The Great Tatonka

So this is a continuation of the Deer Camp blog. Not only on are there the usual suspects running around in the brush when we go to South Texas, but also there are a few animals you would not expect to see. One of my favorite animals to see and the ones that are always pretty hard to find are the two buffalo that inhabit the ranch. Not very many people expect to be in a deer stand and then see two buffalo walk right past.

The two buffalo at the ranch are very easy to tell the difference between. All you have to do it look at their horns. The older cow has a crazy horn and thus has been given the name "Crazy Horn." However Jim (Catherine's dad) sometimes calls her "Grandma-ma" Anyway, these two are always together and sometimes cause a little trouble like knocking off the ladder to a deer stand. The buffalo are very gentle and will let you dive right up to them, or if you are putting out corn from a truck they will run behind the truck and eat what they can.

Aside from the buffalo, the neighboring ranch has many more exotic species. Giraffe, antelope, and wildebeest all run wild on the other ranch. I do have some pictures of these but I will have to do some digging to find them. Until I find those here are just a few pictures that I took of the buffalo the last time I was there.

"Crazy Horn"

On another note, while at the Boling Fair Fund we had many people come up to us and tell us how much they admire the blog. Catherine and I really felt like celebs because we had no clue that so many people followed our blog. So thank you to all of our readers out there!

Deer Camp

Last weekend Catherine's Dad, Grandfather, and I went to South Texas to Deer Camp. We are very fortunate to have a close family friend that has a high fenced ranch that is LOADED with deer and a lot of other animals. We love going to the ranch and always take any opportunity we have to go. This time I took my camera and got some cool pictures of what we saw. Some of the pictures are not in focus the best, but I was shooting through glass in the deer stand. I tried to open the window once and take a picture of a deer, but they heard my camera and spooked.

There is a picture that I was not able to get that was really cool. At one time there were 13 does around my stand and one 8 point buck but I could not get the picture without spooking the deer. Go figure. Anyway, here are some of the pictures that I was able to get.




The Yucca were just starting to bloom while we were there.



This little bird was just outside the deer blind and as soon as I took the picture, the noise the camera made scared him off. Oh well we weren't there for bird watching anyway.



I wanted to try to get a picture of the Javalinas and the does together. But when I turned around to take the picture, the deer saw me and as you can see by the doe with her tail straight up, they weren't around for long.



Here is a close up of the Javalina.



Swine everywhere! This was a big boar that had a gimp leg and was very glad of the corn that we scattered on the ground, even if it wasn't for him. How would you like to be on foot and stumble upon this scary guy!

This is where all the action is supposed to happen. A corn and protein feeder in front of my deer blind.

Another Yucca.

This doe was one of the ones we saw each day. She is a real silver colored doe and made it very clear that she was the one in charge. Any opportunity she had to run off another doe eating her corn she took.

Now I am not saying that I am a professional deer photographer, but look at this! Ears up and posed perfectly! Am I good, or am I good?!