sampotter

How are you guys on the internet without power, smart phones?

Ditto for what everyone else has said. You'd be better off thinning undesirable trees around the edges. The oaks won't block that much sun. Also- is the plot oriented N/S or E/W? An E/W oriented plot will get a lot more sun during the day than a N/S plot. Check your soil PH too. Thats as important as anything.

Bobcats

136-140 like everybody else. Great 8!

So whats the latest? Did someone report this guy to the DEC to at least look into it? I sure am interested to know.

So, can I give your son a couple liters of Mountain Dew and turn him loose in my hunting area?

Bushnell Trophy Cam

The sparse rows are soybeans, but they are under a feral apple tree I "released" last winter.

Here is a bunch of different critters under an apple tree.

Thanks guys. Lots of fun! Fleur did ok for only being 7 months old, eh?

Here's some summary pics of the 5 day trip.

Checking in from Dorchester, IA again. Pretty good day. Fleur found 2 more. I found 6 including a massive matched set. We found 6 of them with 200 yards of eachother and 40 minutes. https://cid-7bc83ac8e3520bbf.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Best%20shed%20hunting%20day%20yet?Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos

First thing- I am no expert, Fleur is my first, so that being said, do not let your dog have an antler as a toy, that way the antler is way more exciting during training time. I started with short retrieves where my pup could see the antler the whole time. Use some sort of command of your choosing, I use "search". At some point I tossed the antler into tall grass where she couldn't see the antler and had to find it with her nose, but when doing this be sure to have wind direction in your favor. When she brings them back, give her a treat or lots of praise. I use praise because I don't like carrying pockets full of treats. After a while I would do this in a hayfield and as my pup got bigger and faster I realized I couldn't throw the antlers far enough, so I started placing them ahead of time. I have done this almost daily since she was 7 weeks old. At some point you need to be concious of your scent being on the antlers and make an effort (rubber gloves) to keep your scent off the antlers. Also- ALWAYS keep training sessions short (15 minutes) so the pup does not lose interest. Icheck out Roger Sigler's website www.antlerdogs.com. He does this professionally. I bought the DVD that they offer, which had a few helpful tips, although could do a little better job of walking you through all of the steps. There is also another guy with a website and some training tools based out of Minnesota http://xtremeshedhunting.com. I will say that the antler finding is the easy and fun part- remembering to put in as much time doing the obedience stuff is probably more important, but not as much fun.

Not likely because of their lottery system, but I will be applying...

Beautiful sunny, crisp day today in Dorchester, IA. Fleur and I went to some state land today. I found a decent 4pt side fairly quick halfway down the side of the bluff that the land encompasses. An hour or two later Fleur was searching ahead of me on a side-hill "goat" trail and disapeared from view for a moment. Suddenly here she came with a big 5pt side in her mouth- her 1st solo find ever! Man was I excited, but I'm not sure whish one of us was more proud. About 30 minutes later I noticed Fleur make an abrupt right turn from the deer trail and as my eyes followed her direction of travel, they locked on her #2 solo find! I ended up finding a chewed spike towards the end of the day as well. So, all in all a very good day. I managed to be pretty quick on the camera trigger, so all the pictures are as they happened. None are staged. P.S. Before anyone complains about pictures from Iowa- I live in Union Springs, NY. I am just fortunate to have a girlfriend from Iowa and her dad farms 800 acres.

Dorchester, IA 3/22/11 Actually a break off from from '09.

Rutland, MA 3/14/11 NYANTLER- I can't honestly say Fleur has found one on her own yet without me seeing it first. For one reason or another she seems to be upwind at the wrong time. She has located and retrieved 3 that I saw and directed her towards from no less than 20 feet without touching them. She's only 7 months, but its only a matter of time. My girlfriend and I drove to Iowa this AM to visit her folks for a few days... It could be said that I have ulterior motives... (referring to the visit, not the girlfriend).

Lansing, NY 3/5/11

Wooly- I know. I can suck it up if it means we find more or I'll have to beat her to them. Maybe I'll train a pointer next time so they will still fiond the anlter, but not touch them.?

Fleur's First!

Adirondack coyote. Old female wih broken canine tooth. Nice pelt.

Picture of Reuben Cary with Paulina Brandreth's buck (Trails of Enchantment) @ Brandreth Park. Apparently the mount ended up in the Museum of Natural History in NYC, but has since disappeared. It would be cool to find it again...

Ted is a moron. Yes, he is passionate but I don't want the general public to think he is a fair representative of the hunting crowd. He's a loud mouth jackass and the epitome of what the antis want to cast us as. We need a more moderate, respectable, getleman who can follow Charleton Heston's example.

Dairy farmer and reproductive specialist using ultrasound and embryo transfer.

never did. I figured that once a buck used it I wouldn't need to