Attempting a post just as an excuse to share this picture of Oak:
Oak and I ditched work last Friday to tour the property with the forestry consultant developing our timber management plan (very important box to check for maintaining the commercial timber tax break). I was a little nervous that all of the new plantings would still be under snow but the anxiety was misplaced and most of the land was greening nicely.
The tour itself was worth every penny as I peppered the poor bastard with questions for almost three hours. He was a good sport and filled me in on a lot of topics I was too ignorant to even ask about. Even better, he was a much more accomplished big game hunter (at 26...) than myself so I got plenty of bonus tips on game camera placements, habitat/browsing suggestions, etc. He even proved his credentials by spotting a 5-point elk shed:
After the forester headed home, Oak and I got to work on chores:
A - Picking up about 100 rounds of shell casings and the very dead beer cans...
B - Posting some no trespassing signs along the road in an effort to prevent repeats of Chore A.
C - Testing out some new turkey rounds for the upcoming season (April 15!!!). All appeared to be in order, the targets were hit and Oak was frantically searching for the dead birds.
P.S. Received the timber management plan today and I'm still processing all of the work implied by the 126 pages but this I know for sure - it will be a great excuse for ditching house projects!