BOO!!!

 Happy Halloween.  Hope that the creepy-crawlies don't find you.

Spent a wet evening in stand and was disappointed in the activity.

I did see two nice bucks over an hour before sundown.  But they were 450 yards away.

And they were the only deer that I saw moving at all.

Food plots are in good shape.

Tis the season.  The colors are changing.

The rut should be heating up.

But I sure didn't see it.

Surprising amount of green still in the woods.

Some colors in progress.  This is a gum or tupelo tree.

The sumac, sassafras, and gums are turning on the field edges.

But some of the big trees are still mostly green.

I found this maple down across the valley trail at the culvert.  Before and after the cleanup.

In process shot.

All of the usual signs.

Pear tree by the cabin.

Main field brassica and oats plot.

The brassica is huge in this field.

And it has been getting routinely nibbled.

The beets and greens plot next to it has more weeds.

Close up of the beets, radishes, and turnips.

Out for a walk.

Coming in from a sit.

Notice the squirrel with nut on left.

Bobcat bait.  This one looks small.

But this one looks larger.

And the ever present coyotes.

Signs of Fall

 It's definitely starting to look and feel like fall.  The maples have started their turn.

And this is a dogwood.

Lots of nuts on the ground.  I've seen a lot of acorns and hickory nuts. Plus chestnuts.

And black walnuts,

These white and chestnut oaks aren't looking real healthy. And they are beside the large white oak that already died.

Cedar berries.

The prairie plot warm season grasses have gone brown.

And there are field edge deer scrapes everywhere.

I hunted this weekend and only saw one small 4 point buck.

But I found this - sure looks like blood.  I didn't find anymore of it.  A mystery.

My mock scrape had gotten no attention so I put a redbud branch on it.  My cedar branches were pretty low - this one is higher.  We'll see if this is any more attractive.  Some of the field edge scrapes were under redbuds.

Recently I've been getting photos of turkeys roosting in these apple trees.  They are right beside this old grape arbor.

I think these dried up grapes are the turkey attractant.

Last week I pointed out the thistle in my clover plots.  This week I noticed this massive outbreak of them on my pond dam.

Update on my crossbow.  I took it to Cabelas and the only guy who could look at it or work on it was out last week.  They suggested that I call Ravin.  I did and after more than two hours on hold, I got a rep and he gave me a return authorization.  They say they should turn it around in two weeks.

I forgot that this brassica field was a mix with oats.  As I look at it now, there are a lot of good oats out there too.

Some of the usual suspects on camera.

Including me.