Wildlife seen in the last 24 hours

[Cement Man]

Wife, dog, and I went for a nice walk at the hunting club last night and tonight at the state park.  Saw several deer, 3 new hatch goose families swimming in lines, scarlet tanagers, a fox, wood ducks, a woodcock trying to divert us with the "broken wing" act, several turkeys, and a gazillion wood ticks.  The ticks have arrived!

[Glanceblamm]

We are seeing more Turkey Vultures in the area. It was not uncommon to see one in the Lake Shelbyville area within the last 10 years and now they are becoming a lot more common in the Springfield to Decatur areas.
The population of the big redtail hawks has also grown. They can be seen pretty much daily along the Interstate every few miles.

Our Deer numbers sure are not suffering any and I saw two fresh road kills just yesterday. It used to be that you only had to watch for deer in the fall & winter months but now it is like a full time thing.
I have been hearing some phesants out there but these numbers (to include quail) sure are down. This bird hunting used to be my favorite thing to do but a few hard winters along with farming practices and the Coyotes moving in have hurt them a lot.
 
To get some good bird hunting in, one must go to the old Site M area (now called something else) and hunt those stocked birds. Even with the birds being stocked it is not uncommon to find Carcassess near the release sites early of a morning because the Coyotes are wise to this.
I have mainly evolved into a Deer/Coyote hunter and will get some groundhogs each spring that are hitting the soybean fields too hard. I still enjoy August as I can get my old H&R revolver out after some of those tree rats.

Sorry for blowing what was seen in the last 24hr (do those roadkill deer count? hahaha) I did see some grackles in the garden trying to snip off the young tomato plants, going to have to dissuade them a bit with the Crossman 760 if it keeps up. Fortunately, they seem to learn respect quickly.
 

[d_hiker]

Yesterday I drove from Peoria to Princeton to Dekalb and back to Peoria.  I counted between 15 and 20 fresh dead deer along the highways.  I couldn't believe how many there were.  There were more dead deer than coons or squirrels.  I can tell I have not been doing my part in helping to control the Illinois deer herd through proper management.  I need to dedicate more time this year in helping out.

Three more dead deer along I-74 between Peoria and Bloomington this morning.  I have gone a whole deer season and not seen this many deer.