Can't Find a Shed!

 It's still a month until Ohio Turkey Season but we have this:

A couple nice gobblers in full strut.

I did the camera tour this week while carrying my buffalo rifle.

It's a couple pounds heavier than my regular hunting rifles.

I just wanted to see if it was a big deal to lug it around.

Not too bad but I didn't carry it all day long either.

I shot a group off sticks at 60 yards, then an offhand group from 20 yards, then a group from 60, then offhand again at 20.  Not perfect by any means but they should have been fatal on a buff.  Good full magazine practice, cycling and reacquiring the target.

I gave it a good cleaning - the first  one I think.  Not exactly following a classic break in routine.

I had two big walks looking for shed antlers.  This is a trail thru the prairie plot.

I checked all the food plots.

This is the turnip field that I hit with roundup and frost seeded clover.  Not much yet.

On the field edges, I keep finding historic trash dumps.

Not sure if this is woodpeckers?

Some sort of amphibian eggs in the vernal pond.

Hard to believe that it's been 4 years since we had the grandkids with us at the start of Covid.

Sunday morning sunrise.  I covered a lot of ground and not one shed antler.

What did this coyote get?  I can't tell if it is a bird or a beast.

This is 1/4 mile away and still carrying around.

This guy looks lame.

No privacy.

A series of white tails.

Curious.

Antlerless buck?

Conflict.

One of the few remaining with antlers.

Turkeys.

Here's some trailcams from Alex's first time driving any vehicle.

Investigating a poop of the week.

Nature Walk With Alex

Alex is our great-niece who was visiting from Maryland with her Nana, Laura.  She was in town to take a look at Miami University where she has been accepted. We got away to the farm and Alex went on the camera walk with me. 

She had already made friends with Violet and Daisy.  They were just back from the groomer, and after last week's mud-fest, they weren't allowed to come on the walk.

Alex hasn't learned to drive yet so we got her some practice with the Ranger.  It was sunny but chilly so I had to lend some camo to the girls.

The shooting range daffodils were in full bloom.

Alex had a pretty good eye and spotted a number of artifacts.  This was a carcass of a possum (I think).

We did the whole tour on foot - about 2 miles.

She also spotted this which I believe to be owl pellets.  It definitely had some bones in it.  Here's some info on owl pellets.  Owl Pellets

She also got a look at the view from the pond stand.

She found several good candidates for "poop of the week".  This looks like a fairly fresh coyote poop.  Lots of hair.

And this was an older looking coyote poop where the rain had washed everything away other than the hair.

This poop had also been rain affected.  It revealed undigested seeds.  My guess is that this coyote had been eating either persimmons or paw paws.

And then she found a classic fresh pile of doe pellets.

Meanwhile, we're well into the antler shedding season.  Alex and I looked everywhere but we didn't find any.

There are quite a few males that have dropped.  You can see the pedicles where the antlers had been attached.

This is a "bachelor group" and only the little fork horn still has his antlers.

There are some bigger ones that are still intact.

But the majority have already dropped.

The does are in the normal routine.  It's still several months until fawning time.

Check out the squirrels on the tree trunk.

This shot just caught a bird in a glide (hawk?).

The bobcat shots are often blurry.

Less turkey activity this week.

And, of course, the coyotes.

Anyway, nice to have some company (and extra eyes for spotting stuff) while on the camera tour.

Good luck on the college shopping Alex - and on the driving.