Dad and mom were able to make it up to the farm yesterday. Here are a few pictures of what they saw and how things look. Also pulled the card on one camera. You can check under the "Photos" page and "2012 Trail Cam" . Dad was able to seed our dove field and also moved a camera to another location. The peas are starting to get hit pretty hard and the licks continue to get use. Only a week out from dove season and about 35 days to bow season! Bring on the cool weather, football and hunting season, my favorite time of the year is almost here! Meet "Booter". This is the new posterchild for the Booter Club. This club was founded by Matt C and basically any buck that I deem shootable for me, (Brandon+Shooter=Booter) but not for guests falls into the "Booter" club. :) Matt C makes up these crazy stories so that when he gets all worked up and shoots a 2 1/2 year old 13" 8 point, he'll have an escape. I'm not sure this is a shooter for me, but he'd be oftly tempting with a bow in hand. I guess him to be right at 120 and 3 years old. Another year and he could really be something.
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Not too much happening right now that needs updated but I'll give a brief rundown. We finally waved the white flag on our beans as we just couldn't get them back from the weeds that claimed them early on. We've learned a lot this spring/summer about how to prepare and keep summer plots and have a good gameplan on hand for next spring. We went ahead and disced under the owl field and the 3 Way. We'll keep discing every few weeks to get a good seed bed prepared for our fall planting. Dad was able to get 2 super sacks of wheat the other day, which totaled 3,200 lbs. We'll mix our own blend of wheat, oats, winter peas, clover and rape. We look to get planted sometime in late September/early October. The peas are looking great and the milo has really taken off over the past couple of weeks. I look for it to start heading out in the next week or so, and the millet has also begun heading out. Rain has hampered our timing on getting wheat out on the homesite as we don't want to seed for doves and have the rain come in the following day. The forecast looks right for getting some wheat out this weekend and hopefully the doves will be able to find it in the next week, in time for our first shoot on Sept 1. Grayson and Hayes are beyond excited about dove season. I believe they enjoy dove hunting more than deer. We've been practicing most afternoons with the BB gun in the backyard. Hayes will be toting the Red Ryder this year and Grayson will have his brand spanking new .410, thanks to Pop-Pop and Ni-Ni. I believe I'll have my full choke screwed in the 12 gauge for the long range, mach 4 departing shots. There is no doubt he'll scare plenty this year, and hopefully he'll even knock down a few. Grayson asks every day, "when does dove season start?" I guess I need to get a countdown calendar for him. That boy loves to be in the field and the woods. Hayes is following right in big brother's footsteps as well and looks forward to shooting every afternoon. We're also excited to see Delta, dad's young chocolate lab, in the field this fall. This will be her first year to be at our side and she's done great in training and obedience. I know that will transfer smoothly into working by our side in hunting situations. The trail cams have been soaking since August 4th. Dad made a quick pull less than a week after they were put out and had several deer and hogs on each. I'll make a pull next weekend (Sept 1) when I'm up. Stay tuned for updates. To say I'm excited/chomping at the bit would be an understatement. I see big bucks being posted daily on the sites I check and I'm hoping I'll have a few of my own to show here.
Matt C., Matt H. and myself left Helena at 4:00 Saturday morning for the 4 and 1/2 hour trip to the farm. I don't believe we stopped laughing the entire length of the drive. ("We ain't got no band!!!"..."You know not to talk to me when I'm hurting.") It's always a pleasure to travel with these guys and it's a blessing to call them and their families friends. They are always willing to help and go the extra mile, whatever the circumstance. The weekend work went very well, with the exception on Matt H. getting a first hand lesson on milo vs. millet. Big Bill's blood pressure was probably on the verge of stroke level, and let's just say his truck ride at 60 mph across the dove field will live in infamy. I had to chuckle to myself when I looked up from the discing I was doing to see a cloud of dust, him storming out of the truck, hands motions flying through the air and a retreat back to the truck just as quickly...only to see the two Matt's obviously discussing what should be done and what was currently being done according to the tongue lashing they just got from the boss. The whole rehash of the story over dinner had us all on the verge of tears of laughter.
The deer right now appear to have locked down pretty heavy. There isn't much grazing pressure on the fields and the feeders are being ignored for the most part. There is still some activity on the licks and some browse sign on the peas, but I believe the deer have hit a wall on hitting the feeders right now. One good sign that we uncovered is that the deer are moving fairly heavily across Coon Bayou this year. I was afraid that after the lack of activity I saw moving N/S across the bayou last year, it would serve as a natural barrier, essentially landlocking that side of the property. There were numerous tracks/trails across the bayou with the low water levels we're currently experiencing. Thanks Matt. C for the scouting and the report you gave of the deer traffic traversing the bayou. It definitely gives me confidence to sit in the Oak Ladder and Pecan Tree Ladder during bow season. One thing that there is no shortage of is doves. I was very excited to see the number of local birds hanging around. All of the power lines along the gravel roads were holding birds and we saw a pretty sizeable number floating across the dove field all throughout the day. I was able to get about 3 acres disced and the clean dirt should definitely be inviting to any doves that are able to see it as they fly over. Even as I was discing on Sunday morning, several different groups of birds went down into the freshly disced ground. We'll seed in "normal agricultural practice" on 8/18 and hopefully be able to have a barrel burner shoot on Sept. 1. Along with the discing at the dove field/home site, we also sprayed all of the RR soybeans. Most of the bean growth is stunted due to the heavy weed competition. For some reason, the cowpeas do not have the volunteer weed growth that the beans do, and they are doing much better than the Eagle Brand Beans. I'm hoping the deer turn onto the fields once the beans begin putting on some new growth. I was also able to get the landing strip field disced and our goal is to keep it clean until we get ready to plant winter grains around Oct. 1. Other than that, we did very heavy trimming of the roads, secured and trimmed around a few bow stands, topped off the feeders, sprayed the fenceline, fertilized all three duck holes and the dove field (Milo Only!!!!!!!!!) and deployed 3 new game cams. I'm excited about the first pull of the year, hopefully this coming Saturday (8/11) if dad is able to get back up to the property. I'll start a new trail cam page showing updates each pull. The Matt's also made a quick, early morning hog hunt on Sunday morning but didn't have any luck, although Matt C. did encounter a 6 point that had just crossed Coon Bayou, further confirming the deer are moving across the bayou. We got word that our neighbor saw around 15 hogs right under the stand that Matt H. hunted Sunday morning. Unfortunately they didn't return while he was hunting Sunday. All in all, it was a great weekend spent with good friends and it was good to see mom and dad as well. We worked hard, sweated a ton, played in the dirt and hopefully made our farm a better place for wildlife. It was so good for each of us to get home Sunday afternoon after a hard weekend and see our families and spend time with them before another week of work. God is so good to each of us and has blessed us with good health, good friends, and wonderful families. We're looking forward to putting the "work" ( I use that term lightly, as all outdoorsmen know it's more fun than work) behind us and being able to enjoy the fruits of our labor this fall. Dove season is only 25 days away and the first shots fired will announce that fall has arrived, cooler weather is on the way and many hours will be spent chasing that big, mature buck on his turf. Thank you Lord for the opportunities you have given us and the command you have given us in Genesis 1:28. "...rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." |
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