Dave Gets First Blood, Joan Has An Encounter

 It's gun season and on the second morning, Dave took this buck.

It's been 10 years since his last buck here.  He's had lots of does and a few good chances at bucks, but he was due.

It wasn't much of a tracking job since Dave hit it with a slug and he was bouncing off of trees along the way.

 So what probably happened is that Dave's first shot grazed this antler and the ear.  The buck was startled, stepped into the woods and stepped back out - that's when Dave put one in the boiler room.

Now Dave is working on spinning a slightly different tale -might be a bit of rationalization going on - you can choose to believe whichever story rings true for you.

 In any event, a kill happened and a buck was recovered.

And he seems kinda pleased about it.

 It was an interesting buck - it had just a hint of piebald coloration in a few spots like its chest and forelegs.

So, at about noon on the same day, Joan was sitting at the dining table working on her computer.  She looked out the window and this buck was walking up to the bird feeder.  She froze and took out her phone - trying to get Dave or my attention and to take a few photos.

This went on for quite some time and the buck chowed down on the birdseed.  Meanwhile, I'm napping on the couch with my phone on silent.  She's texting me and calling me.  I'm only 20' away but she's afraid to move.

 Eventually, she gets my attention and I run out into the barn to grab my gun.  I sneak around the porch corner and he immediately turns to bolt.  I put the gun to my shoulder and my scope is on max magnification.  I can't acquire the target before he bounds off into the long grass and woods.  He was literally at 20'.  Sheesh!

 When we arrived Sunday, I checked zero at 100 yards on the muzzleloader.  That'll work.

 I also did the 45-70.  The high left one was my first shot that I yanked.  Also good to go.

When making the camera tour, I encountered lots of rubs.  That's the driveway stand in the background.

 Lots of spots like this.

Poop of the week.  This one had been in the rain awhile and all that was left was the undigested hair and bones. From a coyote I suspect.

Monday from the pond stand - I had a forkhorn running around. At last light I had an unusual one sided buck with a nail like spike on the other side at only 50 yards,  I passed.  Trailcams of him later.

Tuesday night I had does and a spike at the barn stand.

They wandered up toward the orchard.  When I walked in after dark, there were a ton of deer piling out of the orchard field.  Dave saw a large buck there when he drove in after dark on Sunday night.

 Here's the one-sided buck that I had at 50 yards.

 I hadn't checked cameras in a month so there were a ton of shots.  I tried to just pick the highlights.

 This is the guy that Joan made friends with.

 I'm not sure what's going on with his bare spot.

 He's got gnarly brows with lots of junk on them.

A nice 10.

 10 point

 I hope that the neighborhood dogs are in this week.

 Lots of bobcat shots - adult and juvenile.

 Hard to see but a pair of young'uns.

 Coyotes

And a turkey.