Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Great Thread Big Bend. Love the land and all of your pictures.
My Florida Destiny
- Thread starter bigbendmarine
- Start date
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Would have to put some sort of elevated blind at it, or shoot through inside yard fence REAL carefully!
HONESTLY, every year have no shortage walk within ROCK THROWING DISTANCE of my daughter's playhouse -- and all joking aside, Bill, not far from the pool either! Deer especially enjoy the area when two wild cherries that sit against my inside yard fence are dropping sugary treats. And lest anyone wonder what the small yellow donut looking things are in the picture, that's curled hose pipe that makes up my food plot kick-start irrigation system.
Playhouse has an upper floor, though a bit cramped for a 6' 3" guy, and more than once have used it outside hunting season to hide in and take photos of deer and other critters.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Few photo captures from this spring for those who enjoy the deep south habitat shares...
First is of a few trees that border my property and are reminders of a time when they replaced cotton as a plantation crop in our area -- the tung tree. In early spring before they leaf out from a distance they resemble dogwoods a bit.
Viewed up close, the tung tree flowers are quite pretty / tropical / exotic looking.
Early bloomers, the trees are now not only fully leafed out but have nuts on them approaching the size of baseballs. Pressed when ripe they provide tung oil, an awesome furniture finishing oil that was very popular in the mid 1900s.
Another earlier spring find that made me happy -- extremely fragrant wisteria.
Earliest of our clover to bloom is dixie crimson.
As the crimson begins to fade, patches of arrowleaf begin to thrive.
Now have passion fruit flowering across my place. It does a bit too well here, running over any area it can but it's foliage feeds several butterfly larvae including thousands upon thousands of Gulf Fritillary butterflies that eventually fill our air, and deer and other wildlife do eat the fruit at our place.
Spot with wrens abruzzi rye and clover near our house
Live oaks in front of our home... the strength they have in holding horizontal branch mass / weight never ceases to amaze me. When cut with a chain saw, the twisted grain helps one understand how at least a bit of that strength is attained.
First is of a few trees that border my property and are reminders of a time when they replaced cotton as a plantation crop in our area -- the tung tree. In early spring before they leaf out from a distance they resemble dogwoods a bit.
Viewed up close, the tung tree flowers are quite pretty / tropical / exotic looking.
Early bloomers, the trees are now not only fully leafed out but have nuts on them approaching the size of baseballs. Pressed when ripe they provide tung oil, an awesome furniture finishing oil that was very popular in the mid 1900s.
Another earlier spring find that made me happy -- extremely fragrant wisteria.
Earliest of our clover to bloom is dixie crimson.
As the crimson begins to fade, patches of arrowleaf begin to thrive.
Now have passion fruit flowering across my place. It does a bit too well here, running over any area it can but it's foliage feeds several butterfly larvae including thousands upon thousands of Gulf Fritillary butterflies that eventually fill our air, and deer and other wildlife do eat the fruit at our place.
Spot with wrens abruzzi rye and clover near our house
Live oaks in front of our home... the strength they have in holding horizontal branch mass / weight never ceases to amaze me. When cut with a chain saw, the twisted grain helps one understand how at least a bit of that strength is attained.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Picture of the first round of bluebird nesting on our place. We're already on round 3 now (one of four boxes used early, three boxes the next round, and now all 4 holding eggs and / or hatchlings).
Increasing acreage with clover made for quite a few more of these being spotted this spring.
And not sure how much my work can be attributed to helping them, but had an explosion of these this year... rarely got them on game cameras in the past, and now they're triggering many of my cameras every night. Pretty sure islands of branches I piled up after Hurricanes Hermine and Irma hit us have made them happy having cover to hide in.
Have a nesting pair of these this year... lots of constant crying from both the adults and hatchlings, but I enjoy hearing them and it definitely helps make it easy to spot them / take pictures of them.
Not a great picture quality wise, but does capture one of my favorite activities... feeding kite birds fleeing grasshoppers when cutting fields. They circle above like a squadron of military jets and take turns doing incredible acrobatic dives to grab grasshoppers that show themselves flying from the tractor.
Increasing acreage with clover made for quite a few more of these being spotted this spring.
And not sure how much my work can be attributed to helping them, but had an explosion of these this year... rarely got them on game cameras in the past, and now they're triggering many of my cameras every night. Pretty sure islands of branches I piled up after Hurricanes Hermine and Irma hit us have made them happy having cover to hide in.
Have a nesting pair of these this year... lots of constant crying from both the adults and hatchlings, but I enjoy hearing them and it definitely helps make it easy to spot them / take pictures of them.
Not a great picture quality wise, but does capture one of my favorite activities... feeding kite birds fleeing grasshoppers when cutting fields. They circle above like a squadron of military jets and take turns doing incredible acrobatic dives to grab grasshoppers that show themselves flying from the tractor.
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bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Don't get nearly the time to spend at my pond as I wish I could, but did sneak down this past week after a long day's work. Actually DID apply for the Florida gator tag lottery this year and got picked for a tag, so hopefully in August when season opens I'll be able to harvest my first. The one in the picture might very well be my target as it likes hiding under my dock and isn't as big on personal space as it would be if wise.
Past few years I've noticed that my run-ins with water moccasins have always been on drier ground a bit away from the pond, and thought is strange that I almost never see them in the pond. Got hold of a snake lure to try out on the pond and think I may have figured out why they don't favor the water more...
Was gifted a beautiful sunset by the Master Painter before heading back to the house. Makes me wish I could watch every single one from the same vantage point.
Also got to appreciate small project I took on earlier this spring putting motion-triggered solar lights along the walkway of our dock.
Past few years I've noticed that my run-ins with water moccasins have always been on drier ground a bit away from the pond, and thought is strange that I almost never see them in the pond. Got hold of a snake lure to try out on the pond and think I may have figured out why they don't favor the water more...
Was gifted a beautiful sunset by the Master Painter before heading back to the house. Makes me wish I could watch every single one from the same vantage point.
Also got to appreciate small project I took on earlier this spring putting motion-triggered solar lights along the walkway of our dock.
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bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Last but not least, big project underway (and admittedly not nearly as cheap as the solar light project I did on my own)... having a Morton building put up on our place.
Dirt work just started a week or two ago and this morning as I left for work they were lifting the first side up.
As I find time may try to share some additional photos of the build project.
Dirt work just started a week or two ago and this morning as I left for work they were lifting the first side up.
As I find time may try to share some additional photos of the build project.
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bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Bill, can't help but ask... get tired of holding breath with storms? We're somewhat lucky up our way (up from Ft. Myers area) in that it's somewhat a challenge for storms to hit us too hard... we're 16 miles inland with hills and trees to buffer us a bit, if they come at us over the peninsula they weaken, and if they don't go over the peninsula they have to hook in the gulf back towards us and our shallow waters don't feed them quite as well as South Florida's deeper waters.
On the Fort Myers area note, family had an OLD fishing shack on North Captiva when I was growing up... Charlie destroyed it and my dad ended up selling the lot after having to have the house demolished / site completely cleaned up.
Before Charlie...
After Charlie...
On the Fort Myers area note, family had an OLD fishing shack on North Captiva when I was growing up... Charlie destroyed it and my dad ended up selling the lot after having to have the house demolished / site completely cleaned up.
Before Charlie...
After Charlie...
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
And Bill, as for seeking a farm, don't know how deep your pockets are but if they're FAR deeper than my own... I know a place. Giving away bit of tongue-in-cheek meaning behind my thread title as well, as my place used to be part of the parcel back when it was an antebellum cotton plantation.
http://www.wrightbroker.com/2016/09/el-destino-plantation-2/
http://www.wrightbroker.com/2016/09/el-destino-plantation-2/
Bill
Administrator
N. Captiva is nice...
Sorry about the cabin.
Not worried about the storms, wasn't really to worried when we were supposed to get that direct hit last fall. The lot is 3/4 of the value in the place and rebuilding would let us change some things anyway. Just to many irons in the fire when it comes to real estate and taking care of homes is getting old. That postage stamp lot in Florida would convert into several hundred acres in MO and I only have to fix stuff if and when I want to. My brother has a big place two blocks from our Florida house with a 37 foot pursuit out front. We'll just visit him.
This is the view a block from my new house. The wife and I can bike to breakfast and have this view.
I won't spend many days there but I see a few sunsets with a surf rod in my future.
That place you posted is awesome! I'll never have to work another hard day I don't choose to, but that's not my pond :)
Sorry about the cabin.
Not worried about the storms, wasn't really to worried when we were supposed to get that direct hit last fall. The lot is 3/4 of the value in the place and rebuilding would let us change some things anyway. Just to many irons in the fire when it comes to real estate and taking care of homes is getting old. That postage stamp lot in Florida would convert into several hundred acres in MO and I only have to fix stuff if and when I want to. My brother has a big place two blocks from our Florida house with a 37 foot pursuit out front. We'll just visit him.
This is the view a block from my new house. The wife and I can bike to breakfast and have this view.
I won't spend many days there but I see a few sunsets with a surf rod in my future.
That place you posted is awesome! I'll never have to work another hard day I don't choose to, but that's not my pond :)
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Bill, seeing as how you're familiar with the Captiva area you'll probably appreciate how much it has changed with the passage of time. When my dad found the shack back in the 70s the island was largely protected against development as a bird sanctuary, had not a lick of power running to it, and the only structures on it were a half-dozen or so old shacks. My Dad went in halfers with another friend and they got it for a whopping total of $30k / only cost each of them $15k. We ran an ANCIENT diesel generator for bare bones power before ultimately rigging up a couple of solar panels hooked to deep cell batteries to give us just enough juice to run an overhead fan or two and shower with water run through a passive solar water heater.
For many of my boyhood years, when we would go down there were so few people there we might not even see anyone else for a week or two and would swim in our underwear without the least bit of concern being seen.
By the time Charlie hit much of the bird sanctuary status had been lifted, power was run to the island (we never got it), our shack was surrounded by houses worth 10 to 30 times more, and our lot actually became more valuable AFTER the shack was destroyed! If only the wife and I hadn't been all the way up in North FL with good (and cheaper) coastal properties just sixteen miles from our home I would have fought hard to rebuild something on the vacant lot, but just couldn't see tackling something six hours away while working so hard and on such an ambitious scale to renovate the "Florida Destiny" home we'd just purchased. Don't pine too much over losing it, but sure have some wonderful boyhood memories from basically camping out weeks at a time on the island.
And on the note of your having a brother with a 37' pursuit, I envy you as being a smart, SMART man! Always tell friends if you're wise you find someone else with a boat who's happy to take you out. I've got a far more humble 22' panga, but no shortage of smarter friends who are happy to let me do the work of putting them on fish, only requiring them to basically show up, whereas I'm generally up past midnight the evening before we go doing boat prep work and then up past dark after returning doing boat clean up chores. Say it again for anyone else who might read this... get tempted to buy a boat, find a friend with one instead!!!
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bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Update on the Morton build, have to give them credit for not playing around. Making fair progress despite getting walloped almost daily by pop-up summer coastal squalls.
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Bill
Administrator
Actually selling was the right move. In season it would take you 2 hours to drive from the Sanibel bridge to N Captiva. I can actually get there faster from the Cape by boat.
I’ve got a 22’ scout Center Console. “Bought used”. Certain times fishing is good but to really get on fish in that area you have to go further than I’m willing to with 22’.
Way to many people fishing inshore these days.
We may return to FL someday. If so it will be North or Pan handle. I like warm but it’s the Sahara down there most of the time.
I’ve got a 22’ scout Center Console. “Bought used”. Certain times fishing is good but to really get on fish in that area you have to go further than I’m willing to with 22’.
Way to many people fishing inshore these days.
We may return to FL someday. If so it will be North or Pan handle. I like warm but it’s the Sahara down there most of the time.
davidhelmly
5 year old buck +
Absolutely beautiful pictures BBM, thank you for taking the time to share!!
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Right smack dab in the middle of a time I look forward to each year... have a few wild cherry trees growing just outside our fenced yard that never fail to draw in deer like magnets when they're dropping fruit. Dependably draw deer out into the open every year during daylight hours, though not surprisingly junior bucks are less shy about coming out than the bigger boys I'll see during rut.
Draw of the tiny sweet cherries helped verify at least one set of twin fawns have been delivered and are doing quite well thus far in the game.
Young buck I aptly named "Split Ear" is obviously alive and well too, though definitely still in need of a year or two to grow on.
Also got a hit on a young buck with a cool kicker point... don't see them very often among our local population. Wish I could help him out with the ticks... downright awful this year. I try to be fairly disciplined putting permetherin on when I'm out working but just a couple of slip-ups have led me to pulling at least 3 or 4 attached off at day's end.
Biggest buck of the group that's visited thus far is this one... don't yet recognize him as one of the survivors from last year, but for the moment tempted to name / rename him "50 Cents" as he's got a half-dollar size patch of hair missing on his left rump.
Hard to tell exactly what his rack will look like once fully developed, but definitely bit more mass, brow tine height, and spread than the other junior bucks he's visiting with to chow down on the cherries.
Draw of the tiny sweet cherries helped verify at least one set of twin fawns have been delivered and are doing quite well thus far in the game.
Young buck I aptly named "Split Ear" is obviously alive and well too, though definitely still in need of a year or two to grow on.
Also got a hit on a young buck with a cool kicker point... don't see them very often among our local population. Wish I could help him out with the ticks... downright awful this year. I try to be fairly disciplined putting permetherin on when I'm out working but just a couple of slip-ups have led me to pulling at least 3 or 4 attached off at day's end.
Biggest buck of the group that's visited thus far is this one... don't yet recognize him as one of the survivors from last year, but for the moment tempted to name / rename him "50 Cents" as he's got a half-dollar size patch of hair missing on his left rump.
Hard to tell exactly what his rack will look like once fully developed, but definitely bit more mass, brow tine height, and spread than the other junior bucks he's visiting with to chow down on the cherries.
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
And just to give an idea how much of a draw the wild cherries are... hung the game camera up on the cherry tree on the afternoon of the 22nd. Just under 4 days later the camera had 1,400 ten second videos on it when I pulled the card this morning.
Semi-related note -- continue to be really happy with the Bushnell 24 MPs... so much so I've used them to replace 3 Moultries that died this spring as well as a couple of older Moultries that were still running strong but so low res I was itching to replace them. Know someone asked me about the battery life I was getting on the Bushnells a while back. Haven't taken the time to keep records, but with the camera on the cherry tree capturing shots nearly around the clock I plan on keeping a precise count so I can report back on what the final tally is video wise before I have to swap batteries.
Semi-related note -- continue to be really happy with the Bushnell 24 MPs... so much so I've used them to replace 3 Moultries that died this spring as well as a couple of older Moultries that were still running strong but so low res I was itching to replace them. Know someone asked me about the battery life I was getting on the Bushnells a while back. Haven't taken the time to keep records, but with the camera on the cherry tree capturing shots nearly around the clock I plan on keeping a precise count so I can report back on what the final tally is video wise before I have to swap batteries.
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