Triple C's Place

Just wanted to check in and say that all is good at Triple C's place! Been a while since I last updated. Mrs. C and I went down last Wednesday to prepare for the family gathering at Thanksgiving. Truly my favorite holiday of the year. Low stress...no gifts to buy or exchange...great weather and great time of year to be at the farm. Just the simple joy of gathering with family and giving thanks for more blessings than we deserve! Since 2011, we've had a tradition of taking family pics followed by taking the grandchildren on a hay ride to find the perfect Christmas tree. 1st few years we would cut a cedar from the farm but a couple of year's ago, Mrs. C changed it up and requested I buy a frazier fir and hide it in the woods for the kids to find. So...Thursday morning, Brooks arrived with the tree and I loaded it up in the Ranger and found the perfect hiding spot in a hardwood draw that was easily accessible by the grand kids.
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Around 3:00, we gathered for pics on the front porch of our little guest cabin. Dustin and most of his crew couldn't make it this year in time for pics. Always my favorite pic of the year.
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After pics, we loaded up the grandkids on the back of the wagon and off we went to find the perfect tree.
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Grandkids off in search of the perfect tree...
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They found the perfect tree...
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Following the Christmas tree adventure, we gathered back at the cabin and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. C knocked it out of the park on the meal. I did a pretty decent job smoking the turkey on the Traeger. Following the meal, it was time to decorate the tree and bring the day to an end. All was well at the Triple C Farm. Truly a blessed day.
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As for hunting in 2017...We've harvested one doe. Jaden connected on his 2nd bow kill.
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And, we've passed on many, many bucks. We've been chasing this guy all year but so far he's outsmarted us.
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This is our 7th hunting season on the farm. We've had the perfect weather this year for plots and plenty of deer using our place. Saturday morning I sat in the ladder stand over looking the hour glass plot and had 5 bucks come through cruising for doe(s). This was my view from the stand.
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The pines to the south of the plot are full of action during the rut. No other place on our property sees more bucks cruising than this area around the hour glass plot. We will take a few more doe this year before the season is over and hope the big guy shows up an encounter.

Here's a few pics of our plots this year. I planted more white clover than any previous year and am surprised at how much it has sprouted and grown this fall. Should make for plenty of food in 2018.
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks for taking the time to follow along on my thread.
 
Just wanted to check in and say that all is good at Triple C's place! Been a while since I last updated. Mrs. C and I went down last Wednesday to prepare for the family gathering at Thanksgiving. Truly my favorite holiday of the year. Low stress...no gifts to buy or exchange...great weather and great time of year to be at the farm. Just the simple joy of gathering with family and giving thanks for more blessings than we deserve! Since 2011, we've had a tradition of taking family pics followed by taking the grandchildren on a hay ride to find the perfect Christmas tree. 1st few years we would cut a cedar from the farm but a couple of year's ago, Mrs. C changed it up and requested I buy a frazier fir and hide it in the woods for the kids to find. So...Thursday morning, Brooks arrived with the tree and I loaded it up in the Ranger and found the perfect hiding spot in a hardwood draw that was easily accessible by the grand kids.
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Around 3:00, we gathered for pics on the front porch of our little guest cabin. Dustin and most of his crew couldn't make it this year in time for pics. Always my favorite pic of the year.
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After pics, we loaded up the grandkids on the back of the wagon and off we went to find the perfect tree.
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Grandkids off in search of the perfect tree...
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They found the perfect tree...
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Following the Christmas tree adventure, we gathered back at the cabin and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. C knocked it out of the park on the meal. I did a pretty decent job smoking the turkey on the Traeger. Following the meal, it was time to decorate the tree and bring the day to an end. All was well at the Triple C Farm. Truly a blessed day.
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As for hunting in 2017...We've harvested one doe. Jaden connected on his 2nd bow kill.
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And, we've passed on many, many bucks. We've been chasing this guy all year but so far he's outsmarted us.
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This is our 7th hunting season on the farm. We've had the perfect weather this year for plots and plenty of deer using our place. Saturday morning I sat in the ladder stand over looking the hour glass plot and had 5 bucks come through cruising for doe(s). This was my view from the stand.
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The pines to the south of the plot are full of action during the rut. No other place on our property sees more bucks cruising than this area around the hour glass plot. We will take a few more doe this year before the season is over and hope the big guy shows up an encounter.

Here's a few pics of our plots this year. I planted more white clover than any previous year and am surprised at how much it has sprouted and grown this fall. Should make for plenty of food in 2018.
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks for taking the time to follow along on my thread.
Your plots look awesome!

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Very nice AC!! I can't believe how cruel y'all are to that poor little dog dressing it in that hideous sweater. Poor thing. LOLOL. I really like how well those frazier firs grow in your red clay. But, no apple tree pics? Come on.
 
Your plots look awesome!
Thx Keith! Perfect weather conditions this fall for great plots down here.

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Great photos! Tell us about the Traeger turkey. Haven’t attempted that yet.
Elk...Turkey was off the charts! Brined it for bout 18 hrs. Set Traeger to 325 degrees and used apple wood. Here's what she looked like when I took her off the Traeger.
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Hi AC, very nice.
Thx George! Hope all is well in Colorado!

G
Very nice AC!! I can't believe how cruel y'all are to that poor little dog dressing it in that hideous sweater. Poor thing. LOLOL. I really like how well those frazier firs grow in your red clay. But, no apple tree pics? Come on.
Tommy...Lil critter thinks he's UGA VII. As for your apple trees...Hard to believe how well they've done this year. Went from being about a foot tall when you grafted them back in March or April to out of the tube now. Tubes are 5ft tall for reference. This is a yates graft. All but one took.
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Great family and pics you have going there Triple. Glad you had great time. Good idea of tree hiding. My daughter makes fun of my skinny trees I get at the farm, she thinks they should look like the groomed ones. What fun is that?
The pic of you and your recurve, you kinda look like Wensel walking across that field with that hat and recurve. Pretty cool. Of course he was before my time!!
On the family pic infront of the old cabin.... where did the cut stone come from that is the step up to the stoop?? Old or just a new cut one?
 
I'll try to get over there one day before the season ends buddy and visit a little. Just let me know when you'll be back over there. We'll re-graft the failed one this winter. Pretty darn good considering I had to lay down to graft them. LOL
 
Great family and pics you have going there Triple. Glad you had great time. Good idea of tree hiding. My daughter makes fun of my skinny trees I get at the farm, she thinks they should look like the groomed ones. What fun is that?
The pic of you and your recurve, you kinda look like Wensel walking across that field with that hat and recurve. Pretty cool. Of course he was before my time!!
On the family pic infront of the old cabin.... where did the cut stone come from that is the step up to the stoop?? Old or just a new cut one?
dogghr...I looked like a man on a mission in the pic I got caught in slipping in to the stand Saturday afternoon. But to be mentioned in the same sentence with a Wensel is quite the compliment but only in looks and not in results. I'm on my 4th season with the recurve with only 1 doe and a few pigs under my belt. The time is an hour off on the trail cam so it was 4:53 when I climbed up. Here's the rest of the story. I had just got busted by a doe and buck in another ladder stand overlooking our orchard plot. That stand has an awesome hardwood funnel that necks down to about 50 yds between the swamp and food plot. Have yet to set that stand and not had deer come in thru the funnel. My grandson took his doe out of that stand. There is a limb from an elm tree that touches the base of the platform. When I stand up the entire elm shakes from the limb touching the platform. I had a doe come in just after I climbed into the stand and was sitting watching her in the hardwood funnel behind me. About a minute later, a young buck comes into sight walking toward the doe. He's about 40 yds from me. As I stand, the elm shakes a bit and he looks straight at me. Thought he had calmed down as he went back to feeding with the doe. Brooks had him all morning dogging this doe. With a recurve in my hand I figure anything is game - thus my reason for standing up to prepare for the shot. Needless to say, he and the doe bolted away from whence they came which was toward the ladder stand where the trail cam caught my pic. That limb will be removed before my next sit in that stand.
 
I'll try to get over there one day before the season ends buddy and visit a little. Just let me know when you'll be back over there. We'll re-graft the failed one this winter. Pretty darn good considering I had to lay down to graft them. LOL
Ha! If I remember, it was you that was able to squat and graft. It was me and bad knees that had to lay down to do a graft. Pretty sure the only one that didn't take was my graft. Next time we'll be grafting from a bench! By the way...you make it over to Whiskey Bent's place on Saturday?

Good stuff A.C. Your place looks almost as good as your family!
Thx lak!
 
Elk...Turkey was off the charts! Brined it for bout 18 hrs. Set Traeger to 325 degrees and used apple wood. Here's what she looked like when I took her off the Traeger.
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How deep did the smoke flavor penetrate? Looks awesome by the way

Tommy...Lil critter thinks he's UGA VII. As for your apple trees...Hard to believe how well they've done this year. Went from being about a foot tall when you grafted them back in March or April to out of the tube now. Tubes are 5ft tall for reference. This is a yates graft. All but one took.
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Wonder what our places look like with all this freaking snow on the ground SEVENTEEN days before Christmas. It's the apocolypse man.
 
Well...it's been a while. Thanksgiving was my last update. Truth is not much of anything new happening at the Triple C. We're in our 8th year and pretty much have the habitat where we want it so it's mostly maintenance stuff now. Trips to the farm have been fewer this year than any year since I've had the place. Work has and continues to get in the way of farm visits. Not complaining. Just what it is.

Here's a few picks since I last updated. I posted this pic on dogghr's "challenge" thread. Each year around green up my make my way back into the bowels of the bottoms to the property's most secluded beaver pond and spend an hour or so just taking in nature as spring begins to break and once again, spring forth new beginnings in nature.
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In early April, Brooks and I bench grafted 10 apples from scion wood that The LLC was so gracious to send our way. He was kind enough to come over last year and teach me how to graft. Nothing but electrical tape wrapped tightly around the graft just as he did last year. Only difference his tape was red. Assuming black is ok.
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Ordered tree tubes that showed up early last week. Was happy to see the grafts were tubed when I arrived on Friday. And, the ones I checked were breaking bud on the scion wood so all looks good.
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Plots are all waist high or higher in grains except for the areas that contain clover. If you've followed my postings you know I'm a huge fan of perennial clover, particularly ladino. I added durana to the mix last year. Some of the smaller plots are all in clover. My favorite clover planting method is in the larger plots where I plant the entire perimeter of the plot in clover. Here's a pic from the south end of our largest plot. It's full of ladino and durana planted last fall with wheat as a nurse crop.
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At ground level it looks like this.
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Ever wonder what was taking place on your property a 100 yrs or more ago? This clump of daffodils is evidence that most likely, some lady wanted to improve the landscape around her home place. This is in the same area as the pic of clover above. Before I logged 2 years ago, this area was in a thick stand of planted pines and contained the remnants of an old home place. We've found old utensils, glassware and shards of ceramic plates. After clearcutting this section to enlarge the food plot, I had it cleared of all stumps. Along with the clearing went the remains of the old home place except for this one little clump of daffodils that still remains. Hope they keep growing for years to come.
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We've managed a couple of turkeys off of the farm this year. Brooks connected opening weekend in late March with a nice tom using his new decoy - The Turkey Fan.
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Two weekends ago I connected on a tom that did a belly flop into a drainage ditch that soaked us both. Actually my 1st turkey ever! Brooks did the calling and I did the shootin!
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Saturday morning, I got after the thistle that has popped up in a few places. Gave it a good dose of gly.
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Down south, folks often refer to deer as piney woods goats. Our firearms season in GA goes from October thru the middle of January. It's a long season. One of the reasons is to keep the population in check. In the piedmont and coastal plains section of GA, planted pines are about as common as fields of corn in IL or IA. Once thinned, pines are outstanding deer habitat, particularly when prescribed burning is conducted every few years. The filtered sunlight produces an incredible amount of understory browse. Pics don't do justice to just how much browse is available but it's a lot. Here's a pic looking through a 3x thinned pine stand. It's just loaded with blackberry and numerous other browse. Blackberries are in full bloom right now.
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This pic was one of my favorites I took this weekend. It's from the bottom of the lower lower plot looking north. Oats n winter wheat are waist high and will provide great fawning cover. We'll let this go to seed and won't touch it until we are ready to plant this fall.
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There's a great discussion goin on in another thread regarding early successional habitat (ESH). We've managed to ESH between the upper lower and lower lower plot. It's been in this state since 2013 and was beginning to convert to heavy stem count sweet gums so we decided to start over again. Took out all the saplings and other growth and left a clean slate for mother nature to work her magic. It will be a jungle again before fall.
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And finally....cause dogghr likes beaver ponds, I made my way over to the beaver pond I've posted multiple pics of before. I've got a ATV trail that borders the edge and travel by it most trips to the farm. Mother nature knows best. I can't see any beaver activity in this impoundment and it's about half the size it was 2 years ago. Their lodge is no longer maintained so my guess is they've decided to move on. Who knows...in a couple of years this could be a wetlands meadow. That's what I love about nature...it's always in a state of change. So just in case this one is headed toward it's demise I thought I'd post up another pic of what it looks like today.
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That's all from the Triple C Farm! Happy trails to all my fellow habitat junkies!!!
 
Sweet. Those ponds are prettier than the bikini clad young lady advertising on this site. Well kinda. Good stuff as always.
 
Thought a Triple C update was due, as we have been having to catch you on drive bys on other threads! Thistle is my childhood enemy. There was always work to do on the farm, and if there was not work to be done then my Dad would say "Go chop thistles". He had taken a blade section from a hay cutter and welded onto the metal crook of an old hoe. It was perfect for clipping those thistles right at the ground. I have it, but nowadays I just try to dig them up with a quick hit of the tractor FEL.
Love your place and updates as always
 
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