My Little Slice of Paradise

I just got back from a 2-week work trip, the first week having me at our manufacturing plant in upstate NY (Ilion), and the second week being in Las Vegas at the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. It looks like I'm going to have time to go to the farm the first week in February.
So, as far as updates go, here's what's new since my last post:
I've got a 10-pack of pear seedlings from the wildlife group being delivered next week. I've got tubes and mats already ready to go so I plan to get them in the ground during my upcoming trip. I will be dividing the 10 trees between three different food plots.
Secondly, my buddy Jim made it to the farm in late December and pulled a couple of trail cameras. I'm happy to say we have at least a couple of bruisers on camera after the late ML season, so I'll be looking forward to chasing them next year:
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Thirdly, I got my European mount back of my buck from this year (bottom one):
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Other plans for my upcoming farm trip:
Pull all trail cameras and bring home to put in dry storage for the off season.
Begin clearing north side perimeter access trail
Trim stand locations in spots identified during hunting season and from property plan
Hinge cut bedding areas
Frost seed plots with clover
Most importantly: enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells after being out of the woods for two months!


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I like your plans for the farm trip. Always great to bump around enjoying the land. I like it so much when I am at the farm running a chainsaw, or a bush hog, or a shovel, or anything, and all of a sudden I realize "hey, I have time to do whatever I want, and nothing if that suits me". In some of those times I just get on my 4 wheeler and just explore, loving every minute.

Continue to enjoy. Love the TALL rack on first picture.
 
Enjoyed the update Luke. It is enjoyable catch glimpses of your property thru your pictures. Your deer are huge both in the field and on the wall--very nice. Anne and I attended the SHOT show a few times as buyers. It was always a fun time and Vegas was exciting though a bit warm for us even in January. We liked the Dallas Shot show the best.

Good luck on your upcoming farm trip-I'm sure you will get a lot accomplished.
 
I almost forgot.. 4th on my list is I'm going to contact a commercial forester about evaluating some of my timber. I'm looking to get rid of 10-20 acres of Virginia pine, and am willing to let them cut another 10 acres of hardwoods to sweeten the deal. I'll keep everyone posted as I walk through that process.


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Paradise725 said:
I almost forgot.. 4th on my list is I'm going to contact a commercial forester about evaluating some of my timber. I'm looking to get rid of 10-20 acres of Virginia pine, and am willing to let them cut another 10 acres of hardwoods to sweeten the deal. I'll keep everyone posted as I walk through that process.


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Click to expand...

Well, the consulting forester met with my buddy at the farm yesterday. According to him, I need to let my hardwoods mature another 10-15 years before harvest. Furthermore, the areas of virginia pine that I want cleared are worthless in our area. He basically said that if I had a 2" diameter oak in the middle of the pines, it was economically a better decision to cut the 12" DBH pines to release the oak. There is almost no market for them down here and the quality of my pines is on the low side anyway. So, it looks like that possible project has been put to bed for this year! We will likely budget next year to have someone come in with an excavator to clear the pines and either burn them or create blockades with them. 9 days until my next farm trip!


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Too bad on the consult for your trees...I am going to plant some Virginia pine this year for the first time. I had a forester out a couple years ago and he kept looking at our white oaks telling me we could make a killing on them for timber harvest as we have some real nice ones but I told him the only oaks I would consider selling were just a few white oaks I would pick, some post oak and no red oak. Told him they could take every big Hickory they wanted...Still have everything other than the hickories,elms, and few small diameter post oaks that I am hinging...

Great update - thanks for sharing!
 
I had some free time this afternoon and decided to do some work with my dog to get her tuned up for our annual shed hunt in March. Lucy is a 5 year old lab who has been shed hunting around 5 times. I had intentions of turning her into a shed dog when I got her as a pup, so I got her started on the command "find the bone." That's about as far as the training went outside of normal obedience training. At least she does associate the "Find the bone" command with antler. In our previous shed hunting trips, we have found around 7 antlers and one dead head together. Of those, Lucy only found the one dead head before I did. Today, I applied some rack wax to three shed antlers and took them out to a field in my neighborhood. I placed one tucked under some large clumps of grass out in the open, another in the wide open, and the third in a patch of brush typical of a bedding area. Lucy did great. She turned on a dime when she hit the scent stream of the antler I had tucked into the clumps of grass. She found the second bone by sight alone, and I had to walk her by the third bone twice before she found it by scent. I was so impressed. She hasn't shed hunted in 2 years and she did better today than she ever has. I'm excited for what's to come. I've attached the video for her first retrieve. Sorry about the bad filming... I was pushing my daughter in the stroller at the same time so I was distracted. You can see when she hits the scent stream of the antler and immediately cuts into the wind and picks it up. Proud papa right here!


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Paradise725 said:
I had some free time this afternoon and decided to do some work with my dog to get her tuned up for our annual shed hunt in March. Lucy is a 5 year old lab who has been shed hunting around 5 times. I had intentions of turning her into a shed dog when I got her as a pup, so I got her started on the command "find the bone." That's about as far as the training went outside of normal obedience training. At least she does associate the "Find the bone" command with antler. In our previous shed hunting trips, we have found around 7 antlers and one dead head together. Of those, Lucy only found the one dead head before I did. Today, I applied some rack wax to three shed antlers and took them out to a field in my neighborhood. I placed one tucked under some large clumps of grass out in the open, another in the wide open, and the third in a patch of brush typical of a bedding area. Lucy did great. She turned on a dime when she hit the scent stream of the antler I had tucked into the clumps of grass. She found the second bone by sight alone, and I had to walk her by the third bone twice before she found it by scent. I was so impressed. She hasn't shed hunted in 2 years and she did better today than she ever has. I'm excited for what's to come. I've attached the video for her first retrieve. Sorry about the bad filming... I was pushing my daughter in the stroller at the same time so I was distracted. You can see when she hits the scent stream of the antler and immediately cuts into the wind and picks it up. Proud papa right here!


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And proud you should be Luke.. That's really great. I look forward to seeing a pile of sheds, well a couple anyway from your spring walks.
 
Love the video while pushing the stroller. Last fall my son was outside with a three month old and two other sons, 8 and 6. I was visiting and a neighbor came by and said she was still laughing from watching Adam play kick ball with the older boys, while cuddling little Andrew in his arm. He was trying to give Mama a break! Can you relate?
 
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Good luck with Lucy and those sheds Luke. I only found a couple last year and one was right in the middle of one of my food plots. They seem to drop them where I can't find them.
 
HB_Hunter said:
Good luck with Lucy and those sheds Luke. I only found a couple last year and one was right in the middle of one of my food plots. They seem to drop them where I can't find them.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah we didn't find any fresh sheds last year, primarily because my standing bean field got picked clean before it was time for them to drop. Almost all of my sheds have been found around this same field over the last few years. I think having a great late season food source (one that is undisturbed) is key to finding them because it concentrates them. By searching the bedding areas and trails in a few hundred yard radius of the food source, I have had most of my luck.


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Luke

Glad to see you working your lab. She did good. As you develop your farm more finding search will become more predictable. I think I will plant about 3 small winter plots to see if we can help shed hunting on our farm next cycle.

Thanks for sharing.

Wayne
 
Cool vid of dog shed hunting. But what I really want to see iis the video of daughter as you push her following dog. Bet that expression is priceless. She's got a good father.
 
Paradise725 said:
Thanks! Yeah we didn't find any fresh sheds last year, primarily because my standing bean field got picked clean before it was time for them to drop. Almost all of my sheds have been found around this same field over the last few years. I think having a great late season food source (one that is undisturbed) is key to finding them because it concentrates them. By searching the bedding areas and trails in a few hundred yard radius of the food source, I have had most of my luck.


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Click to expand...
Same here in NE MO, usually around my turnip plots.
 
Luke...Just finished catching up on your thread. Great season, great buck and great thread! Couldn't help but noticing the Cutco steak knife in post 119. Had a Cutco gal in our home about a year ago "working her way thru school" and couldn't help but help her out with a purchase. Now proud owner of a few of those. KY may be the best kept secret in the whitetail world. More and more guys down here are finding their way to KY to hunt each year.
 
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