Al Hansen
Well-known member
Bev and I drove down to Bosque del Apache NWR a few days ago. We absolutely love this area. The best news of all is that they have finally been able to begin pumping water into the holding ponds for all the ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes that have been arriving. Our fall colors started earlier than normal this year just because of the drought we have been enduring. You will not see too much color unfortunately.
Right off the entrance we saw our first deer. We couldn't believe our good fortune.
BdA NWR is breathtakingly beautiful.
There are lots of snows and Ross geese down here already. I'm glad that a few of them decided to sit close to the road. Light geese have always amazed me when I think of how many times they have been shot at since leaving the Arctic area on their trip south. When they get here in a matter of a day or so they will sit tight as people pass by in their cars, stopping to take pictures. How do they know? Tim always told me that if he could give an educational degree to any of the waterfowl, a doctorate would be given to the snow goose.
Of the light geese, I really like the Ross goose. As you can see this one has been blessed with many warts on his upper mandible.
We then decided to take the South Tour Loop and see if any of the geese were feeding on the winter wheat fields. There weren't any geese but we weren't disappointed. I couldn't get my camera up fast enough when we rounded the corner. There staring at me was this good looking Mule deer buck. He was part of a good sized group of them that were feeding in the marsh.
The rut will begin in January here. Normally right after the rut, the cats in the area (mountain lions) will get their fair share of the larger bucks, just because they are so susceptible then.
The old one gave me one last look before he disappeared.
As the sun began to set behind the Magdalena mountains Bev spotted this pair of coyotes heading down one of the service roads.
One day this week we were sitting by the pond enjoying the 78F temps. Bev still had some flowers blooming and I had noticed some tiny butterflies feeding on them. They weren't much more than 3/4 of an inch in size. Heavily cropped shots.
I was coming home from delivering a cord of wood yesterday when I noticed this as the sun was setting. It made for a perfect ending to a great day even though I never saw a duck to shoot.
What my set up looks like from the blind.
Yesterday, I decided to take a break and have some lunch under this cottonwood tree.
When I had finished eating, I had Chili and Habi get in the Mule and we went for a drive. I needed to see what my honey hole was looking like at noon. As I approached the area, maybe 300 yards away, I took out my binoculars and watched maybe 25 mallards swimming about right where I set up my decoys. Today I will cut wood early in the morning and then around "brunch-time" I will go sit in the blind for a while and just see what I can see!
Al
Right off the entrance we saw our first deer. We couldn't believe our good fortune.
BdA NWR is breathtakingly beautiful.
There are lots of snows and Ross geese down here already. I'm glad that a few of them decided to sit close to the road. Light geese have always amazed me when I think of how many times they have been shot at since leaving the Arctic area on their trip south. When they get here in a matter of a day or so they will sit tight as people pass by in their cars, stopping to take pictures. How do they know? Tim always told me that if he could give an educational degree to any of the waterfowl, a doctorate would be given to the snow goose.
Of the light geese, I really like the Ross goose. As you can see this one has been blessed with many warts on his upper mandible.
We then decided to take the South Tour Loop and see if any of the geese were feeding on the winter wheat fields. There weren't any geese but we weren't disappointed. I couldn't get my camera up fast enough when we rounded the corner. There staring at me was this good looking Mule deer buck. He was part of a good sized group of them that were feeding in the marsh.
The rut will begin in January here. Normally right after the rut, the cats in the area (mountain lions) will get their fair share of the larger bucks, just because they are so susceptible then.
The old one gave me one last look before he disappeared.
As the sun began to set behind the Magdalena mountains Bev spotted this pair of coyotes heading down one of the service roads.
One day this week we were sitting by the pond enjoying the 78F temps. Bev still had some flowers blooming and I had noticed some tiny butterflies feeding on them. They weren't much more than 3/4 of an inch in size. Heavily cropped shots.
I was coming home from delivering a cord of wood yesterday when I noticed this as the sun was setting. It made for a perfect ending to a great day even though I never saw a duck to shoot.
What my set up looks like from the blind.
Yesterday, I decided to take a break and have some lunch under this cottonwood tree.
When I had finished eating, I had Chili and Habi get in the Mule and we went for a drive. I needed to see what my honey hole was looking like at noon. As I approached the area, maybe 300 yards away, I took out my binoculars and watched maybe 25 mallards swimming about right where I set up my decoys. Today I will cut wood early in the morning and then around "brunch-time" I will go sit in the blind for a while and just see what I can see!
Al
