We may not be near the winter olympics but mother nature has decided that we needed closing ceremonies for February here in NE Ohio. The snow levels are somewhere between zero and four feet. The wind has done a great job of piling it in just selected areas and it is normally where we would prefer not to have it. (in front of the door, the driveway,…)
The bucks in the preserve have finally decided to let us have some of their antlers and we have been finding them over the past two weeks. Sonya found the first three and was good at making sure that I knew it. We have several singles but have not found any sets at this point. There are some great looking sheds and it should make for a great start to next season’s trophy bucks. I was lucky enough to find one shed from a buck that I already had last year’s set. You can clearly see that they are from the same buck and some of the tines are even a little shorter from the second set but the mass has increased greatly in a year’s time. I will bring some of these sheds with me to the Dixie Deer Classic next week so if you at the show stop by and I’ll show them off.
I have had a request to share some of our hunting stories on the blog and I will be adding one in the near future as a trial run under the “Tales of the Hunt” section. I will warn you though that I am not a great writer and would appreciate comments on whether or not to continue my efforts on adding additional stories.
Winter has turned the hunting preserve into a winter wonderland. We had about two feet of snow this past week and then just to keep us interested Mother Nature gave us freezing rain yesterday followed by another 4-5″ of snow. The snow has settled considerably but I would guess there is still around 20″+ on the ground. Going around the paths has become an adventure in itself but the scenery is beautiful with the snow covered trees. I’m sorry to report that it has been so overcast that I have not been able to capture any of this on film. The deer were sitting pretty tight for the first few days this week but seem to have adjusted to the snow depth and are back to their winter routines. All of the trophy bucks still have there antlers as best I can tell so far but I’m sure that some will start shedding them soon. Last year we still had some bucks with antlers into March so they would have another couple months if it happens the same this year.
Winter has finally found North Eastern Ohio and the hunting preserve. We have had our first snow cover and really cold temps this week. The snow fall by our standards was just a dusting but the high winds and temps in the teens have shown that winter is upon us. The deer trails are much easier to follow with the snow and it is good to know that our stand placements and food plots are all in the correct places. The younger does are starting to come in now and the mature bucks are giving chase again. The secondary rut is not as intense as the early november rut but it still has the deer all moving. Over the last few days I have seen bucks that I had not seen for three or four weeks. The younger bucks are not being as active with this rut and they seem to be settling in on their winter patterns. It is not unusual to see the older does and younger bucks coming to the food plots much earlier in the afternoon now. This is the time of year when our stand heaters come in real handy!