The Perils of Battle

We were just starting to watch the Badger game at 11 when I thought I saw antlers. Here they were attached to this cool guy. He was busy raiding the bird seed when I noticed he has been fighting and must have gotten an antler inserted into his right eye.

It looks like he might be blinded or partially so. It was looking white and watery. Hope he doesn't get too infected. It can't be too fun trying to escape being shot by hunters with only one eye.

Rest here, fellow. You'll be safe.

Seasonal Scene

Mr. Anderson donned his blaze orange and headed down to Catfish Corner in pursuit of the Mr. Mossback last Sunday morning.

We have seen several deer in "the grove" and had the treat to see a doe with her youngster in tow sniffing a scrape. It was just a minute or two when the little one ran off in a big hurry. Mother continued sniffing.

Enter a HUGE buck to meet the missus and he was impressive! Don and I were in the house watching this scene unfold. We were both in awe and so intently following the ritual that when they trotted off (presumably to consummate their brief love affair) we were both wondering why we didn't grab the camera -- or -- oh, yeah, -- I guess Don could have found his rifle. (If he were at all interested in THAT part of the hunt!)

We are pretty sure this doe and fawn are the same ones who have been up by the barn eating the pumpkins and leftover chicken grains. Such a tiny fawn and mom isn't much bigger.

A couple days have passed and this evening we saw a group of four does in the grove with the little fawn in tow. Those four crossed the creek but for some reason the little one went off in the opposite direction.

I hope you find your mummy, little one.

Trail Cam Activity

This has been the week of regular Deer Season here. It is the "Main Event" of several other deer seasons that lead up to it. Namely, bow season, T Zone, Youth Hunt-- there's probably more. And after the main event there will be a week of muzzleloader, and probably another T Zone and then bow season will reopen. There is probably a three day season in there for women over 55 using lutefisk clubs, but I would have to check the regulations for the dates on that one.  

At any rate, it's the big deal. Don got a new blaze orange camo shirt that he can wear while sitting in the lazyboy by the picture window. This qualifies as hunting in Wisconsin. His walk through the hunting grounds usually begins at the crack of 9:30 and he's usually back in time for coffee and papers around 11. The mornings have been especially nice this season with temperatures above freezing and sometimes up to near 40 which makes for a nice outing. 

This year is an "Earn a Buck" season which means hunters have to shoot a doe before the "earn" the right to shoot a buck. It's a hideous dictate from the DNR, in cahoots with the insurance industry, in an attempt to reduce the deer population (kill one doe=killing up to three!) and it goes against the nature of any real hunter. Yesterday he came upon two does who were eating alfalfa in our 4 acre pasture. They became panic stricken and were running around looking for an escape route. He had the "right" to shoot that doe but both eventually leaped over the 4 foot fence and bounded for the woods. 

Later that afternoon we were both hunting from the lazyboys when a huge doe appeared in the grove of soft maples by the sand bar (in the top photo--just to the right). We scoped her with our binoculars as she browsed. As we enjoyed watching her it was agreed we had more use for her to make these appearances than to sit in our freezer. 

We have been using our trail camera for several months now and getting some good shots once in awhile. It has been only recently--OK two days ago--that I started transferring the shots to the computer. Duh. What have I been waiting for? 

Had a lovely shot of a nice 10-point buck, some cute little does hamming it up for the camera, some raccoons and even a fox! But, nooooo, I didn't SAVE those pictures.

So, better late than never. I hope that big guy comes around again.