GreenDrake

We got 60 plus pigeons over the corn bunker today. Short shoot as we had other obligations. I have 55 inches of snow at the land right now. My friend lost a barn last weekend from the snow. Complete loss. I ave not been able to fo a morning crow hunt and there are THOUSANDS coming yo roost every night. Most i have seen in years. My office work is insane right now and been putting in hours the weekend mornings.

Happy Birthday snd good luck tomorrow!!!

I simply don’t go out in the crap weather anymore. My entire way of hunting has changed since purchasing my own land. I have 200 acres in the northern zone surrounded by big woods and Ag that does not get hunted. My wife loves to accompany me…so we go out on dryer days and sit together in one of our several box blinds and enjoy our purchase and immense amount of hard work we put in all spring and summer maintaining the woods…fields…plots…and planning our next project. It’s less and less about killing a deer, though I am blessed to connect with a good buck every year. We sat last evening and had 17 deer feeding in our plots, not a shooter among them. It’s a pleasure to watch them interacting. Had about 20 bluebirds feeding around us as well. Once the southern season ends I will focus on crows and pigeons. I won’t shoot up the farms while guys are still out trying to fill a tag. If I get decent snow next weekend I will still hunt a bit if I haven’t killed one yet.

We put another (third) box blind on the new property in the area we call “The Hole” its the farthest tip of the property. It’s a giant bowl. Simply beautiful area. I have 3 more to put up…just trying to strategize where to put them. Probably won’t put the others in until next year. We will see.

My buddy bought one in January and booked an antelope hunt just to try it out. I have mixed feelings of its real utility but am very interested in seeing how it performs on game. Sure sounds like it is a fun distance cartridge though. I look forward to some reports. Good luck with it!!!

When I bought my New Holland 60, I was told the same thing…since it exceeded 25 hp I needed a separate policy. I got a policy and also added all my implements. Mine is not used for commercial purposes….just managing my own property and woods.

Thank you all. We all have to bear that one time or another.

The moment I have dreaded finally came Saturday. I had to put my dear Dixie down. She was the sweetest most amazing bird dog I have ever owned or had the honor to hunt over. 15.5 years old. I am still torn up.

This boy is patrolling my woods. Got a female being followed by a different but equally large male too.

Nephew and I doubled up at 6:55 this morning. Fun hunt.

Final product!!!

Got a nice batch today. Cleaned and ready for blanching and vacuum sealing tomorrow.

Shotgun. Mostly pass shooting in the winter. In the summer its tight shots over decoys.

I got out for a couple hours this afternoon at a dairy. Birds were hungry. Killed 38 pigeons and 12 crows over a feed bunker. Solo shoot. If my nephew was with me it would have been awesome. We killed about 300 pigeons and 100 crows this winter. We weren’t able to get out too much. Im hoping our sumner pigeon shoots over decoys is better than last year. Last year the wheat was not in the good shooting areas so we did not do well at all. No big 200 plus bird mornings.

My wife and I over-seeded 8 acres of clover today. Hoping we get enough freezing to draw it in good. We shall see. Was fun to get out and play. I have some wind damage in the woods. I have a bunch of junk poplar (I think) thats like cork. Very dark smooth bark. Twists and falls over. Most are hung up too. Ill pick around and drop them. Pain the backside.

I have 6 of them now…started with 2 snd they were great …. Of the 4 new ones…two are dead and will not stay powered up. They turn on and immediately shut down…two of them constantly stop sending pictures, despite a strong signal. Another eats fresh lithium batteries in a week. I am sorely disappointed.

After a disappointing archery trip to illinois, my nephew and I were able to redeem ourselves. I killed this heavy bodied target 8 on my new land in the NZ and my nephew connected with a beautiful 9 in the SZ. Im much prouder of these NY deer than I would have been with an Illinois kill. So overall, we had a great season.

Illinois trip is very disappointing. None of us 4 have had a shot yet. I finally saw 2 decent bucks yesterday morning n the jungle behind my stand. Other guys saw a couple here and there. They guy who has the leases and who we paid took off back to New York on Monday. Showed us additional stands before he left. None of the stands are maintained and zero trimming or shooting lanes for at least 4-5 years. One guy in our group had 3 stands with broken straps. Not cool. My heart breaks for my nephew. This was his dream hunt and booked it through a good friend he trusted. He is here too…he hunted other areas and killed a marginal 2.5 yr old 10 pt. NOT what you come here for. The lack of basic maintenance and unsafe stands is what soured me. This is set up for crossbow and shotgun seasons now. The property owner killed a beauty Sunday. Crossbow shot at 72 yards!! We are gonna bail on this hunt overnight and get back for the weekend. Ill take hunting my 200 acres at home over this anytime. Trips like this make you appreciate what we have back home. May not be 140-170 inch deer in each wood lot …but i will take it any day.

Couldn’t get out this week. Had to get everything accomplished at the office before we head to Illinois this afternoon for a week on a bow hunt. People will think i am crazy , but I would rather stay here and hunt my farm. We put a lot of work into it snd have a couple nice deer we want to see on the hoof, especially that big 6. This trip is my nephew’s dream hunt. He is a great young man and deserves this trip. Wish you all safe and good hunting.

I won’t get out again this week up my land in 6k before I leave for Illinois on Friday for a week. Still stressing over leaving the office for a week of hunting but I owe it to my nephew to do this trip with him. Its a bucket kist hunt. We have had 15-20 does and young bucks out in the plots at the same time on our 3 hunts. Last picture is of a big 6 I am considering taking. Third year he has been a 6 and I love big 6s. We have 2 nice 8s that I think will get a pass this year. Its just my wife snd me on the 160 acres we bought 3 years ago. No one hunts the 7-800 or more surrounding acres. We are trying to see what potential we have to grow some big deer.

I pulled cards this morning and was shocked to see a newly born Fawn. October 11. Ill try to post pictures.

I am currently running 4 of these. The App said one of them was out of batteries (I am using Energizer Lithium) I run them on moderate settings. I changed the batteries on the one and when I power it up it immediately says “powering off” and shuts off. I tried several different batteries and even a different battery pack. Same thing. Anyone have a similar experience??

My nephew and 4 buddies got 30 yesterday morning. They had a good time.

Due to weather and other commitments, I was not able to get my brassica plot in. Is it too late to be of any value? I will be mixing in clover, chicory and other fillers too. I don’t want to disc up the area and be hunting over dirt.

I think Wolc needs to be on the presidential ticket in ‘24. I’ll be his campaign manager. Any other volunteers?????