Everything posted by 686
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Managing property for wild game hunting
Regarding food plotting: After doing some exploratory digging to ascertain soil depth, I moldboard plowed the areas I wanted to plot. These were old pastures. Deep plowing isnāt a necessity, but I wanted to try it and learn some of the old ways. When my folks were under contract buying this place, I had taken some soil samples and sent in for analysis to see what theyād need amendment wise for fertility. Luckily, one ton of fertilizer from the local feed store fixed me up, so not a big hurdle. I had a fab shop build me a cultipacker and I assembled a get-r-dun all-in-one arrangement for planting: I like Turner Seed Fall Deer Mix, but Itās a little hard to get, so this year I just planted winter wheat, oats, cereal rye, and clover. I usually mix in fertilizer with my seed when planting 50-50 to dilute the seed and add a little kick every year. I usually plant in October. The deer really have taken to the plots. I havenāt done exclusion fencing around the plots in years past, but I will probably start in some areas going forward to help the plots get going before letting the deer in. These pics are from February a few years back. The winter-early spring nutrition supplied by plots is very helpful. Once the plots bolt in late spring would be a good time to turn cattle in on it, this is an April pic: The deer and turkeys use these plots a lot, itās nice to watch them graze on something you planted. We have two plots you can watch from the porch of the house. Iāll post on feeders next.
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Managing property for wild game hunting
This canāt be overstated.
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Managing property for wild game hunting
From what Iāve seen, both exemption paths are doable, it really just depends on the ecology of the tract and you want to do with the property. The way weāre managing our place, Iām confident we could have changed from Ag (cattle/grazing/hay production) to wildlife without much additional effort to satisfy wildlife requirements (maybe a few bird boxes and reveg with native grasses in lieu of Klein; etc.). The dilemma is messing with grass/cattle or not. If our place wasnāt so setup for cattle, we might have changed to wildlife, but weāve got some good sized grass pastures that are setup decently for grazing, and rotational grazing/getting the grass down will actually help forb production/antler growth for whitetail (per King ranch studies). Additionally, with beef prices the way they are, a low maintenance cow/calf operation can offset some expenses. If we didnāt have improved grass pastures with some cross fencing, plenty of stock tanks for water, a corral, etc.; weād have leaned toward wildlife a lot more.
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Managing property for wild game hunting
Iāll play. Weāre on 200 acres, low fence in Lampasas county. Our place was the original Storm ranch (as in Stormās hamburgers in burnet and lampasas). It was in serious disrepair when my folks bought it 6 years ago. My dad got with the county Ag extension office and weāve been under contract to remove cedars and reveg with Klein grass the last few years on about 100 acres. The Extension money barely pays for the diesel and some equipment maintenance but itās something. Weāve taken down over 10,000 cedars easily. Weāve used skid steers with a grapple bucket and a dozer mostly. My dad made his own custom root grubber from grader blade: On a kick ass day I can take down 500 cedars with this machine: The cedar was so thick in the back that I found a bus completely hidden in a thicket while tracking a deer. The previous owners hadnāt said anything about it, they might not have even known it was there. The hardest part of the clearing is burning. Weāve probably set over 100 burn piles off. The next season after we burn a pile Iāll spread the ash and plow and seed. The spot where this pile was is now a food plot: Weāre almost done with the āinitialā clearing. A ton more forage has sprung up in the areas where cedar was removed, and an old seasonal spring started flowing again. We have some useable soil in a few areas and Iāve been doing fall food plots for about 5 years. Iāll post more on food plots and wildlife impacts later.
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Merry Christmas assholes.
I think this is the most Christmas-y thing to ever happen at our house. This and a lump of coal I got a few years back are by far my favorite ornaments.
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See how many western characters you know
Is that Quiglyās special lady on the right side in front of Jedediah Nightlinger?
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Big body on the buck with the broken left beam
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
I had a good week in Colorado last week. Didnāt get an elk, but had a good time. Had a young bull almost run over us; stopped at about 20ā away as he was running on the trail we were on. We locked eyes and he wheeled around and was gone in less than 2 seconds.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Nice work! Is that a Sako?
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Itās really fun to see people finally āgetā hunting - awesome that he had such a great day too! Nice of you to let him hunt your spot and shoot a 10 point as well!
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Hunting the third elk rifle season in Colorado with a friend. Saw three bulls today but couldnāt get a shot on one. Rained a lot this afternoon, supposed to snow tomorrow.
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The Gun Ownerās thread
Thatās awesome! I had an opportunity to buy one of the original Mateba Autorevolvers about 15 years ago and I really regret not doing that.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
For it to be full 2020, he would need to push the feeder over, stomp on the mechanism, and then take a shit on it.
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RIP James Bond. Sean Connery dead at 90
RIP
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
The sway back and the belly make him look 5+ to me, but overall body frame seems small for that age. Tough one.
- 2020/2021 Hunting Thread
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The Gun Ownerās thread
Beautiful stuff! What action on the 6mm-06? Douglas heavy barrel?
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Over the years my dad has come upon 3 deer stuck in fences and still alive, and was able to free all of them without incident. I usually find a dead one every couple years at our place. Lost a decent 8 or 10 point a few years ago in a fence.
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The Gun Ownerās thread
What cartridge are you considering? Iām trying to resist a 257 Weatherby, 270 Weatherby, 6.5 Swede, and 6.5x284.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
That is one hell of a buck!
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
I basically had the same thing happen. I did at least have a couple thousand .22 and an ammo can of .45; but only about 100 rounds of 5.56.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
hunting in the hill country I would invariably hit a rock, so aluminum body broadheads were a one shot deal. I had better luck with steel body. If youāre in sand or soft dirt, itās a little easier on the wallet.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Itās been a few years since Iāve shot my bow, but when I was shooting more I shot Rage some, and they do some amazing things, but I did have blades get caught on something and ādeployā while sitting in my bow a few times. Luckily I caught it before drawing back on anything. I switched to slick trick fixed blades after that, but I think the mechanical companies have improved the blade retention devices since then. Are those Wasps aluminum or steel body?
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
To paraphrase a Hellboy quote: āIām not a very good shot, but these bullets have 4000 ft-lbs of kinetic energy...ā I donāt like long tracking jobs, and I like to feel confident out to longer range if the situation arises.
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2020/2021 Hunting Thread
Yeah, Iām coming up with a 20ā radius. ((8 x 16) / pi) / 2