Whitetail Deer Antler Shed, Lovila Iowa

I was walking though a field the other day and found this little, chewed up beauty.  It was partially buried in the dirt and a lot of it has been chewed up by rodents.  Although this little antler is in rough shape I'm still happy to have found the thing.  Every day is a treasure hunt, friends.

The dog almost caught a deer.

Trevor, Mudd, and I went for a walk through the fields yesterday. We walked around the muck and snow, we looked at old/lightning struck trees, and followed turkey tracks.

Suddenly, there was a crashing sound in the timber and a male whitetail deer (antlers and all) came crashing out from the trees. The deer was scared but the dog wasn't. Mudd perked up his ears, growled, and took off full bore after the gigantic beast.

"Mudd! Stop!" I yelled this over and over but the deer was out of sight.

I heard some more crashing and the deer came running from the other side of the field. Mudd was still behind him, running as fast as he could. Eventually, I was able to get to a high point and see my little pooch. He was panting and excited. But, really, what would he have done if the deer decided to stop? I dunno. A kick. A deer kick. All I know is my dog wanted to eat this deer.

Really, this was all my fault. I take him to see deer all the time. Watch the video. I'm just glad the dog is ok.

the iowa whitetail.

The young bucks of Lake Miami.

Don't you just love fall? I certainly do. The best part for me?... rutting season. Rutting season is that magical time of the year when the whitetail deer decide its time to get it on. When the deer decide to make some babies they make their presence known to the general population of Iowa. The deer are, literally, everywhere. They're on the side of the road, in front of my car, littering empty corn fields, in my backyard, they're even by the damn bowling alley...throw a stone, you could hit an Iowa Whitetail. Just try not to hit them with your car.

It was going to happen...eventually. The whole "hitting a deer" thing. The sensations weren't great. A quick peripheral view of fur followed by a loud thump, followed by no airbags, followed by confusion, and man was it dark outside. Cold to boot.

That morning, a small doe caused 5,000 bucks worth of damage in a split second. I could post a picture of the damage but I'd rather post a picture of whitetail photographed from the passenger's seat of the Ford a week or two before the accident. It was a peaceful moment.

Damn, herbivores.

Winter wasn't that long ago.

Lake Red Rock. Near Knoxville, Iowa.

routine and twins.

one twin.

The twins looking wary together.
the other twin.

I've started looking harder at stuff. A running theme throughout EVERYTHING seems to be routine. Everything is pretty predictable once you start taking mental notes about: who, what, where, when, why? Everyday I drive home, thats part of my routine. I always see two little deer about 4 miles from my exit. The twins (as I've come to call them) are in the same basic area everyday. Our routines are in sync and I know where to look for em' and I know the basic:

who : twin whitetail

what : chomping on grass

where : off the four lane on the South side

when : 5:30pm

why : they are hungry and like the grass by the side of the road.

Now, I can take advantage of their predictability. I've been wanting a nice deer photo but its hard to get one unless you know their schedules. Deer tend to eat, sleep, and do things at certain times...and all the photos I've gotten so far have been of white, fluffy, butts tearing ass away from me.

Not the twins though. They are not afraid of cars because they are always near them. I've seen other people stop and look at them. So...I took some pictures of my buddies. It was 5:30 on the dot and they were doing exactly what they've been doing since I started noticing them. Scratching and eating. Deer do that stuff pretty good.

a different kind of bird feeder.

To all of you who think I'm crazy for dragging that dead deer into my car and onto my property...i have a new birdfeeder for my nerd hobby. This is a female Downy Woodpecker, she is pecking at the bones of my spike deer (a.k.a dirty birdy feeder). Every morning I listen to her "tappa-tappa-tappa. tap tap tap" at the bones, it makes a hollow sound. She's very quick and zips around the bones like its her job. And I guess it is her job seeing as she's a woodpecker.

Its one of those "awwww, ewwwwww" relationships. I watch her tap out her morning ritual. "Awww," because Downy Woodpeckers are tiny balls of adorable. "Ewwwww," because she's pecking at a corpse. Why is she doing this? For the sweet, sweet sewet and for the little bits of nutrients stuck to the bones of deer. Circle of life, bitches. It ain't pretty. But its cool.

cool stuff i saw yesterday.

Body Drop

Body drop.
Written jan.25

I see black garbage bags on the side of the road a lot. It costs money for trash pickup and people burn their garbage in burn barrels to avoid the trash pick-up fee. But some things don’t burn and when your burn barrel is full of unburnables you are left with a bag of garbage. Since you don’t have trash pick up and you don’t want to pay a pick up fee you dump your garbage on your neighbor’s lawn. It’s the circle of life and I am a dung beetle, when I walk along the side of the road I'll pick up other people's trash.

I found deer legs and a deer ribs in a garbage bag, dropped off by some chode, on our property the other day. It was pretty gross. But I took a picture anyways. I have to document all these strange things or I’ll forget them. I asked Seth if I should call the Department of Natural Resources to report poaching. He said it was probably just some slobs dumping off their unwanted deer parts. Strange things happen in Iowa.

woodland tenants.

deer in the backyard.