GreenDrake

I will be putting 10-15 acres into clover. The guy who gave me the seed is a really good guy and he wanted to make sure I have enough. He and another guy started a foot plot seed business 2 years ago. Just getting off the ground. This is seed from 2021-2022.....gave it to be free...no promises. So I will be laying it down fairly heavy.

Just got 150 pounds of clover to frost seed this weekend. Im looking forward to seeing how it goes. I have 20 pounds of alfalfa to put into another small area that I want to maintain as a green space.

I have run Echo's. Nice saws. I have stuck with Stihl as I have all the newer Stihl 2 in 1 Easy File sharpening systems that work very well. I do not know if they are truly compatible with other saw chains. I run Echo leaf blowers and they have lasted longer than any of the other's I have owned. Chainsaws and land management is my mental therapy from my extremely busy and stressful law practice. I do not shoot sporting clays as much as i used to, though I am going to put a small course on my new property.

Another great saw. I am a die hard Stihl chainsaw owner. My wife also bought me the GIANT Stihl 560 Brush Cutter last year. It is SCARY powerful. I bought the line head for it....22 inch swatch. I will try that this year. But I was cutting 3 inch saplings like grass with it last summer. It is very heavy and you have to wear the vest harness and hook the unit to the harness. I am not very tall, so it was hard to get used to trying to cut level with it. The neck is quite long. But it is certainly no toy. She found the ONLY one available in the US and scarfed it up. FOr everything else I got my new 6 ft. Woods Brush cutter on my 60HP New Holland. She ordered me the seeding attachment for my gas operated leaf blowers. Its a hopper that feeds seed into the blower tube and spreads the seed. I heard great things about it. It is not very expensive ($40.00 for the large one), and I will frost seed 5 acres of clover with it as soon as it comes in.

I am dying to fire it up. I was going to get the 660 Magnum but it is so heavy to play with all day. The 500i is not much if any heavier than my 361. My wife is a saint. I mention something.....and next thing I know.....she has ordered it and it is delivered. She is a saint.

Last weekend I thoroughly cleaned and serviced 4 of my 5 Chainsaws…today I sharpened them. My wife bought me the Stihl 500i with a 33 inch bar for my birthday today. Its fuel injected. Looks like an animal of a saw. Now I have a 211 …251….261….361….and the 500i. I can’t wait to start cutting up the winter deadfall on the land.

I have maintained a fair collection of very old magazine and advertising hunting artwork. I tried to limit it to English Setter...or upland bird hunting artwork, otherwise I would be buying everything in sight. I also buy some vintage hunting related photographs I find in antique shops, etc. They always kind of make me sad knowing that at some point, they lost their family connection and are now in the hands of strangers who cannot tell or retell the stories behind them.

I love the old magazine covers and advertising with English Setters. I have amassed a rather large collection of English Setter artwork from Rousseau and others (prints, NOT originals). My home and law office are adorned with prints all over. Sadly, much of the artwork is currently stored about the home. We will soon be starting construction on our new home and the artwork will have a place to be hung and enjoyed. Looking at the artwork brings me to the place I was as a child, watching my father and uncles heading out or me tagging along pheasant and grouse hunting with the setters. Unlike many of us today, they wore traditional bird hunting clothes from the 40's well into the 90's and carried their Browning Auto 5's they purchased in their 20's. My fascination with the 16 gauge came from watching my father pulling those purple shells from his coat pocket, blowing off the weeds, seeds, lint and errant pheasant feathers, before sliding them into the chamber. The old artwork captures those moment like nothing else.

Like anything else, sometimes you just get a "bad" one. Perhaps pound it out a bit to break it down. Then slow cook it. I have had beef filet at times that was on the tough side. Every animal is different.

When is enough…enough? We are already blessed with very long gun seasons, and there are plenty of opportunities for every hunter of every economic background to have plenty time to enjoy the hunt. A shotgun, no matter the action…is still a shotgun….and it is NOT shotgun season. Leave well enough alone.

TooK a first-timer with us today. My nephew just started him hunting. Birds flew pretty well, but were higher than we like, especially in the wind. We let the new guy shoot first. The birds would instantly flare wildly, making for difficult follow-ups. We killed 31.

This ice, wind and nasty snow should set up for a really good pigeon shoot over the corn bunker’s tomorrow morning. We shall see!!!

Some of the people who take them really liked them…others not so much. Here is a picture from one of our summer shoots over decoys in the freshly cut wheat. Just my nephew and I on this shoot.

I personally do not eat them. I have tried them a few different ways and do not like them. Some of the birds go to the hired hands on the farms if and when they want them. We are invited (begged by some) by the farmers for nothing more than pest control. They absolutely destroy the barns, water systems and everything in their paths. Pigeons and crows are the only animals I shoot and do not eat. I refuse to hunt waterfowl unless I am with others who want the ducks and geese as I do not care for them. I have never hunted and killed game animals I do not eat or have a home for immediately after the hunt.

Decent pigeon shoot this morin high wind. Killed 61 and 4 crows. Crows came in really heavy before legal shooting light. We managed 4 incidentals while shooting pigeons.

Been hunting crows pretty hard then hitting the grain bunkers afterwards for pigeons. Good shooting despite the much lower numbers of crows this winter. Not getting the big roosts and flyways the past 2 years. Still chasing grouse as well. Plenty of real fun shooting to do. Especially crows snd pigeons when you can laugh and cut up while doing it.

EXCELLENT!!

I LOVED Ben Lee's videos back in the day. Informative and entertaining!!!

There was a group in the Remsen, NY area that ran dogs on yotes....used to kill a bunch of them too.

Slow the last 2 weeks. Since there is no snow, the crows are not hitting a specific feed and are breaking up after flying off roost. We managed to kill 15 last weekend and another 20 this past weekend. My nephew killed a banded bird this past weekend, to add to the banded crow I shot last winter. This past Sunday we did set up on a morning flyway of perhaps a thousand birds, but since legal shooting doesn't start until Sunrise, we had to watch them fly on by. That was NOT an easy thing to do.

Her younger days slam pointing

Here is one of my current setters….Dixie. Got her from a grouse kennel on Kentucky. She is also a Grouse Ridge Reroy pup. Best bird dog I have ever encountered and I have owned and hunted over a great many. She is now 13 and still hunts like a trooper. Steady…methodical and the most gentle soul.

Good going!! i just scouted and found a decent crow feed. 500-600 in a cut corn field. Gonna hit it Monday morning. Overall numbers are down around here this year. Hopefully more birds move in for the winter.

Wolc…you are by far my hero… Happy belated birthday btw

Nephew and I killed 36 crows Sunday morning. Had we been able to start shooting before legal sunrise we could have doubled that. Then we went to a dairy and climbed on top if the corn bunker. Killed 30 pigeons and 6 more crows. All morning crows killed with new custom hand calls my wife bought me for Christmas. Never turned in the Foxpro.