More Government Subsidies!

Well, I spent Friday afternoon signing up some of my property into the CCRP Quail Buffer program. Basically the government is paying me to plant the perimeter of my fields into native grasses and forbs for the benefit of all wildlife, alhtough it is specifically targeted toward quail. The area on the two bottom fields shaded in the rust color are the buffer zones.



I have been using google earth to draw up an overall property management plan where I'm trying to think long term instead of just running out and making improvements here and there willy nilly. Not sure if it really is working or not though, most of the improvements I'm making are based on how the property was already laid out with the current fields as food plots, etc.

Since I had to go to the county extension office in Roby, I stopped by the land on the way home and shot another wild pig. It was somewhere around 100 - 150lbs and was a young boar. It should taste pretty good. That makes 5 pigs that we have shot in 2008 so we are starting to make a dent in them. Looking at the trail camera pictures there haven't been a lot of pigs around the last couple weeks so that is a good thing. Of course now that it is spring there are lots of alternative food sources so they might just not be coming around to the feeders and getting on camera.

Here's a picture of the pig I shot from the day before. I actually missed with the first shot when he was at the feeder, he was facing toward me and I tried a head shot and am still not sure why I missed. He ran off but I was able to get out of my blind and go around the back side of the hill and he had slowed down to a walk and I was able to shoot him through an opening in the brush. A much more difficult shot than the one I missed at first so I guess the problem must be with me instead of with the gun!



Still getting some pictures of raccoons even though I ended up trapping a total of 15 in March. I had one trail camera picture with 4 raccoons in the frame, but that is better than the one earlier in the year that had 13 raccoons in one picture so I have made a dent in them too.

Things are starting to slow down at work, looking forward to planting a garden at the house and maybe working on putting in a lawn so Eli can play outside without getting stickers in his hands everytime he falls down. I need to get some crops planted on the fields down on the land also so I guess it is good that things are slowing down at work because the projects are piling up at home.

That's about it for now.

Nathan