Even though we couldn't accomplish our main goal, we were able to check several small jobs off the ToDo list for the year. After arriving on Saturday morning, we decided to wait out the rain by organizing and vacuuming out the cabin. I ended up taking an entire storage bin full of items home to get rid of which freed up some space in the cabin. Cleaning the cabin is something that often takes a back seat (especially during hunting season) so it was nice to get it back into a reasonably clean state ahead of several planned family trips down this summer.
We had been dealing with a flat tire on the ATV since last fall. Dad purchased a pair of used wheels to keep around as spares and also bought a patch kit. We finally found the time to swap out the flat for the spare and patch the flat.
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| Dad swapping out the tires |
Dad also spent some time working on fixing a tire on the ATV cart that has been having issues for some time. We didn't have quite the same luck with that one though so he took it home with him to work on. We also cut up a tree that was leaning over one of our ATV trails, took down 3 tree stands and put up another, and fixed a squeaky floor board in one of the ground blinds.
Even though we couldn't burn, I did manage to get the plot screen on both fields mowed down along with a 1/4 acre patch in the big field that will be planted to sugar beets later this spring.
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| Mowing down plot screen on the big field |
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| Future sugar beet food plot |
Some good news that came out of the trip was just how well the food plots are looking. The rye and clover that was planted last fall on both the big and small field is green and providing deer with food at a time of year that they need it the most. It was difficult to find a rye plant that wasn't bitten off by a deer. Also, the clover that I frost seeded into the ridge food plot is up and growing, even with the unseasonably cold temperatures that we have had.
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| The ridge food plot, nice and green |
One of the tree stands that we took down was on the East side of the property. This marked the first time in 2 years that we have set foot over there. We discovered exactly how thick that side of the property has become, now 4 years (I think) since we had TSI work done over there. In addition, we found a lot of deer sign which confirmed that the deer are using that area for bedding.
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| Picture from the far East fence line of my property looking West |
With the rain stopping late morning on Saturday, we held a small amount of hope that the wind would dry things off enough to burn on Sunday morning. All hope was gone, however, as we opened the door to head to church. We were greeted with a couple inches of wet snow and more falling.
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| A winter wonderland on April 15th |
After mass we finished up our last few tasks and headed for home, cutting what was supposed to be a long weekend of work VERY short. Here is to hoping that May brings some drier trips to the cabin.
