A few habitat pics I thought you might enjoy

[Bowsnbucks]

Congrats Native!! Real nice buck. Looks like you have a lot of good genetics hanging around your place & surrounding properties. Next year ought to be another good year. Good luck to your son if he gets out in late MZ season. Happy Thanksgiving to you and entire family!!

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Great buck Steve! Always nice to get a non resident shooter! Did your son kill anything?

 

[Native Hunter]

Great buck Steve! Always nice to get a non resident shooter! Did your son kill anything?

Thanks Jordan. My son only got to hunt one day this year due to something unexpected that came up at his workplace. If we have any good pattern on a decent buck in the late muzzleloader season, he might hunt a day or two then.

 

[Triple C]

Congrats Steve on another fine buck! Always a joy to follow along on your slice of KY heaven.

 

[SWIFFY]

Wow thats wonderful Native! Congrats! Looks like you have a great pool for next year too. With any luck maybe your big guy will show up once again.

Proof of great land and deer management. Great to see it pay off!

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I really appreciate that.

Our Fall turkey shotgun season is in right now, but I'm just not in the mood to hunt for some reason. Instead, I've been out doing habitat work the last few days. The pic below is from a camera on my blind, and all of these turkeys are in range.

But just because I'm not hunting them, that doesn't mean they are safe.

One of the things I've been doing is transplanting shrubs. Some of these will go back in downed trees and briers for protection - others will go in individual cages for protection - and others will go into a fenced circle (shown below) that is 32 feet diameter.

This is the fenced enclosure made with a 100 feet roll of welded wire that will eventually be taken up and moved to another spot once the shrubs inside mature.

I'm also make some hinged cut pathways. I like to do this to create edge and allow sunlight in to areas that have low value trees like poplar. As the regeneration starts taking place, I will go in once or twice a year and whack undesirables so that desirable plants will be able to thrive.

Several of my sawtooth oaks are getting quite large. It's amazing how fast they grow and produce acorns.

This is a deer I'm happy to see make it through gun season. He is already a good deer and might be even better next year.

Lots of rain this week and some commitments, but Good Lord willing I will be back at it soon. Take care

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks for the pics and the update, Native!! That hinged area will get to be a nice thick bedding area, I'll bet. Turkeys a-plenty and good bucks left, too. You're doing something right!!!

Your hinging reminds me ...... we ought to hinge some trees at camp too.

 

[Native Hunter]

A big project for me - I'm planting (and promoting volunteer) Shrub plots (with a few trees too) within the storm debris for our tornado this spring. I'm leaving the dead pine trees laying and going back into them and planting shrubs. My hope is that the debris will protect the shrubs long enough for them to build good root systems. Then, when the debris rots, deer will browse the shrubs but not destroy them due to them being well established.

Some are coming up volunteer, and others I am planting. I'm also whacking anything undesirable that comes up to compete with the shrubs. When this is finished, I hope to have some incredible browse places - much better than it was with the pines.

Some of the shrubs/species include = Arrowwood Viburnum, blackberry, Grey Dogwood, Red Osier Dogwood, Hazelnut, Alder, mulberry, Allegheny Chinkapin, Chestnut, Winterberry, etc.

The most fun will be KILLING stone cold dead any sweetgums that come up. Joy to the world.

 

[Fair oak]

Brush piles and downed trees really do help the shrubs. I have a lot of ROD spread throughout my property but the best and biggest shrubs by far are in and around old logging piles where the crew piled the tops.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Brush piles and downed trees really do help the shrubs

Yep - ^^^^ We've had great luck with brush piles / downed trees and tree tops at camp. Just enough protection to keep deer off the young plants until they get a good foothold. I think you'll have good luck.

 

[Native Hunter]

The last few days have been extremely sad and hard ones for me. My mother went into anaphylactic shock, had multiple strokes and eventually passed away from an antibiotic shot (Rocephin) they gave her to treat a simple urinary tract infection. I just wanted to let those who follow my thread know about this since it had been a while since I have posted. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers. It may be a while, but I hope to get back closer to normal at some point in the future. Take Care.....

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The last few days have been extremely sad and hard ones for me. My mother went into anaphylactic shock, had multiple strokes and eventually passed away from an antibiotic shot (Rocephin) they gave her to treat a simple urinary tract infection. I just wanted to let those who follow my thread know about this since it had been a while since I have posted. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers. It may be a while, but I hope to get back closer to normal at some point in the future. Take Care.....

Man i am so very sorry. You are in my thoughts

 

[blueKYstream]

That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear your mother passed. You're in my thoughts and prayers!

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Very sry to hear this Steve. Prayers for you and your family.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

[BenAllgood]

Really sorry you're going through this Steve. Mothers play such a formative role in who we are.

 

[Fair oak]

So very sorry for your loss. Thoughts and prayers for you and family.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

So sorry Steve. Prayers sent for you a yours. Knowing she raised a man like you one can have confidence she is in old glory with the king of kings!

 

[Turkey Creek]

So sorry to hear about your Mothers passing. I am sure you will have an idea or two to represent her memory in a habitat project or two.

 

[Bill]

Very sorry to hear this. Your family and especially your father will be in our prayers.

 

[fishin coyote]

Very sorry to hear, may the lord comfort you and your family