SNP Whitetails Revisited

 On a recent morning my brother, Willard, and I ventured down to Shenandoah National Park to check on the whitetail situation.  SNP once was our go-to place to photograph mature whitetail bucks however two years ago an intensive collaring/tagging and CWD testing program brought our buck photography there to a screeching halt.  Practically overnight all of commonly seen the large bucks were sporting large collars with even larger number placards and transmitters or large white ear tags while others had strangely disappeared.

Fortunately this day was to be different.   Well before sunrise we encountered a large buck that allowed us to trail along photographing him for over an hour before finally retiring to the woodland to bed up for the day.  What began as a day with low expectation turned out to be a exceptionally memorable morning with a beautiful animal!

August Whitetails

With summer heat at its peak, already signs of the approaching autumn are beginning to appear in the Whitetail deer.  Fawns have grown quickly since being born in late May and early June. The fawn's spots are beginning to fade and the some of the adults are losing their red summer hair as the soft gray hair of their new winter coat begins to appear.

Photo Session with a Green Heron

Green Herons are often found hunting along the water's edge meets heavy cover.  I was fortunate to find a open area where Green Heron were hunting nearly every morning.  Taking advantage of the opportunity I set up before daylight and waited.  As the morning began to brighten a heron arrived and began stalking the shallows long before there was enough light for photographs.  Fortunately the bird stayed allowing me to observe and photograph it for nearly two hours. 

 Fluffing, or shaking

Preening 

Scratching

Stalking

 And more stalking

 Making the catch

August Projects

Those who regularly follow Country Captures will recall a series of post last year showing the repairs to the inside of our barn.  This year the focus would be on the front.  

The weatherboarding remained in decent shape however the sliding doors were badly rotted.

I decided that the best approach would be to build new doors, install new door track, and face the barn with metal siding.

The metal siding changed the appearance of the old structure considerably.

One cannot forget the garden during the month of August with so much good stuff ripening and maturing.  The red beets did very well this year.  

When all was done on beet canning day we had pickled 49 quarts.