Bears Everywhere

June is the start of the black bear mating season and I'm seeing more bear activity on my game cameras.

Two bear sighting at my deer stand within a week. This isn't the same bear that came through in mid-May since this bear didn't have an ear tag.

This young bear posed for selfies at the camera by the gate to our cabin.

Deer on a Warm Day

It was warm and sunny today, and the local deer were looking for cool places.

My neighbor told me that he had just seen some baby Wood Ducks on our cabin pond. I tried sneaking through the woods to get close to the ducks. No ducks found but I was able to sneak up on this bedded deer.

Late this afternoon, while driving home from our cabin, I found this doe and two fawns slowly walking along the edge of the neighbor's pond.

Eastern Rocket Pepper

About 15 years ago we were introduced to the Eastern Rocket Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Eastern Rocket') while discussing hot peppers in the checkout line at an Agway store. We were then gifted some of these pepper plants and told to save the seeds from a very ripe pepper for the next seasons planting. For years we were able to enjoy these mildly hot peppers but a few years ago I couldn't get the pepper seeds to start growing. Maybe the pepper seeds I collected weren't fully developed. I checked the Internet and found a half dozen references and photos of Eastern Rocket Peppers but no sources of seeds or plants. After several years of failure, I tried some 12 year old seeds and was able to start two pepper plants last year.

By the end of last year's garden season I had this one (1) mature Eastern Rocket Pepper to collect seeds from. After collecting the seeds I then dug up and saved this pepper plant and a Red Knight pepper. The two saved pepper plants were stored in our solarium for the winter.

Early this spring both the Eastern Rocket and Red Knight peppers started to bloom and produce a crop of peppers. Last year's Eastern Rocket plant now has 8 peppers with 3 of the peppers starting to ripen. Soon I should be able to collect more seeds from the plant I started last year.

These are two of the Eastern Rocket Pepper plants I started this year from seed collected last fall. These peppers were transplanted to my garden this week and some of their flowers are now in bloom.

Last year's Red Knight pepper plant is producing ripe peppers and we enjoyed fresh/ripe peppers in our salad tonight.

Newborn Fawn #3

Earlier today, before the rain storm, I did some ditch digging at our cabin property. This afternoon, after the rain storm, I went to check on the drainage ditch and found this newborn fawn a short distance from where I was digging. This is the third newborn fawn I've found and photographed within the last 5 days.

Wildflowers - Dame's Rocket

The wildflower Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is starting to bloom in the neighborhood. This is an example of: One person's wildflower... is another person's invasive weed.

Another New Fawn

It was a great day for fawn photography. I started the morning by finding a newborn fawn at our cabin property and then I spotted this mother and fawn in a neighbor's lawn in the afternoon.

The mother stood her ground as I approached and gave the fawn some time to hide, but it didn't go far.

This fawn is a day or two old and was able to stand but not able to run away

This fawn did a great job of posing for pictures.

At one point it put its head down, tucked its ears back and made a lunge at me. Time to end this photo shoot.

I left the area for about 20 minutes and when I returned the fawn was looking for a new hiding place next to the house.

The New Fawns Are Arriving

We had another late afternoon rain storm yesterday and when I went to check on some drainage work at the cabin property I noticed a doe bedded in the grass next to the access road. I stopped and watched the doe for a few minutes and when it got up I saw this wobbly legged fawn attempt to follow the doe. The fawn was only hours old and soon bedded down in the grass.

More Turkeys

The spring gobbler season runs through May 31. I got my bird during the first week of the season and I still see gobblers almost every day.

I saw these turkeys while I was parked at the gate to our cabin. As I watched the turkeys in a neighbor's yard, the birds continued to walk toward me and got within 30 yards.

Gardening Time

The spring weather has been flip-flopping from the extremes of cold/hot and wet/dry, but I was finally able to test the overhaul of my roto-tiller and prep my garden. It's still too early to plant the cold sensitive plants. I was able to plant some potatoes, cabbage, onions, beets, Swiss chard, beans and carrots.

A Morning Stroll

The neighborhood goose family was out for a morning stroll from Miner's Pond to the pond at our cabin, 1/3 mile away.

Hen Turkey

I drove to the hilltop at our cabin property trying to get some photos of lightning as an afternoon thunderstorm moved into our area. No luck on the lightning photos but I did get some photos of this hen turkey as it strolled by.

Bear in the Neighborhood

With the warmer weather I'm hearing more reports of bear activity in the neighborhood, raiding trash cans and bird feeders.

I checked the game cameras at our cabin property and the bear was within 30 yards of my deer stand. A close look at the bear's left ear shows an ear tag that means the bear has been caught at least once before.

The bear also has a scar on it's nose from previous activity with other bears (or a sharp can lid).

Another view of the ear tag.

Geese

I was doing some yardwork behind our barn and found this flock of geese in the cattails.

Bird Watching

It was a cool/drizzly morning as I drove to check on a drainage project I was working on. I found this small flock of geese grazing in a field where I recently planted some swamp oak trees.

Upon closer inspection of the geese I found some turkeys trying to blend in with the flock of geese.

It's hard for a strutting gobbler to hide.

Spring Turkey Hunt

My spring turkey hunt ended at 9:45 this morning when I bagged this gobbler.