Fall has Returned to South Dakota!

After a snowy week last week, the temperatures have gone back up into the 40's and 50's, the snow is gone and fall has returned. 

This week was all about deer hunting. But fear not, there are no dead animals in this post. Just live ones! But I know most of you like wildlife pictures (and all but two of you like dog pictures and videos), so here we go!

Starting with the trail camera pictures. Most of them are of deer, but it did capture a turkey landing on the water tank and a red squirrel on a log as well which I thought were pretty cool! This first guy is a beauty, we actually have two bucks that look like this one. The 4th picture is very similar but is a different buck. 

Here is that turkey landing on the water tank. Each morning, I wake up at 4:45am and chill for an hour before going out to the woods at 5:45. The first thing I hear are the turkeys clucking to each other as they wake up. They roost in the pine trees on top of our tallest hill. They make a racket every morning and evening as they fly up and down from their roosts. 

A couple of years ago, we would hardly see a red squirrel. Now I think we have a dozen or so. All but one have behaved themselves and are living away from the house. Oh, they visit the birdfeeder daily, we do not mind that, but one has taken residence up in the shed and that is a big no no. 

The ugliest creature I have captured on the trail camera is this guy. ... Forrest was wandering the woods and thought it would be appropriate to photobomb the trail camera!

Then there are the pictures I look while out hunting. I take my Lumix out with me each time unless I am sitting out in the elements, and it is raining. The first pictures below are from a low secluded open area in the forest. It is also where that water tank is and where the turkeys land when they fly out of the trees. They congregate in this open area, fight and argue for a few minutes before breaking up into smaller groups to go about their day.

 

It is also an area that the deer like to come to eat the grass. One evening this guy came to visit, a nice buck but he is still young. In this first picture I think he saw me pick up my camera and is wondering what that guy is doing sitting 18' up in a tree!

These pictures are from a different stand. A ground blind on the other side of the hill where the turkeys roost. This first buck was quite entertaining. As you can see, he broke off one side of his antler. If you look very closely, you can see hair stick to the portion that is remaining. The testosterone levels in bucks skyrocket this time of year resulting in a lot of fights. He obviously broke of the other half in a fight, I hope whoever he was fighting with did not get hurt too bad! The next picture was taken in the same sequence when I turkey walked up to have a chat with him. The buck did not appreciate whatever the turkey had to say as the buck lowered its head and chased the turkey away.

The turkey ran towards me and then walked directly away resulting in these weird shots. 

They sure are weird, ugly, yet unique birds. Those hairs on top of her head are actually feathers. So weird. 

Then there is this guy, (44 second video) probably 1-1/2 years old. This time of year, they like to rub their orbital and forehead glands on branches leaving their scent throughout their range to warn other bucks they this is "Their" area and to attract and allure the girls. They then scrape the ground and pee down their legs over the tarsal glands on their hind legs leaving scent on the ground. Does that are "in season" and ready for breeding, in turn pee on it as well letting the bucks in the area know she ready.  After that he goes and chases off the doe he was showing off for. I am so glad that humans do not do this!

We did get out bowling this week! Our action shots did not turn out very good, so you only get this one shot of Lily and the final score of one of our games. Of course, I would not have posted it if I had not had won! 

Barb and Somer made bread a couple of days. I never realized how much work goes into making one loaf of bread, but it was so delicious!

Then on Sunday, Ryan and Alana came over for the Vikings game. It was chaos for the first 20 minutes or so while Loki (still with cone), Sophie and Zoey greeted each other. We started out the game inside the house with Sophie wearing a Jaguars jersey, much to Ryan and Alana's chagrin. 

After halftime, it warmed up enough that we could go outside to the gazebo. It got up into the mid 50's! We played dice games watching the Vikings win, going 7-2!

The dogs finally settled down and just relaxed. 

That is until Zoey got a little feisty and learned a new fun game called Pick on the Conehead!

Since she was being so mean to Loki, we decided to see how she felt with the Cone of Shame on. She was mortified and stood frozen in place refusing to move. It was pretty hilarious!

This next week looks like it is going to be filled with more fun as our daughter Jessica arrives with her family later this week. This is their first trip out to South Dakota and we cannot wait to show them around!