Saw a group of bucks in some beans on my way home ... only had my pocket size point and shoot Olympus with me ... the light was fading , but I did get some grainy shots to ID the bucks at a later date ... also saw a fawn on the way in ...



I used the wind in mt favor and got a shot of them along a fence line where the bean field is narrow , only about 40 yards across ...



They slipped thru the fenceline ... I had to move around and relocate as they fed into the big bean field ... watched them till just before dark .





I'll be slipping into that spot tomorrow a few hours earlier with my good camera !

Went back for more pictures tonight .

I had my wife drop me off tonight so as not to draw any attention with my truck parked there ... ( brought my good camera along )

I used the wind and scouted the entire property ( approx 500 acres of beans )

Found the mature bucks tracks and followed at a snails pace to scope out where they might be bedded ..





The main trail skirted the field ... some corn still coming up along the edges of the fields ...



The heavy buck track followed a tractor path , and wove in and out obviously randomly feeding on beans ...



Heavy trails in the tractor path leading to what I thought was the bedding area ( a shaded , treed low area ) .. just over the rise , so I stayed out and observed at a distance ( wind was perfect for me ) .




I had about an hour and a half to kill before I thought they would show , so I backed off and walked to the river ... got a nice close up of two geese preening with one lifting his leg to show off his leg band ... 



Some geese flew out to feed ... so I hiked to the road and my wife picked me up after dropping my daughter at soccer ... headed in the direction of the last flight and found a field they were landing in ... that general area shows good promise for next weeks early opener ...



My wife drove me back and I slowly snuck back in for the last 1/2 hour of good sunlight .... sat down wind in some cover and watched the beans ... The bachelor group came out as the sun was going down and were too far off for a decent picture .... at least I know the bedding area now ...

Going to keep my eye on that group into September ...

August 30th/2007