Brush 'n' Brambles - New Critters from crittercam!

Today we set out with a bit of angst because the weather forecast was for rain today, though the latest indicated that the rain would occur later in the day. However, unlike last time, the closer we got to DieWeide, the nicer it got. In the end, for January, it was very pleasant upper 60's with some clouds to keep it from getting too warm.

First things first, we headed out to the pond and retrieved and replaced the trail cam memory card and took the camera with us for a relocation. We traipsed deeper into the woods (well, actually hacked our way) to a small hill that had multiple trails crossing and lots of signs of critter traffic.

Back at the picnic pecan, we had lunch and I dozed while Penny played with her brother Pistol. Here Penny is pestering Pistol - something she is always doing.

Back in the woods we returned to clearing brush and brambles along the north fence line. Along the way we came across a "Posted" sign on our property - an opportune moment to pose for a photo!

We had a great day out at Die Weide today. We stayed from 10 a.m. until after 4 p.m. and we cleared a lot more fence than usual due to the good temperatures. We eventually hit a heavy patch of brambles while tired and decided that it was a good place to stop fence clearing. Then we headed into the woods and started working our way west, just to see if we could find the north-west corner of the property. We hacked and slashed through a lot more brambles, eventually reaching the west fence, where a house sits adjacent to our property. There was an annoying yappy dog over there, but we kept on until we reached the corner. Then we hacked and worked our way south along the west fence, the whole 1018+ feet, clearing vines and exploring. We crossed two creeks that entered the property with running water, a lone-standing stagnant pond, and a place that could be easily dammed up to make another small pond. The stagnant pond had no visible incoming creek and I think it may be a spring fed pond. Another less pleasant find on the hike was a spike antler deer skull.

After we returned home, Inge loaded the trail cam photos which we perused and found, in the 254 pictures, dozens of night-time racoon pictures, of which this one of him or her climing a tree was the best and clearest.

After several photos of does with the trail cam, including this session, we finally got our first buck photos. The one below was a night photo, and it appears the infrared lights or the camera mechanism caught his attention because it was obvious he was staring at the camera. There was also a daytime photo of possibly the same buck, but he was far off in the photo and not clear enough to publish.

Our last, and clearest trail cam photo, is of a coyote! He came around during the day and the trail camera takes great day photos. He has great colors. Most of our neighbors shoot coyotes because they attack their livestock. I don't know whether I would. Rabbits, yes, because I enjoy eating rabbit.