Big Snow Man
5 year old buck +
So what does one do with those heads ? European mount ? Are you getting your wife some new shoes made out of the hide 
My Florida Destiny
- Thread starter bigbendmarine
- Start date
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Wanted to keep the first one that was slightly bigger for a euro mount but bang stick shot did damage to the skull... processor said he'd try to save me another one about the same size but no idea if that will pan out. As for hide, will get them back as processed pelts and decide from there... having one done in a rich brown color and the other one in black. Don't dress up too often so probably go with smaller items such as bracelets (for female relatives), wallets, etc.So what does one do with those heads ? European mount ? Are you getting your wife some new shoes made out of the hide
Driving a fairly old truck right now but if can get enough hide stored up by the time I buy a replacement, this looks pretty darn cool. Haven't driven a motorcycle in decades but looks like quite a few folks have them made into seat covers for bikes as well.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
2018 was a crazy wet year for us in North Florida with about 20 extra inches of rain than normal -- 80 inches versus 60, and December proved the craziest month of all by dumping 15 inches of rain on us versus an average of 4 inches.
Shortly after the New Year I captured this sunset... the first one we'd seen in days and what felt like weeks. Too pretty not to share and knocking on wood while I type this we've been dry enough the past 10 days of so to start drying out a bit...
Shortly after the New Year I captured this sunset... the first one we'd seen in days and what felt like weeks. Too pretty not to share and knocking on wood while I type this we've been dry enough the past 10 days of so to start drying out a bit...
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Few early "spring" pics for those further north to let y'all know even if it will be a while, spring IS on the way...
Ornamental crabapples next to the house already starting to bloom.
Few of these seem eager to put 4 houses I put out for them to use...
Interesting share related to the bluebird pics... I took pics of them while I stood against one of my grapevine trellis posts. I must have been fairly camouflaged as while I was standing there I heard a bullet fast swooshing noise, glanced up only to see this small hawk doing it's best to smash a dove to the ground.
Soon as I moved a muscle I got this pic... dove managed to get into a shrub and flew away when I went to check it, though the hawk did follow it. Welcome ID of the specific hawk type... was quite small at about the same size of a kestrel.
Ran into this much bigger hawk (again, welcome specific hawk ID) the other evening while walking to tend a burn pile. Thought it fitting to be perched on one of my hog trap feeders that's labeled "American Hunter"... "American Hunter" indeed!
Ornamental crabapples next to the house already starting to bloom.
Few of these seem eager to put 4 houses I put out for them to use...
Interesting share related to the bluebird pics... I took pics of them while I stood against one of my grapevine trellis posts. I must have been fairly camouflaged as while I was standing there I heard a bullet fast swooshing noise, glanced up only to see this small hawk doing it's best to smash a dove to the ground.
Soon as I moved a muscle I got this pic... dove managed to get into a shrub and flew away when I went to check it, though the hawk did follow it. Welcome ID of the specific hawk type... was quite small at about the same size of a kestrel.
Ran into this much bigger hawk (again, welcome specific hawk ID) the other evening while walking to tend a burn pile. Thought it fitting to be perched on one of my hog trap feeders that's labeled "American Hunter"... "American Hunter" indeed!
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
On the deer front, bucks starting to regroup into bachelor groups. Here a few yearling bucks share time with promising 2 1/2 year old buck I named "Split Ear." Hope he can stay healthy and out of the road a year or two more.
Not too surprisingly, buck I named "Lucky" due to his having a single "exclamation mark" tine on his left side managed not to get shot by any neighbors. Think he's got pedicle damage and skeptical that side will ever be normal, but be interesting to see for sure whether I'm right or wrong if he too stays healthy until fall.
Look closely at the doe to the left of Lucky in the pic above, and I swear I think does are already showing... same doe is in below pic on far right and though can't see it as much with her, looks like doe on far left may be expecting as well. May just be me, but seems a bit early to be showing?
Plots are about as green as green can get at the moment thanks to a fairly wet and mild "winter" (relative term being in North Florida).
Final share's a humble one... can't get much smaller racked than this fella now sporting a single toothpick! That said, he was fairly aggressive chasing does during the few sits I made this season. Hope he grows up to better match his attitude! Also worth noting he was easy to ID this season, as he's quite a bit lighter coated than any other buck. He keeps that color may have to name him "Blondie."
Not too surprisingly, buck I named "Lucky" due to his having a single "exclamation mark" tine on his left side managed not to get shot by any neighbors. Think he's got pedicle damage and skeptical that side will ever be normal, but be interesting to see for sure whether I'm right or wrong if he too stays healthy until fall.
Look closely at the doe to the left of Lucky in the pic above, and I swear I think does are already showing... same doe is in below pic on far right and though can't see it as much with her, looks like doe on far left may be expecting as well. May just be me, but seems a bit early to be showing?
Plots are about as green as green can get at the moment thanks to a fairly wet and mild "winter" (relative term being in North Florida).
Final share's a humble one... can't get much smaller racked than this fella now sporting a single toothpick! That said, he was fairly aggressive chasing does during the few sits I made this season. Hope he grows up to better match his attitude! Also worth noting he was easy to ID this season, as he's quite a bit lighter coated than any other buck. He keeps that color may have to name him "Blondie."
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Bet you're right on the female kestrel, H2Ofwler! Know we've had a resident male the last year or two and didn't realize how differently marked the females are. Body size and flight pattern sure matched the male kestrel I've seen better than any other option I've considered.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Harvesting the gators has me now thinking about the old saying, "The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry." While taking them out definitely has made it safer for my neighbor's labs to swim in the pond, I also was thinking that taking out the bigger ones would help keep pressure on fish down.
With the threat of big gators temporarily down, all of a sudden THREE (at least) of these have shown up.
So playful can't help but enjoy seeing them swim... until you notice time after time they're bringing fish up after their dives. Enough to make a fella want the gators back. Semi-joking aside, suspect as it warms up a fair sized gator or two (or three) will find the pond, especially if we can get a dry spell that drives them to look for water as smaller holes dry up.
In meantime, anyone need some otter pelts?
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Living on my hunting grounds helps me make some interesting observations I might otherwise miss.
Bushnell night monocular is probably one of the tools I'm most thankful I purchased, both for helping me wait on getting out of stands after dark until I'm positive area is cleared as well as stepping out our doors at night to see what might be going on in the fields around the house.
Noticed quickly after getting the night monocular that shooter bucks courted groups of does in open fields RIGHT in front of our house. Green circles are my planted plot areas and orange box is area that deer seem to gather in at night / where I repeatedly have witnessed big shooter bucks chasing. With a bit of unplanned luck think what's happening is deer move woods north and though pines just west of me into my plots in evenings ending up both browsing for acorns under live oaks yards from house at night as well as using box area to cross to plots on opposite side, effectively doing loop of property (LOVE that / keeping them occupied on my land long as possible and out of nearby highways).
Having seen good pre-rut activity in late Oct, lots of chasing in Nov, and typical tapering off a bit in late December I was really surprised to see a bit of late sparring / chasing this past weekend on the evening of Feb 9.
Forgive the "Blair Witch" bad quality, but was fun seeing in person and I cut out about 3 minutes of sparring that preceded it... could easily hear the clinking of antlers from my spot at our front door where I stood filming. Struck me as surprising to have multiple does now clearly swollen up preggers and yet still seeing a buck showing some evident interest in a group of does I'm guessing held a yearling that's possibly gone in to heat REAL late?
Bushnell night monocular is probably one of the tools I'm most thankful I purchased, both for helping me wait on getting out of stands after dark until I'm positive area is cleared as well as stepping out our doors at night to see what might be going on in the fields around the house.
Noticed quickly after getting the night monocular that shooter bucks courted groups of does in open fields RIGHT in front of our house. Green circles are my planted plot areas and orange box is area that deer seem to gather in at night / where I repeatedly have witnessed big shooter bucks chasing. With a bit of unplanned luck think what's happening is deer move woods north and though pines just west of me into my plots in evenings ending up both browsing for acorns under live oaks yards from house at night as well as using box area to cross to plots on opposite side, effectively doing loop of property (LOVE that / keeping them occupied on my land long as possible and out of nearby highways).
Having seen good pre-rut activity in late Oct, lots of chasing in Nov, and typical tapering off a bit in late December I was really surprised to see a bit of late sparring / chasing this past weekend on the evening of Feb 9.
Forgive the "Blair Witch" bad quality, but was fun seeing in person and I cut out about 3 minutes of sparring that preceded it... could easily hear the clinking of antlers from my spot at our front door where I stood filming. Struck me as surprising to have multiple does now clearly swollen up preggers and yet still seeing a buck showing some evident interest in a group of does I'm guessing held a yearling that's possibly gone in to heat REAL late?
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Early crimson clover blooms started popping up this week...
But with temps warm enough to host flowers, can't be too surprised when you find this... was rushedly trying to change out my disc harrow to my rotary cutter when I ran across it and it was so determined to stay put I had to pull it out to save its life. Hope it remembers the favor when bluebird chicks start hatching a few weeks down the road.
On a tree note, sawtooths buds started opening up this past week
And knowing a few forum members have voiced an appreciation of live oaks, took a photo of a really pretty one just a few hundred yards from my workplace this week.
Unfortunate truth about years we have February highs in the upper 70s / early green up is that we often then get hit with a frost or two in March. Current forecasts show a darn 2 day dip this coming Tuesday and Wed with lows hitting 32. I don't have anything planted that's not hearty enough to recover from another frost hit alone... BUT... stress of dropping leaves and pushing new growth out supposedly releases ethanol that draws the attention of boring beetles. Have cut figs and contorted mulberry to the ground after past attacks, and while they blessedly survived fruit was greatly impacted for the year in question. Praying the actual temps this go round can be just a couple of degrees higher than forecasted.
But with temps warm enough to host flowers, can't be too surprised when you find this... was rushedly trying to change out my disc harrow to my rotary cutter when I ran across it and it was so determined to stay put I had to pull it out to save its life. Hope it remembers the favor when bluebird chicks start hatching a few weeks down the road.
On a tree note, sawtooths buds started opening up this past week
And knowing a few forum members have voiced an appreciation of live oaks, took a photo of a really pretty one just a few hundred yards from my workplace this week.
Unfortunate truth about years we have February highs in the upper 70s / early green up is that we often then get hit with a frost or two in March. Current forecasts show a darn 2 day dip this coming Tuesday and Wed with lows hitting 32. I don't have anything planted that's not hearty enough to recover from another frost hit alone... BUT... stress of dropping leaves and pushing new growth out supposedly releases ethanol that draws the attention of boring beetles. Have cut figs and contorted mulberry to the ground after past attacks, and while they blessedly survived fruit was greatly impacted for the year in question. Praying the actual temps this go round can be just a couple of degrees higher than forecasted.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Have clover strips in just about all my plot spots, but also along a few semi-shaded travel corridors and that's really where it seems to do well this time of year.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Thanks to a few perfectly time gentle rains, crimson clover is flowering well at the moment. It's the first clover to bloom here, and provides the shortest growing window of various clover types I've got growing around the place... but sure love the color it adds to the landscape.
Really is a gift that keeps on giving in our part of the country, as timely cutting not only ensures reseeding but even seems to spread it a bit each year. Some of the stands on our place were here when we moved to it -- going on at least year #6.
With pressure from season a few months behind us now, also makes it easy for me to see how the herd is doing as they visit the clover almost every morning. Really have it growing nearly everywhere from natural spreading. Harder to see in this pic, but it's there...
Was really happy to see this fella a couple of days ago. Hope he keeps himself out of the local roads and stays healthy over the summer.
Few may recognize him as a buck I named "Split Ear" for glaringly obvious reason.
Fairly nice young buck for our neck of the woods last year. Really curious to see how he shapes up in 2019. Sure doesn't look to be starving to death and I do no supplemental feeding outside what's growing from the ground. Here's a pic of him from the fall.
Really is a gift that keeps on giving in our part of the country, as timely cutting not only ensures reseeding but even seems to spread it a bit each year. Some of the stands on our place were here when we moved to it -- going on at least year #6.
With pressure from season a few months behind us now, also makes it easy for me to see how the herd is doing as they visit the clover almost every morning. Really have it growing nearly everywhere from natural spreading. Harder to see in this pic, but it's there...
Was really happy to see this fella a couple of days ago. Hope he keeps himself out of the local roads and stays healthy over the summer.
Few may recognize him as a buck I named "Split Ear" for glaringly obvious reason.
Fairly nice young buck for our neck of the woods last year. Really curious to see how he shapes up in 2019. Sure doesn't look to be starving to death and I do no supplemental feeding outside what's growing from the ground. Here's a pic of him from the fall.
