Turkey Hunting And Storm Damage

Due to weather, it had been 9 weeks since I was last at the cabin. Since mom and dad were in Des Moines already, dad decided to head down with me to help get work done. We headed out after 8:30 pm last Saturday and arrived at the cabin a little after 10. As we pulled in the drive, it was apparent that sometime in the past 2 months there had been some significant winds down there. We ended up having to drive through the neighbor's field to get back to the cabin as several trees and limbs had fallen across the drive. Of course that was nothing compared to what we saw as we pulled up to the cabin.

The lean-to as we found it

Note that the lean to has been sitting in that spot for 4 years and was secured with 3 foot stakes in all 4 corners. The wind that tipped it over managed to pull all 4 stakes out of the ground and bend them significantly. The good news is that we were able to recover all possessions and nothing appeared to be damaged. The next morning we were able to use the winch on the ATV to pull the lean-to back over. 

Lean-to back in place

In addition to the drive and the lean-to, there were several other trees that fell across our ATV trails. If the storm damage wasn't unlucky enough, the ATV was also acting up and forced us to do a log more work by hand then planned. It seems that there is an issue with the alternator as the ATV was not charging the battery as it ran. 

I did manage to get in a little turkey hunting but didn't have much luck. Both mornings I had toms everywhere around me but none would work in. The only turkey that did come by was a hen on Sunday evening. 

View of my decoys from the blind

Monday we managed to get the plot screen burned off before the winds got too crazy. The conditions were nearly perfect for burning and everything burned off really clean. 

Burning plot screen on the big field

Burning plot screen on the small field

In addition we managed to get the mowing done as well as the garden and new ridge food plot sprayed off with gly. All of the clover plots were looking great with all of the rain over the past couple of weeks.

Clover plot behind the cabin

Even though it wasn't my greatest trip to the cabin, we still managed to find a little time to kick back and enjoy being outside. 

Pizza pie irons by the fire

I'm planning to head down again in a few weeks to finish prepping food plots for spring planting and to plant the garden. Hoping for good weather.