New Hope Creek Home

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Last night I took one of our granddaughters on a tour of the property. I was pleased to see a variety of natives, including goldenrod, common and giant ragweed, bluestem, milkweed and gamagrass along with lots of forbs and native blackberry. Seven years ago this was overrun with red cedar. I am still not seeing many turkey, but they are using the property more today than in 2017 when we moved here.







This box turtle has fond a nice swimming hole in one of the water holes.

 

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This past weekend I was also able to do a little work at the cabin property (13 acres, SW Missouri Ozarks). The 1/4 acre hidey hole plot has clover from frost seeding into last year's drought-failed fall plot. As the county is not in a CWD zone, I continue to provide minerals at what has become a community scrape. Later this summer I'll be adding a new blind to the SW of the hidey hole to provide a new access to help issues of swirling winds and thermals that are caused by the topography of the property.

While I have a SpyPoint cellular on the scrape, I am still using some old Moultrie cameras circa 2014 on this property. I get 10 months out of a set of batteries on those old workhorses. In the May photo some of the fall plot that failed provided early season browse. I mainly hunt this property early season (bow) and late season (muzzleloader). Historically, the neighbors who own 5 acres next door "take over" the area for the week of firearms season. Fortunately, they are only opening week hunters and go back to fishing after opening week.

 

[Catscratch]

Great pics! You've got a lot going on. Love the mulberrys.

 

[cbw]

I am finally getting around to a project I had planned on doing during the winter--assembling some new deer blinds. This is the second five-panel "OuttaSite" blind. What is a one hour job with two people took four hours by myself, but I was working at a slow, steady pace. The next step will be building the 5' platform using 4x4's and plywood. After getting the blind assembled I gorged myself on some fresh mulberries, a delightful treat this time of year.
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The next project will be assembling the platform blind with pop-up at the cabin property. Tomorrow, my granddaughter will be joining us at the cabin and helping to identify the proper placement to ensure she gets a "big buck."
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That’s a huge mulberry!


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This is the first picture of two turkey together on the property. When we moved here in 2017, there was no sign of turkey on the farm. We began habitat work to restore turkey and quail in 2018, with the first major project in 2020. That year I had my first camera confirmation of a hen on the property. Although Clinton county (MO) ranks low in turkey harvest (109 of 114), pictures like these provide hope for the future. Our plans to convert 55 acres of row crops into NWSG & forbs CRP program next year should greatly enhance turkey habitat, as will an upcoming TSI program on 12 acres of timber. A few hours after this picture, a target bucks was checking a popular scrape made by tying down a branch. This is just one frame of the video of him