Friday For messages about today's picture, see Cam Notes. This area is for other friendly conversation. Please read our Acceptable Use Policy.

Some other links of recent interest to Pasty Cam watchers:
• Ancestors 2006  • New Arrivals 2006
•Progress Report: The Hut and Pasty Central Express
Eight years ago on the Pasty Cam: 10/20/98^{Printed on Recycled Internet}

Eight years ago, Jonathan Hopper caught this rainbow above Dee Stadium in Houghton. Probably no rainbows today, with the forecast of clouds, rain and snow.

It is a big sports weekend in the Keweenaw. Tonight, the Hancock and Houghton football teams square off in the Copper Bowl, while Lake Linden tries for an undefeated season at perennial power Forest Park. We'll be streaming the Copper Bowl at 7:30 over at www.pasty.net

Tomorrow, the Tech trails will host the UP High School Championship in cross country with several runners from Houghton, Hancock and Calumet having a shot at the individual title. Then Tech will host Northern in football. The traditional rivalry has a new twist this year, with long-time Tech coach Bernie Anderson on the visitors side of the field in his first year as head coach at that school in Marquette.

And the Lake Superior Pro Rally kicks off this afternoon with 60 teams expected to log almost 450 miles on the roads, logging roads and back roads of the area.

Meanwhile, the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra will take to the Rozsa Center stage and present a Mozart concert on Saturday with guest pianist Andreas Klein. And up the hill at Tech's SDC will be a concert by Flogging Molly. I'll be at the Rozsa. My 15 year old son will be at the SDC. And I'll be the one who can still hear.

Morning!

Good morning.

Good morning

I almost forgot. This is a message from Fran to RCW, Russ and Ken. She said to tell you that she is coming along nicely and will be good as new in no time.

I am wondering why there is a delay to the cam picture. By the time it finally shows up on the main screen there is at least 2 to 3 posts. Just wondering how that happens?

Over on ebay they call it "sniping." Folks are waiting for the page to be loaded so they can post the first response of the day. There are several steps involved in posting the Pasty Cam photo and loading the day's "what's UP" and Pasty Cam pages. When I post the first What's UP message, for example, I still have a couple of things to do to make everything go live. Sometimes people are posting while I'm finishing up. -- Dean Woodbeck, Pasty.NET

Debrajean, saw your post of yesterday. I am originally from Kingsford.
Norway is kind of in the "banana belt", but you should enjoy a winter! Also, enjoy the Leif Erickson celebration!

"Flogging Molly"...!
Must be running out of names for bands! : )

Thanks Dean. So Deb's computer loads faster then mine does.ROFL

Ok everyone it's that time of year, watch out
for the deer they are all over the roads.

My wife wnet deer hunting withthe expedition
this morning. ;-(

https://pasty.com/pcam/albuz79

We had one on the highway out here too. Whatever hit it, it did one heck of a job.

"SNIPING"...... I just can't believe that there are people who would waste time doing that. I supose they have nothing else to do. Must be a very lonely existence.........

Travel in world

http://www.ilkansivu.net/photos_fin.html

We hit a deer north of Baraga a couple weeks ago: after dark it was running out of the woods fullspeed. No way to avoid it. We were lucky we didn't get his friend, too. $4,000 worth of damage to our mini-van. It put the dashlights out, too, so we couldn't see the speedometer after dark. It's been in the shop a week and I'm wondering if the price is going up. It was supposed to be done by today, but could very well take longer. Thank goodness for insurance!

The deer are going wild down here in "Ill-annoy". I think they're coming into rutting season. Why do they call it the "rut"? I know it's breeding season but "rut" sure doesn't make it sound like fun!!!

FYI - That's Leif Ericson. My maiden name was Erickson.

Found this very interesting:
The rut, or the whitetail's breeding season, occurs in the fall. The time before mating, or the early pre-rut, is characterized by groups of does, bucks and fawns grazing together. Bucks mingle with does to showboat their new antlers.

Throughout the pre-rut, the does' reproductive organs adapt to handle breeding and pregnancy. Less daylight triggers an increase in the bucks' testosterone, the hormone responsible for, among other things, antler maturation. Once antlers harden, the velvet that covers them dies and dries up. Older bucks generally rub off the velvet before younger males do.

To establish dominance in a hierarchy, bucks engage in a behavior called sparring. Two animals lock their antlers and push until one buck backs down, thus yielding dominance to the other buck. It should be noted that sparring is not fighting. Once a buck gains dominance, he maintains his position in the hierarchy by staring down other bucks. If another buck rises to the challenge, the two deer engage in a fight, clashing antlers and pushing until one buck backs down.

In fall, a buck uses "signposting". He scrapes and rubs, leaving his scent on the ground and on trees for does and other bucks to smell. When a buck and doe hook up, they chase before mating. After mating, a buck may graze with a doe for a while before darting off to find another mate.

The rut leaves a buck frail and tired. Sometimes a dominant buck is so weak that he can barely survive the winter. This gives younger bucks a chance to breed does that come into late estrus, generally in December. Bucks use up testosterone during the breeding season, and this causes their racks to fall off in the winter.

Fall is a time of new experiences for fawns. They watch and learn all the social interaction and posturing within a herd. Fawns get used to seeing bucks with full racks, and witness fights and mating.

In the fall, deer seek out foods rich in carbohydrates. Acorns, beechnuts, pecans, apples and other soft and hard mast, in addition to crops, help pack on fat that carry deer through the rut and winter.

My husband is the general manager for a very large auto collision shop. This time of the year the shop can schedule anywhere from 15-20 deer hits daily. Sometimes when the flatbed truck comes in with a wrecked car, the deer carcass, usually a buck, is riding along on the flatbed for either the owner wants to process the deer for themselves or to donate to a food pantry for the needy. Dusk and dawn hours are the primetime for deer-car accidents.

How about going slowly, slowly ...

Yeah, really, how about driving slowly during the "Rut"? Been down here in "Ill-annoy", for the last 32 years in "deer country" and you have to slow down and look out, if you see one, there's more a-comin'! Fall is bad, had a friend that was headed south for deer huntin' season, on his way, he hit a big buck, it crashed thru his windshield and killed him. That is called "Balance of Nature".

Danbury....80% of these deer hits I mentioned are within the city limits. Just another reason why auto insurance premiums keep going higher, which makes for higher hourly labor rates in the auto collision shops.

Deer were originally brought back to the eastern half of the US for hunters, but many people think the big bonanza has been for the auto body shops.

We had deer in our yard in the middle of the day yesterday -- not an uncommon occurrence. (This is in GA.)

My daughter lives in Manitee Michigan and has more deer in her yard then I have ever seen when I was hunting for them. They lay right next to the house and I think they are using it to shield them from the elements. To bad you can't hunt in town as my daughter would be a successful hunter just kidding she wouldn't hurt any of them. Puts food out for them during the winter, and her kids have them all named. We even have had a deer here in Berkley a few years ago. The police had to catch it and move it to the country.

Sorry Pennie! But I'm in here answering all the other e-mails I get and I just keep checking to see if there's a picture. If it doesn't come up while I'm here, so be it.

That's OK Deb. It's nice to see someone that is sweet get the early bird. :)

FJL-I can honestly say that I do not have a "lonely existence". I think that people like Deb, Mikie, Cotton and others just think it's fun to get on Pasty Cam in the morning to see what is up. I live a very full life with work, family and careing for a special needs child. I have about an hour to myself in the morning, once I get my daughter to school. Checking pasty cam makes me think of being upnorth and there is no other place I would rather be.

Just got home from playing dodge-a-deer in northern WI for a week. I won this time, but not for their lack of trying to become hood ornaments.
Mr. Deb

Danbury
Slowly, slowly doesn't always work. A couple years back one of my neighbors saw several deer along the side the road. He stopped. They didn't move. He proceeded forward at a walking pace. When he got along side of them one of them ran into the side of his van. $1800 damage!

Thanks Deb for the message! We did send a forward somewhere here a few days ago wishing Fran well, don't know tho if she saw it.

A couple of years ago hit a six pointer just around the corner from here with our Crown Victoria. Just caught it with the very corner of the bumper. No damage at all! Really, really lucked out! The Sheriff wondered if WE had in fact hit it. Years before, hit one up in Missaukee county 5:30 in the morning. Only dented the front fender! Nice way to get venison in the freezer! No license fees, amunition purchase etc. Don't think I will be so lucky the 3rd time!

Perhaps I should've put a smiley in my post. However, can't help but wonder how many accidents would not happen going just five mph slower?
Though that probably would be much less business for bodyshops. And we wouldn't want all those people losing their jobs, right? ;)
Bob Jewell, you know why that happened, right? Just an attempt to get even. Usually it's a trip to the body shop for us, and death for them, even if they walk away at first.
As to deer in the city, well, I guess to them it's the city that occupied their territory. Not being hunted, with food readily provided, who can blame them preferring city life to the boonies?
Just be glad it's deer, not wild boars. Those might taste good, but you wouldn't necessarily want them in your garden.