I took Friday off this week and took a rare extra-long weekend. There was no T-Ball this weekend, so the kids and I left for camp immediately after picking big sister up from school.
I brought my bow and blind, hoping to do some turkey hunting. As it turned out, there was very little sign of the big birds at any of the properties where I could hunt. I opted to sleep in on Saturday and Monday, pretty much ensuring that I would do absolutely no turkey hunting this year.
Although I didn't go to camp this past weekend, I had my dad swap the card out of the camera. I'm glad I changed the batteries the week before, becaue this was probably the best week I've ever had of deer videos. No bucks, but some fantastic doe videos.
I took a week off from posting, but I'm trying to get back on schedule now. Last weekend, we went to my nephew's 5th birthday party, picked up a used playset for the kids and finally cashed in my pile of Cabela's gift certificates and got a DeLorme Earthmate PN-40 Handheld GPS
Angela left for Maryland last Thursday, so I've been a single dad for the last few days. The three of us have managed to stay pretty busy! Friday morning, we made our first trip of the year to the Maine Wildlife Park. There was no school on Friday, so I took the day off and met up there with Steve from work and his two boys. The kids ran from animal to animal like it was a race, but they pretty much behaved themselves. Highlights were seeing a coyote out and about in the daylight, which is pretty rare, and having a moose with budding antlers bedded down just 15 or 20 yards from the fence. One of the mountain lions was unusually alert and perched on top of his little hill like a sentry. The deer were a disappointment, though. Just a single doe came up to be fed while the rest laid down on the opposite side of the pen. No little ones tearing around yet, either.
Firearms deer season started yesterday for Maine residents. I went upcountry on Friday night after the kids were asleep, which was later than usual because of the Halloween lunacy. I must be getting old, because I was pretty darn tired driving up there that late at night. I arrived at camp after 10pm, reviewed and packed my gear while watching the news with my father, and then turned in about an hour later.
Big sister and mommy went to Camp Pondicherry today for their first Girl Scout function, so little sister and I took the long ride up to check the scout cam. It was a busy week, but unfortunately... all the deer traffic is at night, which isn't too helpful when it comes to hunting them. I only saw one buck that I was interested in, too.
I finally saw something on the camera that got me excited. Unfortunately, the buck seems to have been just outside the infrared illumination area and all I could make out was most of one antler. That was enough to tell me that this was at least an 8-point buck - maybe 10. Unfortunately, I seem to have deleted that photo but my dad saw it, too, so I have a witness! I need to get up there this weekend and look for buck scrapes and maybe create a fake one of my own and put the camera watching it.
Note: This is a recreation of the entry that I accidentally deleted a few weeks ago. These events actually took place on October 4.
Despite not having caught "buck fever" yet this year, I went out bow hunting at the old farm in Thorndike last weekend. I still haven't seen anything on the scout cam that has gotten me excited. It's actually having the exact opposite effect on me that I had expected when I purchased it! Oh well, you can never be too realistic.
Just got back from a wet, short weekend at camp with the kids. Checked the scout camera and had a little activity during the activity, but nothing very regular or remarkable. I finally got myself a laptop last week, and it was nice to be able to check my camera right in the field. It was also nice to be able to sit in my car outside Mr. Paperback this morning and submit my fantasy football lineup using their wi-fi before going in for lunch.
At first glance, these may look like the same buck (they were visting the apple tree at the same time), but the second one has a slightly wider rack and little sticker points near the brow.
I checked my scout camera today and was disappointed in how little action it has caught. The apple trees on our property are really desolate this year. I think that I'm going to move the camera up-country this weekend.
