And More Hunting, With a Twist

Day four of firearm deer season, I climbed into a different tree.  It was still fairly windy, and I didn't care to sit on the ground if I really didn't have to (if I thought I could make 3 hours in the wind without dying) because I do prefer an aerial view of the woods while hunting.  Plus, the two days previous DH had sat in a tree stand near the SE corner of the woods--my tree stand is in the south 1/3, but west end, near the field--and he had seen an owl every time he was in the SE stand.  I wanted to see that owl if I wasn't going to see any deer, darn it!

So I took the camera, bundled up, and went to the SE stand (which, by the way, is pretty much blocked from the west wind by all the trees between it and the field) to owl--er, deer--hunt.  DH graciously moved to the platform in a maple tree (the "maple stand") in the NE 1/3 of the woods.

That morning, I didn't get to see any deer and heard maybe 1-2 shots in the neighborhood; we're all wondering where the heck the deer have gone.  Wild speculations abound: the deer were abducted by aliens.  Animal rights activists sprayed our property with Deer-B-Gone.  The deer all ate too many GMO soybeans (this year was lots of soybeans in the neighborhood since the spring was too wet to get much corn in) and died.  The coon hunters we heard in the woods late in bow season were actually out rounding up deer with dogs and hauling them away in livestock trailers. . .

This lack of deer is really getting frustrating.  I divert my frustration with watching for other interesting things in the woods, like this owl DH has been seeing.

Sure enough, about an hour an a half into my hunt, I look over my shoulder and nearly jump right out of the tree in surprise.  About 10 yards away, staring at me, is a barred owl.  I didn't even hear it fly in and land in the tree that is so close.  Those things really do fly with no sound!

Unfortunately, I was too noisy getting the camera up to my face and the owl flew away before I could get a picture.  But it was so cool!  Totally worth not seeing any deer that morning.

I returned to the same spot that evening, determined to be much more suave with my photography skills.  Waiting, waiting, and the owl spotting scene--where I'm startled to make eye contact and nearly fall out of the tree--replays itself.

You have to admit, if you were sitting in woods that were getting dark with the setting sun and you saw this over your shoulder you'd instinctively freak out a little too.  Kind of like something out of a horror movie, this face in the gloom.

 As you can see, I was able to get a cool picture without scaring the owl this time.  I took a couple while it was in that spot, then it flew to the same tree it had been in that morning and I took some more. 

Still no deer this night, but I did get to see the owl try to catch a gray squirrel.  Unfortunately for the owl the squirrel saw it coming just in time to dodge and get knocked off it's tree by the owl.  That gave the squirrel the chance to run into a hollow tree nearby, where it cussed that owl out good, and let all the other squirrels know there was danger.  Lucky squirrel, unlucky owl, and me thinking it was so cool to see the owl in action.

About an hour later that evening, when it was nearly dark enough for me to come down from my tree, I saw the owl zip by below, only a foot or two off the ground.  It was a lighter black streak in the dark, flying silently and quickly as it took advantage of the clear path our 'road' through the woods offered.