How high does a blockaid need to be?

[Steve Bartylla]

BJE, I was just envisioning a regular gate. but the snow fence would work fine. Also, you sure can continue using that road for access to those plots. More than anything, the outside access is for hunting and swapping chips. If you feel you need to continue using the main access road for food plot work a couple times a year, absolutely no worries.

As you already know, others have pointed out and I'm sure I did in the write up or during our phone review, you aren't stopping deer from crossing along the blockades. What you're doing is just making it more of a pain, while offering easy crossings at the same time. Do that far more will use those easy crossings than if it's not a pain other places.

Also, by doing that hinge cut work, you're providing a ton more woody browse, jacking your overwinter nutrition levels through the roof, along with cutting how far deer can see in that area. If they want to check for does, you have to go the the other side, if the wind isn't working for the bucks. Additionally, they help to hide your activities from either side, making a great screen. So, those "blockades" serve a whole bunch of purposes.

All that said, don't feel that you have to race through all of that in a year or two. By picking away at it, particularly the hinge cut work, you are slowly and steadily increasing browse levels, as your food plots and the illusion of safety you are providing continues to draw more deer over the next few years.

Finally, as I told you in our review, I hope you realize that I was sincere in telling you that you can email me any ?s you have for, well, pretty much forever. I sure don't mind you tossing questions out here for others' input (there are a bunch of great resources here, as you well know). I just wanted to make sure you realized/remembered that and make sure you understood that I wasn't blowing smoke with the offer..

That said, I need to finish a book tomorrow, leaving Sunday AM and will be off grid for most of next week. So, if I don't get back to you right away during that stretch, you'll understand why.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Let's also get one thing straight mo. I really don't appreciate the shots about my wife. That's below the belt. U can defend your man crush for Steve, but leave my personal relationships out of it. I could say some things in response to wives, but like I said that's below the belt.

Your wife must be a saint, the shots, if you want to take them that way are straight about you dipper!;)

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Dipper, you are 100% correct. Those plans do look like a kindergartener did them. Hell, many kindergarteners are actually better artists than I am.

It's just taken literally forever for our web guys to finish their programming to allow me to stop embarrassing myself with these.


It still isn't there yet, but we're getting closer. When the programmers are finally done, BJ and all the client's I've done will have their plans converted to an interactive plan like above, on a their private web page, with each pin being clickable with instructions, along with a write-up on their ground and how-to videos. It should be done within the month.

P.S. That's not a real plan. It's a sample I did for an article and book

 

[homegrownbucks]

If you can make a 6 foot tall 8 foot wide blockade that would do it. That is tough to do, best blockade I have made is wooden snow fence with stuff tied down to it.

 

[dipper]

Your wife must be a saint, the shots, if you want to take them that way are straight about you dipper!;)

This is Comingfrom a guy who openly brags about going to jail like it's cool? Sorry bruh that hasn't been for since Johnny cash.
I'm really starting to get satisfaction out of u guys and your clique. Smith please just like me one time!!!

 

[tooln]

Steve
Once your programmers are done it looks like you'll have yourself one slick program.

 

[MoLandOwner]

This is Comingfrom a guy who openly brags about going to jail like it's cool? Sorry bruh that hasn't been for since Johnny cash.
I'm really starting to get satisfaction out of u guys and your clique. Smith please just like me one time!!!

Too Funny!

You have the personality of 3 neck tattoo's Dipper, in a few years you will be the guy in the nursing home sitting in a wheelchair, shitting his pants, staring at the empty bird cage, begging for someone to come in and talk to you......but no one will come!

I still like you dipper, personality and all!;)

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Steve
Once your programmers are done it looks like you'll have yourself one slick program.

Thanks. I'll be brutally honest. I'm beyond disgusted with the programmers and I can't see a way they're ever seeing another cent of my $ after this phase. I do think the program will be nice, but forget about every thing they do taking twice as long as it should. I can only dream of that scenario. When they say they can get something done in a week or two, it honestly takes a half a year, and wow do I wish I was exaggerating...And it sure isn't taking them that long because what they're doing is so complicated or they're doing such great work. It took them 3 weeks to add the exact same main menu on the top (you can't see it) that comes with the base program that they removed for a different phase back in. No BS. All they had to do was paste the exact same code back into the same spot they took it out of for the previous phase. To say it was a legit 10 min job would be an exaggeration, but they pretended it was some huge chore. What they don't realize is that I used to do this kind of stuff back when I had a real job. I understand their challenges and how long this type of stuff takes. I also get when they're spewing pure BS about something, and they do a tremendous amount of that. I'd never go with them again, even at 25% of what they're charging us.

Bet you never thought you'd have to listen to me toss a hissy fit when all you did was give me a compliment....thanks and sorry for the rant.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Thanks. I'll be brutally honest. I'm beyond disgusted with the programmers and I can't see a way they're ever seeing another cent of my $ after this phase. I do think the program will be nice, but forget about every thing they do taking twice as long as it should. I can only dream of that scenario. When they say they can get something done in a week or two, it honestly takes a half a year, and wow do I wish I was exaggerating...And it sure isn't taking them that long because what they're doing is so complicated or they're doing such great work. It took them 3 weeks to add the exact same main menu on the top (you can't see it) that comes with the base program that they removed for a different phase back in. No BS. All they had to do was paste the exact same code back into the same spot they took it out of for the previous phase. To say it was a legit 10 min job would be an exaggeration, but they pretended it was some huge chore. What they don't realize is that I used to do this kind of stuff back when I had a real job. I understand their challenges and how long this type of stuff takes. I also get when they're spewing pure BS about something, and they do a tremendous amount of that. I'd never go with them again, even at 25% of what they're charging us.

Bet you never thought you'd have to listen to me toss a hissy fit when all you did was give me a compliment....thanks and sorry for the rant.

You need to hire a 13 year old kid!

 

[wiscwhip]

Thanks. I'll be brutally honest. I'm beyond disgusted with the programmers and I can't see a way they're ever seeing another cent of my $ after this phase.

We have the same thing going on with some custom scheduling software we are having programmed for us. Our project development guy went up to their office one day while they were supposed to have a group of guys working on our software because we had brought up some issues we were having the day before and he found half of them were out back shooting baskets and the other half were in their development room playing around with some BS software that one of them had for controlling their toy quadcopter. Talk about miffed, our project guy flipped out on them and just about pull our business from them, but they got on it and they had a solution in about 15 minutes and he brought the update back with him on a flash drive to install the patch. It really seems like many developers now days like to think they are Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and they are just going to have an epiphany and the next big breakthrough is just going to pop into their heads while they are screwing off. Not likely to happen in most cases.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Wish I had, MO...Heck, I could have paid the 13 yr old's way through a tech degree in web site development before he even started and would have been time ahead.

WI, they aren't good enough to think they're Gates or Jobs. I'm 99.9% sure that they are actually contracting the work out as pieces to programmers from India. There wouldn't be a problem with that, except they pretend that they do it in house and that they are struggling with all these intricate programming issues.

If anyone has any experience with Computer Aided Design software, this is the exact same thing as writing user commands for drafting in AutoCAD, ESRI, Intergraph or any of those packages. The base program is developed by someone else and they're just doing macros to make it so the users doesn't have to set the line types, thicknesses and color. I mean, this is truly basic stuff.

 

[wiscwhip]

That is really all the developers are doing in our case as well Steve, plugging in and testing macros in a cloud based spreadsheet program to manipulate data. Anyone who is well versed in excel macros and cloud computing could likely figure it out given the time that these guys have spent on our project.

 

[MoLandOwner]

That is really all the developers are doing in our case as well Steve, plugging in and testing macros in a cloud based spreadsheet program to manipulate data. Anyone who is well versed in excel macros and cloud computing could likely figure it out given the time that these guys have spent on our project.

If they figure it out the money train may end......just sayin

 

[wiscwhip]

The money train may come to a screeching halt if they don't figure it out in the coming days. We have already been looking at 2 other developers right here in town. We went with these guys on a recommendation from another local business, we won't be extending them any such recommendations if other businesses ask us about their services.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

I'm sorry, Brad...All that and I never really did answer your question.

I generally prefer to go a bit wider than taller, when making these. As I said, I use blockades every bit as much for cheating extra deer browse and screening (for both myself and making the bucks move more when cruising) as I do for funneling deer activity. Because of that, I like going a smidge wider than I have too, as it both gives the deer a more natural edge to follow and more reachable deer browse. I really don't worry about height that much.

That said, the attaching image is from a blockade that's at least as long as the longest section your plan calls for. I've yet to see a track indicating that deer aren't using the openings and are crossing it. As you can see, it is between 5-6' high, but this was created with a backhoe, as the operator was clearing the access road.



Here's a couple I made a littler earlier this year by hinge cutting. As you can see, it's considerable wider, but look at all that deer browse that's now on the ground. Also, the scout cams are showing that the deer are using the openings like crazy. One of them is considerably longer than any of yours and the other is shorter. The trick, IME, isn't making it so that deer can't possible cross it. It's making it so that they don't have the incentive to do so, as they have easies spots that are just as convenient. With 3 openings in the blockade you are asking about, we're removing a ton of incentive for them to take the easy path, instead of trying to crawl through something like this.





Hope that helps answer your ?s

 

[dipper]

Too Funny!

You have the personality of 3 neck tattoo's Dipper, in a few years you will be the guy in the nursing home sitting in a wheelchair, shitting his pants, staring at the empty bird cage, begging for someone to come in and talk to you......but no one will come!

I still like you dipper, personality and all!;)

If u really think u can know someone's character over an Internet chat line, and never meeting that person, it simply shows your intelligence. I'm not gonna give u or your mn clique any satisfaction of explaining my character.
If u relate a like button from batman and smith to changing diapers in old age God bless u.

 

[dipper]

It's nice My comment resurected Steve from his sabbatical. A customer tends to get the best out of a service when they question everything.
Sometimes those that are narrow minded tend to never notice that. Thanks for the clarification Steve and hope this helps bj and others.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

As I wrote in another Phil's thread, I've been checking at least a couple times a week. It was BJE's question that got me to raise my head out of my hole, not anything you wrote. I'm not trying to be dismissive of you with that, just telling the truth.

That said, I should be around a bit more again now, except of when I'm off grid. I'm finally down to having one short chapter left in the book that was due Aug 1st. I'm finishing that as soon as I hit submit on this and will be able to breath again.

That said, I agree about questioning things, you are welcome and please continue to ask ?s and poke holes in the things I do and say. I do value that as potential learning experiences and enjoy the challenges you toss my way.

 

[tooln]

What they don't realize is that I used to do this kind of stuff back when I had a real job. I understand their challenges and how long this type of stuff takes. I also get when they're spewing pure BS about something, and they do a tremendous amount of that. I'd never go with them again, even at 25% of what they're charging us.

Steve if you have some background with cad or programming why didn't you come up with something yourself. I have turbo cad at home and have made up a lot of symbols that I save and insert when and where I need. I have no formal training in any cad program but just mess with it for some of the stuff I build. Just a thought. Good luck with your guys.

 

[MoLandOwner]

If u really think u can know someone's character over an Internet chat line, and never meeting that person, it simply shows your intelligence. I'm not gonna give u or your mn clique any satisfaction of explaining my character.
If u relate a like button from batman and smith to changing diapers in old age God bless u.

Don't worry Dip, you have showed your character very well! LOL