Rut Weekend Saturday

Rod, a missionary in Mexico and friend of Doug, came up and hunted with success.  We only shoot 8 pointers or better but this one was an exception. We saw three bucks and 11 does that day.

We had not seen this deer before. 

It had very large antler bases but the main beams were lots smaller.  It had two points broken off and had rubbed the left base slick and white.  We hope to pull the jaw bone and have it aged to see if we can see what was going on with this deer.

Snow on Dewberry Lands

Sunrise from the lodge January 18th. 

The mountains were beautiful with the snow on them.

Abby and I hunted as the snow was falling on Thursday. 

It was a winter wonder land.

Deer at the Lodge

This morning was an interesting morning at the lodge.  I always look out across the pasture for wildlife when I get there but this time I walked over to the well house and  I saw a deer laying beside the lodge.  How did he get there and what was he doing?  He was a yearling buck.

When he saw me he immediately jumped up and tried to run through the fence.  He was crazy and I was afraid he might damage the heat pump or something else so I went around to the other side of the lodge in hopes of turning him. 

He was determined to go through the fence.  He tried everything he knew to do to the point that he had bloodied his nose on the wire and had broken some of the wire.  I finally got him to turn and run to the other side of the lodge where I had left the gate open,.... 

but he didn't go through the gate, he went behind it and started again trying violently to go through the wire.  I climbed over the fence at the north side of the lodge and started around and toward him.  He really tried hard to go through the wire.  As I got closer to him he finally turned and ran by the well house and this time he jumped the fence and ran by the large oak with the swing and off to freedom.  It looked as if he had been in the fence all night by the beds in the hay and how the leaves around the fence were shuffled.  He had enjoyed the ryegrass that the cows could not get to but I bet he will be more careful the next time he comes to visit at the lodge.

Multiple Use Forest and Prescribed Burnning

 Our forest is a multiple use forest.  What better way to use the forest, as our granddaughter would agree, than playing in the pine straw on a cool late fall day.

Another use of our forest is to provide a Christmas tree.  I went out and cut one this morning that was growing in our longleaf pines.

The tree is in the lodge waiting to be decorated. It smells so good, just like Christmas is supposed to. 

Last week the Alabama Forestry Commission put in firebreaks to burn this tract of two year old longleaf pines.  This is where I took the deer a week earlier.  We seem to get some good bucks in these young stands of longleaf pine for some reason.  This tract is to be burned next week.

Last week I burned under the loblolly pines at our home.  I got a good burn that cleaned up under the stand real well.  This was the second time this stand has been burned since they were thinned.  Having a water tank on the four-wheeler is a great tool when doing a prescribed burn.

Slowly backing off the firebreak

Cleaning up!

The last of the fire as it starts to burn together that evening.

The results: a clean stand and wildlife habitat that deer and turkey love.

Deer

The day after Thanksgiving was a good day of hunting.  I watched deer from 10 minutes after getting in the stand until I climbed down, 35 minutes after I shot this buck.  I saw two spikes, a doe, a 4 pointer, a 6 pointer, and another 8 pointer.  The deer weighed live weight 210 lbs., one of the largest weight bucks I have ever taken.  It was like watching a hunting video.

We have lots of young bucks on the property this year.  I have already seen eight bucks this year and finally one that was a shooter. Every day hunting is a good day but this day was special!

Deer Season Has Started, Lodge Finished

The hunting season has started with things being kind of slow.  We have seen several does: a 4, 5, and 6 pointer, and three coyotes.  Abby slowed one of two down Saturday morning.  Pawpaw was able to climb up in a tripod on the first morning after his stroke.  That was the best thing so far this season!

We are 98% complete on the lodge with most of the work left to do is landscaping on the outside. This weekend while we were there a hawk landed in the tree next to the lodge.  I think he was saying he was keeping an eye on things while we are away.  He just posed for his picture while we made several shots of him.  He was showing off his sharp beak here.

In this picture you can see his powerful claws that he uses for hunting.

The lodge has been decorated for Thanksgiving.

The handrail is made of hickory that we cut off of Dewberry Lands. 

The deer racks make it feel like you are in a hunting camp.  Most of the racks came off of our property. 

The table is made of wood salvaged from downed trees on Dewberry Lands, compliments of April 27th storms.  The trees were Mountain Chestnut Oaks and the table is made of the heartwood from those trees.  It was made into lumber, planed, and I built it for the lodge.  It is beautiful wood.

....and oh, this is the view from the porch. 

Random Hits

It was great to see Dad back in the woods this weekend as we checked on and made repairs to our tree stands.  It has been about two months since Dad had his stroke.  He is a little slow but getting ready for hunting season is good therapy for him.

Last post I had a tree oddity on our property with a huge burl.  This post I have included another on our property.  Are these two trees joined by a root or a limb? Click on the picture to see it better.

I just finished teaching another hunter safety course with the Alabama Game and Fish.  Officer Rowell is seen here teaching part of the course.

About two weeks ago we had fifth graders out on our property for 2012 Classroom in the Forest.  They were good students and really paid close attention to what we had to say about the forest.  Mattie, our granddaughter loved sharing her forest with the boys and girls.

She is only two but she thought she was as big as the fifth graders. 

Thanks to all the volunteers that made this day a success! 

Alabama Forestry Commission and the Clay County Forestry Planning Committee