New Road, New Fence

All the stars lined up last weekend and I was finally able to g0 to the property and get some work done. I started the day by calling in load of gravel, as a base for the roads I've been building. I've never coordinated this all by myself, so I started off a little conservative. I figured there would be less risk to try out the process with one load and see how it went before going crazy on the rest.

From 2011-10-12

After getting the new roadbed laid, I realized that my fence line along the road was too far back, which was aesthetically unpleasing as well as I was cutting off a big part of space I could use for the corral. As much as I didn't want to move fence posts, I bit the bullet and did it. In the background you can see the old fence posts (the post hole digger is laying against one) and how much area I was able to recover.

From 2011-10-12

The joy of digging fence posts in this area is that you can go down 24 inches through nothing but clay then move 10 feet over for the next post and hit nothing but limestone. Generally, if the layer of rock is thin enough, you can break it up with the breaker bar, but other times it's too thick and you have to either drill or have uneven fence posts. Neither is a good option. As you can see from the picture below, I was bringing up nothing but limestone on this hole.

From 2011-10-12

Luckily I had a well place tree at the end of the fence row. I was able to hook the come-along to it and stretch the fence. If that tree wouldn't have been there, it would've been tough trying to get the truck or quad back there to anchor to. I've come to the realization that stretching the fence is problaby the most critical aspect of putting in a good one.

From 2011-10-12

After all the hard work, the boys tried out the new road by playing Frisbee. I think, for a first effort, the road turned out pretty well. I definitely learned some lessons on what to do and not do next time. Stayed tuned for more news to come.

From 2011-10-12

Tracking the Deer

Now that bow season has started, I've been watching the trail cam closely and have been very happy to see nice bucks show up. The video below is from the inner perimeter clearing. I've mostly been putting down corn to draw them in, but last week we tried a little doe eustrus. I'm thinking it's working well because on this round of video, I've caught more big bucks than ever before. It's funny how the deer turns around and notices the LED's from the came and freaks out and takes off. This video is from down by the tree stand. I was especially glad to see some nice bucks down there after spraying the eustrus since that's where I'll be hunting.

Winterizing the goat shed

Spent the beautiful day on Saturday getting the goat pen ready for winter. I did a lot reading and all the experts seem to agree that all they need to survive winter is a 3 sided shed with a roof.

From 2011-10-03

To make sure they're warm, we tarred up the roof and put tarps around the sides to keep the breezes out. Hopefully it will be enough.

From 2011-10-03

Sawyer was a big help, although he wasn't such a help when he fell asleep on the ground, with his foot sticking through the tire wing. I'm glad chigger season is over.

From 2011-10-03

It wasn't all work though. We spent a bit of time sighting in the bows and rifles. I'm happy to say the bow is looking good and 20 and 30 yards. Forty yards is still a little sketchy. I'm not worried though. Unless it's an area I've taken the bulldozer to, there isn't 40 yards clear enough to get a shot.

From 2011-10-03