2022-2023 Hunting Preps

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Oh, for heavens sake! Someone put the electrical outlets in upside down! :cuss:The whole thing is ruined! Do it over!;) Really that looks very nice! Well done!:)
 
My preps have gone on hold due to an extended business trip abroad. I managed to get my quail/dove food plot planted, and then literally got on a flight the next day. I'm hoping to get back for part of the summer, but have already been extended once, so we'll see....Good news, the Per Diem's high, bad news, so's the cost of living here.

You just missed out on some serious rain last night. North side of topeka got almost 2.5" and KC broke single day totals records, at almost 3" i think.
 
There's lots of time between now and the start of our archery season (late Oct) but Mrs. Fl-NC's junky backyard greenhouse finally bit the dust- the UV murdered the transparent plastic that the thing is covered in, I started to take the whole mess to the dump but then I realized the plastic frame and shelves in it are in good shape- so I will be converting it into a ground blind at my friend's property where I hunt. I'm going to put a roof on it made from a cheap harbor freight camo tarp (about $10) that will be secured to what's left of the greenhouse plastic roof with large amounts of liquid nails and zip ties to the frame. Walls will be hopefully US mil camo net that I hope to scrounge from some mil buddies, secured with zip ties. Shooting port will be some nylon window screen I bought in a roll for $5 at a yard sale. I think I will try to find an old US mil shelter half for the door, weighted down at the bottom with a piece of PVC pipe filled with sand. I will stake it to the ground with stakes I will make out of some old rebar I have laving around. The thinking is that with camo net walls, the wind will move THROUGH the blind vs turning it into a wind bag every time it blows, causing more wear and tear. It will be very budget friendly and should last a long time, or at least good enough to make it through 1 season. If it is a total failure, no problem- there is also a ladder stand on the other side of the field where I'm putting together this thing. Not as roomy or palatial as armored farmer's, but weather here isn't a problem except the heat. I will take some pics as the process unfolds.
 
Oh, for heavens sake! Someone put the electrical outlets in upside down! :cuss:The whole thing is ruined! Do it over!;) Really that looks very nice! Well done!:)
The thing is top-heavy. The wind blew it out in my field and turned it over once.....it wasn't ruined.....but busted the door and a couple of windows. Knocking it out of square too..
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Ironically....that was 4/6/20....the same day that I laid one of my semi's over and screwed up my shoulder.
So two years later.......!
The outlets are code....BTW.
Cabin code....;)
 
The outlets are code....BTW.
Cabin code....;)

I was taught that your “cabin code” IS the proper way to install outlets to code (although to some they look upside down…)…the reasoning was that if the outlet cover is made of metal, and if it comes loose, and if the cover falls on a plug and if that plug is not fully inserted, it will land on the ground prong of the plug, and not be a safety concern…

however, if the outlet is installed with the ground facing down (as many of us do), in that same situation (loose metal cover plate falling on a non fully inserted plug) the metal plate will span the hot and return terminals, causing shorts, sparks, electrocutions, and all manner of bad outcomes.

I logged on tonight to see what people were doing to prep for hunting season, which is 5 short months away, and totally went Cliff Clavin regarding electrical outlets…man, I like this forum…

great blind BTW…i’m going to be planning and plotting for months…
 
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You just missed out on some serious rain last night. North side of topeka got almost 2.5" and KC broke single day totals records, at almost 3" i think.

Well, I missed it, but the property didn't!

IAW my wife, both ponds over spillways, a lot of debris washed into one of the hayfields and, a small washed pout section of my gravel road. I'm going to have to work a permanent solution for the road cause it's getting to be an annual occurrence. Good news is the quail/dove plot is coming up, one of my crab apple trees is loaded, and with all the rain she hasn't had to hook up my 3pt watering system.
 
NEKS still has a few folks growing milo. Mostly cattle farmers for feed. An ex-GFs step dad did it and i even saw a bunch out in west central KS a couple years ago. Out near Cedar Bluff reservoir.

Just made a trip from eastern KS to just past Denver. The amount of milo i saw growing in the western half of KS and the first 50 miles of CO was astounding. More milo than corn and nearly as much as wheat. And it all looked very healthy.
 
Update to my post #20 of 4/8/22. Got the new blind up by mid-April in time for turkey season except I was too busy with other things in May and didn't turkey hunt from it this year. But all the local critters are now fully accustomed to it so it's "all systems go" for deer this fall. Made sure there were no large, dead trees anywhere near it in case of another big wind event. Took a picture of it recently when I was out there switching SD cards on trail cams. From what I see on the trail cams lately I might spend more time in one of two ladder stands in a different section of the woods. Here's what the new blind looks like in July; which will look a lot different than it will in November with all the leaves down... IMG_4679.JPG .. like this shot of the old one.. 12-29-20.JPG ..
 
Just made a trip from eastern KS to just past Denver. The amount of milo i saw growing in the western half of KS and the first 50 miles of CO was astounding. More milo than corn and nearly as much as wheat. And it all looked very healthy.

Probably cause folks laid off of corn due to the fertilizer prices. My neighbor only put 1 field in corn this year. I'm curious to see if the lack of cornfields around here makes the feeder more attractive.

So I arrived home last Friday from a 75 day "business" trip to Europe, almost sleeping through the night now. Sort of sucks that I missed a good chunk of spring/early summer when I could have been getting stuff done. I wanted to plant a few more budget Walmart oaks, but it didn't happen. Spent part of this weekend and last weekend getting caught up, mostly mowing and spraying. Today I went through and cleaned up a bunch of "volunteer" persimmons around my stand. Probably 8 or 9 in all that surround a big female.

This winter I stratified and planted about 30 acorns in small pots a few weeks before I left (Burr, Chinkapin and Sawtooth). My wife planted some in JUN to make up for some of the seedlings I lost last year and transplanted the rest into larger pots. Most are now over a foot tall. I'll plant the potted trees this fall to cut down on the watering. We watered trees today and all are still living.

So that aspect of preps went pretty well. The other aspect of preps, not so well.

Did some shooting SAT with a friend, shot off my tripod with the Hog saddle and just a bag at 200 & 300 on steel. I used every inch of the plates and some surrounding dirt. The 75 day "break" hurt more than I thought it would. So now I'm going to get serious about a practice regime. Going to go back to ground zero with the .22LR and .223 and work my way back into it.
 
Still plenty of great looking corn over here near Topeka but there is a lot of river bottom with the Kaw and Waka rivers. The Waka has a mile wide flood plain directly south of Topeka. I can say there was not much corn along I-70 from here to Denver.

Most of the land up here north of Topeka is hay ground. What hasnt been taken over by houses anyway...
 
Today I moved some cameras and fixed some stands. Honestly though this year I have done more to prepare than ever before. I’m blogging about it. My name .com if you want to read about it. If that’s not okay then I’m sorry and I’d be glad to remove this post.
 
Still plenty of great looking corn over here near Topeka but there is a lot of river bottom with the Kaw and Waka rivers. The Waka has a mile wide flood plain directly south of Topeka. I can say there was not much corn along I-70 from here to Denver.

Most of the land up here north of Topeka is hay ground. What hasnt been taken over by houses anyway...

My milo plot is turning yellow:(

I'm hoping this rain we're getting today does some good. Mowed both of my deer food plots this past weekend getting ready to till and plant Labor Day weekend..

Did some practicing with the .22LR at 100 yds this past weekend, worked off the tripod; sitting, kneeling and prone. Then some plain old off-hand while using the sling. It's coming back slowly.. Next I'll work in some shooting off the backpack, prone and sitting.
 
The heat has been brutal. Been raining here all morning so its sure to do some good. Though it is probably too late for the milo... My garden corn died. Little tiny ears not even developed fully. Deer got to my plot before it was a few inches tall and it never recovered.

Been too hot for me to get out and do much. My bigger pasture is pretty well pure prairie now though which is what i wanted.
 
I have a new green river knife kit for hunting and my BP fetish.
I think you'll find that your new knife is a damn fine one. I love mine, although it's the bullnose butcher knife, what Dexter calls the "Sheath Knife". It's my go to butchering knife.
 
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I'm pretty much set for hunting season.

I'm slowly getting set up to reload. I'm probably gonna end up pouring more money into it than I'll end up saving, but I think it'd be really cool to load my own hunting ammo. It'll let me try out copper bullets for half the cost of factory copper loads, so that helps justify it.

I've been doing cardio and strength exercises to prepare for this season. Nothing sucks worse than shooting a fat deer and then remembering that you've got to drag the thing. I'm trying to make it a little more bearable through exercise.

Frankly there isn't all that much to do, my stands are set up and I know where the deer are. I'm mostly kicking back and waiting for the season to arrive.
 
I'm pretty much set for hunting season.

I'm slowly getting set up to reload. I'm probably gonna end up pouring more money into it than I'll end up saving, but I think it'd be really cool to load my own hunting ammo. It'll let me try out copper bullets for half the cost of factory copper loads, so that helps justify it.

I've been doing cardio and strength exercises to prepare for this season. Nothing sucks worse than shooting a fat deer and then remembering that you've got to drag the thing. I'm trying to make it a little more bearable through exercise.

Frankly there isn't all that much to do, my stands are set up and I know where the deer are. I'm mostly kicking back and waiting for the season to arrive.

A common theme with reloaders, you won't save money, but you'll shoot more!

Buuuut, IF you buy in bulk, watch for sales, you can save money too. I practice quite a bit having my own range and there's no way I could do it only shooting factory.

Then again, with the money I spent on his place I could have bought a a lot of factory ammo...

Agree 100% with the exercise. I get in a 3.5 mile walk every day at lunchtime. It rained yesterday so I did the stairs in our building (4 flights). Man was I feeling old at the end!
 
I am getting ready for what could be my last deer hunt in my favorite zone in California. It has taken me eight years to draw this tag and is very sentimental as this is the same place I shot my first deer 40 years ago.

I started out by making some ammo in the kitchen, then I head up to the mountains with my son to do some scouting and prep hikes in altitude. I live at sea level so getting around above 9000 feet takes some time to acclimate. Finally we headed out to the forest to confirm zero and do some shooting. Everything went great so now it is just a matter of a final gear prep and that horrible night before opening. 40 years later and I still stay up all night with excitement.

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Did some mowing today. Big whoop, i know. But i saw two things that made me think of this thread. First was the spot i last had a mineral block. There is a 12x12x10" hole dug there, by hooves. The prior spot i had one turned into a long scrape but they dug down on this one. Need to toss another one out.

Second, some may recall that i live on an 80 acre cedar patch. Nothing but cedars, locust, and osage orange. Well i mowed a path along the fence near the road. I look at the leaves getting all up in my face and nearly fell off the mower. An OAK TREE! Not only an oak tree, but like 20 of them, all 6 to 12 ft tall. A couple are even producing acorns! Also found a few behind the lagoon, also starting to bear acorns.

Its kind of weird, there are even some that are just a year or two old too. Must have a more mature tree nearby that the single resident squirrel has been busy burying its "nuts".

We do have a single oak in our yard too, that we planted. Its about 10ft tall now.

Also i noticed that the lespedeza count is significantly lower this year than last. Spraying did the trick.
 
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