dogdoc

if they just sound half as good as they look then you are good as gold!!! todd

I usually just hunker next to a tree. Just got to be real still--they can pick up movement in a heart beat. I never brush anything up while turkey hunting but I am covered in camo from head to toe. todd

man--that's some cool ink. Very detailed. todd

Mollyann, my oldest, killed her first turkey today. She hunted so hard during deer rifle season but we never got a shot off so she was excited to go turkey hunting for the first time. She had a track meet all day yesterday and was tired so I let her sleep in. She woke up this morning mad at me that I didn't wake her up early. So we decked out in camo and loaded all the turkey gear and headed to the farm. She loves her Uncle who is an Army Ranger and insists on wearing his camo from when he was a cadet at West Point to honor him. We were hunting my parents 120 acres as dad had seen some turkeys over the last week. Park by the gate and put on masks and gloves--grab the gun and decoy and go off. We walk about 100 yards and do some yelps with the box call and nothing. We continue this to the back of property stopping every 100 yards or so by something we can hide by in case there is a turkey close by. Finally get to the back corner of the property and I give a few loud yelp series and sure enough we here a gobble about 100 yards away. I quickly get her situated and run about 20 yards in front of us and stake out the hen decoy. All this probably only took about a minute but I knew the turkey was close. After I get situated I do another yelp series with the box call (Primos Heart Breaker) and he fires off again probably only 50 yards away on the neighbors property. Within 30 seconds he appears through the trees right at the fence line. She is ready to shoot but knows the turkey has to get on our property in order to shoot. Bird starts walking the fence heading south and I am afraid it might leave. I give some soft clucks and a few soft yelps and he comes under the fence about 50 yards away--then he sees the decoy. I tell her to click the safety off and He slowly comes within 25 yards and I give a soft cluck and he sticks his head straight up--before I could get the word "take" the shotgun goes off and the Winchester LongBeard XL #5 drop the turkey in it's tracks. I jump up and start screaming "yes, yes, yes" and my daughter runs over to me and jumps in my arms with a big hug. I had never let her shoot the turkey loads--only some bird shot loads--as I was afraid if she knew how hard the turkey loads kick she would flinch the shot. She said she didn't even notice the kick but within 10 minutes her shoulder was starting to get a little sore. However, she said a sore shoulder is well worth it!!!! Mollyann and her first turkey!! One proud daddy todd

fun hunt!!! congrats on the nice bird. todd

Wow--what a beautiful day yesterday. No wind and sunny. Just had to finish planting some persimmon and ST Oak seedlings today. We got a nice rain last night so I didn't have to water any of the new trees. Spring is here. Plum trees are blooming. This tree is off by itself next to my barn and it was loaded with honey bees enjoying the flowers. food plot is coming up nicely with the recent rain and warm temps I did a little mowing for a new food plot today next to the creek. Forgot to take pictures though I ended up planting and tubing around 20 trees today: A row of persimmons on the south edge of my fescue field

wish i had the nerves to do a controlled burn. Gotta love frost seeding. No soil disturbance thus less weeds!!!

awesome!!! congrats on a great bird todd

That was my 2nd order from Willis Orchard. Yes, I have been happy with their trees. I was disappointed with one of the bare roots apple trees i ordered last year--a honey crisp tree---The root ball was much smaller than all the other ones I have received from them but the was planted last fall and still alive. It hasn't leafed out yet this year so time will tell. Out of 18 trees i have ordered from them that was the only one that didn't have a really good root system. todd

and my golden delicious before: after: Using clothes pins to train the young laterals

I also pruned two of my apple trees Gala Apple Before After pruning. Pulling down lateral branches to get better crotch angles for future fruit holding:

little more work today. I planted a total of 12 trees today. Two apples and 10 crabapple seedlings ordered from Willis Orchard. One of the apples--bare root. I planted 6 of the crabapples in my clover plot and tubed them. They are only 2 feet tall. Planted the other 4 on the edge of my fescue field all within bow range of my tree stand

The Green areas are my food plots. The larger one is the wheat/clover plot.The blue is water. Two ponds and a running creek. The creek will go dry in a bad drought but usually always has water.The pink are tree stands for bow and the purple are my tower stands for rifle.The yellow circled area will be my new project this spring. It is a mix of fescue and blue stem. The fescue is getting very thick taking over the blue stem. Also some ragweed and other broadleafs mixed in. My plan is in the next two weeks my dad is going to cut it and bale the fescue and then wait a week to let the fescue get growing good and nuke it all with glyphosate. My hope is the blue stem will still be dormant and killing the fescue will give the blue stem a chance to take over the field. On the north edge of this field though I will be planting 3 acres of Eagle Beans. This is on the edge of the property but the neighbor to the west doesn't hunt and is a friend of my mom's so no problem hunting the border and he doesn't mind if I have to trail a deer on his property. Here is a pic I got 2 weeks ago on that current fescue field. and my daughter killed her first deer off this field.

I've done a lot of cutting and hinging the last month. I've created several bedding areas and also cutting a lot of real tall but really skinny oak trees. One to open up the canopy a bit and to also release some larger nicer oak trees.

So I've decided to quit hunting the plot so much and have been working on some stand sites inside the wood line. There is a major trail that leads to the food plot that is always loaded with rubs and scrapes So i found a good spot about 60 yards from the food plot that I can get easy access to without entering the plot and spooking deer. This tree is going to be a challenge to get a stand in but I think I can get it done. I planted and tubed two sawtooth oaks within bow range of this tree today

On the east side of the field I started another persimmon orchid. Planted about 20 seedlings and tubed several of them. Hoping next year they will be big enough that I can graft on all of them and make sure they all will produce fruit: Enlarging the plot so that I can have both an annual plot and perennial plot on the same location. I mowed the new area last week. Once it starts to green up I will spray then drill in some eagle beans.The bare dirt on the edge of the clover and wheat was completely destroyed last fall by the grasshoppers. I overseeded it last weekend with some ladino clover. Got a rain the next day and already germinated. And....My tower stand that I BP and Rifle hunt out of. Nothing fancy but keeps me dry and on real cold days I can bring in a "little buddy" heater to keep warm (I know--i'm a wimp)

On the west side of the big plot I planted 5 Pears trees. Two Keiffer, 2 orient, and a moonglow. There is a nice little persimmon grove right on the North edge of the plot. The trees that have orange flaggings are ones that did not fruit this year and are going to get grafted this spring with some scions off a female tree that holds onto the fruit thru december. Another little persimmon orchid in the same field just a little further west:

I purchased 160 acres in Lincoln county, Oklahoma right at 10 years ago. Made my last payment on the land in December so it is finally mine with no debt.Of course, I wish I would have started all this habitat improvement 10 years but better late than never. I just planted food plots and randomly put of deer stands. I've had some good hunting success but now it's time to start making my place a place where I can get more deer to actually live on and hopefully hold more bucks. I have 3 doe families that frequent my 160 but never really have any bucks that actually call my place home. Hopefully this will change in the next couple years.Anyway---here is my main plot. Just under 2 acres. For the last 4 years I have planted Eagle beans in the spring and wheat/brasssica in the fall. This year I have converted it a perennial plot. Jumbo Ladino Clover with wheat as a nurse crop. One the east end of the plot I currently have 5 apple trees and 1 dolgo crab apple planted.I have a tree stand on the corner of this plant. Today I planted 3 sawtooth oaks for early bow season. The tree stand is in tall Pecan tree on the left Close up of the plot. Hopefully the clover will really start taking off as the weather continues to warm.

hey--that's a great start. every little bit helps. i hope the progress continues--could be the start of something really good. good luck todd

yep--you northerners have had a tough winter for sure. I don't know how the deer are making it. I know a lot of QDMer's are cutting down/hinging a lot of trees right now to add some browse for the deer. A lot of controversy over MN's supplemental feeding but I think most hunters are for it. Will be interesting to see how it affects fawn production and antler growth this year.

time flies no doubt. btw--thanks for the Christmas Card. It is always great to hear from ya. todd

Pic #2. I like the full body pic. Buck was put in a good "bedding" type position. Only negative is the head position. I would like the see the left antlers out more and not super imposed on the hunters body. I always try to put the tongue back in the mouth. Just makes a classier pic but overall a pretty good pic.

ahh--i thought Bruno was great. Of course, I have two young daughters who listen to him all the time. I made a big pot of venison chili--in honor of the Red Hot Chili Peppers:yes:

dang---i called that one wrong. What a slaughter.

Well my first year in 3 years to strike out. I never had an opportunity at a shooter. I wasn't much help this year. hope everyone enjoyed their season. Always next year. todd