Labor Day Labor...

Well I'm a week late getting this posted, but I doubt anyone was sitting on pins and needles waiting for it.

Labor Day ended up being a work day for me on my hunting property.  Made the trip down there (it's 101.5 miles from my house to the property) and got some work done.  I'd been meaning to get down there about the 3 weekends prior, but life just kept getting in the way.  Based on looking at trail camera footage, I guess I should have been down there about 6 weeks ago, because my protein feeder has been sitting empty since the middle of July.

I recently purchased a new trailer to haul my tractor back and forth since the one I had previously just wasn't quite big enough.  I upgraded from a 7,000lbs GVWR 83"X16' trailer to a 10,400lbs GVWR 83"X20' trailer.  I'm happy with the new trailer, but it for sure let's my pickup know it is back there.  I think it must weigh close to 1,000lbs more than my old trailer by itself.

Here it is loaded up and ready to go.

600lbs of protein pellets, 600lbs of corn, 200lbs of wheat seed, plus the tractor, shredder and broadcast spinner, and a weed eater plus a bunch of other tools.

I keep on old disc down on my property so I don't have to haul it back and forth, so after doing some mowing I started plowing the food plots with the disc to get them ready for seed.  I have about 3 acres of food plots laid out in shooting lanes that I can see from my main hunting blind.  My trail camera setup on my protein feeder took pictures of me as I was running the disc.

Next came the seed.  Everything actually went pretty smoothly.  You can actually see my hunting blind up on the top of the hill above the tractor.

There are actually 5 different shooting lane setups like this one that I plant in small grains in the fall.  I still haven't ever shot a deer using them though.  

Note the temperature reading on the camera!  107 degrees according to it, the official weather said it was 105 that day for a high, I felt it.

Always fun to check the trail cameras and see what's been around.  

This guy is young and not sure if he's been injured or was born this way, but it almost looks like his nose has been smashed at some point.  Some crazy antler growth as a result.  It will be very interesting to see if he stays that way in the future or if this was a one year thing on the antler development like this.  Almost looks like a water buffalo or something on that left side.

6 different bucks in this picture.  Too bad they don't come to the corn like this during hunting season!  I guess it wouldn't be much of a hunt then though.

I've had a wildlife watering system setup for about 2 years now and have been disappointed with the wildlife using it (or lack thereof) pretty much ever since I set it up.  It is actually starting to get some use now so that's pretty exciting for me.  I was actually getting more consistent pictures of the best bucks on the property at the water than at any of the feeders but it was August so pretty hot and dry out.

I don't think any of the bucks turned out to be 10 points this year.  There are 2 that ended up being 4 x 5 and the rest are all 8 points or less.  I'm thinking I may not be super picky this year like I have been the last 2 years when I've ended up eating my tag here in Texas.  The nice 8 points may be in trouble this year.  This guy might be in trouble if I see him on opening day.

Oh well, that's about it for my Labor Day labor.  It was hot and ended up being all work and no play.  Didn't even bring a gun down there even though it was the dove opener here in Texas.  Lot's of stuff going on with life and working on getting ready for my big Wyoming hunts.

That's it for now.  Nathan