J-birds place

[j-bird]

Hey I'm curious if that cedar rubbing post has or will get used with the PVC base.
I remember reading/hearing that they needed to firmly planted in the ground like a live tree.

I have not seen any evidence of use yet but I think I need to put it out more in the open. I use wood screws to fix the tree to the pipe and that makes it rather stout as it’s roughly 18” in the ground.... just makes it easier to replace.

 

[j-bird]

Congratulations on the successful hunt, J-bird. Always a noble thing when a hunter can take down a wounded animal. His steaks may or may not taste the best, but anything you turn him into should taste great! The rack will look nice on display.

He all ground up... we just use it best that way. The leg made the decision easier....

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Great job on the choice and the story / pix J-bird !!! Your bolt was cleaner & quicker than what he may have endured over winter.
Venison burger around here = venison chili & venison tacos. Good grub.

 

[j-bird]

Saturday was our firearms opener. Since I took my buck back in archery season my youngest (14), Emma and I was up at 6am. We get to the shooting house and we bump a small deer out of the food plot. About 8:30 we see a deer in the neighbors field and it's a small buck. For some reason the buck starts to come our way and Emma decides she wants this deer for her first buck. See uses my 30-30 and puts a great shot on it. By 8am it was all over... 8 points, 165 lbs live weight. She did great, and it was a very memorable hunt...I am thankful I was able to be there.

 

[Catscratch]

Saturday was our firearms opener. Since I took my buck back in archery season my youngest (14), Emma and I was up at 6am. We get to the shooting house and we bump a small deer out of the food plot. About 8:30 we see a deer in the neighbors field and it's a small buck. For some reason the buck starts to come our way and Emma decides she wants this deer for her first buck. See uses my 30-30 and puts a great shot on it. By 8am it was all over... 8 points, 165 lbs live weight. She did great, and it was a very memorable hunt...I am thankful I was able to be there.
View attachment 21598

Awesome for you and your daughter Jbird! She has a huge smile, way to go!

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Excellent hunt Emma & Dad !!! Can't beat that memory for both of you. All good, all the way around.

 

[j-bird]

Well this morning I did something I have NEVER done before. I took a deer that wasn't on my own property! I'll post the story in the successful hunts thread. Took a nice doe with my 308. It was on property once owned by my grandfather (a serious outdoor mentor of mine...he and my father) and I think he/they would have been proud. It was a clean shot and was all about providing for the family.

 

[j-bird]

Just a basic update here... Our firearms season closes sunday and we are still looking for one more deer to top off the freezer (hope my boy gets his buck). I took a few photos while I was looking at some things today.

First my view from this mornings hunt... This is a little basin area of hardwoods at the north end on my place that tends to be a bedding area and tends to get some activity as its a low spot that connects a larger bedding area and leads up to some larger ag fields... its just difficult to access and hunt most of the time due to it requires an east wind which we don't get often.

I also saw where the deer took over a mock scrape I started with some "buck bomb" type spray and ticking a bare spot on the ground and adding my own "personal contribution" to the bare spot. The rope pulls and holds the limb down...the "dripper" is an old one that wasn't used this year. The tree is a tulip/yellow poplar.

I also found some evidence of the deer FINALLY using some of my turnips! Some had the leaves browsed and some had bites out of the tuber itself...I hope it's deer use anyway...

 

[Bowsnbucks]

J-Bird - That deer action on your turnips is just the way deer started finally using ours a couple years ago. It took a while for deer to sample them, and then a while for them to really get into high gear as a regular food for them. Once they tried the tubers, they kept coming back all winter. They haven't wiped out our turnip bulbs completely, but they hit them along with our WW, WR. All winter long our plot of turnips, radishes, DER, and Pasja brassica gets hit pretty hard. Tracks plaster the plot. I'll bet you continue to see action on your turnips.

 

[Bill]

Sorry for the boys. But Emma is going to rule the roost this year...

: )

 

[j-bird]

Sorry for the boys. But Emma is going to rule the roost this year...

: )

Oh...she "carries" the place as it is...just ask her! Not sure where she got her trash talking from, or her competitive nature but man does it show at times... Last year when she was the only one to tag a deer....it was a long summer!!!!

 

[j-bird]

J-Bird - That deer action on your turnips is just the way deer started finally using ours a couple years ago. It took a while for deer to sample them, and then a while for them to really get into high gear as a regular food for them. Once they tried the tubers, they kept coming back all winter. They haven't wiped out our turnip bulbs completely, but they hit them along with our WW, WR. All winter long our plot of turnips, radishes, DER, and Pasja brassica gets hit pretty hard. Tracks plaster the plot. I'll bet you continue to see action on your turnips.

Well that is encouraging. I have planted all sorts of stuff over the years and had very minimal use of them and typically end up tilling them under come spring. To be honest I think what I saw is a reflection of the failure of my corn. I think the deer are being forced to some extent to try the turnips. I will certainly keep an eye on it and see if the use continues.

 

[j-bird]

Well, when the sun went down sunday our general firearms season was done. I will say that even though it isn't the end of hunting season (we have a month left of archery and 2 weeks of muzzleloader coming) it tends to be the end of hunting on my place as december tends to be a very busy month for us and the weather tends to decline. So it's sort of a good time to reflect on how the season has went...at least so far.

#1 - so far - everyone has been safe with no issues, accidents or even near-misses!
#2 - Daughter got her first buck (great milestone to share with her).
#3 - all hunters on my place (me, my son and my daughter) all tagged a deer - so everyone had a taste of success of some level.
#4 - we are seeing more deer than we did last year (which was a serious concern) AND our success thus far has come without taking a single female deer so next year should be even more promising.

Thoughts for the coming year:
#1 - expand "deer path" to help guide deer movement
#2 - work hard at doing less...disrupt less. I may be TOO active on my place.
#3 - plot fewer but better plots and help expand the cover aspect

 

[j-bird]

First of all I hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas. This post isn't habitat related, but I wanted to share a new (fuzzy) addition to "pack".

I was a good boy this year! I got a portable generator, a new fishing rod and real, and some lures and some new jeans (mandatory) and a nice camo pull-over.


Now to the new addition... This is Maggie, she is 1/2 black lab and 1/2 huskie....she is my oldest daughters dog, but since she lives at home (she just graduated college) she is adapting well to our current pack.

This is Maggie with our oldest dog Lucy... Lucy is 13 and not amused by the puppies energy level...but she tolerates the puppy fairly well.

I also had this little "rebellion" on my hands the other day when I was burning the X-mas trash. Lucy and Buddy jumped up in the truck and the ride from the garage to the burn pile wasn't enough to satisfy them....they spent at least 1/2 hour in the truck and refused to leave....so I had to drive them around the block... Apparently they needed some "dad time" without the puppy around!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^ That's funny - jealous dogs !!!

 

[Bill]

Yeah they don't look amused.

The fuzzy ones getting all the attention I'm sure.

 

[Knehrke]

We just got a Fox Red Lab at 7 weeks of age and our nine year old Black tolerates him for an hour or so before running to hide somewhere "safe".

 

[j-bird]

We just got a Fox Red Lab at 7 weeks of age and our nine year old Black tolerates him for an hour or so before running to hide somewhere "safe".

Yep - we try to give our older dogs a "sanctuary" from the puppy as well. The 2 younger ones will play with the puppy on their terms, but the puppies energy level far exceeds theirs and when they are done, they tend to hop up on the couch (which they are allowed to do) or the like, since the puppy can't reach them...yet. The cat just hides all day long. He comes out once the puppy goes to bed in the kennel for the night.

 

[j-bird]

Over the weekend I was able to add this years antlers to the barn...Emma is now "in the club"so to speak with her first buck. I also took the time and put different colored zip ties on the antlers to be able to identify who's is who's...I tend to forget some of my earlier ones.


This next part has nothing to do with habitat work but more to do with one of my kids. My middle daughter Jenna (the one with the foot pain issue). I know a few of you have expressed some interest in her ongoing saga. Anyway...things have been going fine, but I think we took another step forward over the weekend. My 2 youngest wanted to go indoor rock climbing. I wasn't sure how Jenna would do as it takes her to do two things...#1 - over come the fear of it possibly hurting...and #2 potentially the pain itself. Well after a few attempts and some encouragement from us an a younger fellow climber, Jenna not only did it, but made it to the top. Now it wasn't the most challenging one...but its success and progress. Sometimes I think we as hunters and land stewards tend to forget that someone new to what we do can be very intimidated....and we need to offer that encouragement for those initial successes.

 

[Bill]

Good for both of them! :)