Taking care of the landowner....

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Ks5shooter

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The farmer that allows me to hunt his property has become a great friend. Besides the great conversation and the usual venison etc. I wanted to do something a little different to show my appreciation. John and his son have been getting the hay in the barn. Not an easy task with all the rain we have had here in NJ. I was visiting and this down the lane to the house caught my eye. I took the picture had it printed out 8x10,put it in a nice frame. Im sure he will like it,and hope he understands what this opportunity to hunt his farm means to me.His house is on the left behind the trees and his tractor is at end of field between the tree clumps just right of the house.

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The farmer that allows me to hunt his property has become a great friend. Besides the great conversation and the usual venison etc. I wanted to do something a little different to show my appreciation. John and his son have been getting the hay in the barn. Not an easy task with all the rain we have had here in NJ. I was visiting and this down the lane to the house caught my eye. I took the picture had it printed out 8x10,put it in a nice frame. Im sure he will like it,and hope he understands what this opportunity to hunt his farm means to me.His house is on the left behind the trees and his tractor is at end of field between the tree clumps just right of the house.

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Thats a nice thing to do. Farmers around here liked to get overhead photos of there farms years ago lost of them are I'm very dry year. I'm in Orange county ny only 5 miles from Sussex.
 
That reminds me of how much I don’t miss square bales.

Especially when my Grandfather was paying for them and they were very heavy, made it a little better when my Father bought a bailer and set it to make lighter bales but it’s too darn hot when hay needs to be put into the barn..
 
When I graduated from college I had a short internship then moved back in with my parents. Dad had been given a horse from one of his cousins who was critter rich and pasture limited. A single horse eats about 1/4 bale a day if he has an acre of pasture to graze. So dads little pasture was split into two one acre lots one to grow and one to eat alternating about every 3-4 weeks. The horse kept getting out, tearing up fences, and several times broke down the boards separating him from the hay. The neighbors donated orchard grass fields to cut, but I was left to pick up bales. I was never more proud than the day I heard the horse got out and was picked up by the Amish. I hate square bales, especially when you manage to bale a copperhead into one. That one never left the field.
 
When I graduated from college I had a short internship then moved back in with my parents. Dad had been given a horse from one of his cousins who was critter rich and pasture limited. A single horse eats about 1/4 bale a day if he has an acre of pasture to graze. So dads little pasture was split into two one acre lots one to grow and one to eat alternating about every 3-4 weeks. The horse kept getting out, tearing up fences, and several times broke down the boards separating him from the hay. The neighbors donated orchard grass fields to cut, but I was left to pick up bales. I was never more proud than the day I heard the horse got out and was picked up by the Amish. I hate square bales, especially when you manage to bale a copperhead into one. That one never left the field.
Yup I don't mind the snakes i do not like the spiders big ones lol
 
I spent a fair amount of time as a kid in helping my grandfather get the hay into the second floor of the barn. Age eight on to age eleven. He'd lift them to the loading door and I'd stack them. Later years, I did it in a smaller barn. Supplied winter feed for around twenty head of mostly Herefords.

Now, that old family land is covered with houses. Sad. But, you can make a lot more money raising condos than with cows. And the annual per-acre school taxes were half again as high as his original purchase price.
 
50 yeas ago we put up small rounds of our own and hired out to do the neighbors. Putting it up in stacks and in barns, figured we'd handled over 80,000 bales every summer. When school started it was the farm kids that smoked the city kids in football, wrestling, and other sports. Now most of the farm kids have big guts and ride around in air conditioned tractors.
 
50 yeas ago we put up small rounds of our own and hired out to do the neighbors. Putting it up in stacks and in barns, figured we'd handled over 80,000 bales every summer. When school started it was the farm kids that smoked the city kids in football, wrestling, and other sports. Now most of the farm kids have big guts and ride around in air conditioned tractors.

Ain't that the truth.

Those square bales sell for some nice folding money around here during Halloween time.

I still remember us kids would hop on a bale and ride it up the elevator to the loft. Until I fell off at 15ft maybe 20ft or so. When your 4 or 5 years old you bounce a little better so I was fine. Good times.
 
We still do square bails due to our storage limitations for round bails. When people at work complain about the hot summer weather I always tell them "It's a good day to put up hay". Always find the good in all situations.
The owner of the farms that I hunt do the monster square bails now. Said that they are easier to stack and haul. They feed over 300 head of cows and bulls not counting calves. When feeding round bales they were going through 2500-2750 bales a year. Still bale some rounds but have a couple of monster sheds full of squares.
 
Being helpful to a farmer or rancher seems to me to be a good deal. I think back to when we wanted to add some people to our hunting group, necessitating a larger ranch. The rancher from whom we leased called another rancher with a larger place, recommending us with, "They leave a place better than how they found it."
 
Other ways to help include keeping track of fence conditions, and making sure that gates are closed. On the farm that I hunt I have told the owner about cows that were calving and animals that have gone into closed pastures. I honestly spend more time on the entire farm than the owner.;)
 
Around here, small dairy operations that still milk cows in stanchions, bale small square bales as they are about the only way to feed hay in the manger in front of the cow, when in the barn. Big round and large square bales are more for beef and heifers that feed out in the yard/pasture. Haylage is fed from the silos in bunks along with corn silage.....then there is bagged silage.:confused:

As for helping out the landowner, that's a no-brainer. Hunting someone else's property is a privilege. Anyone that lets me hunt their private property gets something in return from me. Generally it's in the form of work, either helping with fences, field work or even stackin' hay in the mow. Many times my experience in construction is the "return the favor". They all get a Christmas card too, along with an invite to the local NWTF Landowner appreciation dinner. They also are welcome to a share of whatever I harvest off their property....if they want.
 
One of the few outsiders we allow to hunt here will bring a printed out Google map of the area and ask us to mark down or any livestock may be. He already has the houses marked with the coordinates. He also tends to let us know when he is on the property and where he plans to be. His safety consciousness goes a long way in getting permission to hunt.
 
Communication is definitely respectful to the landowner. I also offer labor on a regular basis. The farmers wife wanted to go to Hawaii ,he grudgingly went, he doesn't like to leave the farm. I relayed to him that I am available to help his son in any capacity needed while he is away.He was very thankful and told me when he returned that it made the trip a bit less stressful.:)
 
CCEC7082-AFE4-495E-8542-4FE2F6E64CA4.jpeg CE660360-F210-42BA-85B2-601AD02C2CBB.jpeg Was hunting a ranch in Montana with three friends. It was fall roundup time and 5he rancher had promised to help someone else. He had no Idea how he was going to get the cattle rounded up off a 1,500 acre pasture in time for the trucks that were coming

Told him we’d do the roundup. At first he laughed. Told him I grew up on a dairy farm. Had a lot of experience with cattle. Hopped on our four wheelers and brought them in next morning.

One if the most fun things I’ve done
 
View attachment 797717 View attachment 797716 Was hunting a ranch in Montana with three friends. It was fall roundup time and 5he rancher had promised to help someone else. He had no Idea how he was going to get the cattle rounded up off a 1,500 acre pasture in time for the trucks that were coming

Told him we’d do the roundup. At first he laughed. Told him I grew up on a dairy farm. Had a lot of experience with cattle. Hopped on our four wheelers and brought them in next morning.

One if the most fun things I’ve done
My little buddy Juan who works at the farm that I hunt was having problems moving a herd to another pasture. The herd bull would not let the ladies go through the gate. I arrived at the gate on my little Yamaha and watched the rodeo for a minute. After putting my rifle in a safe place I joined in the foray. It took 10 minutes or so, but we got the cows moved. Like you, it was a fun filled day.

I also get called in on armadillo and coyote control. I am thinking of describing my occupation on my tax return as: Wildlife Population Control Specialist.
 
Offering to help with cattle is an "iffy" situation... If you know how to work cattle your help will be appreciated. If not you're making the job all that much harder.

When dad still kept his pistol range open to selected members of the public there was a certain batch of public employees using the range when some of the feeder beef cattle got out of the feedlot. Now mind you, dad had bought these feeder cattle from out west somewhere and as my uncle put it – had never seen a human being without a horse under him before. So here's thirty head heading for the highway with my older brother and I on horses getting them bunched up so we can drive them back when these public servants decide to "take control of the situation." They did manage to get behind the cattle but they started screaming at the top of their lungs which… While I'll admit kept the beef off the highway- scattered the animals over six hundred acres of corn and soybeans and swale bottom swamp. What my brother and I could have done in less than twenty minutes by ourselves ended up requiring all our employees plus my grandfather and took the better part of the day.

That was the last time the range was used by anyone except family or guests. Bottom line, if you know what you are doing do it, if you just think you do you are wrong and better off keeping quiet and doing what the little girl that does know what she's doing tells you.
 
Friend of mine whose land I sometimes deer hunt on gets regular updates from several trail cams of mine scattered around in various areas. He's 76 and still gets around well; but just not as much as he once did. I check the cams every week or two. Two SD cards per cam... swap 'em and then review the pix here at home on the computer. If I get some good ones that would be worth showing him, ( he doesn't have a computer) I print them out down at the Wal-Mart photo dept. for about 29 cents apiece. Just dropped some off to him this afternoon. Had some nice doe & fawn shots, a turkey and a coyote. Just reviewed the latest ones I took out of the cams today and I'm gonna print up some buck pictures, more fawns and a great turkey picture. He gets a kick out of them and I'm happy to help him out because he likes to know whats running around, and how often, back there in his woods.
 
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