Spring Things at LRDC

Nearly seven weeks since I have posted - First reason was a switch in computers, and the second, and biggest, was a switch to Windows 7 from XP! Why do they do this to us??? In any case here we are, deep into spring. Below is a picture of snow at camp I took 6 weeks ago, surer at that time that all the snow would be gone by May 1. I was wrong...when the ground was clear of snow I began to clear the ice damage from trails, and on may 6th, found two feet of snow on the ground under some huge collaped hemlock trees. Pretty good insulation I guess.

What follows are short spring adventures here in New Hampshire - it's been very active on the farm here. And no, I still have not taken that big Tom! Still a week to go though! Here you see the Blue birds making a home in our backyard. This week I was in the back yard when I heard the plaintive cries from a blue bird and looked up to see a smallish hawk flying by with the male in his claws. I yelled and waved my arms just as a robin went after him, and the blue bird dropped free. I lost sight of the blue bird, thought he dropped to the ground, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Miraculously, the next morning he was back on his house!

An early spring fox up in the back pasture...

The flag is always on the back of LRDC, but after our successful sally into Pakistan I just had to post this banner below it, for a week or two!

I have set up my decoys and a camera up on the Far Ridge, and lo, instead of a big Tom, who comes by but a bemused doe, wondering who would think they could fool anyone with silly looking turkeys like these.

A very pregant doe, perhaps the very one that nearly killed one of our Sheltie - (see below)

First Long Ridge hunter to post a big tom this month. 22 pounds, 9 inch, with one inch spurs. Respectable!

Below you see some severe bruises on one of our two Shelties. Several days ago I was on a tractor driving across to the Far Field with a bucket of brush. Both Shelties love to follow and bark as we go. As I entered the Far Field, I saw them both dart into a pine stand, and head down into a swampy glen, thinking they we after their favorite game, chipmunks. Not to be...a minute or so later I heard screaming, and looked down to see Nancy running in the glen (it is just below her studio) and quickly shut off the diesel and pulled my earplugs as a big doe came leaping up out of the glen and across the field. I ran down to find that Luna and Kalie had found a newborn fawn, and the doe attacked them. Kalie is extremely fast, agile, and smart - she headed for home and got away. Poor hapless Luna  got pounded literally down into the swamp mud, and if Nancy had not run down there to scare off the doe, I have no doubt she would have been killed. Later Nancy told me that she was on her deck when she heard Luna literally scream, and ran down there thinking I had run over her with the tractor. In any case, we hauled little Luna up to the garage and hosed her all off. She was limping badly, and one eye was closed. I thought she would be fine but within a half hour it was clear she was in bad shape, so an afternoon at the vet's, and tons of medicine and antibiotics later, she will make it. Cracked ribs, terrible black and blue bruises all over her body. To avoid additional pain, the vet decided not to shave her whole body. Her eye is now (three days later) looking a bit better, but lazy. The ribs will heal on their own. Amazing what those front hooves can do!

Below is a Robins nest built right on top of a fence post outside our sheep barn. What follows are a sequence of puictures I have taken since she built it.

This is one large bobcat! He too is not fooled by the decoys I lazily left out there.

So that's it for wildlife adventures in May! jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Last March Coyote Hunt and April is Here at Long Ridge!

The end of this New Hampshire March was typical - raw, damp, windy, and then on April 1st 6 more inches of snow. Still, it IS melting and I suspect that we are down to less than 15 inches in the woods. Knowing a day or so ahead that we were going back into winter, I spent the better part of a day coyote hunting again. I hiked from Deer Camp up toward the Far Ridge Stand, and about half way up I set up. Wouldn't you know it! My Primos electronic call had such low volume I could barely hear it at ten feet! Low batteries. It had been a job getting up there, so I decided I would continue the hike, check for tracks, and check the trail conditions...The next three pictures below, you see the broken tops of the Oak my ladder stand is in. Then my miraculously undamaged stand half way down, and the third shot of all the trash on the ground that fell right at it's bottom. How I didn't lose it I'll never figure out!

                                     

Below is a pit deeper than I am tall, right on the side of the trail from two huge Hemlocks that fell down due to ice load. It may make a fine bear den one day...

 Here it is from twenty feet away.

 Another section completely trashed and impossible to get through. I'll be recruiting hunters to help with this one.

On my walk I passed this huge pile of chips, and looked up to see whence they came.

It's those crazy Piliated woodpeckers for sure. They are cool birds, almost prehistoric in the way they fly, look, and sound.

I then headed back to LRDC to pick up fresh batteries, and decided to hunt a neighbors farm about three miles away. He raises beef cattle, and twice while driving by I have shot off coyotes attacking his new born calfs. One instance in early spring about 5 years ago I was on my way to work, quite nattily dressed in loafers tie and shirt, when I spotted a hereford giving birth. Her calf was half way out, and was a twin. The first was lying on the ground, and two coyotes were at it. She whirled and went after them, and when she did I was astounded to see them run back to her rear and go after the not born babe. I cranked my cruiser over very hard (sorry taxpayers) and jumped out running toward her . I had to yank through an electric fence and then run through knee deep grass to get closer to her. She was about 250 yards from the road, and all I had was my service pistol. When I got about 150 yards from her, it looked like they were about to do the calf on the ground, even though she was whirling around and around trying to stop them. So, I fired a round in a safe direction just to get everyones attention. Sure enough both coyotes bee lined for the woods. Now, we shoot 24 inch metal gongs at 200 yards just for fun with these pistols, and can hit it quite regularly. But that is slow, precision fire. I tried to be precise, but out of breath, ankle deep in water, I simply tried my best, emptying the 15 round magazine before the coyotes disappeared. They wouldn't be back for awhile! Slogging back to my cruiser I called dispatch and had them notify the farmer so he could check them. The Chief, by the way, was quite impressed with my appearance and tardiness for the meeting! Well this spring much the same thing happened, and later when I was talking about it, the farmer thanked me and offered full permission to hunt his many acres of land. Here are some of his herefords as I walk through woods about fifty feet in from the edge of the field.

The first wildlife of the day, a gray squirrel...

This next photo, I was actually only seeing the turkeys up ahead. When I got home, I noticed this narcisstic squirrel getting back into the picture!

The doe below is not from this day, but one way up in our field. I took it with a movie camera at 50 optical zoom so while pretty, it IS a bit blurry

                                     

So, while I didn't harvest a coyote, I did have a great hunt day - got to check the conditions of all my trails, saw some wildlife, jumped a bunch of deer that I did not see, and enjoyed the sunny 40 degree weather. Tell me how to beat that!    jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Frozen in Place - LRDC in Late March

Well folks, here we are in New Hampshire - absolutely frozen in place! Too cold to be out, and too hot to be in. As I like to say, March is the honest month. She is unequivocally nasty. 5 degrees below zero, to 50 above. It nevers matters whether it is at the beginning or the end of the month. It can get really warm, sub-zero temps 12 hours later, 18" of snow , back to 40 degrees. I love it for that. I took a measuring stick with me on my walk this morning with the pups and found an average of 21 inches of snowpack on the ground. To be sure, these are slightly North facing inclines, but even so I was disappointed in how much we have left. The ice broke up, and opened up the Connecticut River a week ago, and that is always a good sign of spring when water reappears. I do observe some bob houses still out on ponds and lakes though!

One thing about these temps though, I do love walking through the woods on hard crust, no snowshoes needed, over all the trash winter has left. Smooth sailing and the dogs love it too. Unfortunately this time of year brings on other chores, so varmint hunting has taken a back seat. Shearing day was today, and now that that is over, the farm once again becomes secondary (to me). I can begin to think about coyotes again, and  turkeys coming up the 1st of May. And then there is the momentous decision on what to buy for a bow target this year. I have worn out my foamers completely and my Delta buck target ( as I posted) blew out last summer. So that is an adventure in itself!  A fairly expensive one. Buying a cheap bow target every year makes no sense at all...I'll keep you posted!
If you check her withers you can see the wounds on both sides of the ever returning doe. She is continuing to heal and looks like she may make it through to fawning time! 

Just a few springtime pictures of the back yard...

This red fox below somehow beat the fast trigger time of my Cuddeback!

Not this gray one though...

And wouldn't you know it...a coyote to spoil the fun! I'll try to do this guy!

There is her left side, almost completely healed in the last two weeks.

And her other side, also almost fixed! She'll be a wiser and better Mom, come June!

Jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Winter is Broken - or, Spring is Here!

Spring has finally broken here! Four days ago, it actually rained when it went up to 33 degrees, but then it dropped to 15 degrees over night and we had a terrible ice storm. Our farm generators ran for twenty hours before power was restored. Stepping outside, all you could hear were the huge pines snapping and crashing all through the hills. Villages ten miles north of here were out of power until yesterday. BUT, today it actually went up to 38 degrees, and the snow is melting fast. The pictures below show deer coming out into our North pastures which face steeply South, and have a thin line of bare ground. I broke my own rule, and put out a game cam before April 1st. Since it isn't below zero much any more, the batteries will last. Twelve different does you can see here, along with a few raccoons. More will follow!

Muuuuahhh!

                                  Our trails are trashed from the ice storm. There are huge trees across many places and it will take some time in the spring when the snow pack is gone to clear them all out again. Below you can see where the brooks are eating away at the twenty four inches of packed snow on the trail...

                                    

Below is the water hole the deer use all winter. After the rain it really opened up!

Ice is heavy on these trees. If it does not melt soon, we will lose even more of them.

             Below is an icy scene near the Far Stand. This is a dead Hemlock, so beautiful in the light.

Walking the trails is like going through a tunnel. Everywhere, trees bowed way over, and many of them could snap any moment. I walk with a great deal of caution when I hear trees going down around me.

But, with all the ice, and wind, and fickle temperatures, it IS March, and daylight savings, and sun to come. The snowmobile trails are closed now and a new season opens! Let the snow go! Our trees are all tapped, and the sap is being boiled. A NEAT time of the year!
                                                            jackzeller@myfairpoint.net