Turkey!

I really wish we still had free range axis. Such beautiful animals!

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I really wish we still had free range axis. Such beautiful animals!

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We have only had them about the last 8-10 years. Before that it was just whitetails. Now, we have seen groups as large as 18 near our back tank and up to 11 at the same time at that free choice feeder. I used to be hesitant to shoot them fearing there were not that many around, but now with the numbers we are seeing, I have plans for a couple this fall as soon as it cools off enough not to spoil the meat on the hoof.

I used to watch herds of 50-60 on our lease and thought they'd always be there. Garner started trapping/hunting, people around us started trapping them, the aoudad took over, and then the freeze of 21 happened. I keep seeing them on the neighbors but not on ours since 2019 or so. Enjoy them while they're there and absolutely shoot a couple because you never know when they'll leave.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I used to watch herds of 50-60 on our lease and thought they'd always be there. Garner started trapping/hunting, people around us started trapping them, the aoudad took over, and then the freeze of 21 happened. I keep seeing them on the neighbors but not on ours since 2019 or so. Enjoy them while they're there and absolutely shoot a couple because you never know when they'll leave.

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They seem to like cover, and neighbors on both sides of us used to have more than us. New owners have taken over both sides and immediately came in to clear a bunch of cedar and other brush to make their properties look like parks. Meanwhile, we added a more reliable free choice feeder, a couple of reliable water sources, and kept the goats out of our largest pasture the last 5 years. Now we have a lot more axis.

That's great video. Somewhere I have one of a white-tail fawn playing with a covey of quail. Nature is wonderful if you just pause long enough to soak it in.

Raptors from Jurassic park

I think I've got a raccoon problem…

Looks like you either need to grease those legs or put baffles on them. Doubt they are jumping from the ground that high.

What do you mean by baffles?

You feed them well

Zjones920 said:

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What do you mean by baffles?

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Something like one of these. Designed to be too large around and too slick for them to climb the feeder legs.

https://mckinney.wbu.com/Squirrel-and-Raccoon-Baffles

First time I have seen the guy on the left side of the feeder without his velvet. By far the best WT buck we seem to have around this year.



The size difference between the WTs and the Axis still amazes me when I see them side by side. Even if that is a really small doe, that Axis buck is a toad.



Turkeys came back to take advantage of what the Axis were dropping for them.



How many?

txags92 said:

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oh no said:

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Those nest cameras look amazing. Are those WiFi? Or are those nests just close enough to your network?

I've been exploring the idea of building elevated solar powered remote relay node enclosures with a battery and an access point so that I can send WiFi from my barndo using ubiquity nano stations / nano beams and then put HaLow or WiFi cameras all over the property. Getting out of the cellular data plan subscription business would be nice.

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We ran wifi extenders ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGBZTP4N ) out into the woods connected via a few hundred feet of ethernet cable to the shop building and buried in a shallow trench. We mounted them up in trees and are using power over ethernet to power them. The cameras are connected to solar panels at each location to keep them charged. If you go over about 200' of ethernet cable you can add inline power boosters to feed the power. The extender has about another 200-250 yds of range beyond wherever it is mounted.

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Our place is a mile long and about 1/2 mile wide and we do t have internet. I looked at getting Elon's internet run to the house and then running WiFi relays that can transmit linearly in a specific direction and create a chain of extenders and then run mesh points from there. But it required power to the extenders so I quit the exercise because I didnt want a bunch of overhead electric and trenching seems expensive and time consuming versus cell cams. But if anyone wants me to post the info I found in the setup I can go back and find it and post.

For that distance I would agree. FWIW you can get PoE signal boosters to put inline that will get you farther than the typical 100m run without needing an external power source. But it would still be a ton of trenching and in the end, cell cams would likely be cheaper.

Not from our game cam, but some wild turkeys in our neighborhood in Georgetown.

Great buck

I hung 4" lightweight sewer/drainage pvc sleeves on the legs of my gravity protein feeder ($6 roll of hanger iron and $24 10' pipe) and raised it 6-8" with some planter wall blocks ($4 each) and my game cam pics went from an army of bandits every night all over the feeder to zero.

Seems to have worked as I only get morning and evening pictures of whitetail now.

Zjones920 said:

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I think I've got a raccoon problem…

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Them raccoons

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Great buck

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Thanks. Really looking forward to seeing how his mass holds up after shedding.

That 10 in your pic is a beaut! Thinking he hits 150?

CS78 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Great buck

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Thanks. Really looking forward to seeing how his mass holds up after shedding.

That 10 in your pic is a beaut! Thinking he hits 150?

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I think he'll be 145-149 or so. Waiting for no velvet pics to run the numbers again