Fish Restock, Africa and NM Prep, Hawks

I stopped at Jones fish on the way out this week to pick up my annual additions to the pond.  

I always get fathead minnows and golden shiners to keep the population of forage fish high.  A couple of grass carp too.  This year I added a few more bass and hybrid (sterile) bluegill.

I float the bags for awhile to equalize temperature and then I open and gradually add pond water.  Finally they get released.

First mouse seen in some time but at least it was out in the barn at the birdseed.

The clover fields were sprayed a couple of weeks ago and you can definitely see the weed die-off.

One of my big concerns is thistle - they try to take over. They just look a little stunted at this point.

This is an example of how obnoxious they can be.

This fall I'm hunting mule deer in New Mexico so I moved my can (silencer) from my 30-06 to my 6.5 Creedmoor.  I hadn't shot this gun in a year and it was 2" high at 100 yards at that time (with the muzzle break).

I decided to deploy my new target (thanks Jeni and Eric).

They made it with my future cape buffalo hunt in mind.  So I also planned to practice with my 375H&H.

First I shot the 6.5 CM and it was 3 MOA low (5 MOA from previous zero).  That's the lowest hole in the brown.  So I cranked it up and shot a bunch off sticks at 100 yards.

Here's a comparison of the two cartridges I was shooting.  The 375 packs some punch.  After shooting the 6.5, I painted the plate with some white paint and gave the 375 a try.

First impact on plate blew a lot of the new paint away.

My elevation holds were good but my lateral hold wondered a bit.

I did manage to ring the plate four out of six shots.  More work needed to get used to the recoil from this beast.

I made the camera tour.

And encountered poison ivy near several of them.

This is our frog/salamander pond.  I think it would actually be classified as a vernal pool.  Since their are no fish to eat the tadpoles, it is a productive hatching area.

Starting on the mineral program for the pregnant does and bucks growing antlers.

Some people do this year round.  I pretty much do April to July.

Last week off to do some spraying.

My tractor rototiller on the way to the repair shop.  I thought the clutch was supposed to save it from self-destruction when it hit a rock.

Me with my turkey last week.

After I harvested the meat, beard, and fan, I deposited the carcass here.

Look closely at this shot.  Behind the doe you will see a hawk on the carcass.

Here, the carcass has been moved and there are two hawks enjoying it.  Anybody know what kind they are?

The remnants as of this weekend.

Don't know if this is the same hawk.

There is still a lot of strutting going on.

One in the background here too.

The usual predators.

The deer are always interested in the licking branches.

She's giving us the side-eye.

Boxing.

I've been seen this doe for several weeks with what looks like gouges out of her coat.  Wonder what caused this.

These two still look winter furry.

How's that for a saggy belly.  Still 6 or 8 weeks until fawning time.

Some of the bucks are starting to grow some antler.

I caught up on some bush-hogging this weekend.  Fields are turned and ready to plant when the weather warms up a bit.

Turkey Season Opens!

 And I had some success!

We didn't arrive until Saturday near noon.  In Ohio, during the first week, it is morning only hunting.  I had been seeing lots of activity near the driveway stand so, for Saturday evening, I decided to just go sit in the stand to see what was going on.  I was hoping to see where they flew up to roost.

When I got to the stand I found this.  Poop of the week.

I'm not sure who climbs up there to do this.  My previous guess has been raccoons.  But these are pretty big piles.

Anyway, it was a lovely evening sit.  I saw two coyotes on the hunt in the fields.  Two does came out.  And eventually, these two gobblers came right out in the field below the stand.

They were strutting and gobbling and I just took video with my camera.  Here's some examples.

Gobblers coming out

Strut 1

Strut 2

Strut 3

Leaving

I didn't see where they roosted but I thought I might as well check this spot out first thing in the morning.  So I did.

There was gobbling in the woods at first light.  At about 7:15, the gobbling got loud and they came out into the field from the atv trail on the other side.  I picked what looked like the larger of the two and whacked him at about 25 yards.  The other guy hung around for awhile - confused about what just happened,

I never called once.  Might have been the key - I didn't scare them away.

I got down and took a look.

After first inspection, I picked him up and walked him into the barn.

Hung him up and proceeded to get all the vital statistics.

Beard length.

Spur length.

I breasted him out.  I have never plucked a whole bird.  I'll have to try that some day. Breasting may be a bit wasteful.

Earlier in the week, Van and his helper Michael were out doing some chores like clearing the trails.  

He was also test driving the John Deere which has some mysterious loss of power malady.  The current suspicion is something electrical.

He troubleshot the rototiller which died on me last week.  It's pretty much a mess after hitting something hard like a big rock.

Here I am taking a look when it suddenly stopped working for me last week.

Meanwhile, spring is well advanced.  The apple trees are almost done blooming.

I found this wild apple tree amongst the redbuds and dogwoods.

The dogwoods are in their glory right now but they are dispersed in the understory.  Hard to photograph.

Here's a spot with redbuds past peak and dogwoods at peak.

The cameras were full once again with turkey activity.

There are deer around of course.

Compare the coats in the above and below photos.

Bobcat

Coyotes.

This was at home in Mason.  Daisy found a mallard nest in our garden pine straw and brought us this present.