The Hunting Times

So I splurged and bought a Lab Radar chronograph to track bullet velocities.  This is what it looks like: Stock photo - Not my setup However, this is exactly what I have. The chrono uses radar (obviously) to track the bullet speed as it exits the barrel and then five more points down the line of fire - up to 100 yards away.  It is triggered by the sound of the rifle going off.  That is unless you are using a 6.5 Creedmoor with a suppressor.  I could not get mine to register today.  I suspect a little bit of user error and a microphone setup discrepancy.  It did, however, work great on the .243 suppressed and the .308 unsuppressed. The unit is intended to sit directly even with the end of the rifle barrel when shooting suppressed.  This was all but impossible using the shooting tables I designed (see earlier posts on those).  I need to either get a longer tripod so the unit can sit on the ground, or I need to build an extension onto the table. Whil...

There were numerous photos posted to Facebook with the sunset here in Clinton County, IN this past Monday.  It sure was pretty. I was out watering the grass seed I had just planted - after watering the trees.  I turned around and snapped this photo: Sure was colorful and bright! If you zoom in you can see the buckets of water by the two small trees in the foreground. That was a "genius" moment I had with those buckets.  I am sure I am not the only one to think of this, but I did come up with the idea myself - not stealing it from anyone.  Take an old 5-gallon bucket.  Put two 3/16" holes in the bottom.  Fill them about half way up with water and set them next to your trees. The water slowly drains out, soaking into the ground instead of running off.  Genius!

Ok, upfront, this post is more for me than it is for any of you.  I want to remember what we did right and what we did wrong for next year.  Well, at least as it pertains to planting. Early MAY is the time to start working the ground.  Planting can start as early as 15 MAY and can go as late as you wish, based on maturity schedule.  The sunflowers need to be in before 01 JUNE.  The depth to plant both sweet corn and sunflowers is close enough to identical, that one setting works for both.  They were planted at 1" in moist, but not wet nor dry, soil.  That is #2 on the hydraulic lever on the tractor.  No need to measure it again next year. The brand of sunflowers we planted is Dove Kandy and consists of different types of sunflowers, including some corn.  We got this from Pheasants Forever.  We purchased a 1# bag of sweet corn seeds from Co-Alliance here in town.  It was plenty to do our six rows of 100 yards.  Shhh, don't tell ...

Back in late November (the 27th to be exact) I created a post relative to a bell we had here on the farm, how it has always been a staple, and how it was utilized to save Grandpa Seager's life.  Please scroll back and read that post if you have not or have forgotten what I presented.  [On the left side, click on Archive.  Click on Show More.  Click on November and look for the post called "This Old Bell."]  I will tell you this fact - it was my most read post of all time.  It was seen by OVER 60 people.  That has got to be about half the people I even know. This post is an update or addendum to that one.  The weather has finally broken and allowed me to get the bell planted in its new home, where I hope it stays for another three or more generations. The ole C.S. Bell & Co. bell in its new home after being cleaned and freshly painted. You are looking at the flower bed we created from the three large rocks that sat around the flag pole, due E o...

Today, 19 MAY 2020, Four Generations of descendants from the Lecklitner / Seager Clan planted 60 trees from the highway to the curve in the lane.  We planted them on the 'new' property we purchased to the West side of the lane.  And this is only HALF of the trees we are going to plant - the rest have not arrived yet. What did we plant?  Oh my, all kinds.  We planted them in two rows, thirty feet apart, staggered.  Our hope was to keep the short ones in the closest row to us and the taller ones in the second row.  So, we planted Persimmon, Sambucus Black Lace, Celestial Chestnut, Maple Brandywine, Kousa Dogwood, Yoshino Cherry, Princeton Elm, Hornbeam, Black Gum, and Tulip Poplar. Still to go we have:  Royal Purple Smoke, Apple, Magnolia, Paw Paw, Black Tupelo, Peach, Rose of Sharon, Weeping Willow, Red Oak, Sassafras, Scarlet Red Maple, and Dawn Redwood.  Those are all in the second order. It's been told, and I believe it, that prior to the Palm S...

Well we must be doing something right relative to the habitat we have created around here.  Why?  Today we caught a turkey walking between Kathy's house and ours.  In the 50-some years I've lived here, I can't say that I've EVER seen a turkey on this property. Add to the turkey - this week Alex watched a Bald Eagle fly off the pond.  Lahrman's pushed out a covey of quail when they planted the fields yesterday.  I feel like we are doing something right if we're hosting all this wildlife!  We shall keep on, keeping on... Wild turkey walking thru Kathy's yard. Photo taken facing SW.  Pond in back right corner of photo. There is a short 16-second video posted on YouTube if you want to see it "live" and walking. Go here:  https://youtu.be/-MVRvGbtRJ4

Got a call Saturday that the neighbor across the way had suspected coyote parents getting too close to their dogs even when accompanied by humans.  Sure enough, they found a den near their house and dispatched some pups but were never able to get mom & pop.  They called in me and Krueger to help out. So Sunday morning at 0630, Krueger picks me up and we head S of the den location and call next to the South Fork of the Wildcat Creek.  It was a gorgeous morning with deer, geese, the sunrise, no wind, and plenty of song birds.  However, no coyotes responded to our calls. We packed up and headed to Marshall's S Farm.  We set up on the S side of the square woods and after kicking two deer and watching a turkey, one lone coyote came out of the swamp - about 500 yards away - and circled the call trying to catch some scent.  It also kept one eye on the woods, but even when it got within 50 yards it never saw us.  Chip shot, right?  Not for Krueger...