I know this is gonna be a long read, but I just have to get some things off of my chest. Please bare with me...
Amidst all of the hustle and bustle, I finally was able to find some time to make the trip out to our lease in Jack County to get some feeders up and running, and maybe get a trail camera out to try and capture some of the possible wildlife I'll be seeing from the stand this year. With a busy weekend schedule ahead of me, I headed out this morning with the intentions of filling two feeders, one being a winch up feeder and the other being a feeder that I built up last year as my first ever feeder that was solely mine.
I had built a 6'x4' platform square tubing quadpod, complete with expanded metal deck for easy access for filling and ladder on one end (i "borrowed" the idea from some Lazy Boy feeders that I had seen for sale). This feeder was the first project that I had built from scratch, honing my welding skills as I went. After several weeks worth of labor in the evening hours in the hot Texas sun and around my son's nap schedules, she was ready for setup.
I hunted over this feeder from my tree stand all of last year, and was more than pleased with the finished product. She served me well enough to bring in the young fourteen point buck, complete with three, yes three, drop tines (I can send pics for proof if needed
) that we had seen on camera. Unfortanutely, the one time that he showed himself while I was on stand, he and his buddies didn't think it wise to stay in long enough for legal shooting light (if only he would have stuck around for 5 more minutes!!! 
). But enough of that...
This brings us to today....
I had some anxiety about some flood waters that had made their way through the Jermyn area earlier in the year, but had no idea what I was gonna find when I got to the lease today. When we arrived, we gathered up all necessary gear and headed for the feeder with new 6volt battery, trailcam and new batteries, weedeater and anything else my 5-year old nephew thought necessary for the excursion. Unfortunately, when we got to my little spot by the creek, the area seemed a bit bare. So I started through the mental checklist:
Tree stand - visual confirmed.
Creek with running water - check.
Feeder...feeder...feeder - not present?
"WTH? Where is it? Who's playing the joke? Ha Ha. Funny.
Wait. Seriously? Feeder is gone? Where could it have gone?"
You can imagine the feeling that came over me. After a quick phone call to the land owner, it is confirmed that he has not moved it for any reason in regards to cattle or anything else that can be fathomed. So there I was - a truck load of corn and new supplies ready for the field, yet no feeder to direct them to.
The only possible explanation that I can come up with is this:
Someone in Jack County felt that they needed this feeder, after my long hours of work building it and the many memories that I have already created while sitting over it, much worse than I did. The thing about it is the fact that this couldn't have been a one man job as there is no way that I would have been able to get it set up initially without the help of my brother - this thing is a full-fledged beast!
So now I am stuck, one month before the season starts no less, with no feeder to entice the intriguing adversaries to make their way in front of me on those crisp cool mornings. I simply cannot fathom the thought of taking someone else's property. I guess I was just simply raised differently. And I surely thought that once I got away from the concrete hell-hole that I live in (reference to the north dallas area for those not following me), that this form of low-life activity was surely to be few and far between.
Obviously, on one hand, I am furious with the entire situation, but on the other hand I actually feel sorry for the individuals that took it upon themselves to cheat their way through life. I guess they just didn't have the male role models in their life that I have been so Godly blessed to learn life lessons from. With a 16-month old son at home, I cannot begin to described the joy that I find in simply looking at his innocent face and wanting to give the world to him. How could a father fail their son in this aspect? How could someone grow to be the person who thinks it is OK to help themselves to something that is clearly not theirs?
Luckily, my brother and I used this oppurtunity to try and teach my nephew a good life lesson and why stealing is not a path that he should ever take in life. But I still can't get the feelings of deceit and anger out of my mind. It just makes me sick to my stomach...
So, here we are. If anyone has any leads on a feeder timer and a barrel, I guess I will scramble around for the next couple of weeks and build me another one. This is the only thing I can think of on a limited budget this close to the seson as I have the material at the house to put together another platform...
Amidst all of the hustle and bustle, I finally was able to find some time to make the trip out to our lease in Jack County to get some feeders up and running, and maybe get a trail camera out to try and capture some of the possible wildlife I'll be seeing from the stand this year. With a busy weekend schedule ahead of me, I headed out this morning with the intentions of filling two feeders, one being a winch up feeder and the other being a feeder that I built up last year as my first ever feeder that was solely mine.
I had built a 6'x4' platform square tubing quadpod, complete with expanded metal deck for easy access for filling and ladder on one end (i "borrowed" the idea from some Lazy Boy feeders that I had seen for sale). This feeder was the first project that I had built from scratch, honing my welding skills as I went. After several weeks worth of labor in the evening hours in the hot Texas sun and around my son's nap schedules, she was ready for setup.
I hunted over this feeder from my tree stand all of last year, and was more than pleased with the finished product. She served me well enough to bring in the young fourteen point buck, complete with three, yes three, drop tines (I can send pics for proof if needed
) that we had seen on camera. Unfortanutely, the one time that he showed himself while I was on stand, he and his buddies didn't think it wise to stay in long enough for legal shooting light (if only he would have stuck around for 5 more minutes!!! ). But enough of that...This brings us to today....
I had some anxiety about some flood waters that had made their way through the Jermyn area earlier in the year, but had no idea what I was gonna find when I got to the lease today. When we arrived, we gathered up all necessary gear and headed for the feeder with new 6volt battery, trailcam and new batteries, weedeater and anything else my 5-year old nephew thought necessary for the excursion. Unfortunately, when we got to my little spot by the creek, the area seemed a bit bare. So I started through the mental checklist:
Tree stand - visual confirmed.
Creek with running water - check.
Feeder...feeder...feeder - not present?
"WTH? Where is it? Who's playing the joke? Ha Ha. Funny.
Wait. Seriously? Feeder is gone? Where could it have gone?"
You can imagine the feeling that came over me. After a quick phone call to the land owner, it is confirmed that he has not moved it for any reason in regards to cattle or anything else that can be fathomed. So there I was - a truck load of corn and new supplies ready for the field, yet no feeder to direct them to.
The only possible explanation that I can come up with is this:
Someone in Jack County felt that they needed this feeder, after my long hours of work building it and the many memories that I have already created while sitting over it, much worse than I did. The thing about it is the fact that this couldn't have been a one man job as there is no way that I would have been able to get it set up initially without the help of my brother - this thing is a full-fledged beast!
So now I am stuck, one month before the season starts no less, with no feeder to entice the intriguing adversaries to make their way in front of me on those crisp cool mornings. I simply cannot fathom the thought of taking someone else's property. I guess I was just simply raised differently. And I surely thought that once I got away from the concrete hell-hole that I live in (reference to the north dallas area for those not following me), that this form of low-life activity was surely to be few and far between.
Obviously, on one hand, I am furious with the entire situation, but on the other hand I actually feel sorry for the individuals that took it upon themselves to cheat their way through life. I guess they just didn't have the male role models in their life that I have been so Godly blessed to learn life lessons from. With a 16-month old son at home, I cannot begin to described the joy that I find in simply looking at his innocent face and wanting to give the world to him. How could a father fail their son in this aspect? How could someone grow to be the person who thinks it is OK to help themselves to something that is clearly not theirs?
Luckily, my brother and I used this oppurtunity to try and teach my nephew a good life lesson and why stealing is not a path that he should ever take in life. But I still can't get the feelings of deceit and anger out of my mind. It just makes me sick to my stomach...
So, here we are. If anyone has any leads on a feeder timer and a barrel, I guess I will scramble around for the next couple of weeks and build me another one. This is the only thing I can think of on a limited budget this close to the seson as I have the material at the house to put together another platform...
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