GreenDrake

Slow and disappointing first shoot. Killed 70. They were not hitting the wheat like we expected. Yo or is another day.

Wheat fields should start to get cut this week. Bought 6 cases of shells for starters and added 2 more bouncer dekes for the spread. This years decoy spread will consist of 4 mojo spinners, 2 Lucky Duck spinners, 4 bouncers, 12 full size hard bodies, 2 dozen Dive Bomb silhouettes, 12 socks and a carousel. Will not use them all every shoot but have the variety for once the have been shot over a couple times. Our goal is 2,000 birds this year. Much will depend on how long the wheat stubble remains before the overseed fills it in.

Our Governor is calling an emergency legislative session of sort to discuss this "outrageous" decision.

Is the sonar jig bite still going or has that petered out? Unfortunately, I have not made it out this season yet. Most of my Walleye fishing is wading in Mid-September through ice. Much harder finding areas which are not swamped with guys in the fall. Had a good thing going for YEARS before the free-for-all.

150, 25 of which is tillable. Remainder is wooded with the east and west boundaries being deep (300-450) foot cliffs and ravine.

As it pertains to semi-auto firearms under the newly enacted legislation (INCLUDING SHOTGUNS as I am advised by our pistol licensing officer) you will need to license them before taking possession. All your current owned semi-auto firearms will have to be licensed as well. The local office has no idea how they will ever be able to license all the current semi-auto firearms owners in the county.

Planted 1.5 acres of soybeans on the new land today. 2 more mixed plots will go in next week. Then Ill plant the fall plots in August. Having a ball with the new tractor!

Mental illness….inattentive parenting at a young age and desensitization through violent video games and Hollywood is a perfect recipe for these disasters. And for the purely evil…they will always find a way and a forum for mass killings.

Wife and I had our first bear encounter on the new property last evening. We were taking a friend for a ride through the woods on the Ranger when she spotted this guy. At first he stood...took a few steps towards us...stared a few seconds.....then busted off. As we proceeded, we saw him running down the logging road ahead of us. We followed him about 400 yards to the end of the property where he scooted down into the shallow section of the ravine. Not the best picture as I had to jump out of the Ranger to take it.

I sure hope so. I did not see the fawn at all yesterday unless it was really stashed well. Still do not know if there were originally 2 or just the 1. I am going to set up some cameras tomorrow to see what shows up. That fawn was beautiful.

So Saturday I was working on the new property with my tractor, pulling logs, honeysuckle and other undesirables out of one of the hedgerows with my grapple. There is a large tree and huge root ball attached (previous owner dozed the fields to reclaim and pushed everything against the hedgerows. I locked on to the large root ball and lifted and moved the tree, breaking it free from the tangled mess.....and out hobbles a fawn...scared the heck out of me. It "ran" along the hedgerow and I thought I thought I saw it turn a corner in an opening. I called my wife over....I get off the tractor and take a few steps and a fawn is laying down in my tire track along the hedgerow . Back legs are stretched out. I'm thinking I injured it. So I pat its butt....it blats..gets up and "runs" down the hedgerow and into some taller grass. It was not injured. We figure it was born that day and just had wobbly legs. We are unsure if it is the same fawn or a second. I left that general area. Later in the day I see mama nervously walking the area looking for her fawn. Yesterday she was back looking again and was right in the tangled area. After she left, I scoured the area and no sign of a live or dead fawn. Broke my heart. I don't know if she ever caught up with the fawn from Saturday. It is sad seeing them looking for their young in a panic. That was my first encounter of that kind and probably won't be my last. I never thought fawns would be in that spot, but then again, why not? It is thick and "safe". I still feel like crap, but I certainly didn't do it on purpose.

Backstrap grilled and basted with Honey teriyaki …scolloped potatoes..corn…grilled mushrooms and Vidalia onions. Had some mint jelly with the steak. Was UNREAL.

Delivered yesterday afternoon. Took a bit to get the 3rd function kit for the Grapple. Heading up now to for its first run (with me as owner anyway).

I was going to build a 36 x 40 pole barn on the new property for my new tractor and implements. $50G. $33G in materials. $3,000 just for 2x6 purlins. Not going to build it this year. I may buy rough-cut lumber and let it dry a year. This is nauseating. We are holding off building our new house until next year. With current material prices, we will be well over $700G. I am not cheap, but I am also not stupid. New driveway, land improvement and first of 2 large ponds are in progress now. We will focus on deadfall cleanup, drainage and finish grading of the 20 acres of tillable land.

Just under 39G. All the attachments are new. Benton US made root grapple aNd Rock bucket…Woods 72 inch brush cutter. 700 hrs on the tractor.

Lucked out. Bought a beautiful 2018 New Holland Workmaster 60 today..new 72 inch heavy duty brush hog…new root grapple and a new rock bucket for 3g less than the cost of the new Mahindra 2660 with no implements. Will be delivered in 2 weeks.

I am a bit of a 16 gauge junkie. I own several Belgian sweet 16s…Citori 16s…new and older sxs 26s-as well. No doubt an incredible round fir everything. Prior to rifle bring legal in the south when I hunted south, my go to killer was a Sweet 16 with a slug barrel topped with a leupold 1.5 -5 Vari X 3. I ran Breneke mags thtough it and it ate up everything its path. Still love the feel of that safe queen. I still have 10 boxes of Brenekes I bought from a drug store in Ilion NY 35 yrs ago.

Originally I was getting the 2638 HST. My buddy who is a lifetime farmer went and looked at them for me and thought I should go bigger. So instead of 38 HP HST he recommends the 60 HP with shuttle. I went back and looked at them last night. He is probably right. For 5-6G over a lifetime I don’t want to regret going too small. Open cab for me. I don’t want to tear up a can in the woods and I like bring aware of my surroundings. I can get a soft cab for winter if I really need it.

Well…now that we closed on our 150 acres where we are going to build our house, I need a tractor for land work…cleanup and maintenance. Going to buy the Mahindra 2660 with loader and 72 inch brush hog. Will buy a grapple bucket separately. Going brand new. I don’t want someone else’s headache. The dealer is 1.5 miles down the road. May pull the trigger Friday afternoon. I can’t rely on others and my wife and I are caged animals ready to play. We did a lot with just my side by side last summer but we need more.

The Town Clerk would probably be the best place to start. I would call the clerk's office and inquire about hunting/shooting regulations

Killed 32 this morning on a solo hunt. Killed a banded one too. First time ever. Im Going to call it in and get the information on it.

We track every bird down and dispatch them immediately. Same with pigeons. No matter how fast and furious the shooting is we will time out and run out and dispatch all wounded birds. We owe it to the animal to do so. afternoon hunts are excellent if you get get set up about 200 yards from the edge of a flyway. I put 6-8 decoys as high up in the trees as I can. I use a 20 ft extension pole. Ground decoys are useless in the late afternoon unless you have a flapper for some movement. I mix up my calls frequently in my foxpro. I have both all the Johnny Stewart calls and the Bob Ahronson (crow busters site has them)

Crows have been coming into the city by the thousands the last 4 evenings. The flyway is perfectly over my favorite crow hunting farm. Going to hit it this afternoon with my nephew and see if we can finally get a good shoot in. The walk in is going to be a bit challenging but hopefully its worth it.