wolc123

There was a little sentimental detachment (along a few dulled chains from hitting old nails) when I had to cut a few old ash trees that had permanents tree stands in them, including the one where I killed my first buck over thirty years ago, and my largest antlered buck, about 25 years ago. I did not trust them old stands in those dying trees anymore, and I was thankful to have never fallen from them. I breathed a little relief, after those supporting trees were reduced to firewood. Now it is all ground blinds, ladder stands, or elevated blinds, supported by pressure treated lumber. There are a few monsters deep in the woods that I am not looking forward to trying to take down with my largest saw (20" bar). I may have to spring for a 24" to make that a little easier, which is about all that my Stihl could handle. Personally, I think you are wasting your time trying to save the ash trees, and I doubt the DEC would be able to help you much on that. They probably will come after you if you try and sell or transport any of that "infected" firewood however. Take that with a grain of salt though, since you know that I won't miss them much when they are gone.

Probably half of the trees in the 5 acre woodlot on the back of our farm are ash. On one hand, I hate to loose all those trees, but on the other hand, I am getting sick of burning nothing but ash in the woodstove. I started cutting mostly ash about 10 years ago, when the threat first developed. My problem with it is as firewood is that it lives up to it's name and makes lots of ash, compared to other wood that I fondly remember burning, including cherry, oak, and hard maple. The good thing about ash as firewood, is that it can be burned immediately after cutting in the winter, without seasoning. That comes in handy if you run out of wood in the late winter. I usually have enough cut for several years, so that advantage has never come into play for me. Because of that, I cant say I will miss it much when it is all gone. Also, I think the deer and squirrels (which we like to eat), get a lot more out of oaks than they do from ash. In the long run, I think we have more to gain from the emerald ash borer, than we have to loose.

That is an easy one, Trapping coons early so that my limited acreage of field corn makes it all the way thru late ML season. Speaking of that, its about time to check the traps. They started hitting my corn last Friday night. Sunday morning I had two in traps, and two more yesterday. It will be interesting to see what this morning brings. NY state DEC advises that landowner's bury of burn the carcasses of coons that are causing damage, if taken prior to the opening of trapping season, so bring along a shovel if you decide to do this yourself right now. They are about the easiest furbearer there is to trap and they just love cat foot in dog-proof traps or peanut butter coated marshmelloes or bananas in box traps. I don't imagine they are too fond of the little piece of lead they get at the center of an "x" between the eyes and ears however. If I can keep this up at this rate, maybe I will have some corn leftover at Christmas to give to my folks to feed their laying hens. Time to go fertilize a few more apple trees.

Sometimes, not spending enough time and ammo on the range can cost you. I lost a couple of chops on a doe last year, when my $ 4.00 slug struck above rather than below the spine as I had intended. That also resulted in my needing to "waste" a second finishing shot, as well as a few seconds of extra suffering for that doe. Looking back, I would have liked to have used a couple more of those $ 4.00 slugs on the range, to dial that gun in right where I wanted it. At the time I sighted it in and saw that it was high, I thought I could just compensate by aiming low. Unfortunately, things are a lot different when the "target" is breathing. I had not killed a doe on our farm in a number of years and suffered from a little "doe fever". Most of us learn from our mistakes and move on, hopefully not making the same one again. It would be cool if more of us could learn from the mistakes of others. This site can be a good tool for that. It is too bad that more folks don't have the courage to share their mistakes here. One thing there seems to be plenty of here, is folks who like to come down on others for making mistakes. You don't have to look beyond this thread to see some of that. Those "attackers" are the ones I feel most sorry for, because all those attacks accomplish is to make a documented public spectacle out of their own insecurity. Bible reading and Jesus Christ can cure that problem. I don't know of anything else that can.

We put in at Olcott and trolled for 45 minutes in 104 -99 ft. The graph lit up as we headed west towards Wilson and we hooked into a 18 pound screamer that took about 15 minutes to land on 14 pound test. It hit the rod with a bucktail fly that I had recently tied, behind a small silver doger. We did not have enough time to set back up so that was it. I would say it is on full-bore right now. We will have to try and get out on a non-work day over the upcoming Labor day weekend. I took two big slab fillets off that one to vacuum seal and try smoking this winter.

I would not mind seeing all the statues of the Civil war loosers be taken off their pedestals and replaced with ones of Martin Luther King JR. As a Christian pastor, his view on homosexuality was the correct one and was entirely consistent with Biblical teachings. Certainly those on the far left would be none to happy about that but who cares ?

I see the same thing every year in Western NY. It starts around November 5 and tapers off by November 12. I don't think the weather affects it at all. The best thing that has happened to NY state deer hunting in my lifetime is the legalization of the crossbow during that week.

Venison stuffed peppers and zuccini with a Genesee Scotch Ale on the side. My wife hit it out of the park with that one. Meal of the year for me so far.

I think the Durham statue went up in 1924, and I imagine that there have complaints (especially from blacks), no matter who was in power, ever since then. The latest numbers I have seen indicate that 75 % of Americans currently identify themselves as Christians. That means that it will be a long time before we need to worry about threats to the Crosses. The best move Trump has made so far is the appointment of a Conservative Christian Supreme Court Justice. Hopefully he gets a few more good picks like that over the next 7 years, and Pence (that was another great pick) even more in the 8 years after that. That would insure that our Crosses can stay up for a long time. That is great for me. The one in the photo above is the one that I looked at right before putting a bolt thru the heart of my first Crossbow buck. I am not sure if I would have made that shot without it. I do know that I have never killed a deer without His help, and we have been eating very good for many years. The venison stuffed peppers my that wife just made for dinner, with a Genesee scotch ale on the side, was to die for.

There are loons on the far right also. The middle is where it is at.

The wise thing to do would be to remove all such statues from public places with dignity and care and put them in private places or museums. Clearly, wisdom is lacking. I blame the smart-phone for the recent steep escalation in the loss of wisdom. The radio started it, the TV made it worse, the computer worse yet, but the smart phone has really put it in high gear.

That looks like a good-eating sized one there. We are going to try and get out for a few hours in the morning tomorrow, as long as the waves are down. We had to go with the backup plan of bass fishing the last two weekends because the weather did not cooperate out on the big lake.

The coon population seems to be very high around our place. Last year I did not note any damage on my field corn plots until Labor day weekend, but Friday night, they hit a couple young developing ears on my back plot. I hit them back last night with (4) box traps and two dog-proofs. The two box traps that I set on the West side of each plot contained adult coons this morning (a male and a female). I thought it was odd, because last year I caught most of them on the East side of the plots. I had (4) traps on the East side and only those (2) on the West. They should make for some good fresh fertilizer for some ailing apple trees up front where I burried the carcasses (per NY state DEC advice). I will probably keep hitting them with all I got every day until Labor day. After that, it will be just on weekends, until I get thru one with nothing in the traps. It is good to take them out early because every coon removed now saves several bushels of corn for the deer (or my folks egg-chickens if there is any leftover after late ML season). I used to think that the turkeys were the culprits, but they don't bother the corn unless the coons knock it down first. There also seems to be an abundance of turkeys around here this year. Local trappers on each side of us hit the coyotes real hard last season. That is probably why there are a lot more coons and turkeys around.

We still have about (2) deer left in the freezer from 5-1/2 but are hitting it hard now to provide additional incentive. My wife is making stuffed peppers tonight. I gave my brother in law three quart freezer packages of grind a couple weeks ago. I did not expect anything in return, but he made us up a bunch of venison/beef jerky (he claims that 50:50 is the perfect ratio). Even better, he "magically" came up with a bunch of leftover RR corn for next years plots. I was thinking that I was going to have to shuck some of this years off the cobs in order to have enough "free seed" for next year. The best thing about the vacuum sealer is that it keeps the venison tasting fresh for several years if need be. I am going to try and be a little more selective with my buck tags this year, so I can get in on the late season ML action down at my buddies camp. They have been trying to get me there for years.

I try and read from the Bible every day. That is the manual that clearly explains how to win the ancient battle of good vs evil. It remains the only book that I have ever read that only contains "the truth". I have also read a ton of WW II "non-fiction", but the Civil War is my latest interest. I picked up a thick volume on Grant, while we were down in VA this summer, but I have not read it yet. I just started "Marching Through Georgia", which is all about Sherman's campaign. Unfortunately, reading time is tight around now, until after Christmas. My reading schedule opens up considerably at that time.

What it was at first was the latest flareup of the age old struggle of Good vs Evil. That struggle started with Cain and Abel and will not stop until the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Civil War even had many instances of "brother vs brother". Slavery eventually came into play, along with the treatment of prisoners, as easily verifiable facts. Those made it simple for us, who came later, to identify what side was good and what side was evil. Personally, I am glad to see those statues coming down. What is your opinion on that ?

Wow, that was interesting. It looks like more "Fake News" to me. I see why the author did not put his/her name on it. Slavery was The primary issue and The main cause of the Civil war. One simple truth that determines the outcome of all wars is that the side God backs has never and will never loose. Even if you take slavery out of the equation, you don't have to do much research to see that the South treated Northern prisoners of war far worse than the North treated Southern prisoners. Should it be a mystery which side God supported ? I wonder what the anonymous author would have to say about that ? That is not the first time I have heard the Civil war referred to as "The War of Northern Aggression" and I am sure it won't be the last. A far better name would be "The War of Southern Stupidity". It was an ugly war that cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Both sides made plenty of mistakes. The North had a bunch of clowns in leadership positions at the beginning. Fortunately, who is in charge at the beginning is far less important than who is at the end. No matter how much you shake the milk, the cream always rises to the top. Grant and Sherman were the cream of the northern crop. These are the generals who's statues should be displayed in public for all to see. The loosers should be housed in museums where folks would not have to look at them if they don't want to. I am white, but if I were black, I would be offended if I had to walk past a Statue of massa Robert every day on my way to work. I am glad we finally have a President with the stones to do something about it. Lincoln freed the black slaves, Eisenhower desegregated the military, and Trump is presiding over the removal of the "eyesores". What do these three Presidents have in common and what have the Democrats done for blacks in America ? What really amazes me about all this is how people can't see how history keeps repeating itself, and how they keep making the same mistakes. All wars begin and are lost due to the stupidity of the Evil (loosing side). Remember the Alamo and Pearl Harbor ? How about operation Barbarossa ? Lincoln may have baited the Rebs a little when he announced the schedule of the resupply fleet to Ft Sumter, but the Rebs were dumb enough to take the first shot.

I finished the winter wheat / white clover plots at my place today. I gave up on waiting for my nephew with some soybeans to mix in. One spot was a little on the wet side when I planted and the cultipacker was not cleaning very well. The other spot was just right. I made it over to my folks place for lunch (17 mi away), and the wheat I planted there last Sunday was sprouted and up about 3 inches. I was happy to see that because what I planted here today was from the same batch of old leftover seed. Hopefully it will sprout as good here as it did there. I have never planted oats late like this. When we planted them for cattle feed it was always early, before the corn. I have heard that deer like them better than wheat, which I know they like better than rye, having used lots of each. If we get an early frost, I don't know that I would expect too much action during gun season from oats. They might do ok during archery season though.

I can't help but to feel a little guilty with the picture perfect weather we are having at home in WNY right now. I should have my last food plots finished within the next couple hours. It does sound like Harvey quickly fizzled out to a category 1 after it struck land however, so it sounds like some prayers have been answered. No doubt they could use more for all the cleanup work, so let's keep it up.

That is definitely something the OP should consider, and the frame weight of those smaller models he mentioned in the beginning may come up lacking. A 3032e Deere, or similar sized Kubota, with R1 tires and weighted rears would do a lot better. I agree on the importance of added weight to the rear tires on any tractor with a front loader. Fluid is the least expensive way to do it initially, but there are a few long-term advantages to bolt-on rear wheel weights. There is going to be a bit more risk of a puncture with R1 tires (well worth taking compared to the horrible soft-ground traction of R4 tires), and those punctures will be easier to repair if there is not fluid in the tires.

To get a rough idea of the size tractor, I would figure on at least one hp per each acre of land you will be working on. In a new tractor, something like a John Deere 3032e would get you there. That would handle a 5 ft rotary mower, 5 ft front loader, and a 6 ft disk. As others have already mentioned, steer clear of those R4 (industrial) tires that are standard with most compact utility tractors. They become slicks with just one revolution in wet ground. They may have better puncture resistance, but that is a small consideration compared to traction on a foodplotting tractor. R1 (agricultural) tires are harder to find, but they will allow you to utilize all of your tractor's traction potential on soft ground.

Prayers sent.

I will probably wait until mid-week for planting to give my nephew a little longer to come up with the soybeans he has been promising me. I like to add some to my late-summer wheat/clover mix because they are like candy to deer when they sprout and get them using the plots early. That has been much more effective on deer for me than spring-planting. They don't go anywhere near yellowing bean pods during archery season. I suppose they are quite bitter at that stage.

The corn is looking good this year for sure. There is a lot less of it close by me than there was last year. That probably means that more coons will soon head for mine, and I will need to trap more of them, so that it lasts thru ML season. With all the rain we had this year, the corn that I planted on well-drained ground is looking the best it ever has (probably close to 200 bu/acre yield). That on the low ground is not looking so hot (maybe 50 - 75 bu/acre). A reversal of that during last years drought, when the low stuff did about 100 bu/acre and the well-drained stuff about 25 bu/acre.

This is the first time I have seen that all summer. It looks like my ground might dry up enough to get in a couple more winter wheat / white clover plots in time to see some decent growth by archery season.