Bo’s Hideaway

That is a heavy brute for sure. Hope you let the air out of him.

Well it’s been kinda slow on the cameras on my farm, until last night, I had a total of 5-6 new bucks show up on camera in the last 24 hours. Nothing huge but I’ll take it. Couple of spikes and does showed too. Dad sat this morning and saw 5 deer. Things are starting to heat up.








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Well sat the damn stand again this morning.... was covered in turkeys all morning and let a button head walk at 940. That’s about all that happened this morning but it was a pretty sunrise from the stand.
And of course this was yesterday morning at 930.... while I was up the county hunting elsewhere.



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Well I had a slow morning in the tree but hunted somewhere that I wasn’t really expecting to see much. When I got down I had some more work to do. I placed an order for 6 of nativ nurseries shu-water oaks. I had to plant them today. I basically planted about 60 trees when I bought the place last year and over did it in my opinion. Now I’m going to go the route of adding 6-12 a year so I can really pay attention to the weeds and such the first year. I planted these shuwaters in spots around the edges of my food plot. I don’t expect them to really be a major draw, but variety is key in my opinion and this gives me that. I was very impressed with these 6 seedlings with one of them nearing 3’. Does anybody here have experience with the shumard and water oak hybrid?






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Well the season ended about two weeks ago, and things are getting back to normal. Trying to start planning my work for this coming year. As of now, the biggest plan is to try and get a house built. According to the survey when I purchased the property I require a soecial septic setup but am getting a soil engineer to come test some other locations next week.

I also have to start figuring what I want to plant in the food plots for the spring and summer. I am open to suggestions or mixes that work for you. I’m also thinking of buying a packermaxx with the crimper. The release method as Grant Woods calls it looks like he has great success. I do think I’m going to run the two bottom plow and disc through the newer plot one time to break up some of the dirt and turn the mulch in some. I have a pretty good stand of clover going around the point of hardwoods and will probably frost seed more over it to just try to fill it in some.

Another question I have is whether I should prune my chestnuts, and fruit trees this year bring it is only their second year in the ground and most are not out of the tubes yet or should I wait until next year when they get some more height to them. Thanks for any input.

We had a pretty good year on the 34 acres as the town and golf course replenish the herd very well. I think all together there were 10-12 deer taken with one 20” wide 6 pointer a buddy of mine killed. Ready to make some more progress and get closer towards the “end” goal.

Already replenished the mineral site. The does are already starting to pile back onto it.



This red oak fell shortly after I purchased the property and I have wanted to cut it up. Finally took the time the other day to cut it and the poplar that fell with it up. This will be used in the fire pit, and it opened this side of the point back up some. Glad the stump flipped back upright after the fact.

The works about to start to prepare for the 2022 season, but then it’s never really over is it.


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I didn’t have any type of structure to keep the tractor or boat covered and using a tarp everytime was getting old so During hunting season I called and ordered a carport to keep the tractor and my boat under. The tractor is not as nice as what most of you here have but it definitely doesn’t mind pulling. It’s an old Ford 861 diesel that I got from a friend with just about every implement you could need. Maybe one day I’ll get one with a bucket but for now this one does what I need it to do.


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I'm planting 50 oaks and wondering if that might be too much to care for year 1 and 2. Worst case they cost a couple bucks each and you move on I guess. Love the trees you have. Good luck this year.

Well finally got in touch with the guy doing the perk test, he is going to come on February 8th. Being this is thick cutover I’m gonna have to cut a few paths into different spots before then so he can get in there without the briars tearing him up. I’m hoping I can find a site right across the culvert at the top of the hill but we will see.
This is the area I’m hoping will work across the bottom and on top.


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Well got some bad news on the Perc test, I don’t have a spot for a conventional site anywhere on the entire 34 acres. The soil was such heavy clay he said even if I went with a engineered system that in 10 years or so I would have nothing but issues. So I guess that means this property is now strictly a recreational property to try to turn into a deer haven.

Last year I planted a large mix of trees to include sawtooths, dunstans, kieffer pears, wild crabs, persimmons and an assortment of hybrid oaks mostly from nativ nurseries. I saw good first year growth and survival out of approximately 75-80% of what I planted. This year I’m going to slim down on what I plant and concentrate on maintaining the already planted trees. I did add six more wild crabapples from nativ nurseries Tuesday during the Perc test to fill in a few spots.


Been working on some of the nest raiders. This guy waved at the cell cam all morning.


Also replenished my mineral site. Whether they benefit the deer or not is up in the air but it makes for a great place for inventory in the spring and summer.


This isn’t habitat related but we rabbit hunt 3days a week after deer season goes out. The 4 original dogs I have are starting to get some age on them, so last year I picked up two female puppies, they worked out great and broke easily. Well Sunday last week I got the opportunity to pick up those two other two sisters. These are them. Crazy how 4 beagles out of the same litter look absolutely nothing alike. But with 4 under the age of 2 all running and broke I should be good for several years to come.


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Well today before my 3-11 shift I decided to go start putting these tags on some of the trees I have planted. Not sure how well they will hold up but I had to do something so I remember what’s where. The different species isn’t bad but the hybrid oaks I get all mixed up. So far I have 4 different varieties of hybrids planted. All from Nativ Nursery. I have the shuwaters, the rainmakers, the tottens, and the shuwillows. They all seemed to grow pretty well for their first year in the ground. Anybody else plant some of the hybrids?



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Well today before work I went back by the land ( perk of it being 5 min from the job.) I finished tagging all of my trees and restaked the ones that needed it.

I also decided to try frost seeding for the first time. We have rain coming the next few days and temps will be in the 60s, then it is supposed to drop back down to the 30s and 40s the remainder of the week. Figured why not try it. I’m doing a little bit of a test as I plant. I ordered 3 different clover and chicory blends from three different companies and planted them all in their own areas to see which does the best. These blends were whitetail institutes fusion and clover, Stratton seeds revival, and Domains hot chic. Has anybody ever used these before? I guess we will see how it goes






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Here are the seed labels from the Hot Chic and the Stratton revival. I threw away the bags of whitetail institute.




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I get most of my work done at the land the week I am on 3-11 shift. Most of the guys I work with go home sit up have a few beers or whatever. I go home on 3-11 shower and go straight to sleep so I can be productive before I go back to work the next morning. Today was no different, I talked dad into loading up the trailer and going and picking up a ton of pelletized lime and meeting me at the hideaway. We were initially going to spread it with the solo spreader and a push spreader but then I remembered a buddy of mine told me he had a 3 point spreader I could use. So I ran and picked that up and met dad at the land. We spread a ton of lime, and 500 lbs of fertilizer on the food plot today before I had to be at work. One more thing checked off the list!



Not quite the fancy tractor most of you have but she gets the job done.

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Also starting to get some of the deer back that I haven’t seen since October or so. Maybe the food plot improvements will hold a few of them from time to time this year. Two of the up and comers are back anyway. I think the screwy racked one is the deer my girlfriend missed with the muzzleloader.





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I’ve been running a Stihl 036 pro for years, which is bigger than what I really need most of the time. So I’ve been keeping an eye on Facebook marketplace for a smaller saw for the little things. I saw a guy local had a Stihl MS210 for sale on marketplace for 140$. He didn’t know if it ran or not. I met him today and looked it over. I told him the most I was willing to risk on a saw I didn’t know ran was 50$. He said alright and took the money. I have a tune up kit coming but after dumping the gas out of it and replacing it with tru fuel and pulling on it and adjusting the carb I got it started in about 10 min. It will still get the tune up kit but not a bad find for 50$.




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chbarnha said:

I’ve been running a Stihl 036 pro for years, which is bigger than what I really need most of the time. So I’ve been keeping an eye on Facebook marketplace for a smaller saw for the little things. I saw a guy local had a Stihl MS210 for sale on marketplace for 140$. He didn’t know if it ran or not. I met him today and looked it over. I told him the most I was willing to risk on a saw I didn’t know ran was 50$. He said alright and took the money. I have a tune up kit coming but after dumping the gas out of it and replacing it with tru fuel and pulling on it and adjusting the carb I got it started in about 10 min. It will still get the tune up kit but not a bad find for 50$.

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Click to expand...

You usually won't go wrong on a Stihl, but I'm glad you realized that $140 is way too much for a saw that's not running, especially since a new 170 that'll outcut the 210 can be had for $189, and they definitely are a snappy little saw. $50 should be a good deal. The biggest issue with used older saws is that many of them have a slightly or majorly burnt or scored piston, which can come from many different causes, most of which increase as the saw ages. This can usually be observed by looking in the side port of the head. A scored piston leads to hard starting and reduced power, and isn't worth fixing on an old saw.
I hope you got a good one, often one of these size saws can be found that was purchased by a weekend warrior to cut up one tree and never used again, now that would really be a deal! Enjoy the new toy.

Mennoniteman said:

You usually won't go wrong on a Stihl, but I'm glad you realized that $140 is way too much for a saw that's not running, especially since a new 170 that'll outcut the 210 can be had for $189, and they definitely are a snappy little saw. $50 should be a good deal. The biggest issue with used older saws is that many of them have a slightly or majorly burnt or scored piston, which can come from many different causes, most of which increase as the saw ages. This can usually be observed by looking in the side port of the head. A scored piston leads to hard starting and reduced power, and isn't worth fixing on an old saw.
I hope you got a good one, often one of these size saws can be found that was purchased by a weekend warrior to cut up one tree and never used again, now that would really be a deal! Enjoy the new toy.

Click to expand...

When I pulled it apart it looked pretty much brand new on all the interiors, the outside is dirty I guess from sitting whereever it was. I’ll dive more into it tomorrow as all the fresh innards will be here.


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You have been busy. Good luck with it. Where are you? I can't believe there is not one good perk area

Right outside of West Point va


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Went and checked some things today before going to work for another 12 hour midnight. The winter rye looks like it’s coming up good and green. The clover I frost seeded a few weeks ago in all three areas is starting to pop. Hopefully all three of this varieties do good things! Always good to see some deer on camera too.



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