All About Pocket Knives

Thanks for sharing Caleb!

Knice salmon Gdogg!

Wow Caleb great read. I am sorry to hear of your grandfather's passing. I have missed you on the site young man, especially your photography! I found myself at your side on the hunts Caleb and could feel your grandfathers spirit while reading your stories. May our Lord bless you Caleb and your grandfather's spirit for all he has done for you. Stay true to your heritage and keep sacred all that you have been taught and given. I look forward to your post. Always a friend,

Thanks Rocky I really appreciate those kind words, I take them to heart.
It's great to get the chance to write again and to share with my friends here at AAPK.

My brother is seeing this bad-boy at work in North Dakota every day

Great picture your brother got there, Dogg. I'm surprised that old boy lets himself be so exposed.

Wow Dogg, that's quite the big boy there! Once hunting season starts he will no doubt become a ghost....they always seem to know....especially the big ones.

My brother said the bigger one skidadled off

Y'all braggin' on that lil' ol' buck? What about this one? Look real close and you can see his little velvet spikes.
Treefarmer

He'll eat good.

Hey TF is that a feeding station on the tripod?

Treefarmer any advice you could pass along on one of those feeders would be greatly appreciated. I've been strongly considering one for my hunting area.

Those are some nice Buck!
You can't eat the antlers, but it's hard to brag about burger alone.

Here are a few pics from trout camp.

I once worked for a fella that baited bears up in Northern Wisconsin. Before bear season opened, he would go to the local Hostess bakery and pick up their damaged Twinkies and leave them out where the bears could get at them. When the season came along, he bagged his bear. We called him (behind his back) Twinkie Bear Hunter.

Now I may be sticking my neck out here but consider I've never hunted anything larger than rabbits or squirrels and that's been 50 years ago, so the question comes from ignorance. In deer hunting circles, is it considered polite to shoot Bambi while he's at the dinner table?

That's about the only way it's done anymore Jerry--if you got a scaly bark hickory producing a crop that's better than any bait you can put out--them hickory nuts are like candy to wild game---we used to go to Kellog's and rent a cube van and buy a load of the crush that would get swept off the floor and use that for bear bait to start race's off of--there was years I swear we did as much training on the bear as dogs--hard to say how many times we run the same bear day after day

Since you asked, here are some thoughts and ideas concerning the deer feeder in the picture.

In the state of Florida, it is legal to feed deer and hunt over bait on private property. Turkeys can not be hunted over bait as well as doves, ducks, etc... There are guide lines to do this, feeding sites must have been maintained for certain length of time prior to opening day. All states are not the same. Check your game laws to know what is right and wrong.

The feeder shown in the picture began life as an olive barrel, it is plastic. A lot of farm supply centers sell these barrels. A frame to hold the barrel was made from pieces of 1/8"X 2" strap and some re-bar for the yoke. It is bolted together to hold the barrel tight. A boat winch fastened to one of the tripod legs allows the barrel to be lowered to the ground for easy filling. The barrel has a screw on lid that is water tight.

The tripod is a simple fix with a piece of flat steel having 3 legs welded at an appropriate angle to create the tripod. These short legs on the plate are square tubing or square stock which simply slide down into a stick of EMT conduit and it stands on the ground. More height could be attained by using a larger size EMT to slide over the 1st sections of EMT, haven't found it necessary around here. (Bears and hogs are hard on deer feeders, so appropriate height and anchoring needs to be considered. Bear proof feeders around here are usually steel poles set in concrete with a winch and and feeder set high enough to keep the bear from reaching any part of the feeder.) The leg with the winch attached is also bolted to the square stock at the top of the tripod. The other two legs are not bolted (they could be, they are easier for me to to maneuver like this). In the center of the tripod plate is an eye bolt to attach the pulley for the cable from the winch.

I've used several different feeder motors over the years and have settled on one made by On Time Wildlife Feeders.(google to see info) I have been using the On Time Classic Lifetime model for the last 10 years. This is an extremely durable feeder that is very simple to operate. They are made of aircraft grade aluminum. There are some fancier ones with digital controls but the analog clock and pins work for me. They have a lifetime warranty and there is a hardware store north of Panama City that will repair any issue for a flat fee of $10, used to be $5. Some times the spinner plates break from metal fatigue and I've had a motor replaced as they bearings/bushings? were making a funny noise. There maybe service centers in other places that do this work. I've never asked the mfg. about that. The 1st one I bought, the dealer told me about the guy in Panama.

Inside the barrel, I built a sheet metal cone to allow all the feed/corn to slide to the center of the barrel, other wise some will pile up on the bottom of the barrel. Not being a sheet metal mechanic this was an interesting job. The On Time motor comes with a mounting bracket that attaches to the bottom of the barrel with screws. It is a plate with a small cone and an arm that holds the motor. Measurements from the cone to the top of the spinner plate on the motor help in setting the amount of corn at each feeding. There is also a timer that determines how long the motor runs. Usually 4 or 5 seconds, twice a day will insure enough corn to keep the critters interested. Saves on corn for sure. We used to pour out 50 lbs twice a week at some stand sights and the squirrels, coons, foxes, rabbits were all well fed. They would clean up what ever amount you put out, same with the gravity feeders we made from 4 & 6 inch PVC pipe.

We usually have 2 feeders running all the time, one here on the farm and the other on the hunting lease. I have a spare feeder motor, usually in the truck, with fresh batteries, in case something has happened. I usually change the batteries twice a year. They take 11 double A batteries, 10 for the motor and one for the analog clock.

Looking at the hunting catalogs will give you an idea about buying or building one of these feeders. Working with a maintenance department, there were always junk and scrap to help projects like this to come to life. That's all I miss being retired, my junk pile is about depleted .
Treefarmer

Thanks fellers. Things have sure gotten complicated since I was a pup. Of course when I wore a younger man's clothes, there were NO deer in Southern Illinois or Central Illinois, or Northern Illinois. Well, maybe one or two but I never saw any or even talked to anyone who had seen any. Things have changed over the past 50 years. Now there are so many they're pests and a danger on the highways.

I appreciate the information and education boyz. Just what I was looking for.

We used to build feeder's in the shape of a corn crib 12' long leave the bottom sides open so corn carrots beets er whatever would fall out--if you build it on a old trailer you can spot them anywhere you want-----

You're rite about that Jerry Ill. has some of the biggest White tail records in the US but 40+ yrs. ago didn't have a deer heard everybody would go to northern Wi. to hunt deer-- lower half of Michigan was the same way I think 1968 was the first time we spotted deer on our property and we pounded the sq. mile hunting on a regular basis it's crazy--they've done the same thing with turkey in all these states--they did it with ring necks back in the 50's & 60's

I never really hunted myself, but I would go with my pal Jerry when we were 16-18 years old and go behind Newman Lake and just get a deer. I was that simple. Now there's cheap housing all the hell around the lake.

johnny twoshoes wrote:Here are a few pics from trout camp.

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........very nice!!.........I could kill some time there!!!.......... .................

Johnny.....thanks for sharing bud! Appreciate it!

Jerry....No different than trapping for wild animals, you place a little snibblet in the middle of the trap and wait for the critter to stick his nose in and WHAP!!!! Dead critter!

Caleb three Brookies on a stringer good day my friend

Thanks for the lowdown on the feeder Phil. I'll most likely go with a factory built model. I'm just not that handy.

Caleb that's some beautiful country you've shown us. I could enjoy that place even if the fish weren't biting.

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