After my first-ever day of substitute teaching, I got a few things done around home, had a nice dinner with my wife and then headed for the Oshaukuta Hilton to see what would transpire in front of me this evening.
Here are the chronological notes from this evenings trip to the Hilton.
9/19/2011 – Bob T. arrived at 5:24. There were no mice in the traps and it didn’t appear that any of the poison had been attacked by the live-in rodents here. What’s with that anyway? There was no wildlife in the fields yet. It was a bluebird day with not a cloud in the sky and a temperature in the mid 60s or so. The sun was shining brightly on the lush, green alfalfa stretched out in front of me and on the golden-yellow bean field to the north. I sit and wonder when the two sandhill cranes might arrive. Today was my first-ever day of substitute teaching in Poynette after 39 consecutive years of employment there. It had been a great day there but I already missed my retirement freedom. It’s OK for a day or so here and there for now and the $110 will go a long ways toward easing the burden of paying for our health insurance. Oh yah, today I turned in the agreement, signed to return as the Head Softball Coach at Poynette High School, a position I held for 32 years.
5:40 PM – An adult doe appears in the northeast corner of the alfalfa field and is about 20 yards out in the field. She’s feeding very quickly without much care or looking around.
5:45 PM She jogs back into the fenceline/treeline between Crawford’s and ours.
I continue to carve on the right hand of the motorcycle rider I’ve been working on.
6:00 PM. She is back in the alfalfa and keeps looking to the north into Crawford’s. Is there another whitetail there?
6:07 – she jogs back behind the treeline a second time.
6:08 – a large flock of Canadian geese fly over but pretty high. They are loud but there are no sandhill cranes in the field to call them in and they head south over Fountain’s place then turn east. I can hear a sandhill squawking to the southwest though.
I go back to carving on that right hand.
6:17 – I look up and two fawns of the year, a buck fawn and a doe fawn and an adult doe come out near the rock pile on the south edge of the alfalfa. They suddenly perk up and stare to the east and get very nervous. Suddenly she bolts to the marsh westward and the two fawns follow suit. Not long after a golf cart appears in the alfalfa field just inside the treeline to the east of the Hilton. It’s Randy Crawford, his wife and what appears to be a granddaughter out for a late afternoon ride. That’s something they would not appreciate happening on their side of the fence line.
I go back to carving some more and break the thumb off that right hand I’ve been so diligently working on. Oh well, it will glue back on and besides, I figured it would snap off anyway. It needs reinforcing with some wire and super glue.
6:26 PM – The field is empty still
6:27 – I look up and two sandhill cranes are flying low over the field right at me. They continue right over top of the Hilton but do not circle back into the field. Darn!
6:30 PM – A doe appears in alfalfa at far northeast end of field. She’s back out there eating. The twins, buck and doe reappear back in the field on the south side of the swale hole in front of the Hilton. They are feeding eastward toward the big maple tree.
6:34 – The doe at the far end humps up and pees. However, she does not lift her tail and I wonder if that deer is really a young buck. At 50 power I discover that sure enough it is a young buck with no antlers. There are still just three deer in the field right now.
6:36 A buck with no left antler appears in the alfalfa just to the east of Brian Visger’s stand. He has four small points on that right antler and the other one can be seen to be broken off. Now two more fawns appear and an adult doe all in the same area as the broken antlered buck. I’ll call him Singlehorn.
6:42 – I’ve put my carving down and now two doe appear at far east end of the alfalfa in the northeast corner.
6:44 PM – An adult doe appears directly below me to the right of the swale hole and just out of the marsh.
6:45 PM – A fawn enters next to her and it’s a doe fawn. They are between those strange plants that grow on the north edge of the swale hole and the Hilton. Just out in the alfalfa.
6:50 PM – Four fawns are now out in the middle of the alfalfa to the east of the big maple and in front of Brian’s trail camera. They begin to play tag and scoot all around the field. Back and forth, round and round and they race around the swale hole. They are really fast. Now into the sand bank area and back out by the rock pile on the dead run they chase each other.
6:52 – Now two fawns bust into the wheat stubble right below me, they startle the doe and fawn and all four bust it into the marsh under the big oak and hickory tree. Singlehorn is still in field way east and out from the sand bank.
7:05 two fawns and a big deer bust out into the field by the sand bank. The large deer is an 8-pointer with a 12 inch spread. It’s high but not wide. Not a shootable buck for anyone who wants to hunt at Oshaukuta with me. He works his way out into the field and shortly the two bucks are next to each other. They just feed and the small ones gets a sniff or two in on the bigger one.
7:10 – Now there are about 15-16 deer in the alfalfa from east to west. The ones on the west end keep peering to the west and suddenly a scrubby buck appears. He still has some velvet on both small antlers. He is smooth and sleek but his rack is a messy looking things. He also needs to be allowed to live another year or two. He works his way to the south of the swale hole and then later out into the alfalfa with some other does and those fawns. The larger buck at the other end and Singlehorn have moved right in front of my archery tree stand. They remain there until just before dark. There are still 15-17 deer out there. It is promising but is still less than half of what I once watched out there before the killers arrived.
at 7:44 I was still there and the deer had moved off to the south. I quietly closed up the Hilton and headed home.
I need a high powered and good camera to get some good shots. I’ll check the trail cameras tomorrow but I didn’t notice any flashes going off and those deer were right in front of Brian’s and one of mine.
A great night where I would have loved to have had Graham there with me.
Oshaukuta Outdoors 