Bigfoot 327

I'm not going to set foot in their stores unless I really need to take a dump! That's about all their going to get from me.

We've recorded 4+ inches of rain in the last 5 days here in West central Tompkins. Heavy rain is in the forecast for today, tonight and tomorrow. I should have planted rice in my food plot instead of clover! LOL!

Good to know!

My Dunstans have been a huge disappointment to me. I have just two, but I don't expect them to survive. They had nuts the first two years after I planted them, no nuts the last three years. I am pretty sure they have the blight...…..I treat the wounds with a dressing intended for pruning wounds and this year I applied a fungicide as an experiment. That won't be practical if the trees get bigger. I also have 9 sawtooth oaks that are doing well that I got through our Soil and Water group. They are 8 years old and haven't produced nuts yet, but they are growing as expected. They really thrive on full sun and heat. I have not bothered to fence them as deer are around them all Winter and have little or no interest in them (unlike my small apple trees that wouldn't have a prayer without the fencing).

Timber harvest and timber stand improvement. About 1300 trees were removed on 30 acres. Before the work, there was next to no deer browse as very little sunlight reached the forest floor. Two years later I have an explosion of second growth!

Since you're an expert it is not doubt silly of me to remind you that biologists have documented differences in beak depth between the sexes. This one way they determine sex- it also affects the appearance. I can see this forum is the wrong place to post observations or opinions. Sorry, I wasted your time.

This eagle is known to be a female from hundreds of hours of observation of it both on and off of it's nest. If you can't see the gray above it's eye, you need to get your bifocals checked

My source is a close friend that has an active nest in her neighborhood and takes pics of them almost every day. Females have light gray above their eyes, males have black. Look closely at the pictures in this thread and you will notice the difference!

That's a nice female. Do they nest in your area?

Perch and trout fishers are on the larger Finger Lakes all winter as the weather allows. I saw a person fishing last week when I was in Watkins Glen. The fishing can actually be quite good this time of year. PIA to winterize boat after each trip, but often worth the effort.

Update: we now have a couple of inches of snow.

I had a major timber stand improvement project on 30 acres which removed over 1,400 trees completed this Summer. I am pretty sure that the results will not be uniform, mostly a function of how much sunlight will reach the forest floor. I had two areas of Black Locusts which were totally cleared out. These have already started to regenerate, but it's 100% locust. I had no idea how much deer prefer locust. They treat it like candy until it's about 18 inches tall- then they don't touch it. I watched a doe and her fawns munch on the newly sprouted locust from my kitchen window this Summer day after day. I have other areas were trees were taken out to benefit "crop" trees and while it should help in the short term, eventually the canopy will close in and regeneration will suffer. I also have two areas that are quite open, I plan on planting and fencing red oaks, since I currently have zero regeneration of this species.

I live in 7R and we have zero snow.