P/U at Taxidermist, Mouse Wars, Winter Trailcams

I got the call that Eric and my Aoudad were ready for pickup.  I ran right up to get them from Charlton's.  They look great.

My nephew Dave shot a monster on that trip and it was also ready for pickup.  He got the 1/2 body mount and it really is stunning.

So, I ran mine right out to the farm and found him a spot on the wall.

Starting to get a little tight in there but I think it's ok.

The war on mice continues.  This one under the kitchen sink.

This one on the birdseed bin.

It poured all morning but at mid-day I got a break in the rain and went for a walk.

Poop of the week - an impressive buck bomb.

The pond was full to overflow and everything was saturated.

Lots of evidence of the high winds yesterday.

You've got to watch out for "hangers" like this.

My PH from South Africa, Arnold, and I taking a walk this week.

In honor of Valentines Day, a love shot.

In honor of Russia/Ukraine, a hate shot.

I decided to show some doe shots.

I think that they're looking pretty healthy but still weeks from "green up".

This was a cold morning.

I'm not sure, but is this a kestrel?

Seems to be possum season - lots of them on camera.

Finally seeing a couple turkeys.

There was a ton of bobcat activity.

And some fox.

Of course, the coyotes.

Most bucks are still wearing their headgear.

This one is one-sided.

It seems that I collect an awful lot of Mylar balloons.  Since they don't degrade, I think they just circulate the globe until they find my property.  Then I pick them up.

Making Progress Toward a Buff Hunt

 As previously mentioned, my PH from my previous hunt in South Africa, Arnold Claassen, was in town.  This allowed me to make progress on two fronts toward an eventual hunt for cape buffalo. They are:

1.) picking Arnold's brain on how/where/when to hunt buff, and

2.) drafting Arnold to help me set up my new 375 H&H and to get it sighted in.

For those that might have missed it on a previous post, here's his FB page.  African Select Safaris  Incidentally, he has a few open dates in May of this year.  This is prime time at the start of the rut and when the weather is good.  If you have an urge for an African hunt, drop him a line.  He's travelling in the US for another week and may be slow to respond until he gets home.

So, when Arnold and I ran out to the farm, my friend Jon also stopped by to meet Arnold and to get a tour.

We did the camera tour on foot since the weather was so nice.

We also got to chat quite a bit about hunting in Africa.

I'm think my Buff hunt may be the summer of 2024.

We also did some plinking.  Arnold was interested in shooting the muzzle-loader.

We also got out the "Dirty Harry" 44 mag.

And I thought these guys should try out my "bear medicine".  It's the ultralight 44 mag that I carried in grizzly country.

Arnold helped out getting my Trijicon scope mounted on my new Model 70.  My friend Jim lent me all the right tools to do this job right.

We only used up one $100 box of ammo getting it sighted in.  The right target was off sticks from 30 and 60 yards.  The left target was from the lead sled at 100 yards.  We walked it in there.  I've basically got about a year to get proficient with this beast.

The war on mice continues.  I resorted to chemical warfare this week (poison).  The traps weren't getting it done fast enough.

My hi-tech bird feeder has been relocated to do a better job of collecting sunlight in its solar panel.  The first shot it sent me was of a squirrel.  

It's a relatively quiet time on the cameras.  Coyotes.

Fox.

Blurry bobcats.

A few bucks that are still wearing antlers.

And big crowds of does.

Action shot of tractor work a week ago.