Happy Halloween

You never know what is hiding behind a game camera!

West Hill Bears

Time to check the game cameras at our West Hill property. After finding some deer, turkey and coyote photos I found a bear photo...

After a couple more photos of this bear, there was a photo of a smaller bear. Momma and a cub ...

A couple photos of the cub (#1) and another cub (#2) starts to come into the photo on the left ...

Correction, cub #2 and cub #3 are following cub #1 for a total of 4 bears.

Check another game camera from West Hill and on Oct. 18th, all 4 bears were in the field at the same time.

Turkey Hunting

It's the first day of the Fall Turkey Season and the morning started out with a heavy frost in the low 20's. After a few cups of coffee the temperature had warmed to the mid-40's, time to look for some turkeys. We were at the cabin property at 11:30 and by 11:45 Roy had bagged his bird.

The Skybox Diner

After processing the buck Matt shot in archery season, I placed the bones and scraps in a wooded area for the wildlife.

"Welcome to the Skybox Diner, we're open all night for your dining pleasure."

"Would you like to select one of our special choice cuts of aged venison trimmings?"

"The full rack of venison ribs... Excellent choice! Please be seated, your order is ready."

Birdwatching

Doing some birdwatching today.

Fall Leaves

The view of our barn from the cabin property.

Miner's Pond

Archery Season

Archery season for deer started a couple of weeks ago but this was the first day Matt went out hunting. He was in the West Hill deer stand at 6:30AM and had this 10-point buck down by 8:20AM.

The Bears Are Back

The fall hunting season is starting and it was time to check a couple game cameras near my deer stand. No big bucks, but I did get some bear photos.

What is this bear looking at?

This bear is fascinated by something ...

The view from a second game camera. The bear is looking at a piñata for bears that I created. I put old fish carcasses in a shopping bag and hung it 5 feet above the ground. Other wildlife, such as raccoons, buzzards and opossums can't steal this meal.

The piñata has been broken and the treats fall out.

Lip smacking good.

There was a second bear at this party. This bear had an ear tag in its left ear and both bears appeared at the same time in a photo from the second game camera.

Northern Red-bellied Snake

I was moving some dirt with my backhoe when I spotted this bright reddish-orange object. It was a Northern red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata).

These are very small snakes and this one is full grown at about 12 inches.

The head of this snake is about the size of a pencil eraser. The mouth is so small it would have a hard time biting anything.

Breakfast With Turkeys

A flock of "free-range" turkeys stopped by our house early this morning looking for breakfast.