Iowa Shotgun Deer Season One - Day Three

Hunting the past two days of  deer season one left our tags still available to be filled.

Word of mouth information about day one had made a heavy decrease in the area deer population with groups hunting adjacent properties .
 
This morning I rambled out to the blind before the sunrise to get the day started. The difference this time  was the absence of a deer snort immediately alerting me to their presence , a change from the last two mornings.

The direction  of the morning deer movement shifted from a north/south direction at the start, to a south/north today.Which was curious because the wind was still coming out of the south. As I sat in the blind I saw deer of size just as the light of day was coming up, but of course they didn't stick around long enough for me to make sure the shot I would send in their direction made contact.

By 7:30AM,  with one last doe stopping to check the air long enough for me to finally send off a" first shot",  I sent her running without success...I closed up the blind windows, stepped out of the doorway, and headed back to the house. Getting back to the house I started my daily housekeeping activities, because I was scheduled to be away running errands for my Mom, and chauffeuring her to a Dr.'s appointment in the afternoon. 

Well, things took a different path about an hour later.

A call from my neighbor alerting me to a drive to flush out a big buck by other hunters west of us had me headed off to the ravine, just in case he ran this far...

I didn't immediately go clear out to the end of the ravine which is surrounded by open cropland, but stopped by a fence line, and hid behind a clump of trees. My initial decision allowed me to see a doe with a couple of fawns run across where I would later take a stand behind a fallen Cottonwood tree. Before I moved out I was visited by the sound of snapping and cracking ground debris under the foot of some creature in a hurry to get beyond it's current situation. Turning to look instead of holding my gaze forward , I saw a one antlered buck startled by someone standing on the path in front of him. He twirled around at which time I let go a shot. We were in a location where the brush and fallen limbs created a challenge for both man and creature to get around in a panic. His footing had him slipping and trying to gain his composure to high tail it out of there...I shot once more as he traveled back the way he came.

My first reaction was to follow him. Hearing the shots my neighbor who had come to try to move the big buck my direction in the event it arrived, came to see if he could help. I told him of my situation , it was then that  I moved out to the end of the ravine to wait for things to happen, since this was not the animal he had been told about.

After waiting and hearing shotguns go off to the west  it was decided the big buck probably wouldn't be headed this far east - time to go back and see if I could find that one antlered buck before I needed to get ready to leave for the afternoon.

Examining the trail the buck took there wasn't any blood to verify it had suffered any type of injury. However, I was still driven to see if it was okay, or if I could tag it. I kept going, surveying the terrain up and down . Sometimes you just have the feeling you need to keep looking.  Not changing trails, I came upon him laying down crosswise. He was slow to get up, but that he did. He was injured ...I followed him until he ran across the ravine with no signs of stopping. With other commitments looming in the time frame I had to make some choices.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get back before dark to continue my hunt, and I didn't want to leave him to the timber overnight. So, I contacted the neighbor who had been on the buck watch with me to see if he might be able to take a look around. He had some troubles locating him at first - there wasn't a blood trail. I am grateful to him and his son for bringing the one antlered buck back to the homestead for me to claim.

Hubby helped to get him suspended up off the ground until I could get him skinned. Had to keep him high or I would have been inviting the coyotes to a feast

I can't say how much he weighed. I don't have a way of checking that statistic.

 I can tell you this about him - he is an old buck. After checking to see  what the condition of his teeth were, it became evident that all his molars are missing. The only teeth left were in the front and they still looked to be in good shape.

The base of his antler and broken stub have good diameter.

When I first came in contact with him
on the trail it was hard to miss he no longer sported a matched pair of tines.
Then of course the question came to mind,"How did he lose it?"

Was it absent due to a battle with the younger, bigger bucks inhabiting the area, or had he been running in one of the groups over the weekend, getting too close to another hunter?


Whatever the case, I am happy to have as my "bring home" buck, a wizened warrior of the timber....

Iowa Deer Shotgun Season One

Whitetail Deer shotgun season one opened here in Iowa last Saturday, December 3rd.

The weather was cloudy with temps in the mid 30's at the start of the day, wind was headed out of the south.

This year I can say Hubby has picked up the bow, and the shotgun to try his hand at" bringing home" the deer to put in the freezer, and avoid losing them to the local predator populations, which has been my plight in the past.

We headed out the door at 6:30 AM on day one to get positioned in our respective locations,since it wasn't very far for us to go to try our luck at the morning deer movement back into the timber from their nightly grazing activities.

On the way to my spot I raised a startled deer snort, and wondered  how many were standing within my range just before the sunrise. I was trying to decide exactly where I wanted to get out of sight and out of the wind.

I waited for the does and fawns to come feed in the yard,which had been a ritual since about the middle of October, of course it didn't happen that morning. If a buck or two happened along I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to put a deer slug in their direction. Ah, yes, and making a lethal connection to the whole affair would have made my day...

Hubby's observation for that morning from the hub-blind had the deer deviating from their normal path too, which seemed pretty constant during the now closed first archery season.

We had company in the vicinity and heard guns going off consistently throughout  the day.

During a lull in the afternoon I moved our pop-up blind to a spot where deer  travel in all four directions, during the morning it is usually a north/south  movement, and the evenings, east/west. However, as you well know variables do come into play and spur of the moment adaptations do arise.

The late afternoon, when many others were shooting whatever they saw, I didn't try. Instead I waited and headed for the blind on Sunday, the second day.

Day Two

The forecast for dense fog was extremely accurate for the second day of  Shotgun Deer Season One.

Both Hubby, and I headed for the blind to get out of the drippy, wet air hanging over the State.

We saw shadows passing as three deer, 2 does and one buck cast a silhouette when the wind shifted the heavy moisture at brief intervals.

As we watched you could see the buck with nose to the ground following a scent trail - one of the does that moved passed was wearing a provocative perfume; at least to a buck.

We ended our first  sitting session about 7:45, after we felt that was the end of the morning passage.The light came up; however,the fog remained  until almost 11:00.Throughout the rest of the day you could see residual effects of temperature and moisture hanging in the air, moments of  tree top clouds dotted the timber.

Onto the afternoon...in the 3:30 time period, I was trying to get Sadie satisfied with food and attention so I could escape awhile.

Four o'clock rolled around. I grabbed my gun and headed off to sit alone this time. Leaving Sadie with Hubby as he spent his time working on our new abode, still in the construction phase.

What I hadn't counted on was our Miss Kitty trying to get my attention shortly after I had pulled the doorway zipper closed half-way. She started batting at the bottom of the blind, testing the structure to find an entrance, or maybe to get a response from me. Well, I didn't attend to her advances at that moment. I didn't want to make any sound.  Whoops! Mistake!!! She came lunging through one of the open corner windows. The curiosity of a cat was  keeping her busy for a few seconds,ultimately I knew what she wanted. Time to eat! Silly me and keeping things to a schedule. Deviations are not allowed according to my animal charges, that is if I want peace and quiet.

So, I ended my extremely short evening hunt to feed the animals and get some knitting done on a project I need done by Christmas. (Hopefully done by Christmas)

Come back tomorrow and see the turn of events that happened during the second morning hunt on day three of Shotgun Season one.

The Turnip Patch

This past summer I had a suggestion made to me from my hunting mentor who brings wild game for my table, about what I could do with a patch hand seeded a year ago with deer plot products. There were some perennials rooted, but not enough to thwart the weed population that had a good foothold. I am not a proponent of chemical burn down, nor do I wish to plant GMO seeds.

A great organic cultivation method that was implemented to eliminate the biggest share of weeds was super heated, dry soil turned over with a disc once,left to sit a week ,or so before it was disced, and planted with turnips the middle of August.

Two weeks after planting

The plot had previously been used by a cropland renter a few years for a small addition to the adjacent farm field. However, more times than not the crop was pre-harvested by our wandering wildlife. Certainly, no pay back on investment of seed, time, machine fuel, etc...

I didn't find the giant foxtail that proliferated in the patch this past season to be a total detriment to the location.

Observations provided information of deer bedding, trails passing in all directions, and they fed on the sparsely sprouted clovers, knocking down the surrounding foxtail. Having walked the patch many times,and hunting out of the giant  foxtail, I found glacier planted rocks of various sizes scattered over the surface, a few of those were also translocated to facilitate a smoother surface for us two foots to traverse.

Farming over some big buried rocks brought them closer to the surface during tilling.

 I finally  had enough with one that was very evident; so I took some measures to move it totally out of the way.

As I moved the soil around the  perimeter of the rock, the shape reminded me of a tooth.

My mind started playing with the paralells between my activities, with a child's experience of losing their baby teeth. Admittedly the technique I needed was a bit more heavy duty to get the geo-dentistry accomplished. It took a few tugs to get it lifted up and out of the hole.

After I let my mentor know of my accomplishment...he mentioned there was another rock further on that made the disc jump out of place when he was busy tilling. I will look into it next spring when it's time to think about preparations for planting once again.I haven't seen that one yet.

Sadie Says,"Good Crop"!

We haven't had an abundance of moisture, but the turnips have turned out really nice. The variety that was planted is human friendly. I have raided the patch a couple of times for myself, and then a couple of times I found some for people I know who didn't have some to harvest of their own.

Now, the deer and turkeys can join in  harvesting the greens and bulbs to supplement their diets.

Cold temperatures keep popping up. Soon the grass may go dormant, the deer will lose one of their last nitrogen sources that I see them dining on as they eat outside my window. I wish they would pay more attention to it during the summer when I need to mow it to keep it in order. I should be thankful they have a head start on next season.

On our last visit to the "Turnip Patch", I saw evidence of some nibbling going on, an encouraging sign since this would be my first time to have such an opportunity as this to see just how they will react.

Eventually, I want to plant perennial deer plot mixtures in this area.

I have become acquainted with the Whitetail Institute forage products  in my sample plots - the imperial clover and mixtures with clover and alfalfa have been a great draw. This year was the first year that I saw the deer actually pay attention to some chickory...could be it was a source of moisture for which we were greatly lacking.

I am excited to see activity even if it isn't first hand at the moment.

My trail camera has been keeping an eye on another location where another addition to the Timber Life list of animals has made itself visible.Check back for more to be shared on that subject in the future...

Iowa Bobcat Hunting Season 2012

Today, I would like to get some information posted about the Bobcat 2012 trapping season for Iowa.

Our season opened on November 3rd, and will go to January 31, 2013 or until a quota of 450 cats total are taken between hunting and trapping . If you are interested in seeing some specifics please click here to be taken to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources regulations for more information. The current count can be found here.

The season is open in the following counties: Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Cass, Clarke, Davis,
Decatur, Des Moines, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Henry, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Lucas,
Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Mills, Monona, Monroe, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Woodbury

These counties are located on the southern 3 tiers of our 99 counties, and  north of Interstate 80 on the Missouri River corridor...with Guthrie county in the 4th tier up from our southern border also being included.

Even though we have a Bobcat population starting  to take root in our neighborhood we are not included in the yearly Bobcat hunts at this point, and it would be illegal for anyone to take an animal outside the shaded area you would see indicated on the Map on the IDNR site .(Page 21)

Below you will find the rules described in the regulations for becoming a trapper or hunter of  Bobcat, Otter etc...in the State of Iowa.
,

Fur harvesters - All residents and nonresidents regardless of age must have a Fur harvester License to 

trap or hunt fur bearing animals.  Residents 16 to 64 years old and all nonresidents regardless of age must 

also have paid the Habitat Fee.  A Hunting License is not needed to hunt furbearers.  Coyote and groundhog 

may be hunted with either a Fur harvester License or a Hunting License. Nonresident fur harvesters wanting 

to purchase an Iowa nonresident Fur harvester License may do so only if their state of residence also sells a 

nonresident Fur harvester/Trapping License to Iowa residents.(Page 9)

My Personal  Thoughts

Photo Courtesy of  Mr. Titus

I really appreciate the sharing of  a photo by Mr. Titus, of a family - mom, and kittens, wandering a central Iowa timber. I think it would be a great time filler if there was a chance to sit quietly and observe the family interacting.

Last year, I caught what I would believe to be the hindquarters of a Bobcat on my trail camera, for some reason the camera didn't get the whole cat while it stood right beside it. The event didn't repeat itself ...So, the  photo wasn't able to verify the possibility that Timber Life had been host to the spotted cat. Can you say frustrated? I can! 

Judge for yourself. What would you say the hindquarter in the picture to the left should be associated? The legs appear to be those of a well muscled feline...However, the variation in the tail from what you normally picture gave some individuals doubt to it's owners species.

Having a growing Bobcat population may not be beneficial to the Pheasant count which has struggled greatly in the last 4-5 years, and the Turkey flock numbers, which once seemed more visibly healthy in our timber - changed it's dynamic, and the rabbits have basically gone nocturnal in their appearances on the trail camera,their numbers have decreased significantly; to have another predator in addition to the coyote gaining territory on top of stresses from weather conditions has me questioning the balance.

Iowa State University at Ames has done studies on the Bobcat dietary habits and writes in their findings that only 2% of stomach contents include pheasant, hawk, crow , turkey and flicker. However, I certainly would think  they would hunt whatever is closest when they get hungry. It is my wish that they could give us a paw up in bringing the crow, and thirteen lined ground squirrel populations under control in our area.

While I have mixed feelings about the growth of sightings of Felis concolor (Mountain Lion) passing through(?) and increases of resident Bobcats(Lynx or Felis rufus)...What will it mean for the local ecosystems in the future? That can only be answered as time passes.

Certainly, I would affirm they are stealthy in their movements since I believe my first encounter came back on November 14, 2007...the last time I went out after a Pheasant, it had the same intention as me - make a meal out of the experience.  I shot at the rooster and went to check a known travel corridor out of this particular situation. When I reached the spot, crouching on the ground with prey in mouth was a  little Bobcat, it turned it's head to look at me and took off. My actions placed the bird right in the cats strong jaws. I went to look for the wildcat to make sure of what I had just witnessed, but the split second to mull over in my mind what I just seen was a second too long. Since that time I have heard of  trail camera sightings, but no encounters of my own until last fall.

 Bobcat numbers seem to be growing everywhere, any place they can find food and shelter, even within some large city limits; Los Angeles, CA., Chicago,IL,Boynton Beach, FL.are all places seeing populations thriving.

Every time I go looking for additional information about Bobcat characteristics I find a discrepancy in what is considered their normal weights. I will chalk it up to what part of the country they are in and how good their surrounding provide for them. What I have seen mentioned in Iowa, 15 - 26 lbs.,  compared to Los Angeles Animal Services placing the weights between 20 - 40 lbs., of their suburban wildcats. 

In closing, I would like to say by no means am I trying to be an authority on the feline species that are establishing populations nationwide, or finding their way across our State. I am just bringing to light some tidbits of information that I have found interesting and hope you will too, while I search to understand a population that was reintroduced by the Department of Natural Resources to our neighborhood.

Does Bigfoot Live in Provo Canyon?

This morning I came across this interesting Youtube video. Tell me what you think these young men saw during their camping trip.

Decorah Eagles Return

The Decorah Eagle couple of camera fame have returned to build a new nest away from cameras to rear their new family come February.

A report by Bob Anderson with the Raptor Resource Project, said they won't be able to move the webcam to the new nest 300 feet away from the old one until after the new eaglets hatch and leave the nest.

It is my understanding at this point that attempts to keep the public informed about the future family will be done by taking digital still photos.

I will miss the opportunity to see the close-up shots of the chicks from hatching to flying away to start families of their own.

A little research has brought to my attention that eagles may build more than one nest within their territories and will build new nests if they lose a mate.

Something I wonder about in this situation is if they are aware of the webcam that had been keeping an eye on them? Maybe they were tired of the peeping public...

In any event I hope to bring updates in the future when the expectation of the new family is announced.