Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Great thread H20, I just read it front to back. I love nothing more than seeing people succeed in their life plans bud. Great work on the property man, and one happy looking family, good stuff!!
The Little Woods
- Thread starter H20fwler
- Start date
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Was out at farm yesterday putting up another stand and trimming so that we can hunt a little more efficiently with the wind at this woods giving us another option.
Checked on the south orchard and it looked like it had gotten a little overspray from the farmer when he sprayed his beans, not that there is much of a fruit set this year on the trees. The two stand outs are a DropTine that is so ridiculously loaded the branches and top are all bent over and a GoldenHornet on M111.
GoldenHornet
We have had a lot of action going on at the Little Woods, our building projects are rolling right along.
Doing it in three phases, phase one was pond. That is complete now except for the dock which will be concrete on concrete pillars, sand in the beach area...waiting for pond water to get high enough that it is into the beach are first for the sand... dock will go in within a few weeks, may take a couple years for pond to fill with water.
Thread of the pond building project;
The pond as it looks right now
My boys were concerned that the putting in a pond and buildings were going to spook the deer off, so far they don't seem to "spooked" at all....they are going down into the pond and all around it every day.
Have also been seeing deer feed in the beans about every evening along the edge of the woods.
Phase two of the project is building a 60'X40' pole barn with the back third being a studio apartment for the wife and I to live in for a year or two then build a house just to the south of the barn and apartment will then be my man cave and guest room.
The end layout of the property should look something like this with pole barn top right and house just below facing the pond.
We are currently soliciting bids on the pole barn and lining up a well digger and septic guy, hopefully we will start the build this fall and move in before the end of year.
The general concept of the barn will look like this.
A 60X40 that we looked at, our color will be different and car port will be on opposite side
After all that phase three is building the house and I'm sure that one will be a real pain...my wife’s idea of a "forever" house and mine aren't exactly in line....so I'm sure she will end up with whatever she wants and I will pay through the nose for it! Kind of planning on around 1800 sq ft one story, two bedroom, no attic, two bathroom, kitchen/dining/family all one big room looking out over pond and woods. With master bedroom having a huge bathroom and walk in closet.
She likes the veranda in this pic, we will have a three car garage on the left side and two bedrooms on right side, roof will not be so steep. And whatever stone we use for fireplace will also be used on front of house.
So that is the plan...we will see how things turn out in the next year and half?
Checked on the south orchard and it looked like it had gotten a little overspray from the farmer when he sprayed his beans, not that there is much of a fruit set this year on the trees. The two stand outs are a DropTine that is so ridiculously loaded the branches and top are all bent over and a GoldenHornet on M111.
GoldenHornet
We have had a lot of action going on at the Little Woods, our building projects are rolling right along.
Doing it in three phases, phase one was pond. That is complete now except for the dock which will be concrete on concrete pillars, sand in the beach area...waiting for pond water to get high enough that it is into the beach are first for the sand... dock will go in within a few weeks, may take a couple years for pond to fill with water.
Thread of the pond building project;
New Project
My pond guy called yesterday and said they will be starting next week. The plan is to put in a one acre pond 18’-20’ deep kind of shaped like a peanut with a few ledges, stone around it, a beach and a big dock. We will also be putting a lot of fish structures in it before it starts to fill...
habitat-talk.com
The pond as it looks right now
My boys were concerned that the putting in a pond and buildings were going to spook the deer off, so far they don't seem to "spooked" at all....they are going down into the pond and all around it every day.
Have also been seeing deer feed in the beans about every evening along the edge of the woods.
Phase two of the project is building a 60'X40' pole barn with the back third being a studio apartment for the wife and I to live in for a year or two then build a house just to the south of the barn and apartment will then be my man cave and guest room.
The end layout of the property should look something like this with pole barn top right and house just below facing the pond.
We are currently soliciting bids on the pole barn and lining up a well digger and septic guy, hopefully we will start the build this fall and move in before the end of year.
The general concept of the barn will look like this.
A 60X40 that we looked at, our color will be different and car port will be on opposite side
After all that phase three is building the house and I'm sure that one will be a real pain...my wife’s idea of a "forever" house and mine aren't exactly in line....so I'm sure she will end up with whatever she wants and I will pay through the nose for it! Kind of planning on around 1800 sq ft one story, two bedroom, no attic, two bathroom, kitchen/dining/family all one big room looking out over pond and woods. With master bedroom having a huge bathroom and walk in closet.
She likes the veranda in this pic, we will have a three car garage on the left side and two bedrooms on right side, roof will not be so steep. And whatever stone we use for fireplace will also be used on front of house.
So that is the plan...we will see how things turn out in the next year and half?
Bassattackr
5 year old buck +
Amazes me what an ecosystem that little patch of woods is! Impressive!
Good luck with the home!
Good luck with the home!
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Really amazing place.
If I can make one suggestion about your pond: add some structure at different depths on those inside turns/corners. Doesn't have to be complicated. But in my experience even just a big tree stump or Boulder on a hump, point, or inside turn can hold fish.
If I can make one suggestion about your pond: add some structure at different depths on those inside turns/corners. Doesn't have to be complicated. But in my experience even just a big tree stump or Boulder on a hump, point, or inside turn can hold fish.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Everything is just very impressive.Was out at farm yesterday putting up another stand and trimming so that we can hunt a little more efficiently with the wind at this woods giving us another option.
Checked on the south orchard and it looked like it had gotten a little overspray from the farmer when he sprayed his beans, not that there is much of a fruit set this year on the trees. The two stand outs are a DropTine that is so ridiculously loaded the branches and top are all bent over and a GoldenHornet on M111.
GoldenHornet
We have had a lot of action going on at the Little Woods, our building projects are rolling right along.
Doing it in three phases, phase one was pond. That is complete now except for the dock which will be concrete on concrete pillars, sand in the beach area...waiting for pond water to get high enough that it is into the beach are first for the sand... dock will go in within a few weeks, may take a couple years for pond to fill with water.
Thread of the pond building project;
New Project
My pond guy called yesterday and said they will be starting next week. The plan is to put in a one acre pond 18’-20’ deep kind of shaped like a peanut with a few ledges, stone around it, a beach and a big dock. We will also be putting a lot of fish structures in it before it starts to fill...habitat-talk.com
The pond as it looks right now
My boys were concerned that the putting in a pond and buildings were going to spook the deer off, so far they don't seem to "spooked" at all....they are going down into the pond and all around it every day.
Have also been seeing deer feed in the beans about every evening along the edge of the woods.
Phase two of the project is building a 60'X40' pole barn with the back third being a studio apartment for the wife and I to live in for a year or two then build a house just to the south of the barn and apartment will then be my man cave and guest room.
The end layout of the property should look something like this with pole barn top right and house just below facing the pond.
We are currently soliciting bids on the pole barn and lining up a well digger and septic guy, hopefully we will start the build this fall and move in before the end of year.
The general concept of the barn will look like this.
A 60X40 that we looked at, our color will be different and car port will be on opposite side
After all that phase three is building the house and I'm sure that one will be a real pain...my wife’s idea of a "forever" house and mine aren't exactly in line....so I'm sure she will end up with whatever she wants and I will pay through the nose for it! Kind of planning on around 1800 sq ft one story, two bedroom, no attic, two bathroom, kitchen/dining/family all one big room looking out over pond and woods. With master bedroom having a huge bathroom and walk in closet.
She likes the veranda in this pic, we will have a three car garage on the left side and two bedrooms on right side, roof will not be so steep. And whatever stone we use for fireplace will also be used on front of house.
So that is the plan...we will see how things turn out in the next year and half?
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Added a piece of old horse drawn equipment to this property. Put it on corner of woods by the new orchard. Hopefully I’ll post up a pic of a bunch of bunnies on it this winter.
Also got our dock in last week.
And the sunflowers the boys planted around pond for dove season came in pretty good.
Update on the pole barn build;
Got three estimates on it, everyone came in around 200K. About 50-60K higher than I expected so pumping the brakes on that one and letting wood and building costs come down.
I think what I will do is just get it framed up in spring, put the shell on and finish it out piece by piece as we can. I will put stone in for floor right away then get it spray insulated and concrete done in next couple years. Eventually finishing out man cave at one end.
Still going ahead on house, working on plans for it now. Maybe late next fall we will start on it, contractors here are booked a year in advance right now.
Also got our dock in last week.
And the sunflowers the boys planted around pond for dove season came in pretty good.
Update on the pole barn build;
Got three estimates on it, everyone came in around 200K. About 50-60K higher than I expected so pumping the brakes on that one and letting wood and building costs come down.
I think what I will do is just get it framed up in spring, put the shell on and finish it out piece by piece as we can. I will put stone in for floor right away then get it spray insulated and concrete done in next couple years. Eventually finishing out man cave at one end.
Still going ahead on house, working on plans for it now. Maybe late next fall we will start on it, contractors here are booked a year in advance right now.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Haven't posted in this thread in a little while.
The sunflowers the boys planted turned out really good and we had a few dove shoots at the farm, one afternoon was flat out outstanding where we all limited pretty fast and gave the dogs a workout.
We also did some landscaping planting a bunch of BHS for road screen and wind block along the pond.
The pond is about half full now.
The pole barn project will start next month, I have scaled it down some to a 48'X30' building. The contractor started building the roof trusses last week, ended up having to order the overhead door from a different source because barn contractor could not get one in for fourteen weeks due to back orders from covid shortages. A local door&window place can have it in by April so we went with them...it will be 10'x14'.
Getting the building permits around next week and having the county inspector/permit guy look everything over as far as septic and well placement regs as far as where the house will sit. And we are having the electric run to the property soon.
The sunflowers the boys planted turned out really good and we had a few dove shoots at the farm, one afternoon was flat out outstanding where we all limited pretty fast and gave the dogs a workout.
We also did some landscaping planting a bunch of BHS for road screen and wind block along the pond.
The pond is about half full now.
The pole barn project will start next month, I have scaled it down some to a 48'X30' building. The contractor started building the roof trusses last week, ended up having to order the overhead door from a different source because barn contractor could not get one in for fourteen weeks due to back orders from covid shortages. A local door&window place can have it in by April so we went with them...it will be 10'x14'.
Getting the building permits around next week and having the county inspector/permit guy look everything over as far as septic and well placement regs as far as where the house will sit. And we are having the electric run to the property soon.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
It continues to be pretty busy out at the Little woods. The landscape seems to be constantly changing now, got the new barn up a couple weeks ago so that is one more project down
It gives it a whole different look from the back side of the pond. The house will be built just to the right of barn...also shows how far up the water is now.
Another project this spring was continuing to add to the new orchard. Put in a whole bunch of new fruit trees...about any I had been wanting to try out, we will be living here so I will be able to "baby" these trees. The additions to the orchard are in post #78 page 4 of this thread. Have maybe ten different varieties of red flesh apple and crabs in this one.
Here are a couple different angles trying to show the two rows of trees, orchard is in between woods and pond.
The Mushroom hunting was a LOT slower this spring, we were very busy and the weather was just weird staying cool so late into spring. The understory in the woods also grew up really fast this spring.
Still didn't seem to phase the wildlife at all...fresh deer tracks around everything about nightly with them being curious about any new additions added to the property.
It gives it a whole different look from the back side of the pond. The house will be built just to the right of barn...also shows how far up the water is now.
Another project this spring was continuing to add to the new orchard. Put in a whole bunch of new fruit trees...about any I had been wanting to try out, we will be living here so I will be able to "baby" these trees. The additions to the orchard are in post #78 page 4 of this thread. Have maybe ten different varieties of red flesh apple and crabs in this one.
Here are a couple different angles trying to show the two rows of trees, orchard is in between woods and pond.
The Mushroom hunting was a LOT slower this spring, we were very busy and the weather was just weird staying cool so late into spring. The understory in the woods also grew up really fast this spring.
Still didn't seem to phase the wildlife at all...fresh deer tracks around everything about nightly with them being curious about any new additions added to the property.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Have been spending a lot of time out here at the farm. Barn/apartment project is slowly plodding along...lots of snags getting contractors/permits/time to do it all. Hopefully we will be moving out to this farm by end of October.
Did buy another shooting hut like the one over at the other farm, will put it up on an 8' platform late this winter on the SW corner of the woods, should be great for the grandsons to hunt out of and use as a club house.
The new orchard is coming along well, lots of watering this summer has been hot and dry. I've got ten varieties of red flesh apples/crabs planted in this one.
A few pics of the orchard progress so far;
A few planted spring of 21;
Dolgo
Fire Cracker Crab
30-06 I missed pruning a few apples off this spring
One of the things the wife and I have really enjoy is feeding the fish in the evenings off the dock, thousands of minnows/shiners of all sizes come right up, and the perch dash up fast and go right back down...don't see much of the other fish we put in yet.
Also have four big bullfrogs living under the dock that the wife says are off limits because she likes to see them
And we see a lot of crawdads...the coon get after them at night
All should be good forage for the small mouth that are going in next month.
We see all kinds of bugs and wildlife around the pond,
A sweat bee licking salt off my thumb the other night
Also some interesting shore birds stop by
But the view is what we really love out there....
In a year or two this will be the view from our front porch, the front yard;
Did buy another shooting hut like the one over at the other farm, will put it up on an 8' platform late this winter on the SW corner of the woods, should be great for the grandsons to hunt out of and use as a club house.
The new orchard is coming along well, lots of watering this summer has been hot and dry. I've got ten varieties of red flesh apples/crabs planted in this one.
A few pics of the orchard progress so far;
A few planted spring of 21;
Dolgo
Fire Cracker Crab
30-06 I missed pruning a few apples off this spring
One of the things the wife and I have really enjoy is feeding the fish in the evenings off the dock, thousands of minnows/shiners of all sizes come right up, and the perch dash up fast and go right back down...don't see much of the other fish we put in yet.
Also have four big bullfrogs living under the dock that the wife says are off limits because she likes to see them
And we see a lot of crawdads...the coon get after them at night
All should be good forage for the small mouth that are going in next month.
We see all kinds of bugs and wildlife around the pond,
A sweat bee licking salt off my thumb the other night
Also some interesting shore birds stop by
But the view is what we really love out there....
In a year or two this will be the view from our front porch, the front yard;
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Love it H2O! Everything is coming together as nice as the view bud!
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
We ended up taking a couple nice bucks this season out of this woods, which is still amazing considering the size of this place and all the activity on it messing around with the barn and pond.
Here are a few pics from a trail came the youngest son has out by the locust tree stand. We didn’t shoot any of these.
We had our annual bunny hunt at this woods the other day and it was a flat out hoot! We handicapped ourselves to using 410’s or 20’s either single shots or doubles just for fun.
My buddy has a fat little beagle named Sadie that is pretty good but very slow…bunnies are usually fifty yards ahead of her. We don’t shoot any of the rabbits on the jump we let her run them and loop them around.
For whatever reason this woods is a VERY good bunny woods, always has been. It has to be the cover, everything seems to have stickers or thorns on it and it is very thick.
This year there were bunnies all over, we started at least thirty ..some had to be repeats.
We let Sadie do her thing with her crazy weird angry bark and she didn’t let us down.
Had a great day hunting with a few of my buddies and my oldest son.
Happiness to a beagle is a bloody tail at the end of a great hunt.
Here are a few pics from a trail came the youngest son has out by the locust tree stand. We didn’t shoot any of these.
We had our annual bunny hunt at this woods the other day and it was a flat out hoot! We handicapped ourselves to using 410’s or 20’s either single shots or doubles just for fun.
My buddy has a fat little beagle named Sadie that is pretty good but very slow…bunnies are usually fifty yards ahead of her. We don’t shoot any of the rabbits on the jump we let her run them and loop them around.
For whatever reason this woods is a VERY good bunny woods, always has been. It has to be the cover, everything seems to have stickers or thorns on it and it is very thick.
This year there were bunnies all over, we started at least thirty ..some had to be repeats.
We let Sadie do her thing with her crazy weird angry bark and she didn’t let us down.
Had a great day hunting with a few of my buddies and my oldest son.
Happiness to a beagle is a bloody tail at the end of a great hunt.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Those bucks are dandies!! From all the pics, it looks like you folks have a paradise for all sorts of critters there. Just one thing on the dock .......... that front right column is out of plumb by about 1/4". 
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
She sure put in a good days work, I imagine she was in beagle heaven with all the bunnies she chased. As cold and windy as it was it couldn’t have been easy for her.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
H20 -
You have it really good with your place and the pups. Great supply of rabbits to make for lots of fun!!
I only ever hunted rabbits with beagles a couple times, and it was years ago with Dad, 2 cousins, and an uncle who owned the dogs. It's just so cool to hear the dogs running the rabbits around in a big circle, until they run 'em back around so you can get a shot - or at least a glimpse of the bunnies. Hunter misses bring a batch of ribbing & busting of chops = MORE FUN. The sound of a barking / baying dog on a rabbit trail is music!!
You have it really good with your place and the pups. Great supply of rabbits to make for lots of fun!!
I only ever hunted rabbits with beagles a couple times, and it was years ago with Dad, 2 cousins, and an uncle who owned the dogs. It's just so cool to hear the dogs running the rabbits around in a big circle, until they run 'em back around so you can get a shot - or at least a glimpse of the bunnies. Hunter misses bring a batch of ribbing & busting of chops = MORE FUN. The sound of a barking / baying dog on a rabbit trail is music!!
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
We seem to shoot more bunnies when the boys and I walk them up kicking thick cover hard after a fresh snow but bunnies are full speed…running with a beagle is just fun.
I love hearing the dog baying and normally the rabbits aren’t going full out especially with this dog she is a slow worker. Bunnies are usually fifty yards or more ahead of her just loping along.
Hunting with this group of guys there is lots of teasing and jeering, we have all known each other a long time.
I don’t see near as many people hunting bunnies as I used too, when I was a kid almost all the boys in school skipped if the opener fell on a school day.
I really like eating rabbits too, can cook them any way you cook chicken.
