Posted in Archery hunting, Deer hunting, Hunting, birds, birds of prey, blacktail deer, deer, photography, wildlife, tagged California deer hunting, hunting blacktail deer, photographing wildlife from a blind on July 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The day began with a typical flurry of bird activity. Many were drinking from the pond and others were bathing.
The acorn woodpecker posed for several photos from about 15 feet away.
A stellar jay joined him and it seemed like they were buddies, but I think not.
Scrub jays were everywhere, both adult and imature.
These young California [...]
Posted in birds of prey, photography, wildlife, tagged photography, the golden eagle on July 12, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As I sat in my deer blind, a shadow passed overhead. Through my peephole, I spotted the eagle hunting, but in its hunting mode, it wouldn’t stay for long.
A while later the eagle apeared again and this time it landed across the pond from me – still animated and hunting. I raised my camera and [...]
Posted in Deer hunting, birds of prey, butterflies, turkey, wildflowers, wildlife, tagged checkerspot butterfly on May 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One week left in the archery turkey season and I haven’t loosed an arrow. Actually I haven’t hunted since opening day. Last year’s turkey crop was below par and only one gobler is living on our ranch where we generally hunt. However, there are still turkeys in the area and with this spring’s rain promoting good [...]
Posted in birds, butterflies, deer, photography, snakes, wildlife, tagged checkerspot butterfly, wildlife survey on April 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of our management practices on the ranch is to monitor for reptiles and amphibians. May is reptile month as the snakes respond to warm weather. Today was my day to survey for whipsnakes.
Although I didn’t find any whipsnakes, a few other critters found the eye of my camera.
The weather was cool and mostly sunny. [...]
Posted in Hunting, bird banding, birds, birds of prey, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged bird banding, bird bands, birds of prey, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Shot a banded greenhead on December 6th 2008 and I didn’t get around to reporting it until today. Although I had hopes that it was banded in some exotic location the fact is that it was banded in California on August 3, 2008.
Not as exciting as Alberta, but it’s always nice to see a band [...]
Posted in Archery hunting, Big game hunting, Hunting, birds, outdoors, red stag, travel, tagged hunting in New Zealand, New Zealand travel on October 22, 2008 | 5 Comments »
We stayed in the Chalets, lined up on the left of the photo an and ate meals in the building in the background.
Red stags were pretty easy to find. The hunting took place inside a four thousand acre enclosure. I’m not sure what the density of stags was, but there were plenty.
On my second day [...]
Posted in Archery hunting, Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Hunting, birds, outdoors, photography, tagged Deer hunting on July 15, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Opening day is always good. This year was unique as I hunted alone with little fanfare. As my blind was set up for afternoon and evening winds, I didn’t get up early. Arriving about 2:00 PM, the weather was warm, but not unbearable. An appropriate sweat kept me cool enough and as usual, animal activity kept [...]
