Opossum

It has been a cold week, so this afternoon's high of 32°F brought out this Opossum looking for a meal. I had hoped the little critter would do their trick of "playing dead" so I could get some close-up photos, but it took option #2, which was quickly climb the nearest tree.

Cold Weather

This week started with freezing rain and snow, and for the past couple of nights the temperature dropped into the single digits (°F). This young deer's thick winter coat reminded me of small children, oblivious to the cold, dressed in multiple layers of coats and snowsuits.

Resident Goose

The resident goose that had been staying on our pond spent the Thanksgiving holiday on the neighboring pond and then returned a couple of days ago. The goose has found a small patch of open water on our pond, which it left to see if I had any food. I did.



The ice on the pond is very smooth and the goose walked very slow to avoid slipping and falling.



The goose preferred to sit on the ice while eating the corn I threw on the pond.

Turkeys and Deer Hunting

This past Saturday was the start of the PA rifle deer season and I was in my deer stand by 6:15AM waiting for sunrise. Shortly after daybreak I could hear turkey calling in the woods below my stand. The turkeys flew out of their roost and landed in the field below me.



The turkeys started feeding in the field and worked their way to my deer stand.



By 4:00PM I hadn't seen any deer all day but 3 dozen turkeys had been feeding in this field all day. At 4:15PM the first deer of the day approached from the woods and stood at the edge of the field. It was a 9-point buck and he was watching feeding turkeys and didn't see me in the deer stand. One shot and the buck was down.