…. lol … they got y’all that night Swamp

… thanks for sharing

Driving in that heavy dust that night (twice) at about 60+ mph and not being able to see my truck hood had to be comparable to an airplane pilot flying in no visibility conditions. It took me a min to realize I needed to break that off. Almost wrecked each time. And as a my work unit's supervisor, that wouldn't been good as I had preached to my crew a few times about knowing when to halt their pursuit.

God was watching over everybody that night...both us GWs and the deer poachers.

I have had two game warden tickets. Got one in NM. They have an offset law for 3 size traps. I was aware of it. Some how put a closed jaw in the box fore I headed out. Then set it. No clue what I was I was thinking. Warden come come up as I was reluring that one. Asked for my license. Asked if he could check the tag so I stepped on it. He checked the tag then used a tape measure on the trap. Dumb me it took a second to figure out what he was doing. I assured him it was an honest mistake (which it was). I offered to show him more sets. He looked in my trap box and they were all offset. He was real friendly. Never got ignorant. Cost me 40-50 bucks and a trip to the courthouse.

Here in KS I was trapping with a friend from PA. He did not have coyote equipment. He was setting my traps and using my snares. We were in the same pickup though. One of us, I think was him, forgot to pick up a snare. I went to WY. Got home and warden came by. He knew we were trapping together as he tagged cats for us before Curt went home. That snare caught a coyote. Old woman that lived nearby called headquarters in Pratt asking if they would come get a dead coyote caught in some wire. I told warden I did not know which one of us hung the snare. He mailed a ticket to Curt and wrote me one. He was almost apologetic writing that ticket. Says he knew just missed it but he had to write tickets. I just paid that one by mailing a check.

I put one stand up today in a cedar thick hillside. You would think it too thick for an arrow to get through, but I've taken three deer from a tree about seven yards away. I had to switch trees, my stand was up to long in the other and had started to grow into it. It's one of those spots that you dream of for lots of action, trails actually gouged into the hillside.
Seven stands up so far on 3 of 4 properties, two or three more to go.

Sounds like a SPOT!

Gave up on the beavers for a while yet?

I don’t have recent plot pics, but I spent all day removing over 200 tree tubes now that the trees have outgrown them.

4 different varieties of crab Apple, crab pear, persimmon, chestnut, red, white, Burr and Swamp oak. Got another 75 or so to do tomorrow.

I’ll mow and spray the buckwheat at the end of August and then work on 6 plots across the farm for a total of about 8 acres. My farmer has 45 acres of corn he should be getting up around the start of September.

I work to keep a lot of edge cover around everything for the quail and rabbits as well.

For all the haters, I haven’t named him yet, but this is my best on camera so far this year. Would like to get a few more pics so I can tell if I want to mess with him or not.

And as usual, I get a pic uploaded sideways. If anyone could be so kind as to fix it…

We’ve got a good piece of land in the family. Did some autumn olive removal and a little prescribed burning this spring. We have about a 2 acre clover plot that really filled in this year - lots of deer feeding in it since we aren’t in an Ag-heavy area of the state. Got some fall beans planted and I’ve been brushing out trails and shooting lanes.

Dragged a walk-behind tiller down to a swamp edge to try and put in a kill plot. Basically just mowed the grass with it and beat up my back in the process. That ground will need a lot of work but I’ll hit it again in the spring.

I usually hang sticks here and there for quick saddle sets, but still need to hang two this year. I make sure I have a few spots for different wind directions.

I’m working on a timber sale across the property that will total more than 40 acres. Goal is to get that early successional growth for winter browse and also trying to convert to oak forest in some spots.

Changed the bush hog blades



And back to bush hogging. About ten miles of trails to take care of

WhireCliffs,
You and I are on the same page....lol

Ive got to put new blades on my BushHog this week.

Looks like your feedin' fish too.

He seemed to favor the poachers.

Had about 15 acres of mature popple cut this winter. It was overly mature and I was spending too much time cutting up trees that came down in the hayfield every time the wind blew hard. The new growth is coming in quick and will provide great deer cover in a few years, not to mention good grouse and timberdoodle hunting.
I put one food plot into birdsfoot trefoil. Its a plot near the river and it stays too wet for alfalfa or clover. Treefoil tolerates wetter soils much better. I inoculated the seed and man is it ever doing well. First year, Im letting it seed out and then Ill cut it back as needed. The other side of that field is going to get a mix of red and white clover with a nursery crop of triticale this fall...not too long from now. Inbetween those two plots is an 8 acre field of grasses/clover mix that a neighboring dairy put in. Farmer also put in 3 acres of alfalfa just to the south of those plots. Its in its second year now and it really attracts the deer.
Still debating if Im going to renew that lease after i retire....I sure enjoy turning the dirt and managing food plots. We'll see when the time comes.

Broomchaser,
If you would've been riding with me that night....you'd think differently...lol

The poachers had a clear escape route...no dust. Even though they eluded court dates that night...they also didn’t get any venison...lol. They provided meat for a local needy family and didnt even know it.

We all survived, albeit short of our goals.

Just came in from pulling my last beaver job. I definitely sent the last one packing. Haven't seen any sign of him since I took his second toe. I've been called to the spot a couple times a year for the last 3 years. Basically a road ditch stream about 6-10' wide connecting a series of ponds. I catch a couple at a time, then nothing for a few months.

Swamp I am glad to hear what you did with the deer. They are shooting antlerless deer on damage permits in Mo. now. Many agents around here will not let you utilize the meat. (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman)?

I make sure my rifle is sighted in properly. And I trap wolves.

Blessed with thousands of acres of public land access?

Glad we dont have wolves. Dang coyotes bad enough.

We have plenty of forage, grazing, crops and cover in our general area to sustain what I consider a very good population of whitetails. Lots of deer and very few hunters. Not like it was when I was a young man. You saw orange vests, hats and hunting coats and a truck load of hunters traveling all around during the open season and weekends. Not like that any longer around here.

The planting is up…..sporadic but up. They don’t seem to be as interested as the feeding sight.

Spent the last couple days working my fall food plots and working in my deer stand for gun season. The area is about 1.5 acres in the middle of the lease. The road leading into the that area has a 350 straight away. Early this spring I scalped it and planted Merit Trail Mix which is a blend of clover meant for high traffic. I have to say it is really looking good. When you get to my area, we call it the Y because the road splits, I put a platform stand overlooking the plots and down the straight away. To the left is about 1/2 acre that I just planted with Merit Bison Mix, a mix of grains, brassicas, and clovers. To the right is an acre plus of Merit Whitetail Platinum, a mix a clovers. I have almost all my work done down there for the year.
The other food plot is two acres of clover and chickory. This is the first year for this plot. Lots of lime and fertilizer, still needs more lime.