its time

[charlie cleveland]

its time to start getting ready for the fall hunt. i started bushhogging today will have to put disk on in a few days. will be putting outa few plots for the deer hope this will attract a few doves. dove crop looks good here and deer herdslook ok. charlie

[Russ Jackson]

HI Charlie ,Hey ,are you going to use that little GH 20 on those Dove , it ought to be " BAD MEDICINE " on them !!!!!! :cool: Russ

[charlie cleveland]

yes sir ree im gona use that little 20 ga parker on those doves. ive loaded up some light loads of no 8 s for them doves. should be a good year i bushed hogged all day. thanks again russ for a swell gun. charlie

[calvin humburg]

whens your dove season open charlie. it opens here sept. 1 hopefully we wont have a cool spell and they all bug out. don't tell but i'm going to use my new 10 jest got to shoot it. ch

[charlie cleveland]

our season opens sept. 1 also. i have also used the mighty ten on doves hope you kill a sackful with your ten ga. calven. i disked up part of my field today. planted wheat for deer and what ever critter that comes along. boy its hot here in old miss. hope it s better on opening day. charlie

[Fred Preston]

Charlie, It's been pretty hot here too, but things are looking up. The end of April I set fire to my ten year old 30 acre field of switch an other crap (my CRP contract had expired). I called the Polk volunteers first and they told me to go ahead and if they got a call they wouldn't respond unless it was from me. I had my Rhino with a barrel of water and a bucket and a broom and the field is bordered by 20' of green cool season grass. The wind was about 4 mph out of the ESE so I started on the west end with the Zippo and moved east a couple 100 yards and worked it again. When I was about 3/4 done, I thought I better check the perimeter; it was really cooking by then (little tornadic flames 40-50 feet in the air). Well, on the NW side it had jumped the cool season line and was headed through the dry leaves and dead wood into the hollow. I went to work the the broom and the bucket but it was gaining on me and in the steep hollow, being old an out of shape, I called 911 and asked the dispatcher to send their 1 ton 4WD with the 600 gallon tank and 150 foot hose. Well, Cap't Carl showed up first in his SUV with the Sheriff's star on it with 2 little extinguisers, one empty and the other half full. He got on the radio and called in the troops. Anyway it turned into a 3 alarm deal with Polk, New Pittsburg and Jeromesville responding. The result was that one of the units I asked for solved the problem, but the others had to do something so they proceeded to put out the parts I wanted to burn. Anyway, I got 90% of it done and the field looked like it had been napalmed, showing a lot of ant hills. Two and a half months later the switch grass is back, head high and thick; and a lot of crud (multiflora, briars) is gone, at least temporarily. Most of my friends don't like hunting the switch on my place (I guess they'd rather work their dogs on a golf course); but if they put a beeper on their pointer or put their shoulder to the cover and kept with their flusher, they'd get their game and the dogs don't mind at all.
Charlie, I also put out a couple of food plots in the field. I used the bucket on the tractor to push up a dike in a couple of drainages to make a water puddle in the center. When it rains, it works; when it's doesn't, it's dry. We'll se if that helps. The seed has been in the ground for a month and a half; the sunflowers are ready to bloom, the sorgum is starting to head out and the corn is knee high. I hope it attracts a few doves in a couple months.

Fred (Francis, how'm I doin')

[James Brown]

The "little dove field behind the house" is coming along. Millet has topped out and the sunflowers are getting there.

[Dave Suponski]

James, What wonderful picture! Please enter it in the "Parker of the Month" contest...:)

[Dean Romig]

Great picture James!

It seems you have more than one .410
That one has a lot of original condition - very pretty!

[James Brown]

Mr. Suponski: Thanks, I'll enter it, although I'm a little confused as to which month the contest is for.
Mr. Romig: Thanks also, I'm down to the one you see. My other two now reside elsewhere, the upside being I got tuition covered. The case color is not that bright with gun in hand, must be the morning light.
James

[Dean Romig]

Mr. Brown, That reminds me of something Jonathan Foster told me about his grandfather, William Harnden Foster, who also sold a certain .410 in order to help in the costs of higher education for his children.
At least it went for a very honorable cause.

Dean

[Francis Morin]

Yessir- a controlled burn and then the regrowth are great tools for the farmer/land owner that wants to maintain good game cover and habitat- I have about 17 acres on a bend in the river=house and buildings are on the high ground of course- but about 9 acres is in a 100 year flood plain area- wet and mucky- lotsa mallards nesting there in the Spring- we cut brush and tree limbs over the years and pile them down there for winter game cover- we see deer, turkeys and rabbits quite often- BUT when I hunt waterfowl, I am about 2 clicks downstream from where I live and there aren't any houses built there (YET)--

But my real ace-in-the hole is all the area farms I have developed over many years- once a friend asked me why I would help a farmer cut wood, pull fence posts and my specialty- do welding jobs- and I told him that when a farmer/landowner gives you permission to hunt/shoot on his property, he gains very little from that deal, you benefit (unless you do something really stupid and screw it up- has happened to others I know) so time spend working with (and drinking coffee with also) farmers, etc- is time very well spent for those of us who love to hunt- Farmers are the most honest and hard working folks the Good Lord ever put on the earth!

[Jack Cronkhite]

Ditto for the farmers observation. They cultivate the land and I "cultivate" the farmers. Time spent in conversation, time spent over a cup of coffee, time spent lending a hand yields time spent in some of the best bird habitat one can find. Over the years, I have changed one farmer's mind about hunters after inadvertently ending up on his land. It was "big sky" country with occupied homes many miles apart. He was annoyed and I was apologetic. When the air cleared, there was a pot of coffee shared and many a before sunrise breakfast to keep the energy up while taking some of the largest roosters to be found in that locale. He is no longer there but the memories remain. The best yet started two years ago, with nothing more than just being courteous and friendly. As a result, I somehow ended up being the only guy allowed to hike along a couple miles of winding creek that is full of pheasants. He has a decade on me but will wander along with an old single shot, just in case. I share the harvest with him and his wife makes a darn fine chili to boot. When the weather closed in last year in late December, he offered shelter for the night if I would be unable to make it to maintained roads. I made it out but the offer was highly appreciated. Yep, a few kind words go a long ways in life.
Cheers,
Jack

[calvin humburg]

Francis,

"Smells like victory" That was pretty nice don't here much of that wish all shared your ideas. Most that come out here hunting act like they own the country and if you stop to ask them if they have permission to hunt there (you now they don't cause its your own ground) they look at you like what does that dumb farmer want muttering words under there breath. I probably shouldn't say this because i'm not a marine but i say it with the uat most respect for the service "SALUTE" to you Francis ch

Yes, Jack a little bs and a few kind words well get you a long way.

[John Dunkle]

Mr. Suponski: Thanks, I'll enter it, although I'm a little confused as to which month the contest is for....Hi James..! Imagine how I feel, as I'm the guy running the POM Contest..??! :)

Outstanding picture!!!

My Best Always!

John

[Dave Suponski]

John, A suggestion here...Why not just do the contest for the month of August?

[Fred Preston]

Well, it's been three months since I burned my 30 acre "playground" to the dirt. You just can't keep a good field down. The switch is back thicker than ever, 6' to 7'; and, the blue stem (my favorite) is coming in at 7' to 8'. The food plots are doing great with the sunflowers at about 30% bloom and the seed sorgam headed out. The seven or eight volunteer apple trees are producing. I watched a nice eight point saunter by the north end of the food plot about an hour ago. Autumn is coming and the colors will be beautiful and life will be great.