Yes Sir, it's always nice to kill one on opening day. It will have to be a hungry buck as our rut is in Jan. and Feb.
I put new batteries in my game camera and put 2013 for the year. Had a time finding them after they were down loaded. :help The computer put them in chronological order and it took me a while to figure where I screwed up :oops . Just another day in the life of an ol' man that is computer illiterate :rolleyes . Then I had to figure out how to change the date on the camera :hammer.
Treefarmer
12 days after planting, the Rye has turned green compared to the red color when it first sprouted.
About a month from today is Thanksgiving Day, opening day for gun season in zone D, hope it will be drawing some interest that day.
There is a rain coming as I type this, it is northwest of us up in Holmes County, and on up into Alabama. If it gets here it will be the 1st rain on this plot since planting.
No bucks on the game camera, does, yearlin's and fawns. Saw a very tall racked buck in the front yard last Saturday morning at 10am. He and a doe were working on the last of the sand pears.
Treefarmer
PS: Miss Joy just got in from her walk and said she could hear thunder!
It's looking good as always! Can't wait to see one loaded up in the golf cart!
Another week has passed, the deer are cleaning up the corn at the feeder each time it goes off.
The Rye is growing, it needs a shot of fertilizer and needs a little more water. The rain that looked so promising last week was no more than a little shower, it slid off to the northeast of our part of the world. Supposed to be another 30% chance tomorrow, cold front coming from the northwest. The fertilizer will come when I get my smaller tractor back from the shop, supposed to be here Friday afternoon.
Last Saturday we had very cool temperatures, clear skies and wind gusting up to 30mph. I noticed how much the camera angle changed as the wind was in the pines. The camera is on an 8 inch pine, about 36 inches off the ground. It was interesting that the higher winds didn't seem to bother the deer. Nothing interesting showing up, lots of mommas and babies. There is a spike and a 4 point showing up now and then. According to the new rules the 4 point will be a legal deer in Zone D, Deer Management Unit-D1 :eek . Now ain't that a mouth full :rolleyes .
Treefarmer
26 days after planting, the rye is being worked on. Haven't been able to fertilize it yet as my spreader is locked up with rust. My fault for leaving it on the tractor and not pouring some oil on the spinner plate as I have usually done in the past. Layin' around with my new knee is my excuse but it is probably a lost cause, these spreaders are cheaply made and are not known for long lives if you don't take very good care of them. I'll have to borrow one to do the job.
I don't know if it's the same old doe and 2 fawns each time, but I have spooked a doe and 2 fawns out of the main part of the rye patch several times last week, at different times of the day. It's always interesting to watch deer react to a tractor. Last Saturday I decided to mow a few pine middles and a few intermittent runs to be able to see a little better in the pines. A deer stood and watched me make several passes with the mower finally just trotted off. There are pictures on the trail camera of deer at the feeder an hour before I made the rounds with the tractor and there are pictures about an hour later of deer at the feeder.
The shooting house by this plot has been there for quite a few years. It is supported by 4 power poles and 2 pines had grown up on either side of it creating great natural cover for several years. Last year one of the pines got to rubbing the west side of the house and caused one of the roof panels to actually come off the house. Here again bein' old and workin' with a new knee, I had let this slide till yesterday. My chainsaw wouldn't start, so being a good Marine, I improvised. Loaded the generator on the cart, took a sawzall and a package of new pruning blades to the pine tree and started in on the job. A job that would have taken less than 5 minutes with the chainsaw, took about 20 minutes. I had to do multiple cuts to create the face cut, then I cut the back cut and to make it easy pushed it over with the tractor. Now I've got to engineer a way to reinstall a new roof panel without having Miss Joy call 911. I'll say it again, it ain't easy gettin' old and not being able to do what you used to do!
2 weeks till rifle season, the only legal buck to show up on camera is the little 4 point that is hanging around. We don't get to see much rut activity till the middle of January, then the bucks show up where the girls are feeding.
Pictures for this week are captioned.
Treefarmer
