Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Cut some wood today....

Ken, my Dad once told me "Son, only the good die young. You'll be around long enough to regret your youth and wonder where it went." As a contradiction he said "Son, you'll never live to vote. Somebody's going to blow your damn head off."

He died at 62 and in November I'll have outlived him by 6 years.

You are only as old as you let yourself behave...if you live sedentary you will surely die that way.

Esshup I bought this land because I was young and dumb, no idea how much work there was here, but slowly and surely I am creeping up on the vision that put the sparkle in my eye the day I signed the closing papers. The toughest goal I have yet in my life is to teach my boy to love it as much as I do so he can do that for his son someday.

Big timber companies won't touch my woods they say the DBH avg. is too small for harvest, but I'm gonna harvest and manage for deer, not timber.

I agree, it's a lot of work. I bought this place because I can deer hunt right behind the house. I don't have any trees that would make good timber - too many branches close to the ground. (Pin Oak) Some Maple might be O.K., but the property looks like it was almost clear cut about 50-60+ years ago.

Make it wildlife friendly and they will find it!

The pheasants found it this year Esshup, I had a total of 11 in a brood here, down to 8 of them now but they are almost adults, the males have full colors and long tail feathers, easy to tell from their papa as he had no white ring on his neck. They love my 30 acres of standing goldenrod and spend lots of time in my yard too. Will be interesting to see how they winter. This is only the second time I have ever seen them born and raised wild, it's pretty neat.

Nice! Next year, see if you can plant a few (5 or so) rows of corn. Plant it a little closer together than usual. I've seen pheasants utilize the spaces under corn stalks that were tipped over and covered with snow. The pheasants will do better if you can keep the predators under control, especially raccoons. They are really hard on nests and young birds.

I would sooner bet the red tail hawks and bald eagles around here are pretty hard on critters through the winter. I have some tree tops around and brush piles too, along with lots of old equipment that they use to hide. Just a nice addition to the place to see them around.

The raptors are, but the pheasants will get under cover and are protected from the eyes in the sky.

The 4-legged predators do a number on nests & the young 'uns, and on Momma if she doesn't get out of there when they come a calling.

I think both PF and DU did a study and found that control of predators (raccoons, skunks, opossum, fox and coyote) helped the population just as much and sometimes more than good habitat did.

I can believe it with the Yotes, I know they are hard on the little things around here. I have video of one killing a woodchuck and it is not an option for the chuck to escape, he is simply food on the landscape when the coyote showed up.