Brrrrr ... (Again)

It was another very cold night in the neighborhood as the temperature plunged to its lowest recording for this winter, -8.1 degrees (F) at 6:00AM.

The neighborhood deer were out early this evening searching for food to replace calories burned keeping warm last night.



This young guy seems to be enjoying the cold.

Neighborhood Deer

Today was bright and sunny, but it didn't feel very warm after this morning's cold single digit temperature. Some of the neighborhood deer looking for a meal and a warm place to stay.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog's Day is a day celebrated on February 2 and according to folklore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and doesn't see its shadow, then spring will come early.

Overnight we received about 7 inches of new snow and the day started out around 30 degrees (F) and I started plowing our driveways with the old John Deere tractor. The snow plowing wasn't bad until about noon when the temperature dropped 12 degrees in 15 minutes and the wind started to howl.



The warm morning temperature started melting the snow on our solarium and them turned it to ice when the temperature dropped.



By the afternoon the wind chill had dropped below zero as the neighborhood deer were looking for a meal.



Groundhog Day 2015: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts six more weeks of winter

Happy Groundhog Day!

Let it snow ...

A couple of inches of new snow fell today, but it wasn't enough snow to bother the local neighborhood deer. The deer's fur is such a good insulator that the snow on their back doesn't melt.

Searching for Food

The recent storm has left the ground covered with snow and the neighborhood wildlife has to spend more time and effort searching for food. Deer have to dig through the snow cover to reach the tasty grass.



This pair of deer are sniffing out their next meal.

The "Rut"

It's the white-tailed deer's breeding season, known as the "rut", and the buck's have one thing their mind, find as many does as he can. White-tailed bucks are more active, less cautious than usual and more visible during the daytime



It's a wildlife dating game and the does are out showing off for the bucks.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

The cooler fall weather has triggered some local deer's mating urge and the bucks mark their territory with "Buck Rubs". "Buck Rubs" are created by scraping or gouging on a tree or sapling with the buck's forehead or preorbital gland. Not only is this a visible sign of the buck's territory, but also carries the buck's scent to act as a calling card that identifies the buck that made the rub.

The size of the rub usually varies with the size of the deer. While most buck rubs won't kill larger trees, they will slow the tree's growth and may disfigure some trees.
 

Summertime Deer

After a long, cold winter and spring, the local deer have shed their brown winter coats and now display their lightweight reddish summer coats. Along with the warmer weather, the deer enjoy an abundance  of fresh grass to feed on, but also the swarms of deer flies.



This year's fawns are now more visible as their wobbly legs become stronger and they become more mobile and independent.

Spring Migration

The calendar says it's Spring, and the days are getting longer, but the recent cold weather this week didn't make it feel like Spring. While I've spotted hundreds of robins and other migrating birds in the neighborhood, I've also noticed the local deer have moved back to the hilltops from their winter feeding areas in the valleys. This isn't a very long migration for the local deer, only a couple of miles, but the numbers of deer feeding in the fields has increased over the past weeks.Within the next couple of weeks we should see the flocks of turkeys move back to the neighborhood as they prepare to start nesting.

Winter Wildlife

As this cold/snowy Winter continues to hang on into March, several of the neighborhood deer have taken up residence in our backyard. With hard, packed snow covering the area, the deer are having a hard time breaking through it to the underlying grass. The deer are now making several trips a day through our apple orchard looking for late drooping apples.



Another favorite food source for the deer is the periwinkle plants growing at the base of the retaining wall behind our house.  The deer have started using our lawn as a daytime bedding area and don't move out of sight as we come and go.

Winter Weather

Our neighborhood received 9 to 10 inches of snow yesterday and the local deer were out looking for a meal as the afternoon sun sets behind the mountain and the temperature dropped into the teens.

Winter Weather

A new feature has been added to this blog. I received a weather station for Christmas and after a couple of days setup and computer programming I am able to send my weather data to the Weather Underground web site. Current weather data is displayed in the upper right of this page and historical weather data for this weather station can be viewed by clicking on the Weather Underground icon.

So far this Winter the weather has been a roller-coaster ride between extremes. The following photo shows the ice crystal covered trees behind our house yesterday morning (plus 8 degrees F) and at 3:00AM this morning it was 49 degrees F.



The cold and snow are forcing the local wildlife to spend more time looking for food.



These deer were able to uncover some grass under the snow cover.

Buck Rubs

In a recent posting I described the white-tailed deer's breeding season, known as the "rut" and how the bucks are looking for does (female deer). While walking around the neighborhood I found some of the bucks calling cards, "buck rubs".



During the "rut", bucks rub trees and shrubs with their antlers and head transferring scent from the forehead glands to the tree, leaving a scent other deer can detect. The scent on a buck rub communicates a challenge to other male deer while also attracting potential mates.



The size of the rub usually varies with the size of the deer. While most buck rubs won't kill larger trees, they will slow the tree's growth and may disfigure some trees.

The "Rut"

On our way home from voting we noticed a buck deer wandering back and forth in the road,  not paying any attention to our truck. It is the white-tailed deer's breeding season, known as the "rut", and the buck has one thing on his mind,  find as many does as he can. White-tailed  bucks are more active and less cautious than usual during the "rut" and this makes them  more susceptible to being hit by motor vehicles



This buck would walk up to the 5 foot high fence, look through it, return to the road, walk up the road a short distance and repeat the process.



After determining the fence didn't get any lower, the buck made a standing jump and easily cleared the fence.



After jumping the fence to enter the pasture the buck soon realized he needed to be on the other side of the pasture fence...



From another standing start the buck jumped over the fence, onto Joyce Road and walked into the woods.



Within a couple hundred yards of the buck jumping the fence we saw a doe run across Joyce Road and soon followed by another buck (with one thing on his mind).



As we approached our driveway we watched six more doe cross Joyce Road.

Young Buck

As the days of summer are getting shorter and the temperatures turn cooler, a young 4-point buck is grazing along the pipeline right-of-way near our cabin.



The young buck is busy fattening up for winter and the fall "Rut", breeding season.



Later in the afternoon the young buck joined up with a doe and fawns. This buck has been hanging around our cabin all summer and acted like "Uncle Buck", babysitting and playing with the fawns when they were young.

Summer Deer

I've been doing a lot of work with my tractors at our cabin and the deer pay little attention to me while I'm working. This doe and twin fawns came out to visit the food plot while I was working 30 yards away.



Earlier in the day, a doe was grazing at the food plot when I arrived to work at the pond. When the doe finished grazing it walk withing 15 yards of me to bed down in the tall grass below the dam. During the day I had kicked a buck and doe out of this same spot.

Fawns

While talking to a neighbor, this morning, he mentioned seeing a fawn in our lawn the day before. Since the fawn was seen in an area where a doe had raised fawns last year, I had a good idea where to look for this year's fawn.

After a few minutes of looking, I found the fawn in the tall grass. I took several photos of the fawn from just a couple of feet away. It started to rain so I decided to leave and come back after the rain stops.



When I returned, the fawn had left its "nest", so I continued searching the area. After about 15 minutes I found a fawn in its "nest". This time the fawn was laying in a better position for photos and the lighting was brighter. As I took lots of photos I could see the fawn breathe and its nose twitch.



After getting lots of photos I decided to leave the fawn alone and start walking through the tall grass and found another fawn just 20 feet away. I was only able to get 5 photos of this fawn before it jumped up and wobbled off into the brush.



A good day of deer hunting.

Curious Buck

For the past week or so I have been installing drainage pipe around the cabin as another phase of this year's cabin project. Several times while digging the ditches for the drain lines with my backhoe I would notice a small buck near the pond watching me. Unlike most deer, this buck didn't run away but stayed near the pond, bedded down and continued to watch me work.



After several days of us watching each other, I was able to walk within several feet of the buck as he hid in the tall grass around the pond.



The following photo was taken within 15 feet of the buck while he was hiding in his "nest".



Whenever I find the buck in his "nest", he will watch me take pictures then jump from his "nest", run for about 20 yards and then stop and watch me for a minute or two before heading to a clump of bushes. Within 20 to 30 minutes the buck will return to one of his "nests" near the pond.

How deer beat the heat

We have been working at our cabin for the last month and during the current heat wave I've noticed a small buck spending a lot of time near our pond.



The sound of us working doesn't seem to bother the buck and I can get within 30 yards of him before he will leave his "nest" next to the pond.



On one of the hottest days he was seen standing in the pond, cooling off, with two fawns.

Garden Fawn

It's looking like a bumper crop of fawns this year. Mary was up early this morning transplanting flowers and found a new "garden gnome" in her shade garden behind our house.



This fawn looked to be only a couple of days old.