I was up at the tree farm today. Saw a flock of gobblers.........again. 5 or 6 of them. See them about every other time I'm over there. But hen & poult groups had escaped me to the point I was really starting to wonder about our hatch.
Well......... Nevermind.
These birds streamed across this opening through a long string of pics til I have no idea how many there really are in this group. But it's a LOT. I 'm a bit relieved.
It seems like the bear population across Virginia has exploded. Used to be there were seasons west of the Blue Ridge and in the eastern slope counties and the Dismal Swamp cities. Now every county in the state except the Eastern Shore counties have seasons. Eastern NC is crawling with bears. I hike and photograph Dare andf Tyrell counties and never fail to see a bear. My high count is 16 different bears in just a couple of hours.
Too much life happening right now and haven't been able to get up to my place in NE WI as much as I'd like. Did make it last weekend and was nice to see all the turkeys. I'm sure the farmers don't agree with me though. There's a lot of grain harvest going on all around and the turkeys are out in the fields big time, they're even starting to cut the corn already. Saw a lot of deer and turkey. Is it too early to start looking forward to spring 2023 turkey season?! Lol!
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
You Memphis suburbanites sure do grasp at ANYTHING to try and establish relevancy. Try again, stupid. Or, better yet........just go some place else where you're NOT the laughing stock. Not sure where that'd be, but.............
Family has been farming Christmas Trees over 100 years as part of our evergreen/florist greens business.
It's one of those jobs people don't realize exists until they really think about it. Business ups and downs - outside of the one retail lot on the property, uncle doesn't do retail lots anymore.
Heyday of Prohibition - if you bought a tree in Chicago, it was probably one of ours. We would smuggle booze down there for both Capone and O'Banion under them so eventually, they made sure we were the ones selling trees so we'd make more trips.
So now - we do wholesale trees, greens (wreaths, roping, bundles etc) and the retail lot where people can cut their own or not. If they cut their own - take the wagon out - pulled by either horses with good snow or a JD and cut. Gift store etc.
Christmas and Christmas trees are big deals in our fam.
Friends of ours did this on our ops as part of his youtube farming channel.
Our family has only been in it for 45 years. We're smaller scale than what yinz appear to be. We've only got around 25,000 in the ground right now. But there's just me and my older brother..........and we ain't gettin' any younger.
I'm sure Luther will be along soon to tell how your operation sucks and how ugly your trees are. He can't help but run his mouth about stuff he knows nothing of.
Our family has only been in it for 45 years. We're smaller scale than what yinz appear to be. We've only got around 25,000 in the ground right now. But there's just me and my older brother..........and we ain't gettin' any younger.
I'm sure Luther will be along soon to tell how your operation sucks and how ugly your trees are. He can't help but run his mouth about stuff he knows nothing of.
25k isn't minor.
IIRC - at current size, he's planting 8-10k a spring now. We used to be much larger and we have property all over the place, not just what's in the video.
We also raise (or have raised) Scotch pine, Austrian pine, Fraser fir, Grand fir, and Korean fir. The market caught us by surprise and we had a few years where we didn't plant enough. So, we're in a supply lull for a couple years here. For the last couple years, we've turned multiple new wholesale customers away each day for weeks. EVERYBODY wants trees. Nobody HAS trees. We could have sold every tree last years 10 times over and still would have been turning people away. THIS year..........we're not able to even supply all of our EXISTING customers.
Those are some great looking trees! Great pruning.
We do ok on keeping up with supply on trees - the hard par it roping, wreaths, grave blankets, etc. Heck - doing 55k wreaths a year and could likely double it IF we could get the brush cut and the homemakers to make them.
Actually - that truck used to do all the deliveries but so busy, impossible to do it. Gotten some of our larger florist customers to do CPU and pay that bill - which is nice. We'll never let the truck go tho because it's just part of who we are and my uncle's life his whole life. Has a rebuilt N14 in it and gets an honest 14mpg - loaded on trips from MI down to Chicago/Indy/St Louis etc.
Those are some great looking trees! Great pruning.
Thanks, fellers.
I'm pretty fussy about our shearing. I taught my dad (he's been gone for 8 years) and my older brother and it's been just us doing the shearing the whole 45 years. I've seen too many tree farms totally ruined by hiring the shearing out to crews of buffoons. Not happening, here.
We do wholesale bough orders by the trailer load. But never got much into the wreath making. Just too much to do already and not enough hours in the day, week, month, year...........
Nice video Teal....I have a buddy I shoot shotguns with all the time that his dad had a Christmas tree farm in Lousiana. I figured they all were grown up North.
So you raise Christmas trees Yoder ? We've got a Christmas tree farm just up the road here. I used to help them plant and trim in the spring/summer.
Yessir. I do, indeed.
That's cool. I love Christmas and all that goes with it. We still cut a concolor fir that goes clear to the ceiling from the tree farm up the road every year and decorate the ol' homestead to the max inside and out.
So you raise Christmas trees Yoder ? We've got a Christmas tree farm just up the road here. I used to help them plant and trim in the spring/summer.
Yessir. I do, indeed.
That's cool. I love Christmas and all that goes with it. We still cut a concolor fir that goes clear to the ceiling from the tree farm up the road every year and decorate the ol' homestead to the max inside and out.
How high is your ceiling ??? Concolors are freakin' HEAVY !!!!
We did a 22-23 footer for my son-in-law's family one time. He parked a 30 foot gooseneck beside the standing tree. Only Christmas tree I ever put a felling notch in.
So you raise Christmas trees Yoder ? We've got a Christmas tree farm just up the road here. I used to help them plant and trim in the spring/summer.
Yessir. I do, indeed.
That's cool. I love Christmas and all that goes with it. We still cut a concolor fir that goes clear to the ceiling from the tree farm up the road every year and decorate the ol' homestead to the max inside and out.
How high is your ceiling ??? Concolors are freakin' HEAVY !!!!
We did a 22-23 footer for my son-in-law's family one time. He parked a 30 foot gooseneck beside the standing tree. Only Christmas tree I ever put a felling notch in.
Not too high. A little over 7 foot. I love the smell of the concolors. We put a 5 foot artificial in the kitchen and a 3 foot on the night stand in the bedroom too. Plus strings of lights all around the living room and kitchen and around the archway between too. I even have a "Christmas Story" Red Ryder carbine with a compass in the stock, new in the box, that goes under the tree in the living room every year.
So you raise Christmas trees Yoder ? We've got a Christmas tree farm just up the road here. I used to help them plant and trim in the spring/summer.
Yessir. I do, indeed.
That's cool. I love Christmas and all that goes with it. We still cut a concolor fir that goes clear to the ceiling from the tree farm up the road every year and decorate the ol' homestead to the max inside and out.
How high is your ceiling ??? Concolors are freakin' HEAVY !!!!
We did a 22-23 footer for my son-in-law's family one time. He parked a 30 foot gooseneck beside the standing tree. Only Christmas tree I ever put a felling notch in.
Not too high. A little over 7 foot. I love the smell of the concolors. We put a 5 foot artificial in the kitchen and a 3 foot on the night stand in the bedroom too. Plus strings of lights all around the living room and kitchen and around the archway between too. I even have a "Christmas Story" Red Ryder carbine with a compass in the stock, new in the box, that goes under the tree in the living room every year.
Yeah............... Concolors.
One of the slowest growing trees we raise. But all you have to do to sell one to someone is to pull a few needles and roll them. Stick that under their nose. Smells like a freshly peeled tangerine !!! SOLD !!! Beautiful trees when sheared out right.
Kudos on the Red Ryder !!!!! Just don't shoot yer eye out !!!
You're playing it right, Yoder. Every time you post a pic at his request, rest assured he'll make fun of it and likely post it on his own forum and make fun of it there, too. He's never hunted bears, never been around them, and knows squat about bears or bear hunting. Yet he'll qualify himself in his own mind as an expert on that, too, just to ridicule you.
As far as his ridicule........water off a duck's back. I don't need his or anyone else's approval to legitimize ANYTHING that I do. I've spent a lifetime turkey hunting, bowhunting, tree farming......... Anyone who knows me ......knows.
So, did YOU enjoy the pics and story of that bear, Glocks ??
By the way, Yoder, nice bear, and very interesting story. They grow them big in Pa, almost as big as in NC
I guess I missed the stOry....
Originally Posted by 10Glocks
You're playing it right, Yoder. Every time you post a pic at his request, rest assured he'll make fun of it and likely post it on his own forum and make fun of it there, too. He's never hunted bears, never been around them, and knows squat about bears or bear hunting. Yet he'll qualify himself in his own mind as an expert on that, too, just to ridicule you.
You don't have a beAr fAiry tail to tell....you live in beAr country
Here's a 600+ lb bear from eastern NC from a couple of years ago. They go up and over 800 lbs here. But those are few. 500 lbers are aren't all that uncommon. 300+ lbers are all over the place.
Several years ago I was doing some work on the Pinecastle Range in the Ocala National Forest and every morning we’d find bear tracks around the work sites. One morning we pulled up and a couple of bears were hanging around. I was surprised at how small they were and was told the small size wasn’t uncommon for the FL bears. If I’m not mistaken, the handful of people I know that have killed bears all shot them over bait which doesn’t sound that fun to me.
Yoder, it's probably the same as in Pa, but bear populations in Va have increased expontentially. I don't think many people hunt them. Maybe in the mountains, but east of the Blue Ridge I don't think so. I remember back in the 80s and 90s, the only counties with bear seasons were west of the Blue Ridge and in Suffolk and Chesapeake, where the Dismal Swamp is. There has always been some bears in between, but not many. Now, there is a hunting season in every county in Va, except on the Easterm Shore. I remember years ago it was rare to see a bear where I grew up, but occassionally one would swim 4 miles acorss the James River and show up in our neighborhood. Now, they aren't uncommon at all. We hads a news article about a bear that was prowling a bus stop. You can see them in the marshes eating crabs and shell fish. Kind like coyotoes, they've pretty much re-expanded acorss the whole state.
If I’m not mistaken, the handful of people I know that have killed bears all shot them over bait which doesn’t sound that fun to me.
It's not all that much fun. My grandfather's brother in law owned several bear hunting lodges in Maine, the last one being The Driftwood. He was a master hunting guide specializing in bear. I hunted there in the 80s and in the 90s. All the hunting was over bait. They put 55 gallon cans full of bacon grease and left over supper. There were big permanent stands in the trees, complete with a seat and bucket for relieving ones self in. His lodge assistants would load hunters into a big trailer with huge tires attached to a big 4x4 John Deere ag tractor and take you on a circuit and drop hunters off at their stands. They came back in the afternoon and pick up the hunters. He has his tracking dogs in the afternoon in case one had to be found. The good part is if you had to get a bear out of the woods it was easy since everyone helped, and the crew at the lodge cleaned it and skinned it and would send it to a taxidermist for you.
Over the years, I've ran across more than one set of black bear tracks on my buddy's property south of Mauston, WI. This past spring finally saw a couple. One set up, watching a creek bottom below a great roosting area, saw a sow and a cub come up out of the creek bottom. And where there's a sow with a cub, there has to be a boar around as well. And a couple years ago, saw the first wolf on his property too. Every couple years a +/- 200" buck is killed in the area as well. As I've said before, his property is a slice of heaven!
Last edited by DeanAnderson; 10/10/22.
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
I've been applying for a tag 11 years now - no joy.
PA is OTC.
When I started it was 3 years on average for pull as a MI non-resident. Then it just kept getting longer and I just said "may as well keep going, stopping now makes no sense" - I've the got 11 points and from what I hear, might be another 3 years or so -baring some wild change in Lansing policy. And that pretty much guarantees it's the only/last bear tag I'll pull in MI.
Watched a “hunting” show a few years ago of a guy from Christensen hunting in Alaska. The used a snow mobile to push a running bear up a snow covered slope until it tired out and they shot it. Supposedly it was a management hunt of some sort but nevertheless seemed like a BS hunt to use for a show.
I've been applying for a tag 11 years now - no joy.
PA is OTC.
When I started it was 3 years on average for pull as a MI non-resident. Then it just kept getting longer and I just said "may as well keep going, stopping now makes no sense" - I've the got 11 points and from what I hear, might be another 3 years or so -baring some wild change in Lansing policy. And that pretty much guarantees it's the only/last bear tag I'll pull in MI.
Seems hard to grasp that MICHIGAN.........of all places.........would be ANY kind of a draw for a bear tag. Michigan is covered UP in bears.
I've been applying for a tag 11 years now - no joy.
PA is OTC.
When I started it was 3 years on average for pull as a MI non-resident. Then it just kept getting longer and I just said "may as well keep going, stopping now makes no sense" - I've the got 11 points and from what I hear, might be another 3 years or so -baring some wild change in Lansing policy. And that pretty much guarantees it's the only/last bear tag I'll pull in MI.
Seems hard to grasp that MICHIGAN.........of all places.........would be ANY kind of a draw for a bear tag. Michigan is covered UP in bears.
Exactly but bears, well the idiots in Lansing have this Disney idea about them and thus, they find it hard to allow them to be killed.
I've been applying for a tag 11 years now - no joy.
PA is OTC.
When I started it was 3 years on average for pull as a MI non-resident. Then it just kept getting longer and I just said "may as well keep going, stopping now makes no sense" - I've the got 11 points and from what I hear, might be another 3 years or so -baring some wild change in Lansing policy. And that pretty much guarantees it's the only/last bear tag I'll pull in MI.
Seems hard to grasp that MICHIGAN.........of all places.........would be ANY kind of a draw for a bear tag. Michigan is covered UP in bears.
Exactly but bears, well the idiots in Lansing have this Disney idea about them and thus, they find it hard to allow them to be killed.
Understood.
It's the New Jersey mentality.......... They're covered up in bears. But they shut the hunt down............until destruction or human attacks raise public outcry. Then they cave for a year.
Try Maine. As far as I know non-residents can still buy over the counter licenses there for bear. Hunting lodges there aren't that expensive (or didn't used to be). And many will get you to your stand and process your kill. It's just not that challenging. Sitting in a stand and shooting a bear that comes to eat a ham bone and old pork fat. There bears I saw there never topped 300 lbs. They probably get bigger, but I never saw one bigger.
NC has over the counter bear licenses, too. Easterm NC bears get huge because they have plenty to eat. You can hunt on the game lands. But you'll have to deal with bear hound hunters. And the bears know when it's hunting season, because they move to the refuges where they can't be hunted. But if you're lukcy, you can nail a huge bear. Getting it out of the swamp will be a major under taking. Some of the rednecks there will "guide you" and their own, or leased, lands for a few hundred bucks. They'll get the bear out for you and back to their garage and clean and skin it for more money.
After I hunted bears in Maine, I never really appealled to it again. Would much rather go out with my camera and shoot them that way.
Another good friend has a place up in the UP by Amasa, just West of Iron River. Been applying there for way too long, a NR really doesn't have a chance, IMO. I have a ton of preference points, but year after year, no tag, while the same residents, year after year, continue to draw. But that's okay. My friend's place up there is right on the Paint River, nice fishing!
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
Another good friend has a place up in the UP by Amasa, just West of Iron River. Been applying there for way too long, a NR really doesn't have a chance, IMO. I have a ton of preference points, but year after year, no tag, while the same residents, year after year, continue to draw. But that's okay. My friend's place up there is right on the Paint River, nice fishing!
That's gorgeous country and should be killer grouse too. If you still wanna kill birds.
I'm down in the banana belt - Menominee/Delta county line.
Quit playing the butthurt princess. Nobody gives a schidt that your're mean, grumpy, grouchy and otherwise a mostly recalcitrant individual. You COULD be a normal, contributory member of the turkey forum......maybe......if it didn't kill you.
My dad's great grandfather was in the 22nd Pennsylvania cavalry. My mom's grandfather was in the 14th South Carolina Infanty Regiment. Half of me thinks the other half is an [bleep]. But both sides agree on this: LFC is a d ick.
My dad's great grandfather was in the 22nd Pennsylvania cavalry. My mom's grandfather was in the 14th South Carolina Infanty Regiment. Half of me thinks the other half is an [bleep].
I bet Thanksgiving dinner at the Glocks house could have some lively discussions...........
So, since this has turned into a turkey, bear, and grouse hunting , civil war catch-all thread, I'll add that I seem to have solved my latest muzzleloading issue. At least for now.
I was having some occassional ignition problems with my Pedersoli Hawken .50 and #11 caps. So I switched over to a beryllium musket cap nipple. I spent the day at the range yesterday seeing if the musket cap threw off my zero. It didn't and I got immediate ignition 100% of the time. But the nipple has a pretty good taper and my Schuetzen musket caps only sit loosely on the nipple. Even pinching them down a bit only helps a little. So I devised this little wire cap harness that slips over the cap and under the drum which holds the cap firmly on the nipple but slips off very easily to change caps.
I'll need to find some RWS caps. They are a little deeper and a little narrower and should fit better. In the meantime, this will make sure the cap doesn't come off until I want it to. It works perfectl;y and doesn't come into contact with the hammer at all.
So, since this has turned into a turkey, bear, and grouse hunting , civil war catch-all thread, I'll add that I seem to have solved my latest muzzleloading issue. At least for now.
I was having some occassional ignition problems with my Pedersoli Hawken .50 and #11 caps. So I switched over to a beryllium musket cap nipple. I spent the day at the range yesterday seeing if the musket cap threw off my zero. It didn't and I got immediate ignition 100% of the time. But the nipple has a pretty good taper and my Schuetzen musket caps only sit loosely on the nipple. Even pinching them down a bit only helps a little. So I devised this little wire cap harness that slips over the cap and under the drum which holds the cap firmly on the nipple but slips off very easily to change caps.
I'll need to find some RWS caps. They are a little deeper and a little narrower and should fit better. In the meantime, this will make sure the cap doesn't come off until I want it to. It works perfectl;y and doesn't come into contact with the hammer at all.
Looks like some stewpid chit a Yankee idiot would do
Glock's, I dropped #11 caps years ago for musket caps. They never let me down. I had a 54 cal. TC Renegade and could not find a musket nipple to fit it. I forgot whose nipple I used but it had the same thread pattern and it was a tight fit. Might check and see what the thread pattern is and try a different brand of nipple. Your wire deal will work but looks like it would be hard to reload in a hurry.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Pullit it doesn't matter the guy has never killed anything with a muzzle loader.
And we're not sure YOU ever did, either.
LFC is under some impression people have a duty to come to this site and report to HIM whatever they've killed and show proof. LFC ain't that important. As far as I'm concerned, he's a low-life hypocrite that holds people to his lofty standards but won't rise to that standard himself. That's pretty much a troll in summary. AKA, a douchebag.
Pullit it doesn't matter the guy has never killed anything with a muzzle loader.
And we're not sure YOU ever did, either.
LFC is under some impression people have a duty to come to this site and report to HIM whatever they've killed and show proof. LFC ain't that important. As far as I'm concerned, he's a low-life hypocrite that holds people to his lofty standards but won't rise to that standard himself. That's pretty much a troll in summary. AKA, a douchebag.
Correction, sir, Glocks.........
At least a douchebag has a purpose. To remove the smell.
Pullit it doesn't matter the guy has never killed anything with a muzzle loader.
And we're not sure YOU ever did, either.
LFC is under some impression people have a duty to come to this site and report to HIM whatever they've killed and show proof. LFC ain't that important. As far as I'm concerned, he's a low-life hypocrite that holds people to his lofty standards but won't rise to that standard himself. That's pretty much a troll in summary. AKA, a douchebag.
You know it's the truth Glocksucker.....you've never killed anything with a muzzleloader yet you want to be some muzzle loader x'spurt.
Pullit it doesn't matter the guy has never killed anything with a muzzle loader.
And we're not sure YOU ever did, either.
LFC is under some impression people have a duty to come to this site and report to HIM whatever they've killed and show proof. LFC ain't that important. As far as I'm concerned, he's a low-life hypocrite that holds people to his lofty standards but won't rise to that standard himself. That's pretty much a troll in summary. AKA, a douchebag.
You know it's the truth Glocksucker.....you've never killed anything with a muzzleloader yet you want to be some muzzle loader x'spurt.
Its a sad day when Yoder409 has kilt more turkeys off his patiO than Glocksucker has.....
You know it's the truth Glocksucker.....you've never killed anything with a muzzleloader yet you want to be some muzzle loader x'spurt.
Could be - you'll never now. Because I dont brag about any type, or any quantity of critters I've killed - unlike you. All you can do is guess. I don't use dead animals to try and bolster my reputation. I will tell you this, you are wrong. But how wrong you are will be a question in that tiny lying mind of yours forever.
You've been exposed so many times, no one here with any sense believes a damned word you say. I don't believe you killed 30 turkeys in one year. And I don't believe your tall tales of killing upwards of a 1,000 turkeys. I think you are so full of [bleep] your eyes are brown. You've publicy told well know call makers "how can someone who has only killed 1 or 2 turkeys his whole life a call maker? when that very call maker had a Facebook page with pictures of dozens of kills." Remember that statement? (tell me you don't so I can post proof yet again of your lies.) Your reputation is for shyt and you alone made it that way.
You made a big deal on your retarded YouTube video of calling out "phonies." You're a phony, LFC. I don't think you're a man at all.
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