On the way to Hiway 400 North we stopped in on fellow forum member Wylie ( aka Walkintall ) .... had great steak and egg breakfast , and Wylie stocked me up with some fresh Ling Cod , Rock Cod , and Hallibut ! ( glad I stopped by ! )
Hit the road again and pointed the " big green machine " North towards Bracebridge
Volume traffic .... but moving not too bad .... I keep my eyes peeled for any photo opportunities on the way up .... nothing ... quiet drive until I hit Barrie ...
I see a sleepy ground hog wandering in the field .... I get out and walk into the field .. he looks drunk from his winter slumber ... I get 1 good shot as he wadles to his hole ...
I pass Bracebridge on Hiway 11 and head to another forum members house , Frank D. ( aka BUCKSHOT ) .... I pull down his road and snap a picture ( this looks like my kind of neighborhood ! ) ...
I get to Franks place and I'm met by " his crew " .... His lovely wife , his excited 7 year old son ... and 2 nieces that are visiting and the 2 family dogs ! .... everybody is outside enjoying the beautifull weather and the awsome surroundings ( Franks place is surrounded by an awsome evergreen forest ! )
Frank and I head out to do some scouting and wildlife photo's ... I brought my snow shoes and I'm ready for any terrain .... Frank says " I can't gaurantee any photo op's , but I have a lead on some good spots "
Well , that was an understatement !
We don't even get 5 minuets from his house when I pull over to look at the " lay of the land " ... I get out to look over a re-forrested area and when I get back into the truck I see 4 young turkeys sitting in a tree .... Now I'm over my knee boots in the snow trying to get a good picture ... found it hard to focus thru the deep cover , but did get 1 good shot of a young turkey at the base of a tree ...
About another 1 min down the road I get 2 frames of a health doe as she heads into the evergreens ...
We head to a friend of Franks .... his property holds deer yarded up for winter feeding ... ( a common practise in the area ) .
We see some good deer sign and heavy travelled trails !
To make a long story short .... I end up seeing approx 70 deer in the course of the day .... at his buddies property and other areas ... At one point we hiked thru the bush and Frank skirted wide of my position , while Sally and I hunkered down in the bush and snapped shots of the deer .... here are some of the best shots from the day ...
Frank uses my pocket camera and gets a quick shot of me in the bush snapping pictures with MY Pentax K100D , digital SLR ...
A nice broadside ...
Three sets of eyes ...
One sneeky doe ...
Later near the lake I get a shot of 5 in a group ...
We start to head back towards Huntsville ( we have a 6:00 pm dinner date with fellow forum member Wayne Jones aka bj and his wife ) I was hoping to get some good turkey shots ....
We pick the right road and run into a batch of young turkeys , picking in the grass ...
I get out and start walking towards them and snap many frames until they take off into the bush .... the last shot was approx 5 yards ... the sun shines bright on thier feathers ... here are the best 3 shots ...
It was such great weather , Wayne and Brenda roll in on their new 2007 Harleys ! ( with maximum Bling !! ) ( can you say Bling in the same sentence with Harley ! ? )
Anyway .... great day out .... long drive home , but worth the drive ! I took 228 frames today ....
Thanks Frank , for the guided tour ! ... Nice to see you again Wayne and Brenda ! .... was cool driving South on Hiway 11 after super listening to the sweeeeeeet sound of Rolling Thunder !!
