Dove lease

I'm thinking about doing a lease here in TX for Dove hunting... what do you think? http://djfarmsdovelease.com/
They also allow hunting for anything else except deer. Dad, take a look at the website they run an operation similar to what you want to start.

New Akkerman hunters

	Mom and Rusty. I think they're getting along.
	Yep, he can swim.
	He can almost swim right out of the water
	Here are all the young Akkerman Hunters (and a couple that are just young at heart).

Will it work on Snipe??

When daughter Peggy and her 4 year old son Daniel was at the farm earlier this summer, we were sitting around the fire ring, drinking beer, and talking hunting(what else?), and when did we think Daniel would be old enough to join the hunting crew in the fall. We jokingly told Daniel that until he was old enough to shoot a gun, he could only come along to act like a dog, and carry birds and stuff. We were also talking about seeing mountain lions and bobcats at different times, and told Daniel that to scare lions and bobcats away, he needed to walk around clicking 2 sticks together, and call out to the cats. He found his 2 sticks, and started walking along the driveway, clicking his sticks, and calling "Bob, Bob, Hey Bob!!!"
While he was doing this, a pheasant started crowing in the alfalfa field next to the driveway. Every time Daniel clicked his sticks, and yelled for "BoB", this pheasant would crow back (probably because it was being disturbed). Daniel tried it again later, and also the next day, and everytime, a pheasant would answer his call. Daniel is now convinced that he has the knack of being able to call pheasants, and told his mother, "I don't have to be old enough to hunt, I can go along and call the pheasants for the guys to shoot!" Needless to say, Terri, Peggy and I were having an awful time keeping a straight face( or not falling off our chairs) while he was walking around clicking his sticks, and calling for "Bob".
More later,
The Old Farmer.

I Passed !!! Look out poachers

It is final I just got my State Exam score and I passed. Only 6 more weeks of in-serves training and I'll be home and on-duty.

Back from Greece

Well I am back from Greece and as you all know the work there is hard. And the morning are hell I have to make my own coffee and then drink it with students. But, some how I seem to be able to struggle through an other day at the "office".

The trip was good and I am on my way to my dad's in Ottawa for a week. Then off to the boat and a bunch of dive training.

Farmer man loved the story and it will be great to be back on the "farm".

Well more later

Gray hunter

What a Beautiful View!!!

I was cutting alfalfa at the farm yesterday, right along the driveway. A car with Florida plates drove in, and a nice looking woman got out carrying a large sample case. She was selling aerial photos of the farmstead. They are now taken by digital camera, so one of the selling points was that she could erase or cover up unsightly areas. I asked her to remove the old trailer house, and take out several junk piles.
Now, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story". This woman was very well built, and had on a loose fitting tank top that showed her attributes at their finest. To put this description in a hunting vernacular that we can all understand, "she would have a hard time hiding behind a tree during deer season, or she would make a good guide, as she was always pointing the way. She was sitting on the front step of the house, giving me and Josh(my 15 year old traveling friend), her well practiced sales pitch. We were standing above her, totally fascinated by the view (of the farmstead pictures) that she was showing us. All of a sudden, she grabbed the front of her tank top, and pulled it way out, and shouted, Can you see anything?
Duh!! How do you answer a question like that.
She reached down her shirt, and was searching for something. Gentleman that I am, I was ready to volunteer to help her search for whatever had hidden in her cleavage, when she pulled out a seed from the ash tree in front of the house. Curses, I had visions of doing a strip search, and saving her from a viscous bee or wasp, not a tree seed. After I had purchased the photo, which I had been wanting for 20+ years, but have never been around the farm at the right time, I couldn't help but wonder, would her sales technique have been any different if Terri had been the one talking to her?
Things looking great at the farm, several nice rains, food plots looking OK. Lots of deer around, good hatch from the Canadian Geese, and pheasants starting to nest. Think Fall, and hunting, but take time to enjoy the summer, it is way too short.

Happy Fathers Day, the old Farmer.

Food Plots

Just got a phone call from Randy O., the guy who will pick my corn plots. We had a 1/2 inch of rain last night, so he can pick this afternoon, I will make a quick trip to the farm, and hopefully will get the new crop planted today or tomorrow.

More later, the old farmer

drive to the farm every week... :-(

Just found out that sometime this year my job is moving to a new office another 20 miles away. So I might be spending 12-15 hours in a car every week.... just venting.... sigh

MN Hunting leases

Just in case anybody is interested in leasing Potlatch land for hunting in MN...

http://recreation.potlatchcorp.com/mn/tracts/

Prices aren't too bad if several guys went in on it.

Farm update

Finally had a chance to spend a couple of days at the farm, being a working stiff really cuts into my spare time. I did get the food plot down in the big slough planted yesterday, I just planted between the rows from last year, and then sprayed to kill the weeds. The planter bar pretty well knocked down the old stalks, and in the entire plot, I saw 2 ears of corn. Every thing else had a bare cob hanging from the stalk. I'd say the pheasants and deer had pretty good eating all winter. I hope to have someone lined up to pick the two other plots next weekend, then I can get the rest planted.
I had a "slight" disagreement with my renters, and unfortunately, I let them have their way. (I'm just too nice a guy) They denied that I had told them I wasn't going to rent the pastures this year, so they will still have cattle on them this year, and probably chew them right down to the roots, just like last year. Therefore, we won't have the extra corn and grass to hunt on, at least for this year. They are also planting much more soybeans, and much less corn acres.
Next fall, they will get written notice of cancellation of the present lease. I'm not sure what I will be doing, but I will have much more active involvement in management, if not actually farming part or all myself.
Pistol Pat, are you free for the summer, or still tied to the academic scene?
Later, the old farmer