My view, this morning.....

[Big Muddy]

Since I don't bow hunt, my grandson recently brought it to my attention that I was missing out on a full month of deer hunting, before rifle season opened.....I've tried hunting with a bow, and just don't care for all the practice required to become really accurate.
He suggested a crossbow, so here I sit, on my deer stand, with my new crossbow, in a drizzling rain.....it's a biatch to cock, but I'm fairly accurate with it, out to about 50 yards.....I can put my shots within an 8 inch circle, but not really confident enough yet to try anything further than that.
This is a new shooting lane I put in last week.....hated to cut a few ash and gum trees, but it needed opening up.
Sorry, if the pic is sideways, I'll fix it when I get back home. ;)



9475

[Captain]

You need Bwanas sisters number???
Good luck and stuck a big-un

[Big Skyz]

Methinks his view was sideways, but he doesn't want to admit to anything...

[DeputyDog]

We don't have any ash trees any more. Emerald Ash Borer got them a few years ago.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

They say those are heading our way. They may have got mine this year but we’ll see how spring goes.

Can you shoot that crossbow from a supine position?

BKb

[Penguin]

Same thing in Wv Deputy Dog. The last one I knew of that is alive is on it's last legs.

I don't know how in the world we're going to have a productive biosphere with all of these trees going away. We lost the chestnut a century ago and it was the biggest and most productive tree we had. Now the ash is about gone. And we even have word now that there is something killing the oaks. We know exactly how all of this stuff is getting in country and we just can't bear to speak it out loud let alone take concrete action to put an end to it.

Will

[Chicken Dinner]

My crossbow is a tack driver out to 80 yards. I don't think I'd shoot at live game that far out with it due to the chance they'd jump the string.

Will, there's actually some cool work going on with the American Chestnut. See article here: https://www.nature.org/magazine/archives/american-icons-1.xml

It would be so cool to see them make a come back.

[Big Muddy]

They say those are heading our way. They may have got mine this year but we’ll see how spring goes.

Can you shoot that crossbow from a supine position?

BKb

Ha, I've shot many a squirrel from the supine with my .22.....might just try it with the crossbow, since I got about a dozen frollicking around, right now. ;)

[Penguin]

Thanks for that Hank. I need to keep in mind that there is some really good work taking place to try and stave off the losses. You're right the chestnut has some friends and hopefully we'll see the old giants making a comeback sometime soon. I plan on planting as many as I can lay hands on if they get one they're happy with.

They were, quite frankly, the main tree in the high up hills. I still remember when I was a kid walking around the woods seeing all of those hollowed out giants lying around. It would be something else to see them back on the mountainsides feeding the deer and squirrels and turkeys and bears again.

Will

[Chicken Dinner]

We've got a couple of Chestnuts in the garden here at work that are American/Chinese hybrids that have been crossbred to 90% American. It's been fun to watch them grow for the past 10+ years and I'm really rooting for them. There's actually a nut producing chestnut in the yard of the at my hunt club and I roasted up a bunch of them earlier this fall. It's hard to imagine that they were a major food source for the native americans as well as the early settlers in addition to wildlife.

[Chicken Dinner]

These were just laying in the parking lot next to the woodpile.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171101/e9682886c2c362000d41c4e783ee120b.jpg


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[Thumper]

My grandparents had a (huge) house in the mountains of North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River and I spent all of my summers with them when I was a kid. I LOVED that place! The complete interior was finished in "Wormy Chestnut" left in it's natural state.

The estate was sold off after my grandparents passed away (grandfather in 1964 and my grandmother in 1977). About 10 years ago, I was in N. Carolina and made a point to stop by the old homestead and the present owners were very gracious and wanted to know all the history I could provide (it was originally built as a large hunting/fishing lodge). They also gave me a tour through the house. The first thing I noticed is the ceilings had been painted WHITE! Man, my heart sank (who could do something so frigging stupid?). I tried to hide my disappointment and asked why they painted over that Wormy Chestnut and they said, "Isn't that a shame?" It turns out the previous owner (who'd purchased it from my grandparent's estate) was the culprit. The couple then informed me they even had some contractors come in to give them an estimate to restore it, but all said it was stained (as opposed to painted) and the only way to restore it would be to remove it, flip it over and re-install it with the backside showing. BUT ... there was a major problem ... it was built with the old handmade square nails and the contractors all agreed that they'd probably destroy the planks while trying to remove them. :(

The last I heard was that there were only about 5-6 native American Chestnut trees remaining in this country. Sad ....

[Penguin]

It is funny how that works with different folks jimmy.

The farm I am in the process of buying has a beautiful house that my aunt built maybe 30 years ago. Beautiful red cedar siding. Even the kind with the one groove that I like so well. Painted in a bright beautiful.... yellow? Gads.

I still remember my father arguing with my aunt over that. "God damn!" he said, "You could've painted over poplar for a tenth the cost of having that stuff shipped out here from the west coast!" They were both hardheaded as hell. We still laugh about them going at each other. :)

Will

[BarryBobPosthole]

That’s an interesting article. I didn’t know sugar maples were in decline either. Maples are frustrating to grow because of how they split off branches but I love them for their fall colors. I planted two on my place about 12 years ago and right now they are brilliant red. This photo doesn’t do them justice as it is over ast today. In bright sunlight they’re almost psychodelic.

BKB

9474

[Thumper]

I planted a Maple tree out front right after buying this house in '89. I couldn't believe how fast that thing grew! BUT ... it wreaked havoc around the neighborhood. It had HUGE leaves and would shed them in the Fall/Winter months. The wind would blow those big ol' leaves all over the neighborhood and a good portion of them would end up in neighbor's pools ... ESPECIALLY my next door neighbor's pool! EVERYBODY in the neighborhood ended up with leaves in their yards. One day my next door neighbor and I were standing in the yard talking and he said he was considering sneaking over some night with a saw and cutting that tree down! I said, "Have at it, but please haul the thing off if you do". We were actually good friends and got along great, many times having dinner with them. His eyes lit up and he asked if I was serious. I said sure, I hate dealing with those dang leaves every year myownfineself! He was back over here with a chainsaw within 10 minutes! He said he wanted to get it on the ground before I changed my mind. ;)

A couple neighborhood kids came over to help him haul everything to the street for trash pick-up. I sat on the porch with a cold glass of iced tea doing what I do best .... supervising! :D

[Chicken Dinner]

Dang Posty, back in my misspent youth/mailbox polo days, I would have considered your house a major challenge...

[BarryBobPosthole]

Someone lately has been knocking down brick mailboxes in my neighborhood. With the number of security camers in use these days it shouldn’t take long to catch them.

BKB

[Big Muddy]

Evidently, the borers don't like our southern ash trees.....the ash population is tremendous down here.....nearly to the point of being a nusiance in our forests.

[quercus alba]

Out in the forest lived a birch tree and a beech tree. And between them a sapling was growing. The birch tree asked is that a son of a birch or a son of a beech, I don't know said the beech.
Then out of nowere a wood pecker flew by and landed on the tree. They asked would you go down there and see if thats a son of birch or a son of a beech and the bird said "sure."
They waited awhile then the wood pecker came back and said, "Gentlmen, that is niether a son of a birch or a son of a beech but the best piece of ash that I have ever stuck my pecker in."

[BarryBobPosthole]

Rimshot!

[LJ3]

It would be something else to see them back on the mountainsides feeding the deer and squirrels and turkeys and bears again.

Will

And me! I can mess up some raw chestnuts. Love 'em!