Stump removal/Deer plot, and land improvements

[Scott K]

Bear are good eating too. 

Being I am out of state a bear license is a lot of money, and since the Wisconsin DNR thinks there aren't any bear, there is about a 6 year wait to get a license.  I hate to tell them but without baiting them, I have had at least 10 different bear on my land this year. 

[delcecchi]

Oh, didn't realize it was a non-resident, sconnie thing.  Never Mind. 

They don't have any special landowner thing for licenses and permits? 

[Scott K]

Nothing I have seen. I have even asked bear hunters in the area if they needed land to hunt, and they just laughed, telling me there is so  many people trying to get rid of bear, that they could charge people to go hunt on their land. The biggest issue with bear hunters, is they will want to bait them, then that just draws in more, then they shoot the biggest one, and you are still left with all the others they drew in.

 

As of right now, they are just present, they will knock over my grill a few times a year, they will tip over my garbage and make a mess if I forget to empty it before I leave. I had a couple game cameras eaten by them, other then that I haven't had to much of an issue with them. But I know as soon as my apple trees start baring fruit, that will change. Once they begin wrecking my apple trees, then I will be a little more aggressive in getting a plan to get rid of them.

[Scott K]

I did a quick trip up this past weekend, went up Saturday morning, and came back home Saturday night. I needed to grab my trailer from up there, to haul my deer stand base up there. I thought it would fit in my truck, but it hangs off the side to much, so I decided a quick trip up to grab it this weekend, and I can do a few other things while I was up there.  I wanted to get more done then I did, but I got done with what I had to do. I threw out some wheat into my brassica plot, I am not sure if anything will become of it or not, other then bird food, but it was free, and I may as well try. I tried to get winter rye, spread as well, but no one had any around me in stock, so I went with just winter wheat. I thought planting this week will give it much better odds then next week, with the temps dipping below freezing already. I filled my propane tank, I cemented the posts in the ground for my deer stand, it will be ready to just lift the base up there, bolt it on, then set up the new blind on it. I grabbed the trailer, then we were out of there by mid afternoon.

 

I did set up my Covert camera that I had sent in for warranty a couple weeks ago, and I checked pictures on my sons plot, pretty much the same thing daily, does, and fawns, and not a buck around. This was the first time that I didnt get a bear picture all year I think. Hopefully they moved on to a different area to den in.

[Scott K]

I plan on going up this weekend and finishing up on my stand. I decided I got to the age of needing stairs, rather then a ladder. So I figured I can make half of it at home, then make the other half up there, so I have the correct measurements. I did prep the second level, by cutting the steps, and the brackets for the steps, but the rails will need to be finished in the woods. This section is 5 foot tall, then the remaining 5 foot will go up to the left to the stand. I am not sure why my pictures load sideways from my phone.  Next summer I will install a hand rail, and add the finishing touches to it, but this year time is limited. 

 

It it was nice getting this close to an inch of rain this morning, the rain, and the forecast of above freezing temps should help my wheat grow that I planted last weekend. If there is any left, from the birds, turkeys, and this fella 

[Scott K]

My son and I made the trip up, after an awesome day at Clam picking up my shelter. I got to meet some very good fishermen while I was there, and we checked out all of the new products. I will have a list for Santa this year that is for sure! Once we got to Wisconsin we went and scoped out things, and I took my new blind out of the box and set it up. It took all of 30 seconds. Man I love that thing. 

Saturday late morning we went and started to build the stand. I still have some final touches to finish up, but I think it turned out pretty good. This set up will get me by until next summer when I finish building it. 

 

Deer were much less scared of me this weekend. I had watched them for a quite a while. Even while we were building the stand we had one 50 yards away in the food plot. 

 

 

the leaf colors on the trees, and the ground had made tracking a little difficult this weekend, but the leaves were beautiful to say the least!

  

 

I will post an update later. 

Edited October 10, 2015 by Scott K

[Scott K]

I never filled in the update from when we were up last, but an arrow was flung, with no success. It looked as though a branch may have deflected it. It was just a nice doe, that didn't have a fawn with her. Not to many of them this year, every doe We have seen had a fawn with her. So we choose to not shoot. 

 

Since we we were up last a couple weeks ago the deer have seen to have gone nocturnal, I am assuming because of us hunting it. But on the positive side of things, I am starting to get a couple buck pictures, all have been small, but at least there is some coming in. I would assume the neighbor has combined his corn. 

I am also getting a steady supple up these guys again as well. 

 

 

On the other hand my brother which lives about 40 miles away from my land is getting deer like this. 

 

but they have been just night shots as well. He seems to have a nice supple of mature bucks on his land every year. I may have to go hunt his property a couple days to help him thin a couple of them

 

i am am going back up this weekend to do a few things, but I am staying out of the woods until rifle season up there now. I still need to fill my tag at home. 

[Scott K]

Busy, busy busy  has been what's new lately. Between work, training, family, bow hunting, yard work before winter, and life in general, I haven't had much spare time. I did work on a few projects though. I bought a used outdoor walk in freezer, and converted it into a smokehouse. I basically removed all of the electrical stuff, and sealed it off. Made a chimney, cut a hole in the floor for a cooker, then added rails to hang stuff on, or to put racks on. I think it should work very well! It is 4x4x6

Another project I have been working on is making a disc for the food plots. I am way to cheap to buy a new one for an ATV for $900, so I found an old disc, took the rear gangs off it, and with the help of a friend, we are going to weld the 2 rear gangs together. 

This is what I started off with

and this is what I am using out of it to make the atv disc

We just need to weld them together with an adjustable frame to change the pitch, and we are working on that this week. I still have this part left over, not sure if I am going to sell it, or keep it for spare parts. 

Wisconsin rifle hunting is still a couple weeks away, but I am getting stuff together already. Kinda excited!

 

Good luck to all of the Mn tree pumpkins this weekend! Stay safe, shoot straight, and get a biggun!