The heron’s return

Hi to all, for the last few days, we have been seeing a few bird species back from the south.  For some, it’s a bit too early but for others, they are right on time.  Yesterday, I saw a few dozens of  American Robin, mallard ducks and an  osprey gliding over a field.  I also have seen a few blue heron.  I took this picture two years ago on an old abandoned beaver pond.  We have a few small colonies on our land and they go along with photography.  They are spectacular birds in their courtship display.  If you have the chance to lie in ambush near a colony in the next two weeks, you will observed some striking behaviors.  Have a good day. Louis

Other loons…

Many people think that the Common loon, the one with the pleasing melody, is the sole representative of the loon family in Canada.  In reality, four other species of loons exist in Canada and the one on this picture is a Red-throated loon.  Unlike the Common loon which lives mainly on fresh water lakes,  the Red-throated loon lives at sea and feeds on coastal fish but nest on small lakes along the shore but always close to the sea.  Like the Common loon, the couple are united for life.  We had the chance to watch this couple from the nesting to the offspring’s birth.  This picture taken by my spouse was published many times of which in the Canadian Geographic and Canadian Wildlife magazines.  I will have more pictures of this majestic bird. Have a good day. Louis.

Diversity

Hi to all, here is the answer to yesterday’s riddle or rather a suggestion since in this domain, there are no precise answers.  If I could hunt the majority of the territory exposed on the aerial photo, I would make sure to have my three tree-stands installed early in the fall.  The A-appat(bait)-B system should be enough to harvest or at least to see all the deers that will come to the bait during daylight.  Obviously, if you cheat the wind, even an easy to control approach as seen on this picture will turn the deers nocturnal in a very short time.  If the top of the photo is south, you will hunt in stand A on those south windy days and in stand B on the north windy days.  I added stand C because it is a good practice to frequently change tree-stands so that the area, especially on a baited site, does not become loaded with your scent.  However, I did not setup C blindly, since there is a transition zone and it is the first crest, two elements that mature whitetails are fond of. Have a good day. Louis

Can you see the frog in the gannet’s eye?

Turnips, too many turnips

Here are two examples of brassica produced by the compaby Biologic.  For 3 years, we used this company’s blend and every year, I was frustated to see so many turnips (bulb) of two kinds of brassica.  They were growing but the turnips were not beneficial to the deers.  The major problem for the deers who wanted to feed on the brassica in December after the soil was frozen was that they were unable to pull up the vegetables from the soil and everything would rot without ever being used.  Five years ago, when the Whitail Institute company announced his own blend of brassica without bulb, like others, I was skeptical about the success of this selection.  If we consider that we now have an assortment of fruits without seeds on the market, why couldn’t they do it!  Well, they have done it and ever since their blend introduction five years ago, the Whitetail Institute brassica grows 90% soilless all in stems and foliage.  Rarely will you find a bulb and if it is the case, it will be the size of a tangerine.

How about a riddle to finish.  Here is your fall hunting territory.  You have three tree-stands at your disposition.  Where would you investigate first to setup your tree-stands?  The answer tomorrow. Louis

Come aboard…

I’m at the Sportsmen Show (Salon Expert Chasse – Pêche et Camping) held in Quebec city from the 22nd to the 25th of March at the Centre de Foires d’ExpoCité.  One of the exhibitor, the TJD company, is offering a new kind of tree-stand.  Inspired from the elevator principle, this tool could, to my personal belief, meet the expectations of many hunters.  For those hunters who are uncomfortable to climb in trees or for those with physical limitations, this product could be an interesting alternative.  From the informations that I got, this can be installed in lest than fifteen minutes and you are ready to hunt in your stand.  I will be back on Monday.  Louis

Salty bait

Here is a short video sequence that I took on a bear baited site a couple of years ago.  From the cameras that we had installed on this site, we had four different bears hitting this bait on a regular basis.  My surprise was to see the behavior and the grimaces of this bear.  It’as if the bait that we had placed in the barrel  was too salty.  I did not have the nerves to taste the bait after seeing this sequence.  I should maybe have a waterhole near my baits for those occasions.  Have a good day. Pierre

It doesn’t score high

The pictures taken from game cameras are misleading on some occasions.  This buck is certainly a nice buck, he is mature, has a certain mass, long points but he is only an 8 pointer.  Furthermore, when this picture was taken and that we had the opportunity to harvest him, 12 months passed by.  I had the chance to see him while scouting the year after and I thought that he was a bit bigger.  The morning after, a client of mine saw and took this deer… 145 BC.  From this living buck’s picture, the place were I saw him and the place where he was shot, there’s wasn’t more than 200 meters.  This goes to show that certain bucks are not great travelers as we might expect.  Good day. Louis