Awesome Autumn Weather

With a high of 70F, low of 45F, clear skies, no wind, and trees changing color, what more could you ask for? I did spend a couple evenings in stand.

It was full moon-ish.

And gorgeous out.

Not much moving - a lone doe way over there.

But a nice sunset.

I worked on a few odds and ends.  A recent survey revealed that a couple of my atv trails wandered a few feet off of my property.

So I got those redirected.

This nice white oak has been hiding behind one of my cameras.  The acorns have been largely consumed.

I find these trash dump areas in the woods - usually just off a field edge.  One of those things that I'd like to clean up one of these days.  Do you see all of the cans?

I walked up on a flock of turkeys.

Poop of the week - a fresh buck bomb.

The neighbor's ladder stand right on the property line doesn't look like it is getting much action.

I had a new creek crossing cut to get to my back property loop. It's a big improvement over the old one.  Jeff tried to re-establish my loop trail but he got lost and missed 1/2 of it.  I need to work on that. Here's a video driving thru it.  Creek Crossing

I had saved some logs from a cherry that fell across my trail.

I got them moved in by the shed.

Did I mention how big the new backstop is for the 300 yard shooting range?

Another gorgeous night in stand.

3 does below the moon.

Another nice sunset.

There are still plenty of does.

Twins growing up.

Little bucks.

Risky business - playing with skunks.

A turkey stand off.

Lots of turkeys - check the blue heads in this shot.

Parades everywhere.

And the usual predators.

Coyotes.

Nice fox shot. And here's a video. Fox at Night

I think this is a young bobcat with rear leg extended.

Some Videos That I Forgot in the Last Post

I meant to add these and forgot.  For your enjoyment.

Eric’s Maiden Drone Work

Young Bucks From Stand

Night Hunt - Fox

My Nemesis

Construction Continues, Trail Work and Other Improvements

This week we had Van and his crew working on the elk room expansion, new kitchen counters installed by KBR, and Jeff and his son doing dirt work.  A lot of progress has been made.

The elk room has been closed in.

The new sliding glass door is installed.

It’s going to be nice for taking the dogs out or getting to the porch.

The countertops are in but the plumbing hookups aren’t done yet.

This is Van’s crew - Donnie, Michael and Larry.

Here’s Jeff out in his excavator.  He also used a bobcat.

And he had a dump truck assist for some tasks including cleaning the driveway ditches and delivering gravel.

I’ve been trying to eliminate the pooling water in the orchard area.  Jeff cut a new swale.

He also cut the hill behind the pond house and put in some anchors.

He used that dirt to build a nice backstop for the new 300 yard shooting range.

And he got the target stand post planted better - it had been leaning in.

There was a lot of culvert work to be done.

While he was doing that, he did a little smoothing of some trails.  There’s still lots of “face slappers” that need attention.

Not shown is a new creek crossing to the way back trail loop.  The crossing is great but he kind of missed part of the loop back there.  I’ll need to work on that when time permits,

This culvert next to the driveway has been a persistent problem.  We’ll see how this fix works.

The implement shed had a real soft spot right in front of it. Jeff contoured and spread gravel to improve the drainage.  He also filled a little with excess dirt from the driveway ditches.

And the fire pit had been filling up with stumps and ashes.  He re-excavated it.

I decided to set up a couple of ground blinds down in the woods.  I think they will be especially good for morning hunts.

This one has a view across a creek drainage onto an oak hillside where we did the TSI.

It is mostly north facing.

And this one looks down on an oak hillside.

It is mostly facing south.  I should usually have favorable wind on at least one of them. They should be accessible without blowing out a field.

I’ve been meaning to install a rifle rack in the shooting house.  I finally got it done.

Some photos from last week with Eric and Tommy.

Here they were heading out to the stand.

Tommy driving after checking the doe trail/bed.

The good news is that the buck is clearly unharmed.

It was a clean miss.

I got out one evening and found this present on my stand platform.  Seems to be coon.

Turkeys and young bucks out. Left and right.

The bucks were sparing.

Also lots of does out.

But the young bucks were everywhere.

Had a good frost on Sunday morning. 

This appears to be an owl in mid-hunt.

Hawk in flight.

Flying squirrel.

Coyote.

Bobcat is back,

Still too many does.  

The fawns seem to be weaned.

Showdown.

Dumbo.

Fox is hard to see.

From the shooting spot looking at the new 300 yard backstop.

Zoomed in a bit.

Zoomed in a lot.