We ended up getting 0.90in of rain yesterday. We’ll take whatever we can get but it sure would be nice to get a big storm that would give us 2+in to fill up the tanks and creeks.
We drive the fence lines every trip and have snares on the 3 or 4 holes that we see dug out. No telling how long he’s been here because we’ve never seen him at the feeders which all have the gates open.
The trees are doing great out there! I’ll be out there in 2 weeks and will provide an update on everything. Hopefully we can get some more rain between now and then. I’ll probably take some Round-Up and spray around the trees to kill any weeds/grasses growing around them so nothing is competing with the trees.
Our neighbor said she got 1.5in from the storms this past weekend so that’s great news. I’ll be heading out there on 5/14 with the kiddis and some friends and will post some of the updates we have made this year (i.e. clearing with chainsaw and dozer, areas we have seeded with native forbs, etc.).
Had a nice cell come through yesterday and give us 0.5in in 20minutes so finally got some runoff. We are hoping to get another 0.5-1.0in today.
My dad put some bait in the trap and the hog was in there for 1.5hrs yesterday. I’m hoping to set it this weekend and see what happens.
We were able to put a stalk on the pig last night using a buddy’s thermal. We spotted him about 400 yards away and got within 100yards and shot him. He weighed 257lbs. He was much bigger than I thought.
We road down all the fence lines and inspected everything. We can’t find a hole anywhere. I’m not sure if he was trapped inside when we high fenced our place 2 years ago or what but we didn’t start seeing him until 2 months ago. He’s a big hog so I would think there would have been a big hole or some kind of sign.
A buddy and I made the stalk on Friday night as I got a text from my Covert camera around midnight showing he was around the trap. My plan was to use a spotlight with a red lens cover and my 6.5 creedmor and use my buddy’s Pulsar thermal to help spot the hog because I didn’t have time to sight it in. We made the 500 yard walk using the thermal to scan every 50 yards or so until we got within 200 yards of the camera. Finally, we spot the hog about 80 yards downwind and the gig was up after he winded us. It was a long walk back on Friday night as we didn’t get back until 1:30am. Fast forward to Saturday night, i got a text at 9:30pm showing the hog. My buddy and I made the same 500 yard trek and and after 45minutes were able to spot him and make a move to get within 100 yards. Once i laid on the ground my buddy flipped on the spotlight and he was severely quartering away but I didn’t want to lose him so I made the shot and drilled him. We heard him squealing and running through brush and all of a sudden my buddy finds him with the light and he is running towards us so I put one more in him and he dropped around 25 yards away. It was a fun hunt and I’m glad we finally got him as I don’t think he was ever going to go inside the trap with the doors closed. We didn’t get any great pics bc my phone was out of battery and we were in a hurry.
Once the critters clean him off I’m going to get the skull and have it bleached and make a cool mount. I probably should have caped it out and put him on ice for a shoulder mount but hopefully I can make a cool European mount.
We went down this past weekend with my two kiddos and several buddies and their kids to do some shooting, fishing, and swimming in the river. The place is really greening up from the recent rains but we still need a 2+in rain event so we can get some good runoff before we get into the hot summer. The areas we seeded with native forbs and grasses are just now start to come on. The areas we seeded two years ago are doing really well and the areas we seeded one year ago are just now showing some signs. The good news is that there is a lot of native browse and forbs all over the place right now. We aren't grazing cattle this year so the grasses have really popped and we will hopefully have enough fuel to do a prescribed burn next March.
We were able to check all of the trees and they are doing really well. I sprayed RoundUp around the perimeter to help keep the grasses and weeds from overcrowding. In fact, the Mexican Plums have almost grown through the tree tubes.
Here are some pictures showing the native forbs, browse, and grasses we are seeing.
Bush Sunflower
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