Darton & Stan R Were Right!!!!! Pic Heavy

[Booner Sooner]

The boy and I finally made it back up to the Hilltop to do some hunting this past weekend. This was our first sit of the year on our place. Been hunting on the Nashoba lease and getting on good deer so far this year!

We hadn’t been up since we put in the Turkey foot plot that last week of September. I was very concerned that I had waited too long to get the plot in for it to get established ahead of heavy grazing pressure. It turns out that my fears were unfounded as the plot is looking great, especially for the first year. It is getting utilized but is holding up well.


The exclusion cage shows the grazing pressure. It may not seem like much but you can see a stark difference as they are already keeping it trimmed.


Overall, I am really pleased and believe that this will be a late season honey hole as the acorns and preferred browse otherwise completely dry up. The surrounding 30 acres is all old field with lots of tall grass to help the big boys feel nice and secure. We’ve got two in the freezer thus far this year so the last one has to be a good’en. This will require much trigger discipline from the boy. [emoji6] So far his new hobby is napping in the blind.

The excitement of sitting two new spots for the first time was dampened by 20+mph winds gusting to 38 (I think the Oklahoma Mesonet missed a couple of gusts that had to be close to 50!) Suffice it to say conditions were not optimal on the Hilltop but this time of year one has to be out hunting because anything could show up!



Movement was super slow with only one doe making an appearance. Despite this the trip was a success as the boy and I got to spend time in the woods hunting our own ground and enjoying spending time doing things like cooking (he’s in charge of breakfast, I’m on duty for dinner with everything else being every man for himself), playing cards, and enjoying the culturing that comes from “classic” cinema (Tombstone, Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, Dances With Wolves, etc.).

Walking back to the house on Saturday talking with your son about where to sit next is priceless time. God is good.


The bows go on the rack for a while now as we extend our effective range a bit with the rifles. We will be back at it for Thanksgiving.

[Booner Sooner]

This past summer the Oklahoma Forestry Service wrote a forest stewardship plan for our place which included, among other activities, opening of the canopy and conducting controlled burns to clear what appears to be at least 30 years of leaf litter and debris from the ground to promote browse and cover for our deer as well as other species.

Recently the crew arrived, dozers in tow, to cut in the fire breaks, necessary to perform the burn safely.


Some areas on the North side were so thick that if fire got going, without those breaks it would be incredibly difficult to control.

This past week the burn crew arrived to conduct the burn.




Got up to the place this past weekend to walk the fire breaks and see how effective the burn was. I was very impressed with the quality of both. We are back to a clean slate and we’ve got plenty of time for the new vegetation to grow for fawning cover!






The fine folks at the Oklahoma Forestry Service did a great job. They’ve put us in a position to now perform a prescribed burn on rotation so that each unit gets burned every three years.

Looking forward to finishing the thinning on the ridge and starting to hinge cut the first sanctuary this summer. The fun continues!

[Roger]

That burn looks great. Fun following along on this journey with you. Wife and I were looking at OK land offerings this weekend. It's tempting.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Booner Sooner]

That burn looks great. Fun following along on this journey with you. Wife and I were looking at OK land offerings this weekend. It's tempting.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Thank you, sir. It’s been quite a ride so far. Enjoying the journey.

Good luck on your search!

[Darton]

Turned out great! Can’t wait to see how it bounces back

[Booner Sooner]

Some pics from the last trip up. The burned areas are springing forth with green stuff!

[Booner Sooner]

Darton & Stan R Were Right!!!!! Pic Heavy

It’s been a while since our last update. We’ve been busy. As a reminder, last summer a forester from the Oklahoma Department of Forestry did a timber cruise, inspected the property, and developed a five year forest management plan that included, among other things, a prescribed burn plan and timber stand improvement (“TSI”). Last year we began our TSI on the ridge and earlier this year we burned the entire place.

Fast forward to last week and I met the SE region private lands biologist from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife on our property.


After visiting about our management objectives we walked the place as she conducted an inspection. This will make the third professional (QDMA inspector, State forester, State wildlife biologist) to evaluate the hilltop and provide input. She was mostly in agreement with the prior recommendations and complimented us on the TSI that has been completed thus far. It is tremendous to have confirmation that what you are doing is spot on! Having these resources as a private landowner is a true blessing.
Here are some pics showing the progress of our TSI.



We will continue using the hatchet, chainsaw, and Imazapyr / Tryclopyr tree-killing cocktail to target mainly hickory and small to medium size post and blackjack oaks to open the canopy.

As many of you know, one of the challenges that our little slice of heaven presented was junk that was piled, strewn, scattered and hidden hither and yon. We have spent a good bit of time simply picking up and getting rid of an ungodly amount of....well, you name it. We are finally getting to the end of the junk so the focus turns to getting rid of old sheds and some trees that are in the way.

Here are some pics showing progress.
BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER



We have a ways to go but are taking some nice steps. Shout out to Darton for the assistance with the cleanup!

This eyesore as well as the trees around it are next. If all goes well we will either have a one acre kill plot or one acre early successional area producing more browse and bedding cover.



After this we will see how the TSI is done with a bulldozer crushing and thinning the canopy in a 3.5 acre area just West of the house.

More to come....just takes time [emoji3166]

[Booner Sooner]

Darton & Stan R Were Right!!!!! Pic Heavy

Was able to make it to the Hilltop this past weekend and was impressed with the TSI work that Darton accomplished with the dozer.



The four acre block of solid timber now has ~40% of the ground bathed in sunlight. A little hack and squirt work with the tree killing cocktail should have us finished out on this block in August.

Last year’s TSI on the ridge was complimented by the wildlife biologist from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife so we will continue with another seven acres this summer.

Also in this year’s plan are a pair of 1.5 acre clearings that will be cut into the timber. Both will be hourglass shaped. I’ll hinge cut on specific sides to help funnel the deer for better shot opportunities. With the prescribed burn in April, after these are clear cut they should respond with excellent forage and cover next spring.

The old pole barn on the South side is being dismantled. With any luck we can get the remaining sheet metal off on the next trip. It will be good to have this eyesore out of here.






It is great to see progress.

[Darton]

Progress is good

[Booner Sooner]

Darton & Stan R Were Right!!!!! Pic Heavy

Made it to the Hilltop this weekend with the boy, best friend, and Father in law riding shotgun. On the agenda was delivery of the platform on skids for the Titanic blind, continued TSI, waging war on the sericea lespedeza, and setting up our 2021 trail camera survey.

Some may remember the Titanic blind build of 2019.




We’ve opened new spots to hunt in the last two years so the Titanic needs to be more mobile. We set about to build a platform on skids so we can pull it around with the tractor.



Top rail is 3/16" angle iron (2"x2") and the rest is 14 gauge one inch square tubing.

Time at the place is precious so I elected to fabricate this at the house and trailer it up to the Hilltop.




Had to get creative with loading it as it is 12 feet wide.




Hoping to use the tractor to get the blind mounted and secured ahead of the opener.


The weather this weekend made for challenging work in the woods but we got the mop up work done to finish up Darton’s dozer TSI.


This completes the 3.5 acre section West of the house. Still amazed at how many hickory trees are on the hilltop. Between this area and the East side of the ridge, in six hours I estimate that we hacked and squirted or chainsawed and squirted a little over 700 trees. Just another step in the habitat improvement journey.

We lost a set of hands along the way. The boy decided pond hopping was needed rather than habitat work.


The work we’ve been doing along with several other projects could be helped along with a small trailer pulled behind the four wheeler. A few weeks back I ran across an old boat trailer that has been sitting dormant for at least 15 years.




In her present condition she’s ugly but she’s light and strong so with a little TLC we should have a functional trailer for chainsaw work and miscellaneous chores around the place.






More to come on this project.

[Booner Sooner]

Darton & Stan R Were Right!!!!! Pic Heavy

Got to spend some time working on the trailer project this evening. The wire brush on the angle grinder handles the rust and paint well.


Pleased to get down to bare metal and find no spots that have rusted through so far.



Lights will come off as they are shot.

Have to find a different attachment for getting the inside angle portions prepped to primer and paint.






Another couple of sessions and she should be ready for primer. After that comes the axle work.

More to come.

[Booner Sooner]

A little more progress tonight.


After getting the years of rust off I found a few places that will need to be welded back.




Pick up the new tires and buddy bearings tomorrow.

[Booner Sooner]

Disassembled, rust removed, and primer coat applied.









Rims were in good shape. New tires should last a while.


Getting close to paint and assembly time.

[Booner Sooner]

Here is the final product. Happy with how she turned out.



Should be good for another couple of decades!

[wingnut]

Looking very nice!