THE PFHQ GAME CAM #1

Surprisingly, I have never set a game camera up here at Pure Florida HeadQuarters (PFHQ).

Until now that is.

Oh, I rigged GoPro's in various creative ways ... capturing everything from Gopher Tortoises deep in their burrows to the Florida Skunk Ape.

Still, it wasn't until this year that I mounted a motion sensing, see in the dark, superduper ACTUAL game cam here.

The results have been ridiculously fun for me and I can see this game cam getting moved constantly since PFHQ is a "target rich environment".

Here is a selection from just the first 2 locations.

The first location was on the house fence line facing an area where we toss veggie type food scraps and a little seed and corn.

It's a popular site for the local deer, a fact that was not unknown to me. We can sit on the porch quietly (without Bear and Coquina along) and watch them.

Buttons.

Nice profile, Buttons.

Don't look at the camera!

A little color variation.
Our woods looks awesome in these photos

Bucky passing through.

That's just a small selection of the1100 photos ... mostly of deer that resulted from the first setup of the game cam.

Yesterday, I moved it to the entrance of the "Hobbit Tree".

I placed it facing the entrance and added a big piece of fatty bacon in front of the tree ... oh, and a freshly dead mouse that I trapped.

Then I left it overnight.

This morning, a catbird stopped by.

Yesterday, a lot of empty shots occurred with no critter in sight.

This is the likely cause of that. The game cam senses movement in a wider view than this tree base. This squirrel was probably flitting about all over the area and triggering the sensor.

I had always wondered about the inhabitants of this awesome old gnarly tree.
I pictured something bigger, but the tree is more akin to an apartment building than a single family home.
This is a Wood Rat, Neotoma floridana.
Wood Rats are famous for the size of their nests.
No telling what it looks like deep under the Hobbit Tree.
He got photographed multiple times, but never once did he step out of the entrance.

This pair of coons is sniffing where the piece of fatback was placed.  I didn't get a photo of someone actually eating it, but it's gone at this point.

Surprisingly ... to me at least ... the dead mouse was still there this morning when I recovered the camera.

Thus ends this tail.
:)

FENCING AGAINST DEER (Part 1) ... EN GARDE UNGULATES!

You will not see any actual deer fence in this first deer fence project post, but you will see lots of posts in this post.

I actually ordered the 7-foot tall deer fence at the start of the year, but it is rolled up in its shipping wrapper ... waiting.

My Gorilla Cart (aka Faithful Mule)

(Not a paid endorsement, just bragging on an awesome product. This 1200 lb capacity Gorilla Cart has been a wonderful time and back saver.  It has functioned as a cargo mule and a rolling workshop throughout this project. )

 The reason for the wait is it takes a lot of posts, ... really big 10 foot posts to make a deer fence... and time ... and money.

I tend to buy components of major projects bit by bit ahead of project initiation to spread out costs and take advantage of serendipitous sales, etc.
The mysterious UPS arrival of seemingly random items on the doorstep creates confusion when I haven't yet shared my plans... (because they are always in flux)... 

As in, "Tell me why there's a 4 foot long, 100 watt solar panel in your closet".

That's another post (also involving posts) to come.

This summer, while gainfully UNemployed by the school district, I got busy on "Fortress Deeropa".

I started on the deer fence as soon the annual Summer furlough began. 

The first step was simply deciding just how much of this "garden area" needed protection.

Currently, a 16 foot by 16 foot square of high cobbled together fencing is the only deer proof area in the entire garden zone.

The existing protected zone is to the immediate left in this photo. The north end (blueberry zone) is off in the distance behind the aqua colored trough. Fortress Deeropa will extend from the post to the aqua trough roughly.

Most of it is unoccupied, but at the north end there is an old but productive blueberry patch.

The deer never bother the blueberries, so I decided to leave them out of the fencing project.

This cut my garden area roughly in half and left me with a square that was roughly 50 feet on each side.

Post setting is pretty basic skill stuff, but I'll share how I did mine.

Step 1: Create a nice straight line along each side with mason line drawn tight. This is your guide for lining up posts correctly.

Step 2:  Decide on your spacing and dig your post holes.

 I use a shovel to start and then switch to post hole diggers to finish up. Remember to make the hole wide enough to accept the concrete.

Step Three: Use a post level like my ancient, battered Craftsman level in the photo. This allows you to line up to the string AND have a post that is straight.

Step Four: Brace the now "perfectly" aligned and level post.

You need some scrap 2x4s with self-tapping deck screws in them, a few clamps, and your drill driver.

The photo above shows a typical post braced and ready for the quickset cement. 

On my braces, I partially drive a 3-inch Deckmate screw in at one end and then after it's clamped and level, I screw the 2x4 to the post. 

After the cement sets, I unscrew the 2x4 just enough to remove it from the post.

Now it's ready for the next post.

The picture above and below was a special case. The cedar colored post on the left was an existing yard fence gate post that I was tying into with my deer fence. 

I clamped both posts together, then leveled and aligned them correctly.

After that, I used three 8 inch Timberlock self-tapping screws to join these two posts permanently. These Timberlock screws are awesome and I now use them anywhere I once used lag screws. 

My trusty Ryobi driver drove them in with ease.

I am seriously addicted to the Ryobi One Plus 18 volt system. Ryobi got it right with this system.

The Timberlock screws come with a matching driver in the package.

I drove the Timberlocks at an angle since they were long enough to stick out the other side if I went in horizontally.

This is the southwest corner post. I am spacing my "regular" posts at 16 feet, but the corners will all have a brace post about 4 feet on either side.

The chair is not for sitting. It was heading for the trash due to a butt pinching crack in the seat, but I repurposed it into a tool bench to keep my tools off the ground.

So there you have it.
Post number 1 on the deer fence project was ... mostly about posts.
After I have made progress with actual fencing, post number 2 will magically appear.

The Buck Stops Here...As Does The Does :) ...and the fawns and sometimes ... ALIENS.

Count em.

With the addition of the cattle panel dog containment system,(CPDCS) the deer have realized that our ten acres are a safer place to hang.

They always used the wooded portions of PFHQ, but were very cautious about approaching the house "yard" due to 2 giant dogs.

The CPDCS has changed their behavior as has the over the fence tossing of organic veggie and fruit leftovers by us.

Toss in a little deer corn and they are regular visitors to the house...although not when the dogs are actually using the CPDCS.

The does are the most frequent diners at the watermelon rind corn cafe, but we did have that velvety buckster above show up recently ... which had me scrambling for my camera, which was inside ... in the air conditioning.

Slipping out into the thick humid air would do two things:

1) Probably spook the deer.

2) Instantly fog the lens.     

So these shots were, of necessity, taken through the glass of our French doors.

The adults feel comfortable enough to bring their fawns up to the cafe area instead of keeping them deep in our woods.

 If a fawn doesn't make you go warm and fuzzy inside, seek help.

We share this ground, but we are not friends.

That's what the stomp-snort above is saying.

I'm fine with that.

It's best if we don't get too chummy.

Deer season will start soon and their lives will be more complicated when they roam.

Here they are protected, even if we aren't on speaking terms. 

(I don't hunt anymore, but I support legal hunting.)

It does tickle me to think about people spending thousands of dollars per year to join a hunt club when I could take a deer easily from the upstairs bedroom window with no screen.

Not going to, mind you, but it does make me smile.

Oh and one more thing ...

Occasionally, ALIENS appear at the cafe.

YARD DEER PHOTO SNIPING

Had you come up to my porch last Saturday, you may have walked right past the mysterious lump lying near the porch corner.

It was me of course.

Me ... trying to photograph the yard deer.

It was the right time of the day for a deer visit, the dogs were quietly tuckered out inside, and I had spread a little apple flavored deer corn out in the usual spot. 

Taking a chance that they would show up before I got too bored, I got into position.

First I lay down and checked the view under the porch rail.

Okay, at this level the Beauty Berry bush was going to be a problem, so I got back up and pruned it a wee bit shorter.

After that, I snatched a yoga mat for comfort and a blanket for lumpifying my human form.

And then, it was hurry up and wait ... but not for long.

For about 15 minutes, I watched a squirrel who was tempted by the corn, but a little suspicious of the new porch lump.

His beautiful tail was telegraphing all kinds of squirrelly doubts, but eventually he gave in to the corn.

I heard the young buck before I saw him.

The view from beneath the bottom porch rail.

My angle was a little off, so I slowly oozed a little to the left for a better view.

This is how I like deer heads... still on the deer.

Every so often, he stopped eating and did a situational awareness check. 

When the dogs woke up and looked out the window, he stamped his feet, snorted, and slowly vanished back into the woods.

And that was fine. I had what I wanted for this day.

The pictures below were taken through a window.

I'm including them because of the dark deer.

I love their color.

Here's my next project ...

My new Go Pro Hero 5 Black camera can be controlled remotely from my Pixel phone. 

Picture it attached to the fence, at deer level,  and me sitting in the house, watching through a window.

Oh yeah...

COW BUCK

My boss and I travel the same quiet, traffic free country road out to Cedar Key each day. The rural scenery offers lots of wildlife sightings, from bald eagles to alligator crossings.

A while back she asked me if I had seen the "Cow Deer" in the pastures of a large ranch that we pass each day.

At that time I had not, but I was usually ignoring the cows and scanning the wetland and trees for birds as I cruised past.

She had been watching a very young deer grow up as she commuted past over this year. What was different about this deer was the fact that it seemed to choose to hang with the herd of cows and horses in the open pastures of the ranch.

So, of course I started looking. 

Sure enough, on a regular basis, the yearling deer was spotted grazing, always in the security of the "herd".

The horses and cows seemed to accept the "Cow 

Deer" as one of their own ... no questions asked.

About two weeks ago, she asked if I had noticed the Cow Deer was actually a "Cow Buck" .

I had not. So I began looking more carefully and as luck would have it, did not see him for a week or so, but then yesterday ...

There he was, grazing among the cracker cows and the graceful (aren't they all?) horse.

Definitely a "Cow Buck".
I have no problem with deer hunting, but let's hope this youngster chooses to hang out with the cows and horses as long as possible ... until the irresistible pull of a sweet doe draws him into the woods ... or who knows, maybe there's room for a "Cow Doe" in that pasture.
That could open up all sorts of cowungulatory possibilities.

Buck UP!

Last year's spotted fawn became this year's spike buck, and now, as summer slides along ...

... he's forking off in my garden.

Not shown in this picture, a doe and a new spotted fawn that was playing like a frisky lab puppy while the adults browsed.
(I took these photos without leaving the back porch.)