Buying several Kubota tractors, building a Camp, and maintaining 69 acres of recreational/hunting property.

[BX25D Rookie]

Sometimes it is difficult for deciding where to place a trail camera in the woods.
I believe over time, perhaps years, the deployed cameras will be moved around to different locations.
This year, it was just educated guessing as it is a brand new camera setup.

I don't know what attracts does to this location, but we get frequent pictures of them here.
Feeding, sleeping, regurgitating and rechewing of food. Right in front of this camera.

IMG_1846686391 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Do you see that little scrub tree in the right foreground in the above photo? Perhaps three feet tall?

One recent windy day, that camera sent me a barrage of pictures.
The pictures were showing the little scrub tree being blown around by the wind.
The wind blown scrub tree triggered the camera motion sensor.
I almost jumped into my Jeep, drove the 20 miles, walked into the woods, and cut down the little scrub tree. But something came up, and all I did was turn down the motion sensitivity setting on that particular camera using my trail camera smart phone app from home.

Sometime later, I got a barrage of pictures from that same camera, but this time a small racked buck was using the same small scrub tree as a licking branch.
Whitetail deer rub their saliva and facial scent glands on small tree branches.
It's a form of communication for whitetail deer. The "who is in the neighborhood" communication.
I think I will leave that small scrub tree alone, and just accept a few wind generated false pictures.

IMG_1889521281 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_1889817848 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[BX25D Rookie]

Lots of rain & wind recently, so not many incoming deer pictures.
This morning it was somewhat sunny, cooler and much less wind.
Several pictures arrived here at home, and finally, it seems the rut has started.
Bucks are on their feet during daylight hours, and cruising around for does willing to dance.
We haven't seen any Boone & Crockett bucks yet, but plenty of freezer type material.
The picture below with the spike buck chasing the doe, that is directly in front of the heated/insulated mobile shooting shack at just about 45 yards out. Regular gun season starts November 15th.
Shooting shack build/photos in previous pages in this thread.

IMG_1922661060 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_1922661061 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_1922709938 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[BX25D Rookie]

Several more pictures from later this afternoon.
This one is a VERY nice example of upstate NY/small piece of woods whitetail deer.
I hope I get another chance to see this one through a scope equipped with crosshairs!

Has anyone noticed the location here? Look up the page a bit for the nighttime buck pictures.
It's that same silly little scrub tree used as a licking branch.
The bigger buck here in this post is looking for the smaller buck that was there earlier, and wants to run him off, and breed the remaining does now starting into the rut.

It's wonderful when a plan comes together, and with some luck spilled on top, that makes the treat even sweeter!

IMG_1922986349 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_1922986350 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[BX25D Rookie]

The first visible/sticking snowfall at the recreational property this season.
Here at the house, green grass. Rec. property is similar elevation and around 20 miles away.
The white background really improves deer spotting!

IMG_1927677606 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[biketopia]

Some places much further west of us got 1-3" earlier today. I loved snow until about 3 years ago, when we had our son, and daycare being open is dependent on the weather . Now, I like a good conversational snow, covers the grass, makes for a great backdrop, and then is gone in a day.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

^^^^ I had to look up your location. Warrenton, VA
May into June this year, I did a 2500+ mile trip on my Harley Davidson Road King. Solo trip, just me.
From upstate NY south on I 81, east on I 64 to the middle of VA, then an overnight in a hotel.
Next day, east again on I 64 over near Richmond, southeast on VA 288 and then intersected with I 95.
Southbound traffic on I 95 averaged 85 to 90 mph. Middle of the week, not the weekend.
Not that I minded though.

By evening of the second day, I reached my destination, Charleston, SC.
I did some local stuff with my brother in Charleston, and we also did a one day trip down/back to North Florida, ~ 450 miles round trip. Several days later, back to upstate NY, in reverse order on the same roads.
I stayed both nights in central VA in/at Zion Crossroads. Brand spanking new Hilton Hotel.
Not to far from Warrenton, 60+ miles or so?
Pretty country there!

For the "distance covering" days, I averaged slightly more than 500 miles per day.

Straight line distance as the crow flies distance from New York City to Los Angeles, California?
About 2475 miles.
You don't realize zig zagging up and down the eastern seaboard that you can really rack up the miles.

So I have now completed a "bucket list" item, upstate NY to Florida round trip on a motorcycle.
For what it's worth, I am age 69.

PXL_20250605_193659344 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[biketopia]

^^^^ I had to look up your location. Warrenton, VA
May into June this year, I did a 2500+ mile trip on my Harley Davidson Road King. Solo trip, just me.
From upstate NY south on I 81, east on I 64 to the middle of VA, then an overnight in a hotel.
Next day, east again on I 64 over near Richmond, southeast on VA 288 and then intersected with I 95.
Southbound traffic on I 95 averaged 85 to 90 mph. Middle of the week, not the weekend.
Not that I minded though.

By evening of the second day, I reached my destination, Charleston, SC.
I did some local stuff with my brother in Charleston, and we also did a one day trip down/back to North Florida, ~ 450 miles round trip. Several days later, back to upstate NY, in reverse order on the same roads.
I stayed both nights in central VA in/at Zion Crossroads. Brand spanking new Hilton Hotel.
Not to far from Warrenton, 60+ miles or so?
Pretty country there!

For the "distance covering" days, I averaged slightly more than 500 miles per day.

Straight line distance as the crow flies distance from New York City to Los Angeles, California?
About 2475 miles.
You don't realize zig zagging up and down the eastern seaboard that you can really rack up the miles.

So I have now completed a "bucket list" item, upstate NY to Florida round trip on a motorcycle.
For what it's worth, I am age 69.

PXL_20250605_193659344 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

That's a heck of a trip!! I know exactly where you were in Zion Crossroads. We'll occasionally go down that way to get on 64 when we head to her parents' place in Powhatan. We avoid 95 like the plague between us and Richmond if we can help it. I also much prefer the "back roads" as there's more to look at and it's just prettier scenery.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

Yeah, The Interstate highways are a double edged sword. Especially I 95 and I 81 near Harrisburg, PA.
If I had taken the back roads between upstate NY and Charleston SC, I figured about four to five days in each direction. I only had about nine days total available for the trip blocked out on my calendar.
So I did what I did for maximizing time off the Harley and sitting around relaxing with my brother.
It also is kind of fun flying down the Interstate at speed. I tuck an Apple iPod in my leather motorcycle coat inside pocket, and listen to 32GB of stored music. It's amazing how fast the time goes by.

You actually have to set reminders to stop for fuel and a bottle of water.
The further south you go, the easier it becomes for getting dehydrated.
Even keeping up with I 95 traffic, the six gallon fuel tank lasts for many miles.
It becomes mandatory at every fuel stop, fill the bike, chug a liter of cold water, take a leak, walk around some. 25 to 30 minutes off the bike, and climb back on and go for another 200 to 250 miles.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

And you are correct. The trip planning, was to get on I 95 south of Richmond.
Doing the trip in both directions as I did it, completely avoided the metro mess starting at Wilmington,
Baltimore, DC & suburbs, and down to Richmond.

 

[biketopia]

And you are correct. The trip planning, was to get on I 95 south of Richmond.
Doing the trip in both directions as I did it, completely avoided the metro mess starting at Wilmington,
Baltimore, DC & suburbs, and down to Richmond.

Very smart. I had to run up 95 north of the Baltimore area last week for work; it was a miserable drive.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

Deer season, opening day for rifle season kicked off with a "BANG" on Saturday, November 15th.
My adult son, and another hunter, a great friend, hunted with me on the hunting/recreational property.
My son (age 43) successfully harvested his first deer ever, a nice big doe by 07:15AM.

My friend harvested a four point buck and a nice big doe, both by 11:00AM.
Tagged out by 2PM on opening day!

The buck required blood tracking on dead forest floor wet leaves (the snow melted) and it was a great learning opportunity for my son. The buck ran around a quarter mile before expiring, and it took several hours before it was located. It was a very tough tracking situation, one of the worst/most difficult that I have ever seen. Very minimal blood spots on wet leaves. When field dressing the buck, only one lung was hit, and both the entrance and exit bullet holes were about the size of a # 2 yellow pencil.

Here in New York State, they are "pushing" lead free deer hunting ammunition, and some locations require it. So far that lead free ammo thing is only a "request" when hunting on privately owned land.
I was not impressed at all with the lead free projectile performance my friend used in his 30-06 rifle.
He "bought into" the lead free ammo "Kool Aid" rhetoric, and now understands why I laughed at him when he told me his story about the State paying for his $85 box of lead free rifle ammo, 20 rounds in the box.
The State actually paid for the box of lead free ammo, via a rebate coupon.

I spent a wonderful weekend with my son!
My deer hunting duration for opening day weekend was only 1.5 hours.
The remainder of the time was spent doing multiple deer dragging with the little Honda ATV, tracking the buck, and gutting/loading deer carcasses into vehicles. Several deer went to the commercial processor.

Sunday weather was vile, and my son & I stayed inside the cabin near the big wood stove.
I have until January 1st for harvesting a deer of my own.
I do have photos of the weekend events, but in keeping with Forum Rules regarding hunting posts, and blood covered photos, and also complying with the requests and wishes of the Forum Owners and Moderators, I will not post them here. PM for pictures! Afterall, this is the Kubota Forum!