This Sunday marked the first time my Cabelas/Moultrie trailcam has caught a picture of a deer on camera. The tail of a second deer, several squirrels & a bird were also captured. This particular deer appears to be a one antler two point buck - check him out:
Note: the date in the timestamp is incorrect, but the time is correct.
After a small detour, John, Greg & I are outside Scraton, PA. The clouds have finally broke - check out what we’ve been driving next to for the last 15 minutes:
This past weekend was the opening weekend for fall turkey and archery deer seasons. My good friend Mark was the only one of the three of us in our group to shoot a deer, taking a spike buck from a stand I’d hung for him just the week prior. This is the 2nd season in a row now he’s dropped a deer on opening day from a stand I’ve hung for him.
Mark’s father had a 4 point buck sneak up on him, but the buck heard his arrow rub against his wisker biscket (an arrow holder) as he drew & bolted before he could shoot.
Deer-wise, I only saw the tail end of a 2nd spike buck that followed the one Mark shot in. However, while I was waiting for it to walk my way, a coyote ran directly at my stand. It took me by surprise & since it was moving, I had to react fast to be able to get my bow up. In doing so, I drew it’s attention & it took off. As this was the first time I’d seen a coyote in the woods while hunting, much less had a shot at one, I was really bummed out about not having been able to get a shot off & thought to myself “I’ll never get a chance like that again…” - yet two minutes later, another coyote came running towards my stand!! This one came from a slightly different spot, allowing me to spot him earlier & ready myself to shoot. I was able to get to full draw, but as I was lowering the bow to the right angle, I accidentally bumped the release with my finger and sent the arrow four feet over the head of the coyote, who heard it hit the tree and fled. I don’t know how I managed to hit the release - it would have been a 5 yard shot too!
Sunday I went out alone. Early on, I heard the distinctive, very deliberate sound of a deer walking, but it sounded like it was coming from my left and my right (and it was…). Around 60 yards away, I picked up on a big doe coming across the path my stand was hanging on. As it went behind trees, I stood up & lifted my bow. It continued down hill about 50 yards across the path, but stopped & looked around. And that’s when I saw the other two deer, 25 yards ahead of me, who were also stopped. The two sets of deer spooked each other and all three ran off, never even presenting me a shot.
Monday was a long day of outdoors for me - I woke at 5, hit the woods by 7, hunted until 11, fished from 1-3:30, returned to hunt the evening again & arrived back home at 7. Neither myself or Mark’s father spotted a single deer. While fishing, the first falls I came to was loaded with ~30 steelhead, but there already a guy fly fishing it & so I was forced to head upstream. I saw a couple steelhead along the way, but after having seen the first hole filled with them, expected more. I missed a steelhead a couple miles upstream where I’d caught one the week previous, but was not able to hook any others, regardless of the fly tried. On the way back to the woods after fishing, I saw yet another coyote. This one was large & sitting up on it’s rear legs in the middle of a field. I pulled the truck over & checked it out with the binoculars - I hope another one comes by me!
Ah, fall… Up at 5, in the woods by 7. By 9 I’ve spotted two deer. A couple mile walk up a creek later & I have my first steelhead of the season on a fly rod - a small, ~12 inch/~1.5 lb female. She wasn’t big enough to pull any drag, but lept into the air twice. I hope it’s the first of many to come this season.
Living in North Boston, NY, I’m surrounded by hills. Big hills. Lots of them. They beg to be explored, run up & ridden on. Already being a distance runner & semi-secretly harboring a crazy thought that I might some day get into triathlons, I recently picked up a 2008 Trek 1.5 road bike.
It’s pretty much the stock bike, with the exception of the components having been switched out for Shimano 105s. Of the two cranks, it’s got the compact 53/39. Prior to looking into this bike, I didn’t know much about road bikes, but with a lot of help from a handful of friends, I ended up deciding I’d like something with a carbon fiber front fork / seat post, low-spoke count wheels & at least 105 components. After getting over the initial price shock, I set a goal to see if I could pick up a 2008 model for ~$1000 as the 2009s were coming out.
While at first I had shyed away from Handlebars (what many consider the premiere bike shop in the area), for fear of them focusing on catering to a higher level customer than I, I headed there one day after work when I hadn’t carpooled & told them exactly what they were looking for. The salesperson simply said “we can do that for you”. I was very happy with their service - the amount of time they spent with me, the salesman (Will) & the number of bikes I rode & the fact that they went out of their way to get me what I wanted. They gave me drinks while I test rode, include a formal fitting with the purchase of a bike from them & offered to switch out components - while I’m sure a lot of the other shops would have done this as well, there wasn’t even a need for me to ask.
Since I’ve been training for a marathon, I haven’t gotten out on the bike as much as I’d like - I doubt I’ve cracked 100 miles. I was a little afraid of getting in & out of the SPD (clip in) pedals, but haven’t had any problems since my very first ride. Compared to running, I don’t like facing away from traffic as I ride, but love being able to go 30+ miles per hour. Now that the cables have stretched, some minor adjustments are needed, but I’ve been very happy with the bike so far. I’ve hit some big hills & look forward to more.