Palmated Antler Buck

Got some infrared pics of this unusual buck at the mountain pond last week. The palmated antlers is a first for me in this area and none of my buddies recall ever seeing one either. Judging from the body size I'm guessing this is a 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 year old buck. I'd love to get some color shots of him.

Flirtin' With Disaster

I was going through the pics from the mountain pond today and I kept getting some of  a squirrel running and sitting on the log in front of the camera. And I kept thinking about the Molly Hatchet song "Flirtin with Disaster". Then BAM there it was sitting in the middle of the log.....a Red Tail Hawk. Those of you that follow the blog remember what happened to a Scamper Rat a while back. It became the Hawk's lunch. I don't know if the Hawk missed it's prey this time, just stopped in for a look around, or if it came for a drink. I just thought it was funny I would be thinking about the song and the Hawk would appear. Maybe I'm psychic ;). Now that's scary. LOL!

Sow and Triplets

Got a good set of pics of the sow and triplets visiting the set at the mountain pond. The cubs look like they're really growing. We started chopping the corn on my buddies farm this week and unfortunately they appear to be fatting up mostly on corn from the looks of all of the damage to the fields.

Bucks

I finally got lucky and had some cloud cover when the group of bachelor bucks showed up at the camera set. The big ten pointer wasn't with them but I got a couple of good bucks in the group. One has a weird rack with a perfect four on one side and a messed up four point on the other. Looks like they really like the mineral block I set out. I moved the Reveal camera to this set today so we'll see next week if it handles the whiteout problem better.

Mountain Misc.

Been busy working in our Ruritan Club food booth at the county fair this week so I haven't had time to post or visit your blogs. Today is the last day of the fair. I'm heading out at noon and won't get done til after midnight tonight. Thankfully this is only once a year. My old body can't take this any more ;). LOL! Anyway here's a few misc. pics from the mountain set. Hopefully I will be able to drag myself out tomorrow to check the cameras.

Young Bucks and More Whiteout

Been getting some pics of a few young bucks in the Little Woods set but I’m also fighting a losing battle with the whiteout problem. I’ve gotten one really nice buck on camera twice but each time the pics were badly washed out. The whiteout problem persists between 6:30 and 8:30 each morning even though I’ve moved the camera three times. I think I’m going to move the Covert camera here to see if it handles the shade/sunlight problem better. I’ve got a really busy next couple of weeks coming up so I’m having a problem finding time to do the move. Below are some pics of a young eight point checking out the mineral block and one of the washed out big buck. The big buck looks to be at least a ten point.

Twin Cubs

Momma bear and the twins showed up at the camera about a hour after I checked it last week. The lighting was such that in the first part of the pics the cameras used the IR mode to take the pics and when later switched to the nonflash color mode. If you look close at the two pics before the last one of the cub standing on the log you'll see it rolling around on the far side of the log.

Gray Fox and Kit

Momma Gray Fox came back to pond and brought her kit along with her.