Iowa saw another shotgun deer season open on December 13
th.
My day started off with a short walk at 5:45 A.M. into the North pasture to sit beside a pile of wood to await the legal shooting hours to arrive.
The weather wasn't too bad with temperatures in the 30's and low breezes to start with.
On my initial trip out, I came across an adult deer by the sound of the snort as it left it's feeding on acorns, before I entered the pasture. Then I woke up a doe with two fawns on the east side of a draw, a path frequented by deer often. The only light at the time was the brilliant moon.
The time seemed to pass slowly...I kept writing mentally a research paper for my computer literacy class...then some
blogposts. Too bad I didn't have my notebook and a penlight.
Hmmm, maybe the pen wouldn't have worked from the cold?
It wasn't to long before I heard the crunching of snow behind me. The sound of one deer hopping the fence, coming my direction, then another after a time.
I knew that I shouldn't be doing to many fast movements ,even with the light still not bright enough to legally shoot.
The first deer, a fawn , came around to the west end of the wood pile and got a visualization of me. Still I didn't move . I could see by the body language, ears pulled back, meaning it wouldn't be long before it would be taking flight. Both deer took off on a different path back to the neighbor's timber they had exited not long before.
Sunrise brought sightings of deer everywhere...out of range.
My day ended with sitting inside the fallen hickory,in the funnel I have spoken of before.Temperatures had warmed up into the upper 40's melting the snow off somewhat.The deer remained just across the ravine, south of where I was stationed. The wind had been coming out of the south all day.
Deciding as the daylight was waning to go back into the house, gunshots moved a couple of groups of deer across the soybean field to the west of my location. The first group consisted of does and fawns. It looked like a doe had been injured, so I began my approach to see if I could take advantage of the situation before the sun totally set for this opening day.
As, I walked toward the group they seemed to be curious,they stood for the longest time. Getting closer I alarmed them little by little. The one I thought was injured was the last to take off but she headed over the field, fence, pasture into the cornfield to the north with the rest of her group.
So, ended my first day, of the Iowa Second Deer Shotgun season that runs from December 13th - 21st. ;)
Wednesday turned out to be a positively delightful respite weather wise. Even the morning temperatures were warm enough only to need a sweatshirt on an outing to check out all the noise from Hendrickson Marsh three quarters of a mile away.
Timber Life gained a different set of 4x4 wheels on January 24th, to help traverse the terrain . Sure do appreciate what a machine can do. ;)
This year proved to be a challenge, even with a tractor to maintain our travel route. The diesel fuel, for the first time in 6 1/2 years of tractor ownership, had a problem providing sure performance, even with winter additives. We were not the only ones to fall victim to the evil malady of "gelling". It is just hard to tolerate when things are so awful cold and the tractor quits working a quarter of a mile from the nearest stationary plug-in. You would think with the piece of iron coming out of Russia it would start in all kinds of cold, but it isn't to be. It sat until a day got up to 25 and the portable generator turned over to get the block heated up so the oil would move.
Encouragement comes now that we can see the end of the drifts that had us driving through the field to gain access to home from forays to the outside world.
Things are looking a bit rutty still, but there are signs this week of warmer temperatures. Maybe some wind to give us some drying. Then the Belarus 572 can once again "Spring" into action to create a smoother ride...;)
