Dancing Turkeys

With the Fall turkeys season and Thanksgiving over for this year, these turkeys stopped by my deer stand for a visit. These turkeys saw my truck parked next to the deer stand and it looked like they were dancing with each other as they strolled up within 10 yards of me. After a few dances around the truck, the birds continued their dancing stroll to the edge of the field where they stayed for over an hour. Maybe the turkeys were doing their "Happy Dance" because they survived hunting season.

Deer Hunting

The rifled deer season started on Saturday. I saw several deer from my Cabin property deer stand on the first day, but didn't see any bucks that were legal. Went to the West Hill deer stand yesterday and bagged this 8-point.

Birdwatching

Today was cold and windy, with occasional snow squalls. Since the fall turkey season ended last Saturday, today was a perfect time for some local turkeys to visit our back lawn.

Rifled deer season starts next Saturday, so I went to check on my deer stand. My grouse friend was back drumming on his favorite stump, located less than 50 yards from my deer stand.

The Grouse Is Back

We got our first measurable snow overnight and I was out checking for wildlife. It appears that the grouse fight from a couple of days ago was for claiming territory and the victor was back.

The grouse was establishing his right to this territory by beating his wings to create a sound known as “drumming”.

Grouse Fighting

I was out looking for turkeys yesterday when I found two grouse fighting.

They may look like two "love birds", but they where chasing and pecking each other for 10 to 15 minutes.

They continued to fight as they moved out of the brush and into the field.

The grouse on the right was losing ground and looking for the exit ...

This grouse had enough of the fight and flew off. His opponent wasn't done with the fight and flew after him.

The Rain Won't Stop Bucks In Rut

Today's rain put a halt to my firewood cutting, so I spent some time looking at bucks on the hill. I found this crazy buck standing in the rain, in the same spot, in the goldenrod for for over ½ an hour. When he did move I found there was a young doe bedded next to him.

Looking For Turkeys... Found This !!!

It was a beautiful fall day for turkey hunting. No luck finding turkeys but I did find this guy relaxing in the shade.