Gone Huntin'

     Been gone all last week hunting. Our muzzleloader deer season started on 11/2. Saw two shooter bucks last week but couldn't get a shot at either one. One is a really nice buck with a high white rack and looks the be an 8 or 10 pointer. One buddy I hunt with has seen him twice and like me couldn't get a shot either time. We figure he has to be using up his 9 lives.
     We are also having a lot of extracurricular activity around the farm this November. The 230kV transmission power line that runs through the middle of the farm is being replaced and we have heavy equipment running all day long. We also have a new house being built on an adjunct farm that was sold a couple of years ago and divided into 1 to 20 acres lots. So we have a lot of sawing and hammering going on with that. Funny thing is the deer don't seem to pay much attention to either. I was hunting a stand about 150 yards from the house and the deer still used their normal travel routes. Even with the noise being irritating to me the deer were unfazed.
     I've got three days off next week so I'll have to make a token appearance at work on Tuesday and Wednesday.  My boss stopped by my office the week before I left and said it might be easier to just let him know when I was going to be at work the next two months instead of when I'm off  :).
     I did get a few of the bigger bucks on camera the last couple of weeks. Plus a bear visiting the mountain pond.

This is the veiw I had most mornings last week.

I think this is the high white horn buck we've been seeing.

Still getting a few bear pics.

Mug Shot

     I had to go back in the archives a little to get these. We've had anywhere from heavy rain to a heavy mist falling constantly here since last Wednesday afternoon. There's been a big low pressure system sitting right off the Virginia coast pumping cold, wet weather into the valley. Definitely not weather conducive to checking trail cameras.
     I had meant to post these a while back but never got around to it. Typical of the bears. They've always got to get a close look at the camera when they're a round it.

Bears and Anise Oil

     I've kind of gotten back into the lure and scent testing mood lately. One oil I've found that the bears love is Anise oil. Anise oil has a very strong black licorice odor. I put the oil in a scent egg. This is a round wooden ball with the center drilled out and a short stake attached to it so you can anchor it into the ground. Every bear that came by the camera stopped at the scent egg to check it out.

They're Stalking Me

     I swear the three triple cubs are stalking me. If you look back in August you'll remember the fun they had with my dripper set. This time I set up a camera on an old stump to test out some predator lure and who shows up the next day...momma and the three hellions. I had used some plastic lure capsules to put the lure in and stuck one in a crack on top of the stump and the other I stuck in the ground in a hole under the stump covering each one what some wool. Well, the crew made short work of these. They chewed them up and left them beside the stump for me. @#%$@#$ bears.
     On a bright note I've been helping my farmer buddy chopping his corn the last couple of weeks and we've found surprisingly little bear damage to the corn this year. With all the bear pics I'd gotten this summer we figured there would be a lot of damage this year.

The only pics I got of anything remotely close the a furbearing predator I had hoped for was this possum.

This and That and Goldenrod

Got a lot of variety at the Cedar Ridge set this week plus the goldenrod really started blooming at the end of the week. We usually have this bush hogged down by this time of year but we've just never had the time this year. I think the big bear is the one I've gotten several pics of at the Mt Pond this year. He's hitting the cornfields fatting up for winter now. Love the expression on the little bucks face in it's second pic. I don't think he likes getting his pic taken. The artistic limb in the last two shot are the courtesy of mother nature. A limb above the camera broke and hung down in front of the camera.

Mohawk Bear

Now this is one stylish bear. Complete with a Mohawk hairdo.

Near Encounter

I checked my cameras yesterday morning due to the forecast for rain today. Looking at the time stamps on the Mt. Pond pics I nearly bumped into the sow and triplets. They had walked past the camera about 15 minutes before I arrived. I didn't get all three cubs on camera but looking at the sow I'm sure it's the triplets. Would have made for an interesting morning if I was 15 minutes earlier.
For some reason the camera didn't think there was enough light when the bears came through to switch from IR to color pics. But did when I got there.

Note the cub in the tree on the upper left side.

@!&#*@!! Bears

I'm not real pleased with momma and the three cubs right now. As I mentioned last week I've been using a scent dripper at the upper mountain set. Well this week I found it on the ground chewed up and I have the culprits on camera. They were nice enough to deposit it limb and all right in front of the camera.

 This is what the dripper set looked like prebear. I
had set it to drip on the rock below it.

 They came to the set the day before it got torn down and just played
around it.

Apparently this one thought it would the great to smell like salmon
oil.That was the scent I was trying out.

 Hey look!! A toy for the kids.

 No problem snapping the branch off.

 OK kids. Have fun.

 Now lets check the camera to be sure it's working.

 Yeah! Let's drag it over in front of the camera so Joe will know for
sure it was us.

 This is how they left it.

 Right in front of the camera.

I think I may be able to repair it with some silicone and epoxy.They
just chewed on the cap and screw on part of the main bottle. This was
why I was hesitate to put one of my good drippers out with all of the
bear activity.