Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Deer season preps continue.

Heading into Michigan's firearms deer season there are relatively few wildlife food plants that are "prime".

Persimmons still dropping fruit.

Kale from Brassica food plot mix.  We eat this as a garden green.

Asian pears.  Olympic (aka, Korean Giant), Shinko, Chojuro.  Still hanging on.  Still dropping a few fruit every day/night.

Crabapples.  Botanist postulate that seeds of larger/domestic apples were spread by large mammals, consequently the fruit drops where they can reach it.  They also postulate that seeds of crabapples smaller than golf balls are spread by birds, consequently those fruit hang on where it is more accessible to birds.

GoldRush apple.  GoldRush exhibits non-abscising fruit, a trait that is common in seedlings of Golden Delicious.  If I were looking for inexpensive seedlings with this trait, I would find an orchard with Golden Delicious apple trees and some "interesting" pollinators and plant seeds from those fruit.

Still dropping a few fruit each day/night.

Those are not my teeth marks.

The elevated stand


It looks pretty good if you don't look too closely.

The Captain came over and helped me out.  He likes building stuff.

Mrs ERJ suggested that we put concrete beneath the uprights so they don't wick moisture from the ground.  We have enough money and sweat into this that we want it to last a long time.
Mrs ERJ told the Captain to do a good job.  She thinks it will be a good place to find some peace and quiet.

4 comments:

  1. That's a big ol' deer blind. Around here, the standard size (I've built dozens of them) is 4X6. Big enough for two shooters and a small propane heater.

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  2. I can already see that as a great place for taking pictures of wildlife in the spring. Turkeys come immediately to mind, but of course, with spring, almost all kinds of critters will be out looking to start little families and would make great pictures.
    Also, with the changing of the seasons, the same picture taken from late winter through summer is always enlightening, and from an elevated platform like that could be really something special.
    Hopefully, my wife, 19 year old daughter and I are taking a wet, windy road trip tomorrow to Frankenmuth, via Howard City, to visit my son and his wife's new home and then to spend the evening just relaxing in the German atmosphere. I am working outside this time of the year, and with the weather, I am at a standstill, so a quick break is called for.
    I believe my wife had some kind of voucher or something. She is always working on some kind of deal, whether turning in points from Coke boxes we get from dumpsters, or something like that. Yes, we are dumpster divers like that. She gets free cards from Starbucks for her frufru coffee drinks, so I don't complain about it. Plus Amazon cards and stuff. It's amazing. She's a great partner, I would say I think I will keep her, but I hope she keeps me.
    I talked to my son today and he said he put up two ladder tree stands at 12 feet in height. I told him before that I wasn't afraid of heights, but I felt that much higher than the top of the first canopy was too high. I am really looking forward to getting out into the woods this year, and to spending as much time with him as I can. He is just a fine young man, and I haven't seen much of him for awhile as he has been living in CA.

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  3. Peace and quiet are always good... :-)

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  4. Peace and quiet are always good... :-)

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