Warm and sunny, finally

It is warm and sunny today. The high temperature pushes near 60, so sitting around the house is out of the question.

With the snow rapidly melting, it is becoming easier to walk around. I took the opportunity to walk down to the edge of my property by the Kickapoo River. I wanted to get the boundaries clearly marked and located. The snow was a little deeper in some spots than I liked, but I managed to get to both edges on the north side of the property. I had also wanted to explore the inside part of the bend where I intend to plant crops, but decided to look over other parts of the property instead.

I headed up toward the ridge that towers over the place. It is not really that much higher than the rest of the land, but the climb is steep. I reached the area where I had been lucky with the deer in season, and relocated some of my favorite spots (which looked different with half the snow gone). I located a few well used game trails and worked my way toward the ridge. Parts were tricky to navigate, since the ground itself was still frozen in several spots, but I made it up to the top (or at least to the point where there was only the rock face above me).

Exhausted, I sat down to cool off. Finally, I decided to look around more carefully. This place was a treasure. I found several small caves and overhangs, obviously used as dens by some critters. Then I located several piles of droppings and identified what had been there. It was a coyote den. It had been used often, but not too recently. I made careful notes to be ready for later activities with the coyotes.

After that, I worked my way down the steeper back side of the ridge to the parts of the land I was more familiar with. Finally, I walked past the “deer condo” and back to the house.
While out and about I heard at least one turkey several times near the river. I later heard several Canadian geese in that same area.
It had been a good morning. But as warm as it was, I could not resist a chance to try my luck at the pond. This warm weather had melted about 60% of the ice cover. Probably half of what remains was slushy and unsafe to even try walking on. I grabbed my spinning gear and some wax worms (left over from my ice fishing adventures) and cast out.

It may be due to the pond turning over from the ice melt or perhaps another reason, but I had almost no luck. I worked my way around the entire pond with not so much as a strike. Finally, I went out on the dock and cast toward the newly open area by the float (that had never been pulled out for the winter). I was rewarded by a nearly instantaneous strike and brought in a nice bluegill. The next cast (which bounced off the float) yielded an even bigger bluegill. However, that was it. Just when I thought I had figured out the pattern, it changed.

Nevertheless, it has been a pretty good day. I caught a couple fish, and explored a large part of my property. Once all the snow is gone, I can explore the parts I have missed so far. Then I can try figuring out where to put the food plots and crops.

Finally, I put the raccoon hide in the freezer after giving it a good coasting of preservative. I can work on the actual mounting when the weather is warmer, and going to stay that way. Anyhow, there are several other critters to get ready, and I can order the needed taxidermy supplies in one big order.