Gator

My first good dog cut her teeth on pigeons, shooting them over decoys in pea fields. We took over 600 birds one August and the farmers thanked us. By the time goose season rolled in, she was crackerjack. Unfortunately, that was over 15 years ago and she's been gone for a few seasons...without a dog, it's not as much fun hunting birds. Our latest lab is decidedly NOT a gun dog. Just no drive. Sucks. FYI, if you want to make cheap decoys, and they work well too, take 2 liter Coke bottles and cut them off on one side from just below the cap to just shy of the opposite side of the bottom at an angle, then paint them gray and spot them with some black. Use wooden dowels to hold them in place if it's windy. Nothing beats dead birds in the set though. Pigeons decoy just like ducks, circling a few times before committing.

That sucks! I always figure you and your buddies are good for a couple of slammers each year and I look forward to the pictures and stories. I hope it all works out well for you and you're back in the game soon!

If you simply cut ivy vines they'll return with a vengeance. After you make the first cut at the base of the tree, use a school kid's glue brush applicator to "paint" the cut end with either Tordon or Roundup Poison Ivy Brushkiller. Wear latex or rubber gloves to pull down the vines, then either bleach them or throw them away. I can't believe that you got ivy that size in a single year. That's just crazy.

A guy's worst nightmare...dropping trou to relieve yourself on top of a nest of ground bees. Luckily, I was only stung twice, on hands. Could have really sucked .

What kind of a stand did you hang, Rob? I recall that there's some now where you can make leveling adjustments after hanging them, which could make up for a less than perfect tree. We've moved entirely to ladder stands and I can't say enough good things about Millennium. I have a bunch of 22' L110. It's a double ladder so there's no bar to the tree and the platform extends all the way back so you can tuck in tight. And the seats are unparalleled. They're a little pricey, but not horrible compared to other quality stands. Off to plant a couple dozen trees today and hang a couple more cameras. For those interested, Pine Mountain Archery is blowing out Browning cameras, the old BTC1-XR model. They're reconditioned (8 GB, 60 ft flash, 0.67 s trigger speed), but for ~$40 apiece on ebay it's a no-brainer.

Looks great! I hope you have a special place set aside for it.

Yeah, I use my climbing sticks to get up there, cut the existing strap, and reposition the ladder on the tree to account for growth. For hang-ons, I use a cheap strap to hold the stand while I cut the old one off and put a new one on. Depending on whether it's grown into the tree, I may have to reposition it as well. Lifelines that you attach to prior to climbing and until you get down are excellent tools, and your buddy's story is whey I prefer ladders to hang-ons.

I've tried the past few years to loosen straps after the season so the trees have room to grow, then tightening them prior to the next fall. I don't know if it helps, but I've never had a strap break. Lifelines are great when climbing up, too. And don't forget that climbing sticks need their straps replaced every few years. This year we ordered a bunch from Tuff Straps (http://tuff-straps.com/) and I was impressed. Ridiculously hard to cut, even with a sharp knife, and the ratchets are quality stuff. How do I know they're hard to cut? I ordered a case of 8' straps and they sent me 16' straps . That'd be one big tree... $8 each, 3300 lb breaking strength and 1100 lb working load limit.

Habitat, native food source, timber value (for the grandkids, if and when). Chestnut and oak provide nut crops, evergreens are thermal cover, fruit trees (lots of named crabapple because they're low maintenance), and thicketing shrubs screen where I walk in. My buddy calls it "Gator's 50 acre petri dish". He's not wrong. As for nut crops, some of the hybrid oaks can produce in less than 10 years, but it'll take a long time until they're mature. Shrubs like Allegheny Chinkapin are faster. You know they say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

All the stand straps replaced and lanes cleared this morning on my property. Onto the lease over the next two weeks to do the same, and lots of trees to be planted too. We managed to throw six two-year old chestnut into the ground Sunday between rains and to get them caged.

x3 on the Browning cameras. Reasonably-priced, easy to deploy, bulletproof. Mine had been out for ~2 weeks when I collected the SD cards after mowing the trails with the pull-behind on Tuesday evening. No shooters, but that's no surprise. I don't plot and we don't see "other guy's deer" in August-September--knowing that they will disperse over the course of the season. There were plenty of doe/fawn/small buck and turkeys though. All of the stands are having strap replacements this year on my property as well as where we lease. We started, but it's going to be a process. And I have ~100 trees that I've grown over the summer that need to be planted--several types of oak, chestnut, crabapple, Siberian peashrub, and hazelnut. Again, a process. What doesn't go into the ground this fall will end up being planted next spring. After two years of putting 1000 trees and shrubs in the ground each spring, I haven't ordered anything...well, six crabapple from Cummins, but nothing else...and I can easily plant what I overwinter in pots. Land management is a seemingly never-ending task. But just as rewarding as the actual hunting, IMHO.

I don't have a fishing picture from when she was young, but here's her dancing with Dad at a wedding and then a picture of her from this summer, blue hair and all, with a smallmouth at Upper Saranac. Time flies.

Getting it done! Good for her. And for you for putting her in the right place at the right time with the right skill set for the job!

Was there any ever doubt?

It's not just the FInger Lakes...I'm here for a week at Upper Saranac and I put the boat in at Fish Creek campground. There's a small gravel ramp with a dock, not good but good enough for the Lund. The guy ahead of me launched, packed three of his pals into the boat and left Grandma at the dock with the truck--with the trailer pulled out of the water but blocking the ramp. I waited patiently for 5 minutes in the turnaround, no possibility of missing me, and finally asked Grandma to pull the truck forward so I could launch. She seemed surprised. The woman checking trailers for DEC remarked that if I hadn't asked, I'd probably still be waiting. I don't get it...

I fish alone too and I'll tell you, it's not easy but it doesn't have to be difficult either. It's one thing to park a boat at the dock while you go get your trailer, but it's another to insist that everybody wait for you when they're ready to go. Almost all of the ramps I've been at have a spot you can tie up without tying up the ramp itself. I'm sure the guys on here aren't the ones holding things up for the most part...IMHO.

I just about took a guy's head off a few years ago when my daughter was younger, her, my wife and I were on Honeoye. My wife dropped me off at the dock and I went up and pulled the trailer around while she idled 50 yards out. The line was a few cars deep, but when it was my turn I backed in and motioned for her to drive on. And some schmuck who was tying his boat up to the dock to walk up and get his trailer started swearing at me about jumping in line. F-bombs flying in front of my daughter, unreal. It turns out that he expected everybody to wait for him to go get his trailer and pull his boat out because he was tied up to the dock. Talk about inefficient. Rule of thumb: it's where you are in the line of vehicles with trailers that determines the loading order. Don't tie up to the dock where other guys are trying to load and just walk away. Don't expect to cut around other vehicles with your trailer--that can cause a Chinese fire drill. If you're alone, hitch your rig to the outer part of the dock. And talk to other guys...communicate...it solves lots of problems. Needless to say, I don't fish the Finger Lakes much over the summer. Kayak and the big pond for me.