Eastern NC 35

[Charlieyca]

I debated putting a larger portion of the trees near the front and the road, as my "central" food source and then hunt the trails. But there is so little food in the back, and access to the back would have to walk past the front sections

 

[Charlieyca]

I got a lot of information reading steve bartyllas book, especially on laying out small properties so that you could hunt all season. I let my father read it and one thing he took away from the sanctuaries chapter was that it is ok to hunt them if you stay near the edges and hunt them the right way. We had only walked the back section to mark the property line and had not even come close to hunting it. The back 1/3rd (10acres) is our sanctuary but due to pressure the last few weeks of our season our sightings went way down. So our plan this year it to add 2 stands on the north line and 2 stands on the south line so that we can both hunt with the wind.
The back stand is a ground blind made of pallets, by myself it was enough work to get it placed that I didnt get much cleared in way of shooting lanes

This is looking left towards the back of the property, again looks like a jungle but this area will only be hunted in december when most vegetation is gone.

about 30 yards ahead of this picture is the lone oak tree is this 10 acre patch. It has 4 trails coming together at this tree. I released it and have 2 lanes to the right and left that cant be seen in the picture very easily. My access is from the east and this stand is about 15 yards from my southern border so hopefully NW or N wind will be good for this stand.

 

[Charlieyca]

This ladder stand in these pictures is on the Southeast corner of our sanctuary and also along the southern property border, maybe 50yds from the line.

This is looking towards the back of the farm and the sanctuary, (west)

this is the front, needs lots of clearing

and to the back right looking southeast. You can see the tree right in the middle of the lane that needs to drop.

I left the chainsaw at home to appease my fathers nerves, as he lost a childhood friend to a chainsaw accident recently. Plant to get 2 stands hung on the north side this weekend. Will save the lanes and trimming til green up.
Haven't used the pallets for ground blinds before, but im going to give them a shot since they are FREE, easy to assemble and brush in.

 

[Charlieyca]

The tree I am taking pictures from is a triple trunked water oak (why the loggers left it), not a very prolific dropper, but one of the few oaks on my property. Due to the being surround by a triangular wet,low spot this tree is essentially circled by trails nearby

 

[W33kender]

I didn't know if I should clear a lane through the sanctuary, so even though I wasn't walking through in it, I could see into it.

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Imo, i would wait until it was too tall to produce fresh browse.

Then a few years later, i would mow a different strip. Good natural browse.

 

[Charlieyca]

I believe its at the point where it provides dense overhead cover, but most of the understory is not being browsed. It was logged 5 or 6 years ago and I have only seen a few scattered plants that being browsed. The soil in the sanctuary has a relatively low OM and pH so the growth is not ideal.

 

[dogdoc]

Growing up my parents would never allow me to use the chainsaw. When I purchased my first chainsaw my dad was adiment that he be with me. I'm 51 and to this day if I am felling a large tree my dad wants to be on site. So I understand your dad's concerns. If I have the chainsaw in hand I also have my hearing protection, hard hat, leather gloves, and chainsaw chaps. Can't be too careful with the saw.

 

[Charlieyca]

Even though im in my 30s, I promised him as long as he was able to come down once per month to supervise, I would oblige and not saw alone. No need to add more stress or worries over habitat management. I did read up more on hack and squirt, so hopefully can get the same results!

 

[OkieKubota]

My dad turned me and my brother loose with chainsaws when we were 15. I remember my brother and I sawed all the woods off of 10 acres of prime red oaks in the winter of 1980 all by ourselves. I wasn't old enough to drive alone yet but I was delivering wood 30 miles away in a little Datsun pickup. My dad wanted all the trees cut down so he could use it as pasture. I own 1/2 of that 10 acre area now along with 20 acres that was spared (mostly) the saw over there...I wish the trees were back and I guess I am going to be replanting it all...

I run a chainsaw at least a couple times a week and I have cut some pretty big stuff. I even climb trees with steps and top them with a chainsaw and cut big dead limbs out of them that may be a future danger like in our campground on our deer lease...That to me is the most dangerous because I have had large limbs I have cut fall "springy" side down and when they hit the ground they spring back up and smash the tree trunk right in front of me. I won't cut limbs from a ladder because they tend to take the ladder out from under you...

 

[Charlieyca]

I dont like heights, even 20ft up in a climber is enough for me. Its amazing how depending on where you grow up and what your parents knew, what is considered normal and safe for kids to do. At 14 I owned a 16ft bass boat and my dad trusted me to take out with friends who would tow it to the ramp for me, but at 32 still worries about a chainsaw. Having respect and understanding of any tool is important as the risk of injury is always there.

 

[W33kender]

I believe its at the point where it provides dense overhead cover, but most of the understory is not being browsed. It was logged 5 or 6 years ago and I have only seen a few scattered plants that being browsed. The soil in the sanctuary has a relatively low OM and pH so the growth is not ideal.

sounds like it is time then.

 

[Charlieyca]

thats the view from new ground blind, besides the clearings cant see 20 yds even in dead of winter

thats to the side of ground blind, again sunlight coming in from behind. very thick. May bring the tractor to the back and push over some trees and brush hog some of the grasses and shrubs.

 

[Charlieyca]

Im no arborist, but i have not found any mast producing trees besides the one oak that i released

 

[Charlieyca]

family day helping clear a shooting lane for plabting clover soon

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[Charlieyca]

all 3 asian pears leafing out early and look like this. Kieffer and pineapple pears have yet to leaf out, but all them have buds and look ready to go with some warmer weather. I have heard bad things about the black irrigation pipe but used it before I knew about tree tubes. These have made it 2 years no problems, should I still switch them out? Rye grain is whats growing around the trees with a little crimson clover. Turnips were planted in the surrounding.

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[W33kender]

Go easy on mowing down canebrake and other indigenous forms of cover, imo. Important cover for deer and turkeys.

 

[HB_Hunter]

Are you going to cage that pear tree? I've got several in tubes that I'm considering caging.


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[Charlieyca]

Its made it 2 years in the ground without a cage here, no aign of brows on any of my 12 apples or pears.
That thick brush is a solid 10 acre patch of thick cover and the area i put the stand was the thinnest spot. A few 50 yard lanes will be all that is cleared.

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[Charlieyca]

Did find a skull and almost full set of bones saturday. 6pt buck, 12 in spread, still in velvet, right along side a deeply rutted logging road in the back. Bones were a little scattered, assuming the yotes picked at him. It looked to be a mature deer so dont know if neighbor shot him and couldn't find him or if he was sick.

 

[Charlieyca]

Anna Apple budding out nicely
Flordahome pear starting out, should have pruned it back this spring
t
Kieffer just starting

Youngest with a skull, the rest of the bones were not far away. Look closely, and you can see the velvet still on the antlers

A couple of the viburnums (arrowood i believe), starting to leaf out in the tubes. All the oaks are still sleeping.