A Medley For Sure at Long Rindge Deer Camp Spring/early Summer Here at the Camp.

A strange 18 months wraps up at LRDC. No hunters here last fall (you do all know why), illness here on the farm, and a deteriorating bunch of deer stands. Hunters came through and donated a bunch of new stands, so the job is to get the old ones down, the new ones up, and trails cleared. The food plots have sustained many species, and seem to be doing quite well, in spite of a bit of dryness this spring. As it is late June, they do need to be mowed, and the annual plots will be plowed under and reseeded in August. Below on the East plot is a handsome cat and a bunch of early deer.

An earlier picture, with a bit of late snow setting up a new mineral lick.

Arguments do take place, and there is always a winner...

Last, and this year, rabbits everywhere. Woods, gardens, sheds, pastures. 

This momma below is clearly nursing, and the next shot shows you who. Two babes. Last year she had four. They whelped out under deer camp but moved on with time. 

Bears are now common. It is not surprise to find them on camera. Several days ago a huge male walked through our yard, ignoring us, bird feeders, chickens and sheep. Panting like a shepherd because it was so hot. 

The argument below is clearly not settled yet. What this DOES tell us, is that one or both have fawns in the area.

Hi, and 'Eye' again!

Our lover porkies again.

I can't really tell, but looking like this Gray has a squirrel.

This little fawn was just coming out into the Near Field, when I putted by on an ATV. Stood there while I fetched and set my phone, and when the picture was done, wheeled gayly around and trotted off in no way alarmed!

Two year old Chestnuts for future wildlife.

Four year Chestnuts for future wildlife. Hoping they bear nuts next year...

These next two pictures are in the Near Field, and will be a food plot this fall, reverting to hayfield next year.

Because the deer (and others) have been so desperate for minerals since last years drought I have established another. While the pros tell you to make a scraped bare ground circle and spread it in that, do not do this in New England. Simply pour it over older stumps. They much prefer it this way!

I love daisies and this bed is beautiful. I have no idea how it came to be. It was a thriving clover plot 5 years ago, and when it deteriorated to weeds (as they all do) I rototilled it last fall. Nothing but beautiful flowers appeared hence. Who knew???

This mowed section was also clover, but became old and weak. I rototilled it, and the clover came back quite well. I love surprises.

The two fawns below were killed and eaten, and don't appear more than a day or three old. They were on the edge of a field I was mowing here at the farm. Because they were so small, and only partially eaten, I suspect fox. Bears would have completely consumed them, and coyotes would have eaten a lot more of them, and then carried the remains away. It is nature's dire lesson. If you are alive, and not killing something alive, you will die. That goes for deer, bears, people, and all creatures. It is the lesson I think of when some folks ask me 'how could you ever hunt an animal as beautiful as a deer?'. I always offer to show them pictures of ravaged deer, being eaten alive, on camera in the wild. It is not pretty. It is not cute. It is real. How any fawns at all survive, I'll never know. Fisher, bears, coyotes, fox, bobcats, domesticated dogs, eagles. They all hunt and eat young fawns. Disease. Lost moms. It is a miracle, and a blessing that so many pull though. It is the Plan.

This hidden pool, deep in the forest, never goes dry. Ever. There is a pounded path to it, used by all creatures. Six feet deep normally, two feet in drought, it is always there. I discovered it coming out of the ridges one night after dark, when the land was new to us, and I did not know every square inch. I got wet, and wise.

More plots, and a camp bed.

With a beautiful moon to look over it all. We are so grateful, and camp business resumes in the next weeks!

 With that, I will start scheduling work sessions with hunters, and orientation sessions with new hunters to get this new year off on the right footing! In the meantime, don't waste good hunting ammunition. One or two checking shots are all you should need. Ammo is crazy expensive right now, and the solution is to simply not buy it. Wait. And if you are a CC permit holder/hand gunner and need some really effective low round count range drills that will keep you at the top of your game, write me. I'll send you a bunch! In the meantime, check out the woods, the ticks are abating, and there is beauty everywhere! Comments and critique welcomed.

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Long Ridge Deer Camp Non-Essential and Quips and a Bit of Poetry

You know, I was never a huge reader of poetry..in high school, indeed grade school we read Frost, and recited the native greats, but I was just never into it. Later on in my education, I faked it. I just never had the intellectual discipline to understand or care for it. Some I loved, but my favorite poets changed over the years. Left some, came back to some. But now, officially in my 70's, I can say, I have come back too, and will stay with the best (in my world). Mary Oliver. In her New and Selected Poems, Volume Two, is one of the loveliest poems I have yet to cherish. Ants don't play a big part at Long Ridge Deer Camp, but they are certainly here. The poem:

In Praise of Craziness, of a Certain Kind

On cold evenings

my grandmother,

with ownership of half her mind--

the other half having flown back to Bohemia--

spread newspapers over the porch floor

so, she said, the garden ants could crawl beneath,

as under a blanket, and keep warm,

and what shall I wish for, for myself,

but, being so struck by the lightning of years,

to be like her with what is left, that loving.

I read that, and I weep. Maybe because I love nature in it's purest form. Maybe because my PTSD is kicking in. Maybe, only because this poem speaks. Clearly. I love it. In any case, if you spend much time in the field, Mary Oliver is a read. She understood nature, and the human spirit. She was a New Englander. We miss her.

And here below are a few left over pictures, and such.

A new pup graces the farm, and a million + lessons await him, and us. Everything is an adventure, from a leaf, to a flying flock of turkeys. Today, he sits on a static but running ATV, to learn the nuance of motor, and ride.

 This book ( I am so sorry I cannot seem to edit it upright no matter what I do) is THE New England go-to book for information on each of our amphibians, birds, and mammals. It is the best out there, the most accurate, and the one the best biologists in the Northeast use. I have read every page, and I am astounded at the accuracy and data. These two authors did a monumental work. Readily available.

What we are still doing, though we are running late. Four cords for 2022.

Below you see the results of LRDC members upgrading our hunting stands. Not done yet, but spring is about here!

Fires and cocktails, and lunches and fun, this winter at LRDC

The shot below is of a stump next to the Far Field. I had established a mineral lick here some years ago, and it is used regularly in the spring and summer. In the fall, deer pretty much lose all interest in minerals and salt. (It is a myth that you can 'bait' deer in the fall with salt licks. They have zero interest after August) In any case, I noted this winter, all winter, the deer were pawing and scraping to get at this mineral lick. Never seen it happen like that before. They have licked this black Cherry stump to nothing, and I had to pour 3 to 5 pounds a week there to keep up. So, research, phone calls, and conferences tell me that the past summer drought caused browse to be very short in trace minerals, and that depleted bones sought out a winter mineral source. Bonus! And a lesson learned!

 So, this will be the last of winter type pictures and adventures, so let's hail Spring!

Comments and query welcomed.

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

First day of Spring at Long Ridge

  Such an easy and snowless winter we have had! Lowest recorded temperature at the farm was 12  degrees below zero, and only for a day or two. We never had more than 18 inches on the ground, and it never stayed around that long. The deer and turkeys had ample opportunities to dig out tons of acorns, and they did! Our fields, and especially the edges looked like football games had been played on them... As I stated in my last post, the deer census station was a bust this year, completely. First ever, that we have not been able to tabulate accurately the deer per square mile in this region. First off, there was so little snow in the early throes of winter that finding beds was next to impossible. Next, when we did get snow, it was so little, or lasted such a short time, that it was useless. Also, the deer were so free to move, and food so plentiful, that there was virtually no deer yarding up. The beds within the square mile that I could accurately count, numbered no more than ten. And, in fact, I never had more than ten deer on camera at one time. Several caveats to consider: Within a mile of the farm, there are folks who feed deer heavily all through the winter. Also, when winter is soft, and mast and other foods readily available, deer will roam much more widely than during a hard winter. Counting the beds, my typical take would be 10 deer per square mile of the farm. No way. I guess, closer to twenty as in past years. They are everywhere, and as often at high noon, as in the darker hours. This year, with camp gearing up again, and a doe encouragement (without babes) incentives, we hope to find out!

 Turkeys also, so many, so there, and so close! The toms fanning and strutting as early as January, but now about to go nuts!






And of course, the gray foxes, always beautiful, always there, and always attentive to the barn chicken situation. 

 






Attentive is the word I would also label this doe with. So graceful, and in such great shape..

 






Go ahead, mouth off to this old gal!









A few of the ten, scarfing a few whole corn kernels. 






I love the backdrop. That is deer camp in the background. I moved the census station a bit South because of ice this year, and  they did not seem to mind.



More deer camp and more deer pusses




Our regular flock this winter amounted to about 19 birds. 




The little guys below are always there...




The does below will be giving birth in the next two months!









So, winter is over, shed hunting coming up, and perhaps a bit of coyote patrol. Health issues aside, we'll try to get it all done!

Comments always welcome!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net 

2021 Census Finally Gets Started!

With temperatures dipping to 7 degrees below zero, and a bit of snow on the ground, the census station finally comes to life. A month later than usual, but that is good news for all game, as it means we are having a mild winter, our third in a row. Initially only turkeys came for the whole kernel corn. They still are, which means I have to return just before dark and scatter some more, so the deer will drop by.  

This young buck below will probably hold his antlers right through March, with the easy winter.

Turkeys and does mixing it up. So far about fourteen different deer in the area.

This turkey is colorful, much more so than the rest. Not sure why...

Birds and small game also come daily to glean whatever they can. Crows, bluejays, squirrels, etc.

This buck below is a second one on scene.

Gray fox, a regular visitor and usually in a pair. It is mating season for most of the canid fams.  

I am always pleased to find that the bobcats are plentiful, and around. Considering that 25 years ago they were next to non-existent, it is wonderful to see them filling their historical niche.

 Not terribly exciting pictures, but at least we are getting to the point where I can head out and count fresh beds on the four point, and get an idea of deer density in our area. I am guessing 20 per square mile. We'll see!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net for any feedback.