Turkey Hunting

Not much activity here on the hill for the first week of turkey hunting. The gobblers I'd seen prior to the start of the season were doing a good job of hiding... until today. In the blind at 5:30AM and watching the rain all morning. At 10:45 the rain slowed to a light drizzle and this hen walked within 4 feet of the window on the blind.

As I watched the hen in the field for the next 10 minutes, this large gobbler came out of the woods on the same path as the hen used. When the gobbler got within 20 yards I hit him with a 3½ inch load of #5 shot. Bird down and season over for me. The bird had a 9 inch beard.

Coyote Tracking Collar?

A recent road kill deer was deposited in our lawn due to a collision. I removed the deer carcass from the lawn and placed it at the "Bone Yard" where I dispose of animal parts and have game cameras monitor activity. I pulled the memory cards after a couple of weeks and had over 6,000 photos. Most of the photos were birds, raccoons, opossums and other scavengers, but I also had hundreds of coyote photos. Multiple different coyotes visited the "Bone Yard", but one coyote appeared to have a tracking collar. I only got a few photos of this coyote. These photos show a band around the coyote's neck there the fur is depressed and what looks like a small darker object hanging under the coyote's neck.

Bobcat

After processing this year's deer harvest we hung the carcass and scraps in the woods for birds and wildlife to feed on during the winter. Along with the snow birds, hawks, raccoons, flying squirrels and coyotes, we got a visit from this bobcat.

Bald Eagle

This winter's cold weather has caused a lot of creeks to freeze over. I found this bald eagle perched in a tree near some open water in Wysox Creek.

Rabbit Hunting

The late season small game hunting opened after Christmas and it was a good time to take grandson Reed rabbit hunting. Reed is 9 years old and has a Mentored Youth Permit which allows him to hunt while accompanied by a mentor.

With a light coating of snow on the ground it was easy to find rabbits during the late afternoon. Reed and his dad, with one of the four rabbits he shot with a .22 rifle.

Reed is a good shot with the .22 and hit all of the rabbits in the head or neck. Retrieving a rabbit from the thick brush.

Have Hunting Blind - Will Travel

We have a couple of permanent hunting blinds that have worked well in the past, but sometimes we'd like to have a blind at a current "Hot Spot". A local chain store had a sale on 5-sided hunting blind kits a few months ago and I decided to make it into a portable hunting blind.

I built a 5-sided base that matched the layout of the kit and included runners that would allow me to pick it up with pallet forks on a tractor.

Leveling the portable hunting blind after moving it to a test site.

Very strong winds this afternoon and no movement at all. Great panoramic view from office chair. Just need to set up the propane heater.

Wildlife Food Plot

I replanted a 1/2 acre food plot this summer with ladino clover and winter wheat. To check on the wildlife grazing activity in the food plot I placed a box wire fence around a small section of the replanted area. Inside the fenced-off area the winter wheat is over 16 inches high, the rest of the food plot is less than 2 inches high.

Coyote Bites The Dust

My son Matt and I were riding around our property in the side-by-side this afternoon when we spotted something bedded down in a field behind our barn. At first we thought it was a small deer, but we soon realized it was a coyote. As the saying goes, "The things you see when you don't have a gun". After a quick half mile drive to the house we returned with the 300 Win Mag and the coyote was still in the field. Matt went to the upper level loft in the barn and dropped the coyote at 215 yards with one shot.

.22 Rifle Practice

Under the Mentored Hunting Program grandson Reed will get his first chance to go hunting with his dad this year . Reed took some practice shots at 25 yards with my old .22 today. This was Reed's first shot ever with the .22.

15 more shots at the target.

Target Pratice

Grandson Reed received a Mossberg 500 .410 shotgun for his 9th birthday and today he got to practice with it. We used a turkey target at 10 yards with standard field loads.

Reed's first shot at a target with a shotgun. A very nice shot.

Reed's second shot. Just as good as the first.

Evening Wildlife Drive

Woke up this morning to 26F and heavy frost. The cooler temperature made it feel like late autumn and the wildlife was out as I made my evening wildlife drive around our property.

Yearling Buck

While at our cabin property I found this confused looking yearling buck sneaking around behind a shed. This is a transitional stage for yearling bucks as they disperse from their birth area to find a new adult home range.

This young buck has also produced his first set of antlers which will soon shed the furry velvet covering.

The young buck has an urge to do something with his antlers and this sapling tree.

What Bears Do In The Woods

I disposed of some fish cleaning scraps at the "bone yard" and got over 400 photos of bear activity on a game camera. The photos reminded me of a song about bears and I created this short video from the photos.

Antler Envy

I sometimes capture a sequence of photos with game cameras that explain/demonstrate how wildlife learn knowledge and skills from adults. This sequence of photos starts when a young fawn, assumed to be a male, meets with a mature buck and receives an introductory lesson on sparring, an activity to establish dominance and build social bonds.

The buck and fawn size each other up. The buck is 3 to 4 times as big as the fawn.

The buck and fawn agree to a sparring lesson.

First step in sparring, come in quick and low ...

Next, use your antlers to disable your opponent's head and neck movement ...

Now, practice and repeat ...

After the sparring lesson the fawn shows signs of antler envy.

Bathtub in the Woods

After remodeling our bathroom a few years ago I placed the old bathtub in our woods for the wildlife to use. I checked the game camera at the tub today and this bear loves it. This bear has two ear tags (ear bling for bad bears) and must have been caugth and released by the PA Game Commission.