day 5 @ the Taj

Wow ... this week is going by so fast ... although the days seem to be dragging on.  How can that be?

Still no venison on the table for me.  I have been diligently trying to see something besides a partridge, bluejay, chickadee or red squirrel out at the TajMelHal; but no deer with my bullets name on it has been in my sights, as of today.  Maybe tomorrow will be the turning point? 

I did have a  doe and 2 fawns come in the other day ~ and a single fawn ... so I did see some deer; just not the big ol' buck I'm holding out for.  Slim actually went out and got a hunting license and is hunting tomorrow with the guys ~ something he hasn't done in 9 years.  I'm starting to develop a complex ... I'm thinking he's losing faith in his wife to put some meat on the table ... passing up on the does and fawns and all the partridge I've been seeing ... and pulling up and missing the spike on opening morning.  Seriously, I'm not shooting them ~ there's a bigger and better one out there for me to harvest.  Patience ... just a little more patience.

I did see a small weasel yesterday, chasing after the red squirrels.  I tried to take it's picture; but my cameras battery was flashing LOW and it didn't take. Of course, it stood up on a stump about 10 feet away from me posing just as cute as could be.  Also, when the camera was down a partridge was sitting there just as nice as could be too.  So... today I was ready with the camera, charging up batteries and carrying extras .. the partridge came in; but not as close as yesterday.

I saw four of them today ...

 

I also saw another weasel today ... in it's full winter white coloring.  This one was a full grown adult ~ almost twice the size of the one I saw yesterday.  Talk about a hard little animal to capture a picture of.  It darts around so fast in and out of the brush piles ... trying to capture the red squirrels or birds; which they prey on.

 ~ do you see one weasel or two? ~

 In the summer months the weasel is brown in color but turns white in winter, except for the tip of it's black tail.  They are also called ermine.  Usually, by this time of the year we have snow on the ground and they blend right in and can be really hard to see.

I wish I had a bigger zoom on the camera ~

 

The squirrels are going bonkers ~

and with good reason!

That was the first time I ever saw a weasel actually climb a tree that big.  I've seen them in smaller balsam and spruce trees ~ using the branches to pull itself up; but never a tree the size of this one.  It's a poplar tree, and doesn't have branches sticking out of it the first 20 feet up ~ the branches that you see are on the dead spruce tree directly behind it.  

I hope you have a wonder Thanksgiving.  I'll be out hunting ~ our family is having our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday - because it'll just work out better that day with the kids and other obligations that they have this year.  

Think of me as you're gnawing down on that turkey and filling your faces with stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy.  Send me your leftovers :) or at least a pie!

Until next time ...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel