Only Guy Howard and David were able to go up the final weekend. Two legal bucks were sighted. The first was seen on the way in, just at the level of Old Camp, to the left of the road, at the upper end of Lillian's Peninsula. It was about a 5 inch fork, but scrambled out of sight before Guy could get into position. The second was seen on Ronnie's Swale, at 6 pm, sitting right next to the exclosure. Guy decided to pass on it, hoping for something bigger. We watched it for an hour, when it left to pester two does. Overall, a great time was had by all.
We ate well: here is a breakfast of country sausage, fried eggs, hash browns, muffins, and coffee. The elk continued to serve as an inspiration.
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The first evening, we hunted from Hummingbird and Guy tried out the tree perch. He liked the view and the stability.
I shot a doe on Ronnie's Swale on Saturday. With my digital camera and my Nikon spotting scope, that is. I need to remember to focus the spotting scope first, then use the camera. Pictures are reasonable.
Guy brought up a "new" gun he has had for years but had not had much chance to use.
It was a Ruger bolt-action .30-06 with a Leopold goldring 3-9 variable scope. We
sighted it in on Saturday.
This doe watched us put 9 rounds into the target, walking out
and checking the target three times. It did not seem to mind the noise. We quit at 5 pm,
and found the buck on Ronnie's Swale just an hour later. It did not seem to mind, even
though we were shooting in his direction! Notional, is all I can say.
(Above phote straight through the Nikon CoolPix 7900)
The pig wallow just 15 feet north of the pond.
Nature Journal
This is California honeysuckle. Check out last week's Nature Journal to see the same berries in green.
Turkey Tails, a type of bracket fungi, growing on a downed oak, upper Ronnie's Swale.
The closest sycamore to the cabin, growing in a minor ravine, between Oak Park and Ronnie's Swale.
This DYF ("damn yellow flower", due to the difficulty to identifying them) growing at the pond.
This little gem, only 1/4 inch across, was also growing at the pond.
The thistles are pretty, even when they have gone to seed.
This cute little forb was growing along the berm around the pond, seeming quite unaware of the fact that the growing season is over and starting out anew.
Mules Ears were seen growing along the Arroyo side of Prune Ridge Swale, on the way down to Hill 41. Dried up at this time of year, they are still the largest forb leaf seen. This specimen was compared to the one we see each spring on the far end of Paradise.
This delightful and fragrant (some might say "smelly", but others like Bill think it is delightful and the essence of summer Ranch smells) is vinegarweed, which is growing all over North Flat, in the areas disturbed by pigs. The flower is structured, I believe, so that when a bee lands on the flower, the anther (seen above and to the left of the petals) bends down and touchs the bee on the body, placing pollen there, so when it visits the next flower, it can be pollinated. Click here for closeups.
This petite flower was found growing along the berm at the pond and photographed by Guy Howard, on September 23, 2006. It is about 3/8 inch across and the stem about 14 inches.
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