Plowing Food Plot with Box Blade

[3RRL]

Thanks for the good wishes Scotty,
The wife and I are headed up this weekend and I have decided to take Homebrew's advice and get some poly pipe and sprinklers etc. I'll need to do that anyway before trying to grow my Summer plot and now would be a good time to do it. I'll be tying into some 1" pipe and get some advice from FGS guys. The weather is really nice and I have some cousins coming to visit from Holland. They are always kidding about their American cousin who has this big ranch hahaha ... I will put them to work on it.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Great activity from a cell or 2 last night ... 0.62" according to my weather station. Sure makes the dirt work good, see attached (sorry for the blurryness ... hard to balance a beer, camera and keep Baby pointed in the right direction

 

[3RRL]

Well,
I haven't given up on the food plot yet. We had a small amount of rain a week ago and things are starting to sprout finally.



This weekend it rained 3" and soaked everything. Temperatures are still pretty warm here.... 65°F days and 40°F lows, so there's still a chance for some growing here. Maybe I'm wrong about that? I am a crummy farmer and don't know for sure???
Anyway, if it does grow, it will attract the deer for sure. The neighbors see the deer trying to feed on their lawn and flowers so they are hungry.

Here is a deer photo taken at night by the game camera, but it was too far away. This one I tried to enhance. Maybe you can see it in there?

 

[3RRL]

The game camera got quite a few shots of animals moving around near the edge of the food plot. Maybe they know something I don't know because they are more active now in this area?

On Saturday morning, Wes called me over to watch 2 Bobcats walking through the meadow together. A big one and a slightly smaller one. It was around 6:30 am and we watched from them from camp for about 10 minutes before they moved out of sight.
Here is one caught on the game camera in the afternoon.

 

[3RRL]

There are tons of Coyotes that roam the property too. We hear them howling in chorus every evening. These were also caught on the game camera.

 

[3RRL]

We have yet to get pictures of the resident Black Bears that live around the property. Our neighbors have pictures of them walking through their front lawn but they live there year 'round. We seem to miss them but have seen evidence of them visiting our camp. We see lots of foot prints and one time the bear rummaged through our camp stuff. Our Solar contractor did see it once very early in the morning as it was passing through.

When my cousins from Holland visited last weekend, they saw the Mountain Lion that's been hanging around the ravine on the property. We don't have any photos of him either (yet). He has been spotted several times by two neighbors in the same area, near our ravine. I took a photo of the ravine where he's been spotted a couple of times. There is a little cave in one area and I though he might be using it? It showed some tracks around but no sign of the Lion.
Here's a photo of that area.

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Very cool pictures!!!

What type of game cam do you have? Where'd you get it and why did you choose that particular one?

I'm thinking about getting a digital one, but haven't made a choice yet. Prices are droping and it's getting harder to tell the good from the bad.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Hi Eddie,
I got a cheaper model that is digital and I bought mine at Sportsman's Guide. It has the same features as the more expensive "name brands" but was a little cheaper. It is water proof and I've had it for about 2 years now. runs on 4 "C" size batteries. Several settings and a video mode too.
Check it out here:
Game Camera
I bought the one for $139.95 and it works real good. There are several choices he carries and many on the internet to choose from, but this one was all I needed. I'm thinking of getting another one to monitor where that Mountain Lion is hanging out.

 

[john_bud]

In 3R it's still in the low 50's highs of 80°. You guys in Oregon and Washington, is it normal to be dipping that low already this time of year?

I see Stumpfield got rain in Mariposa already. Weather report shows high in 3R is going to be around 72° this weekend with rain. Exactly what I need to get the plot going. I'm going up Thursday to fertilize.

Another thing is with all that area open, there are tons of ground squirrels out there!! I tried getting them with my m-1 jungle carbine but I missed several 100 yard shots with it. Open peep sights and I am a crappy shot anymore. I'm bringing up my .240 Weatherby with 4 x 16 Tasco scope to do some plinking this time.. If I miss with that, I'll quit!

240 weatherby for squirrels???? What do you use for deer, 50 BMG?

jb

 

[3RRL]

240 weatherby for squirrels???? What do you use for deer, 50 BMG?

jb

John,
Don't laugh but my favorite is my .378 Weatherby Mag. with Handloads. I've shot plenty of deer while on combination Elk/Deer hunts. It definitely does the job. Effective range is as steady as you can hold it. Most guys don't know this, but it is a tremendous long range rifle with a trajectory similar to a Weatherby .300 mag. but WAY more energy from that 260gr Nosler partition leaving the muzzle at 3360fps.

Anyway, LOL ... that's not all I shoot with that .240 Weatherby.