in the orchard and migrated to the main. Some videos of the action.
Hunt 1
Hunt 2 Hunt 3 Hunt 4
There was one frisky forkhorn chasing does. Here's some of the chasing action.
Motivated Young Buck
He cleared the field out but they bled back in. After sundown, I watched a 10 point from the orchard all the way up past my stand.
At one point, I ranged him at 64 yards. Little did I know that I would see him again in the morning.
Some more photos from my sister Sara's visit.
With niece Julia and Winnie the dog.
I've been going west each fall - this is the post from the trip to Wyoming this year.
Mule Deer and Antelope 2019
So, for next year, I got radical and booked a horseback, tent camp, at elevation, in bear/wolf country, elk hunt. This seems to have my wife a bit concerned. But I figured that I better do it before I'm too old (if I'm not already). Anyway, after this one, I will do tamer hunts - like maybe Cape Buffalo.
So this is the write up on the hunt by our booking agent.
Hunt Nation - Booking Agent Description
And this is the actual outfitter's website.
Next Year's Hunt - Am I Crazy?
I found this pin on google maps. You can hit the minus to get an idea of the location. My biggest worry is surviving the 10 hour horse ride over the continental divide to get to camp.
Google Maps - One of the Camps
But Joan really shouldn't worry. I'm going to whip myself into shape before then. And get some saddle time somewhere.
For some reason, I chose to go for a walk on Sunday morning rather than hunt. Just a great fall morning.
Poop of the week - near a camera that picked up the bobcat - could it be?
I spent a lot of time checking out tree canopies for mast crops. These are persimmon.
I could not find any acorns. Maybe this is just one of the off years for the acorn crop.
As I walked the atv trail below the barn stand, I met this young man. He had this 10 point buck down about 20 yards below my property line. It sure looks like the same buck that I had in the field last night. He made a fine shot on it - hit him in the shoulder and he only went a few steps. He told me that he watched this buck chase does up on the barn field edge for an hour or so before he came down and passed under his stand. The buck was nicely skylighted up there. All I can say is well done. He said it was his first kill since 2012.
I previously saw this post from another hunter on the same property. Those guys are having a good year.
Clematis at home surviving the frosts.
Fall scene.
Typical crowd at the apple trees.
Can you see this buck with his head in the tree?
Lots of photos - too many. This camera had 5,000 images.
Hormones rising.
Bobcat.
