Bushwhacking

click on the New Holland Tractor for a better view

Trail maintenance is an annual chore here at The Platz.  Necessary access for recreation, fire fighting and emergencies.  There is also the issue of maintaining wildlife openings to provide for edge habitat, bedding cover, raptor hunting territory, pollinator habitat and much more as well.  No brushing or clearing is performed until the primary nesting season for ground nesting birds is past.  Wildlife openings wait until the nesting season AND the Monarch butterfly hatch is complete.  Moreover, the openings (meadows) are only cleared in alternate (even-numbered) years.

This year imposed additional unplanned delays - namely the wet.

Anecdotally, when you do not have to irrigate your garden and your plantings do not germinate as suspected by the cold and damp you have too much precipitation on hand.  Arguably, you cannot have too much precipitation inasmuch as it is good for the meadows, the trees and the critters in general.  Even the Labs revel in the wet as Mud Season is awarded an unplanned extension.  It's all good from a habitat/critter point of view.  But I digress.

You cannot get afield with heavy equipment and bust trails until such time as you can be reasonably sure that you will not make ruts in the turf or become inextricably stuck in the mud.  Furthermore, the longer you wait the taller the turf and pretty soon you're trying the chop 36 inch-tall grass with a Rhino bush hog. This is a not fun conundrum.

Last weekend dawned with a golden window of opportunity to strike while the iron was hot and at least get the trails cleared.  A half-day was burned with maintenance on the tractor and brush hog and the remainder of a day and a half celebrated the clearing of three and a half miles of trails.  I even chopped a couple of lengthy shooting lanes (east and south) of the Arm-Pit stand for both bow and gun hunting. Take note fellas.

Topping it-off I had plenty of time to cogitate about deer movement, patterns and possible ambush locations so I ordered and additional metal deer stand to be assembled and situated during Schützenfest.  I believe I've scouted a terrific location.

This Old Guy is raising a toast to feeling accomplished....