wtnhunt

Had the same thoughts.

Archery here in Tennessee is given early ahead of all other seasons before the heavier pressure of the hunters who do not hunt archery get into the woods. An archery license holder however can hunt with archery gear during all the season from season start to season end so long as he or she is hunting with archery gear. This gives a more fair opportunity to those who are using a weapon that is not capable of being effective at longer distances and are typically under circumstances that allow one shot. Archery is more challenging than gun or muzzleloader hunting and so those hunters are given first crack before deer get more wary/spooky. That being said, I miss the old TN seasons that were split. We used to have two archery segments, two muzzleloader segments and two gun segments. There were early and late, now we have a single archery season that opens early, 4th Sat of Sept, then our muzzleloader usually opens the first Saturday of November runs for two weeks and then the gun season opens. Deer around our property seem to be most likely to move during daylight in that special mid November time frame that is more consistent with the timing of our muzzleloading season. In more recent years we have improved doe movement on our property by keeping standing bean plots. In return more bucks have also been around. While archery season has some advantages, the disadvantages on our farm are far greater in my opinion. Cover is still very heavy, and it is for the most part still warm. Usually still too many ag crops in in the area making for deer not having to move around much for food. Couple those factors with the rut here not really getting going until November and the chances are just not great for filling a tag on a decent buck. Archery is far from its original form. I don't know that there was ever a reg that said archery was a recurve, but regs I know have adapted. Tennessee now allows the use of crossbows during the archery season, used to have to get a medical form signed by a physician, but now is allowed for anyone. I have shoulder issues now and while I would love to be able to shoot my compound, it is just not good for my shoulders. As with anything, the argument can be made about technology and advances and how we look at the way hunting has changed. In my mind, if you are close enough with a crossbow, while it is obviously easier than drawing a bow, chances are you are still going to only get one shot and still have to be in relatively close range and go to getting a shot without being seen or winded. In its original form the muzzleloader season gave similar advantages to the hunter as archery while having some disadvantages that a gun hunter would not have. Less hunters in the woods than with gun season, more pressure, but increased range. Muzzleloader is typically a one shot, rare you get a follow up but it does happen sometimes. Around our property the muzzleloading season coincides with the perfect timing of the rut where bucks are after does. Modern muzzleloading rifles in the hands of a capable hunter now can effectively kill deer at over 200 yards. That being said, some of the old timers were capable of extreme long range shots with old flintlocks and iron sights. The thing was they had to be and they were more honed and skilled. Modern makes it easier to be more accurate. Personally I want to be as accurate as possible to put down my animal as quickly and humanely as possible, so I do take the advances as advantages in modern inline and using modern powder, sabots, and a scope. To clarify our "gun" season includes shotgun, but only with slugs. Shot is not allowed for deer in TN. Our "gun" season is pretty well anything goes though and is now quite lengthy. You can hunt with your archery or muzzleloader gear in TN's gun season. You can hunt with a shotgun or a semi auto rifle, bolt action or a single shot rifle. In the past 10 years regs have been adapted to allow any centerfire cartridge from .223 up, used to be .24. There are some shotgun only state grounds and some areas like the arsenal that are shotgun or muzzleloader only where centerfire rifles are not allowed. As to the original form of the seasons, they were all established well before my time. I have seen a lot of change though in my 25+ years of hunting this area. So, then begs the question. Should I hunt with archery gear in the muzzleloading season or gun season. I have considered it. I have killed a lot of deer in archery range with the muzzleloader and gun, hard for me to put down any gun for a bow or crossbow due to the unknowns with range. I guess I am an opportunist of sorts while deer hunting in that I will take a shot on any coyote I see and it is nice knowing if I have one walk out at 150 yards I am not limited to the range of the bow in my hands. I have however hunted some with the muzzleloader during gun season, here the only disadvantage I am really giving up from gun to muzzleloader is timing for secondary or follow up shots.

Looks great Ross. Think doing any checkering or design in the wood would take away, like it as it is.

In my book "poachers" are not hunters at all, and they do still get pointed out as poachers rather than hunters by some media in some places. They are cheats and thieves. Far as what to call em, think poacher still fits. Of course some degrees of violations varying would lead me to think some may not be as bad of poachers. The tresspasser that unknowingly in the heat of the moment shoots the deer that is over an iffy line, is not quite the same as the poacher that is out shooting deer in headlights at night off of a road out of his truck. Sometimes accidents happen and some make honest mistakes that are still game violations, it is how they handle those circumstances, in some situations violators are not "poachers". It is those who know they are doing wrong and do it anyways or those who deliberately act ignorantly of laws or take advantage, and yes you are right they get lumped in with hunters which is disgusting

Sorry to hear the troubles Dave. I do know the frustration of things not going right or as easy as they should. Seems when I am exhausted or the most inopportune times that things seem to take those turns where murphy's law seems to take hold. Hope you get a break from the snow soon.

Shame that some states have such liberals. Plenty to be frustrated with Joe, and it is a sign of what the radical left wants to push for the entire country. Their agenda is very clear. My kids thought I was joking about "meatless Mondays" in cafeterias in New York. Sad situation when the government takes control over what you are allowed to eat. To hear the support for their "green new deal" is really alarming.

My 7 year old would get a good laugh out of that. Seriously though this crap being spewed by the lefties now is danged scary. aoc has no grip on reality, amazing how her party has jumped on her bandwagon. To think they could not do the stuff they say they want to do is naive. No planes, no fuel, no cows. Never thought obama would get in, much less serve two terms, proves if that is possible who knows what else can happen to this country if folks don't wake up.

Ummm yeah, it was locked by Gary for a reason. Unfortunately this one like many other threads were unlocked or soft deleted spam threads that were no longer deleted in the merge from old forums to the current. Took some digging for the new user to find this one. Original poster and one other was banned, see no reason to let it go, so will lock it up again.

Yeah, a break from the cold to have yet more rain and storms. Hopefully it does not get too bad tonight or tomorrow. Catrina has to work this weekend. No plans really, but Christina our oldest, turns 23 Sunday. Think the plan is to take her out for dinner.

Congratulations again. A nice bull for sure. A lot of good eating too. One of these days I will try putting in for TN elk hunt, probably have better chances of winning a jackpot in the lottery.

Thanks for passing along Don. Don't own or shoot a 38, but will definitely keep this in mind.

Can't pick just one, you decide. Oldest daughter, Christina, in Wyoming 2010, she was 14. Have several Wyoming pics, but this was the only one that was loaded on this laptop. Youngest daughter, 10 year old Allison, on our property first deer 2015. Allison passed this buck on the youth hunt with me with her, and later on went with my wife during our regular rifle season. This was the wife's first time with one of our kids when they killed an animal. Then the highlight of this past season, 13 year old Allison taking her second deer ever. I had her pass on a younger buck earlier on and it paid off. One of my favorite pics that I have taken.

A lot of older posts were lost in one of the many "upgrades". Figure I lost more than 10 thousand. There are loads of posts that are missing content ie missing posts from members like yourself and me. Still shows you a monster buck. Chris has not posted here in a good while, last I heard he was doing ok. Ultimately there was a blowup between a fairly new member and an older member/moderator and some of us got drug into it. Most did not like the outcome. One was banned, the other thought he was banned and quit coming around. Turkeygirl was still around quite a bit up until last year, my wife is friends with her on facebook, she still posts there. Not sure why she has not been around much lately. Several members got frustrated with some of the prior versions of the forums. There were a lot of issues prior to the current where things just did not work right and folks had login issues as well. lol. Maybe, noone ever told me that though. Still waiting for my keys to Bill Jordan's place.

Would have to give this a bit of thought. Have some good ones of my kids, picking which one would be tough but will look through some later on.

Surprised more members had not replied. Post too long? That younger 8 is still hanging around and was still carrying both sides on the 2nd of March. Maybe he will still be around for the 2019 juvenile hunt, less than 8 months to go.

Nice elk, congratulations. Welcome back.

I think you are talking about the jd mid mount mowers on compacts and subcompacts. Those are a belly mower that is for mowing the yard. That said, I have used my little kubota for mowing clover, with the 5 ft deck it does ok so long as I do not let it go too long. I would not use that mower for cutting brush, the blades are not made for that, nor is the deck. It would likely break something or cause premature wear. People call them different names Frank. A rough cut mower, bush hog, brush hog, 3 pt rotary cutter are all the same thing. "Bush hog" is a name brand, but that is what I grew up calling a rotary cutter. Typically what is referred to as a "pull behind" works off the pto and rests on wheels and does NOT utilize the 3 pt lift, but rather attaches to the drawbar and is pulled like a trailer. I would not suggest that type of mower, they cannot be picked up with your 3 pt hitch. A normal rotary cutter/mower(brush hog or bush hog) will have one or sometime 2 tail wheels and is lifted with the 3 pt hitch. I would strongly advise getting a mower/cutter that has a heavy duty stump jumper and a slip clutch. A lot of mowers use a sheer bolt through the driveshaft into the cutters gearbox hub instead of using clutches, a pain in the rear and typically are not built as heavy duty. A stump jumper is basically a pan attached by splines to the gearbox shaft that the blades swing from. This allows the blades to spin free and not bind, and when you hit a stump or something uneven with the stump jumper, the clutches keep from damaging the driveline of the tractor. Yes, ideally your mower is slightly wider than your rear tires, makes for easier tracking when cutting. I would think a 40 hp tractor would fit your needs pretty easily, would run a 5-6 ft tiller or a heavy enough disc to work the ground and could run a 6 ft bush hog.

Another thing to note. If you are looking at going with something new, usually around July into the end of the summer many dealers will do specials and often will run 0 percent financing. Shop around too, call or email on same models and get out the door prices. We got our little bx well below the normal price at that time and took advantage of a 0 apr 3 year loan. If you will be in a qualifying ag program you may not have to pay sales tax.

Honestly Frank, I would not suggest a subcompact at all for what you are looking at doing, I doubt given the weight of them that one would be as effective for with front end loader for the purposes you mention. I have both a subcompact 23 hp diesel kubota bx series, and a mid sized 47 hp kubota diesel m series, and if it were me again I would not get the subcompact but would rather have gotten a compact. My bx is pretty well used for mowing the yard and some other odds and ends stuff. For what you want to do, I think a minimum of a 30 horse machine would be my suggestion which puts you more into a smaller mid sized machine.

Congratulations to team 3.

Have to dig a big hole sometime today before the next round of rotten weather moves in. Had a freak accident with a 1.5 year old heifer, ended up in a feed trough in the barn sometime overnight Wednesday or early in the morning Thursday and unfortunately could not get out. Think she got crowded by the bigger cows and pushed over. By the time I found her Thursday morning afraid she had damaged her spine thrashing trying to get out. Other than that, need to do some routine maintenance on tractor, have a set of led lights I am adding to the canopy to help be able to see when using the tractor at night, factory lights are not so good with the loader in typical carry position, also got lights to add to the fenders for rear work lights. Not sure how I want to mount them yet. Need to get the wife and kids out some time today to see the sand in the bottom.

The more you show us the better your place looks Frank. With those ag fields on your borders no doubt the deer are gonna be there. That is a heck of a find. Clovers do well but you may consider soybeans and leave them standing. As season gets going and crops around you come out deer will find them. You can also broadcast a winter grain in over the beans in late September that continues growing into the winter. Property around here has gotten out of control. Land that really has no use but hunting fetches insane money, wish Catrina and I had bought more back in the 90's.

Garage flooded yesterday while I was out there working on some things. First time ever that has happened. Had water pour over the concrete and came up under the wall poured in under my rollaway, under work bench and under my welder. We had a LOT of water fall here yesterday on already rotten ground, weather folks said about 3 inches an hour, rained all day yesterday but did taper off a few times. Sun is out this morning, and welcomed wind although imagine it is likely some trees will be toppling over with nothing to hold them to the ground.

Think my new plan is to start building an ark.

Nothing planned here. Have some odds and ends stuff to work on. Been so ridiculously wet here, really too sloppy to do much outside.