Trail Camera Check

We went out to the woods tonight again to check and move the trail cameras. In an effort to boost deer activity near the cameras, Mr. Johnson also sprayed some of the magic "C'Mere Deer" elixir on the ground and nearby vegetation. That stuff is irresistible to deer so we had quite a few more pictures of deer than last week (like this doe and her 2 fawns).

And this is the first buck we've gotten a picture of for 2008. His antlers are still covered in velvet.

We hiked down into the woods to check the StealthCam. After the warm weather and a little rain we had earlier in the week, the vegetation is still very thick and the woods are still looking very summer-like.

Due to a battery malfunction, there weren't any pictures from the StealthCam. We moved both of the cameras to new locations and set up a "mock scrape" with the doe pee scent dripper in front of one of the cameras. We'll go back on Monday for another check and maybe I'll have some new pictures to share with you then.

We saw plenty of other interesting things on our hike in and out of the woods. Do you know what bird this feather is from?

Here's an example of the damage hungry raccoons can do to a farmer's corn crop. This is just a small area but last year this farmer lost almost the first 8 perimeter rows of corn along the edge of the woods due to raccoons and deer. At $8/bushel, you can see why most farmers around here are usually pretty willing to let people deer hunt on their property.

I was happy about the good deer pictures we got on our camera, but while we were setting up the camera in a new location, I was even more excited about a pair of barred owls "hootin' it up" in the woods nearby. Turn up the volume for this short video clip.