The Lodge

[balakay]

Headed out tomorrow to put up blinds, trim trees, and do some prep for food plots at the end of the month. So I picked up a new chair off of Amazon. Little more than I wanted to spend but I wanted something adjustable that swiveled and didn’t have a ton of recline. Very impressed with it. Super quiet, has adjustable legs for leveling, and has seat height adjustment. The armrests are a little low for my liking but are still usable. Hopefully it holds up well.

 

[balakay]

Got my dads blind set on the tower today. He came and set up the tower Saturday. Thought getting the box on it would be a pain. That sumbitch is heavy. Quick run to town for lunch and then it’s on to mine.

 

[balakay]

 

[Taco Loco]

Piggies??

 

[tx_shooter]

Been a tough weekend (will explain later) but at least opening weekend went right. Nice 10pt walked out but stayed behind the fence and does. I put the shot a bit high in the triangle but it anchored him with the 6.5CM at 115 yds. The inside width is 16" and the brow guards are 2.5". No complaints for my first buck since junior high.

When I dropped off the buck at the processor the guy just laughed and said Toyota people are just built different. I dropped off my buck in a 4Runner and yesterday a guy dropped off his deer in a Corolla.

And of course who needs a truck when I have a tarp.

 

[Anathollo]

Been a tough weekend (will explain later) but at least opening weekend went right. Nice 10pt walked out but stayed behind the fence and does. I put the shot a bit high in the triangle but it anchored him with the 6.5CM at 115 yds. The inside width is 16" and the brow guards are 2.5". No complaints for my first buck since junior high.

When I dropped off the buck at the processor the guy just laughed and said Toyota people are just built different. I dropped off my buck in a 4Runner and yesterday a guy dropped off his deer in a Corolla.

View attachment 56692

And of course who needs a truck when I have a tarp.
View attachment 56693

Nice buck man. Glad you got one this season! What are you going to do with the rack?

And make sure you get everything you can on the lease

 

[tx_shooter]

I dropped it off for a basic euro mount. Unless my sammichmaker drops a massive buck will probably do the same with her buck.

Yeah, we are getting as close to full tags as possible. Will probably save a doe tag each for January.

 

[tx_shooter]

I went pig hunting with a buddy last night to help defend his deer feeder. A large group of pigs have taken over the area and ran off almost all the deer. We watched this lone boar eat for about 5 minutes before he got suspicious and walked off; while my buddy was expecting the large group to come out any second. They never showed up all night. Always shoot the shot you are given; this guy passed up a shot on a decent 10 pt buck on opening day.

Pics are at 1x at 45 or 50 yds with my AGM Rattler.

 

[Taco Loco]

Excited to get the HD picture of this one. Hard to see between the SD quality and the moisture on the camera. By far the widest rack we’ve seen on this place though. Hoping we can get quite a few culls off of the place this year. Taking some family after Thanksgiving and a couple buddies of mine right before Christmas. Just wish it wasn’t a one buck county and we could clear them out quite a bit faster. View attachment 55705

What is the purpose of white IBC tote in the background? Water?

 

[Taco Loco]

I went pig hunting with a buddy last night to help defend his deer feeder. A large group of pigs have taken over the area and ran off almost all the deer. We watched this lone boar eat for about 5 minutes before he got suspicious and walked off; while my buddy was expecting the large group to come out any second. They never showed up all night. Always shoot the shot you are given; this guy passed up a shot on a decent 10 pt buck on opening day.

Pics are at 1x at 45 or 50 yds with my AGM Rattler.

View attachment 56716

View attachment 56717

Shoot the boar and the sounders return and less deer will be in the area.

If the solo boar remains, the deer will return within 3 days and even eat at the feeder with the boar.

 

[balakay]

What is the purpose of white IBC tote in the background? Water?

Yep, had a couple old totes so we cut them in half for water troughs.

 

[Taco Loco]

Yep, had a couple old totes so we cut them in half for water troughs.

Cool. Having water nearby really helps out. I have a lot of wildlife that use my water stations. I have 2 totes and several 30 to 50 gal open tubs, those open tubs usually last about 9 days depending on temperatures. The complete totes I have will last over 2 months and just about every critter is able to drink from them.

I wish I had seen these before I made my wildlife waterers .
windblowgrass 275-330 Gallon IBC Tote Tank Adapter,2.44" Fine Thread with Lead-Free Brass Spigot Valve (1/2" Male NPT Inlet×3/4" GHT Outlet), for Garden Hose Connector Amazon.com

I do need to make another one, so I will be ordering some more parts soon. I'm using the whole tote with a stainless steel automatic(gravity) waterer. I made more of a closed system, it eliminates excess evaporation, bird droppings, racoon swim park and mosquitoes/insects into tote/resovior. I even add aa little bit of bleach to the water tote every few weeks to keep the water clean/disinfected.

I need to make a better video, I have two of these on my place, looking to add a third one. Water for Wildlife during times of drought w/275 gallon IBC Tote #hunting #water #birds #homemade

 

[tx_shooter]

Shoot the boar and the sounders return and less deer will be in the area.

If the solo boar remains, the deer will return within 3 days and even eat at the feeder with the boar.

Except we are not seeing that. The boar is sleeping somewhere near the feeder and keeping everything away.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Opening day of pheasant was great, a crisp morning that had frost on all the plants in the AM and the bright sun defrost it into dew as the morning continued. I limited out early and ran the dogs the rest of the morning for the other kids that came out. The new Benelli was awesome, as my eyes get older it’s nice having the extra shot over the double barrel.

 

[tx_shooter]

I have always read about pheasant hunting being really exciting and fast action in the middle of walking thru the meadows. One of these days I need to try it out.

 

[PSU Taco85]

I have always read about pheasant hunting being really exciting and fast action in the middle of walking thru the meadows. One of these days I need to try it out.

it’s really a lot of fun, especially with a few good hunting dogs. NJ stocks state gamelands every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays with Saturday being the most birds they normally put out than during the week.

Brittany spaniels make excellent bird dogs, also a bonus they go and retrieve them especially after one goes down in a briar patch . I’d much rather pheasant/quail hunt than push a group of whitetail or sit in a stand and fall asleep

 

[tx_shooter]

My sammich maker was commenting how she does not understand how I can sit all day with little more than my eyes and occasionally my hands moving. She commented her mind and body really wanted to get up and go for a walk.

 

[tx_shooter]

Sammich maker made a solid hit with this buck. She missed a shot earlier on a large 8 point but she settled down and made it happen on this guy. He busted off his brow guards; so only 6 scoring points but she does not care. She is really happy with the classic Texas basket and the meat going to the freezer. Next up is the doe harvests.

Firearm info - Tikka T3X Lite in 6.5 Creedmoor with an Energetic Armament Vox-S suppressor. The scope is the ATN Wraith HD; not a bad scope but it does the job easily for this. After this season the rifle is getting a glass optic again. Ammo was a Hornady 143gr ELD-X that blew out the other side as seen in the photo.

 

[tx_shooter]

Sadly I did not have the scope configured properly to capture the shots; but here is a screen capture from a different video from when we were messing around with it. The feeder is at 115 yds from the stand we are hunting from.

 

[tx_shooter]

Almost had a feral pig slaughter last night; but the sounder stayed on the other side of the property fence. We waited 1.5 hours and they never came to the feeder.