Ohio News of Interest

 Black Bears in Ohio. Black Bears in Ohio

A poacher who was busted by a thermal drone while trespassing.  Drone Bust of Poacher

And, an annual report from my Bird Buddy smart bird feeder.

Bonus Gun Weekend - No Bonus

I snuck away from the pre-holiday bustle to get an evening in stand.  It was perfect.  The snow and frost had melted off the food plots and the brassicas were about the only green left. There wasn't too much wind. 

And, if they didn't want the greens, there were plenty of bulbs available.

I spent the mi-day in the pond stand.

And I moved to the main stand for "power hour".

I saw this interesting ice formation during my move.

At the main stand, I could see 5 food plots.

Plus a lot of tree line and field edge.

It was a beautiful evening with not one deer moving anywhere.  Go figure.

I had two walks in the woods.  The white oak acorns are gone but the red oak ones are plentiful on the ground.

They are sprouted and are pink/red on the inside.  Not sure if that's still palatable to deer.

Poop of the week.  This one is absolutely full of hair - I assume that it is a large coyote.

Walking out of the cabin mid-morning and there was one deer in the field.  I suspect that it was the same dumbo that I encountered on my woods walk. Video of Oblivious Doe  I couldn't get it to move along.

More of the woods walk.

Buck bomb encountered near where Eric bumped a big boy a few years ago.

Another mylar balloon collected - my property is a magnet for them.

On my way out, I had what I'm sure was a bald eagle fly down the driveway in front of me.  He was about out of sight by the time I got my phone out.

The rub that taunts me.

I don't check this camera very often - here's Tommy with me a few weeks ago.

They've had a tough early winter.

Look at that snow.

These type of photos also taunt me.

Bobcat.

Mother and pup coyote in the background in this series?

Not sure how turkeys manage the winter.  Lots of seeds I guess - no bugs.

This may be the dumbo I keep encountering.

And, the usual deer activity.

Partially Daft?

Alexa said is was -1F when I woke up yesterday.  But I decided to go to the farm and sit in a hunting stand.  My watch said it had warmed to 22F.

And I was rewarded with a visit by two spikes.

The sunset was nice.  While I was in stand, I read this article that my brother sent me about hunting culture in Pennsylvania.  Bear Camp

But it was cold - BRRR.

I was also cold checking on cameras.

I selected which stand to hunt based on the traffic patterns in the snow.

Based on the camera in this spot, this foot dragging buck was the spike.

The deer are amazing and resilient in these winter conditions.

I'm not sure how they find food or stay warm.

And they are social animals.

Leaving scents for messages.

The turkeys have to fend too.

And the predators seem more active in this weather.