When Do Bears Hibernate?

It's been a cold week, with temperatures dipping to -8F, but this bear isn't hibernating yet.

Checking out my "bone yard" to see what's on the menu ...

This looks good ...

Good taste ...

Time for a full rack of ribs.

Cabin Electric Project

When the small cabin on our "Cabin Property" was built by the prior owner it was built as a hunting cabin, off the power grid and powered by a small generator. Over time we upgraded to a larger generator, but it is now time to connect to the power grid and start using the cabin as a guest house.

In a break from the December rain and snow, the installation of the first power pole started on a 50F day.

Only 3 more poles to install.

On day number 2, as the power company worked to install our section of new power line, they discovered their power pole, that we needed to connect to, had a rotten top and needed to be replaced.

As the power company replaces a rotten power pole on their distribution line, a crew is pulling the cable on our new section of power line.

Connecting the new power lines to the transformer at the cabin.

After two days of work by the power crew, the cabin is now on the power grid.

Barred Owl

The day started out with the temperatures in the lower teens. I went for a drive around the cabin property in the heated ATV and found this barred owl. The owl was in a swampy area about 50 yards from where we placed an owl nesting box earlier this year.

Deer Hunting With Reed

Grandson Reed went for his first deer hunt with his dad on the first day of rifle hunting season. Within a couple of hours his dad completed filling his deer tags. Reed then wanted to help grandpa get a deer, so on the second day of the season he was up at 5:00AM and ready to go hunting.

The temperature was 18F and after a short ride to our deer stand the first job was starting the propane heater.

With the deer stand warming up it was time to sit back, drink some hot tea and wait for the deer.

No deer yet, but a flock of 2 dozen turkeys came in to the deer stand.

The turkeys got within 30 feet before walking back into the woods.

Still no deer and Reed just happened to bring a deck of cards. Reed suggested we play "Go Fish" with the loser would gut the deer (if we get one). Reed lost the first game and grandpa lost the second game. Time to quit the cards. Reed's dad stopped by around noon so Reed could pick out a Christmas tree. At around 4:00PM grandpa shot a 6-point buck.

Bulking up for Hibernation

The weather may be warm now, but this black bear was at our "Bone Yard" bulking up for hibernation. The bear had found our "Bone Yard" where we throw out carcasses, bones and scraps from deer processing. In less than a week the bear had filled memory cards on two game camera with over 3,300 bear photos.

Fall Turkey Hunt

The Fall turkey hunting season is now open and I was able to find some birds in the woods behind our house this morning. I got this nice young bird at 10:30.

Coyote

Checked the game cameras at the "Bone Pile", a place where wildlife can feed on animal carcasses I disposed of. Since there is human scent in this area, the coyotes are very cautious and leery of traps. Coyotes will often check out an animal carcass at this site for days or weeks before taking a bite. This young coyote is checking out the rib cage of a deer that was placed here last December.

Dragonflies

Today's temperature was into the 80's when I went to our cabin pond to look for Wood Ducks to photograph. No ducks on the pond, but I found several Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies. This male Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly was kind enough to pose for me.

Walnuts

The walnuts are still dropping from the trees. This is loader bucket number 7.

Archery Hunt

Matt was here this weekend to try his luck archery hunting and took this nice 8-point buck. With the temperatures in the 70's for the next few days, we had this buck processed and in the freezer within 24 hour of shooting it.

Milk Snake

With today's temperatures in the mid 40°F and following yesterday 1.03 inches of rain, I didn't expect to find this young eastern milksnake crawling through the leaves. Being cold blooded, this milksnake was sluggish when I found it, but after a few minutes in my warn hands it was ready to be released.

Bears In The Woods

Time to check a couple of game cameras at another location on our property. It had been about a month and the two cameras had over 6,700 photos, of which about 6,000 photos were squirrels. I did get some photos of bears, including this cinnamon bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum).

The cinnamon bear is a color morph subspecies of the American black bear.

Several photos of black bears at the same location.

Blue Heron

Drove the ATV to the cabin pond this afternoon and found a Blue Heron sneaking around the pond looking for a meal.

Success.

After eating the fish the Blue Heron started to rest at the shoreline ...

The Blue Heron spotted another meal ...

Another fish. I watched this Blue Heron catch at least 3 fish.

Northern Lights

The Northern Lights were visible tonight. Some photos from the hill top at the cabin property.

Looking west.

Looking east

Bears in Bathtub

Pulled the memory cards from the West Hill game cameras today. A lot of activity at the bathtub camera this summer, mostly bears. It started out with just one bear at the tub ...

The next photo had a cub in the tub and if you look closer, a second cub hanging out of the culvert

Cub #1 wasn't happy with mommy's washing style.

Cub #2 watching from the end of the culvert.

Cub #1 swatting at momma.

Cub #1 mocking momma.

As mommy walks away, now there are 3 cubs in the tub.

The cubs continue to play at the bathtub as mommy waits.

The bears continued to visit the bathtub during the summer.

In this photo there a 4 cubs in the tub.