Down the road from Paradise

Howboutthemdawgs

5 year old buck +
I really enjoy watching everyone transform their properties. I feel like it is a very noble calling to take a piece of land, however big or small, and make it the best you possibly can. It’s always been a dream ever since I first started hunted to put my stamp on a piece of property. Fortunately January of last year I purchased 250 acres in western Kentucky. It is close to where John Prines’ famous song Paradise was about so I figured Down the Road From Paradise was a fitting title for this thread.
I feel like I’ve (we’ve, dad and buddy have been huge helps) come a very long way in a year and half but there is a ton more to do but that’s the beauty of it. It’s a lifetime of work that is so enjoyable and rewarding. The part i didnt love was working on the cabin that was part of the property. Since I don’t live too close to the property I needed to make this livable. The previous owner had a lake place down the road so he didn’t necessarily have to make it a second home.
Step 1 was to give it running water. This is an off the grid set up (generator) where he brought in water. That wasn’t gonna fly! 8BFAE5DB-D72C-46BA-946D-55D2C6137CCD.jpeg
Thankfully buddy has a skid steer with a trencher. So me, him and dad carved out a weekend in February and ran 1800’ of water line. Kill me before I do this again! But it was an absolute game changer for this property.
 
Should clarify that was last February, so it was right away. Step 2 was the cabin.
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It looked cool but unfortunately it wasn’t well maintained and the faux log siding was rotten all over. As I was pulling a vine off the side one day i poked a hole clear to the osb inside. That was it for me. I hate bugs period and damn sure hate bugs inside my house! I used my construction contacts and put a new siding, gutter and column package on. Very happy with how it turned out.
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Next step was inside. Still a work a progress but progress has been made. We gutted it for the most part. Wife got busy painting, dad and I installed a shower as it didn’t have one which was a giant no no! Installed and electric hot water heater. Gutted the loft which had four beds in it and just put my bed up there. I ain’t having 4 people hunt with me and this is a way to make good and well that doesn’t happen!
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Another project was cleaning out the shop. I have a 30’x40’ red iron building. It was cluttered with 20 years worth of stuff that I didn’t want or need. It was two full days and 3-4 truck and trailer loads to the dump to clean out and organize. Still not perfect but way better.
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Congrats! Like the buildings, they are a good head start on being able to spend time there. You can set-up a hoist in that red iron building.
 
In between working on the cabin I was able to begin the work I really want to do. My property is typical of the region in some areas and atypical in others. I have the standard closed canopy forest over a large portion but the middle of my land is an old cattle pasture that was let to go wild about 30 years ago best I can tell. It’s the part that gives me the most heartburn because it’s the center of my land and it’s filled with invasives and frankly low quality habitat. It’s decent cover I suppose but I’m working to turn it into early successional growth through chainsaw, herbicide and buddies skid steer the few times we can get it there. I have declared jihad on autumn olive!
The closed canopy isn’t getting a break either. Doing a decent amount of tsi in there. Fire is next in line for management. We are working on breaks currently and dropping cedars and other undesirables to put fuel on the ground.
I’m fairly active with my food plot so far. I was handed a pretty “crappy” canvas when it came food plots. Former owner was a great guy but he was on up in years and his idea of management was a bush hog, keeping the fescue at bay. I have been working to eradicate the fescue and expand some of the plots and let some other areas go back fallow. Currently I have 2 plots in ladino, wheat and rye that I’m letting dye out on its own. One plot exclusively in joint vetch and about 5 acres in beans I drilled two saturdays ago and top seeded vetch as an insurance policy. First time for that so between my own shortcoming on farming and deer pressure we shall see, though from my cameras it appears I’m getting good growth.
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Very cool looking property.would like to see some pictures of the old pastures and woods.
 
Looks great!
 
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
 
Amazing work you've done there. The place looks fantastic. How's the wildlife there these days?
 
Amazing work you've done there. The place looks fantastic. How's the wildlife there these days?

Thank you for the kind words and that will bring me to the next phase. Despite what every hunter from Georgia believes, there is not a Booner in every ag field in western kentucky! My property is living proof. I started running cameras the December before I closed on the property and have had them running continuously since. That first abbreviated year this is the biggest buck I had on camera. The pic makes him look bigger, he was probably 115” 54BCA41E-2CB8-4BA9-AF9A-E6480E853E15.jpeg

So after last spring, I was able to get a fuller representation of what the population held. I wasn’t blown away by any means but I also wasn’t depressed. I didn’t have any I considered shooters. Here are some of my better deer, a couple were hit and runs, never to be seen again and three in particular were there almost daily. One in particular I named Cal because he would show up every day like Cal Ripken!
This is tall boy. I had him in bow range twice but he was getting a pass.
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Another regular
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Cal
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couple randoms
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It looks good!
Really like the name.
 
Great job so far. Keep the updates coming. I enjoy watching them.
 
Some updates-
Tried beans this spring. Failure, well they came up but the deer mowed them down. Broadcast vetch as an insurance plan. Huge relief. Came up nicely after about a month it and since then the deer have been hammering it. Had to burn down some plots cause the grasses had to be controlled. They are sitting nuked right now. Planting next weekend. Wheat, crimson, ladino, red clovers and chicory are going in about 10 acres total.

Posted in another section but I bought a skid steer last week. Super pumped about the possibilities with this.
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Have two pretty good deer showing up regularly. A big 9 that I had consistently last year. Posted in one of the posts above. Named Cal because he shows up everyday like Cal Ripken. Second is a 10 that I named George.

George
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Cal
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Good weekend...got 11 plots planted. All pretty much the same, awnless wheat, crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, ladino clover and chicory. Had some weed issues as I’ve detailed so I sprayed twice this summer (1 or 2, 3 times) and then disked, packed, broadcast and packed most of them. Was all two guys could handle for a long weekend! Did broadcast into 2 of my plots that have a great stand of vetch and clover going strong.

On a side I bought the tractor supply packer. Really nice piece of equipment. Contacted everything attachments earlier in the month and they said at least a month out and seemed genuinely disinterested in hearing from me so I went elsewhere! D55D050A-02A8-4A34-89B8-B3E36F85411E.jpeg
 
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Top plot is full of vetch and clover. Broadcast into it. Two guys were chilling in there Friday before we came in like a wrecking ball!

Bottom is a new plot I made. Was head high with some kind of grass. I know there was Johnson grass but the bulk was something else. Almost like some kind of sorghum maybe the old owner played! Beast to get rid of.
 
Next step was inside. Still a work a progress but progress has been made. We gutted it for the most part. Wife got busy painting, dad and I installed a shower as it didn’t have one which was a giant no no! Installed and electric hot water heater. Gutted the loft which had four beds in it and just put my bed up there. I ain’t having 4 people hunt with me and this is a way to make good and well that doesn’t happen!
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Great progress bud! There is nothing more that makes my soul smile than seeing people succeeding and happy in life!
Keep us posted as you progress!
 
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