Super Stairs, More on Elk Hunt, Farm in Fall

As reported previously, I went thru a stair on the pond stand and almost went for a wild ride.  After design consultations with Van, he and Donnie set their mind to an improved structure.

And they outdid themselves.  The new setup is awesome.

They even used shingles on the stair treads to make them nonslip.

The old structure is ready to be burned.

Fall is upon us at the farm.  The maples are turning.

The asters are blooming.

And the hunting stands need cleared of wasps.

Joan and Daisy enjoy a Ranger ride.

Last weekend, I tried to help my lost foodplot.  I was in Scheels in Springfield IL and made an impulse buy of this seed.  It's winter wheat, rye, oats and peas.  I thought I'd just over-seed the lousy plot and see if anything comes up.

It hasn't rained in weeks and there's none in the forecast.  It was probably wasted effort.

Last weekend I hunted the pond stand and on the way out, I saw turkeys.

It was a pleasant night in stand with a visit from several does.

I was waiting for a buck and didn't take any shots.

Based on camera activity, I chose to try the driveway stand this week.  There seems to be a lot of activity in the brassica.

It's a little spotty but has come in in a big way.

My first customers were a doe and fawn,  The fawn almost disappeared in the big leaves. Video of first customers  Video of grazing

My next customers were a doe and twin fawns from the other direction. Video of twins arrival

Eventually, the one doe worked around to where she got a little whiff of me.  Busted.  Video of busted alarm

The others then got nervous too.

I did see a couple more does later but no bucks made an appearance.

On the trailcams, I had several weeks of activity.  Let's start with the varmints. Fox.

Bobcat - I think these are two different ones (male and female?).

Coyotes.

Lots of turkeys all over the place.  You can tell it's not turkey season.

Of course, the deer were out in impressive numbers too.

And the bucks are sparing already.

There's been a one-sided buck around.  Doesn't appear to be broken off.  Injury to pedicle?

Some activity at the licking branches that I hung,

I had a block out for awhile.

Here I am working on hanging the licking branch.

My friend Jim was in Chama NM a week ahead of me,  He was with Bob and Bill at the Lodge at Chama. Lodge at Chama  It's a really high-end hunting experience with 4 star lodge, gourmet meals, and high fence hunting.  All three hunters took elk in excess of 400".  Take a look at this beast that Jim got.

On my hunt in a different part of Chama, Junior (hunter from TN) kindly gave me some of his chestnuts with some instructions on how to germinate them.  They are currently in my beer fridge.

I forgot to put the OnX maps in the elk hunting post.  This one shows most of the areas that we hunted with some pins dropped where my elk went down etc.

This one shows the drive in from Chama across the Chama Land and Cattle property.

And finally, I found a rainbow on a trailcam.