Go Navy!

Boned out, a full-sized Michigan doe is good for about 70 pounds of venison. More if you harvest the heart, liver and other organs.

One of my buddies, who shall remain nameless, took two does for our hunting buddy who was banned from the hunting-lease.

He took one last night and another this morning. We are going halfsies on processing costs as the banned buddy is tight for time.

In passing, the successful hunter was a proud sailor in the US Navy for six years. GO NAVY!!!

New apple trees at the hunting lease

The apple trees that were planted at the hunting lease about three years ago continue to struggle.

Herbicide drift and the deer figuring out how to reach through the 2"-by-4" mesh cages were the biggest problems. Drought and lack of soil fertility rounded out the stresses.

 

It was a big step forward when I added 1" plastic mesh around the 10" diameter cages to exclude the deer's mouths.

 Perhaps a third of the trees are dead. The surviving ones are now at the top of the cages, about 4' tall with a few lucky ones almost twice that height.

One of the things that baffles me are the persimmons I seeded in. Most of them are struggling but two of them are growing great-guns. Genetics?

Electric fences

The silvery wire a few inches below the broken insulator is touching both the woven-wire fence and the steel fence-post

Deer broke off an insulator and I suddenly found I had none of that type in-stock. 

Not a pretty fix, but it worked well enough until I found a proper insulator

I fixed it temporarily with a knotted up, plastic grocery bag.

Bonus images

Tomatoes

Dog