Picking Corn

It was a throwback to farming 50 years ago to have this antique two-row corn picker in our corn field. A local farmer, with a need for cob corn, picked a few acres of our corn the old way.

So much for "old school" corn picking, time to bring in the "new school" corn picker.

This was a small, 7 acre, corn field and it only took a few minutes for this machine to pick the corn.

Done with our field and on to the neighboring field of corn.

The "Rut"

The whitetail deer's breeding season is now on. I found this buck bedded down in the grass as he watched two doe and works on a clever introduction to impress the girls and get a date.

Prepping for the Boys

I was driving around our cabin property today, looking for a few bucks to photograph. I found these two does prepping for date night.

First, the "sniff test".

Now work on the eyebrows.

A quick wash behind the ears.

"I'll wash your neck if you get mine"

"Almost done... Are the boys here yet?"

The Rut

The whitetail deer breeding season, known as the rut, is currently happening in our neighborhood. There was a warm rain falling all day and I found this buck during my daily drive around our property.

The buck was paying more attention to chasing other deer and didn't have any problems with me following him with my truck. This buck looked very stiff when it walked and then I discovered a large wound behind his shoulder. This injury may have happened during a fight with another buck.

Wildlife Activity

Matt and I went to our West Hill property last Thursday night to look for a "misplaced" arrow. Little did we know of the wildlife activity that was happening 200 yards from where we were looking.

The following is a series of photos taken by a game camera on our West Hill property road. (Timestamps are in the lower right of the photos. The exact time may be off by one hour due to daylight savings time change)

Photo of my truck passing the camera at 7:16PM as we drive in.

At 7:23PM this bear passes the same camera, walking in the same direction as the area we are looking in.

7:24PM a second bear walks past the camera. Based on their size, these may have been two of the cubs that I have photos of.

At 8:01PM this buck walks by the camera heading in our direction.

At 8:20PM a photo of my truck driving down the road.

Nice Day for a Stroll

It was another unusually warm November day, in the 70's, when I found this flock of turkeys out for a stroll at our cabin property.

Wildlife Predation and Scavengers

While driving around our cabin property last week I discovered the kill site of a young deer. It was obvious that the deer had been killed by a predator and I had some suspicions as to which one. I placed a game camera next to the kill site and confirmed a large coyote in the area.

This deer was too much of a meal for the coyote and other animals were more than happy to help cleanup the leftovers.

Most Turkey Vultures in this area have migrated south for the winter but this one was glad to help with the cleanup.

Several hawks have visited the site.

Crows and ravens are regular visitors.

Reed's Office

Grandson Reed is visiting us this week while his dad tries his luck at archery hunting. Mr. Reed informed us that he has started a consulting business and set up his office in our spare bedroom.

Reed's consulting business is so busy it's all he can do to multitask.

Bobcat

I'd heard recent reports of Bobcats in the neighborhood and today I got a chance to confirm the Bobcat(s) with photos. It may look like a very fat house cat in the photo but this cat was 3 to 4 times bigger than a house cat. I've only seen a couple Bobcats in the neighborhood and those sightings were only for 1 or 2 seconds. I watched this Bobcat for at least 5 minutes as it lunched on a squirrel.