Work Day Clean Up

My daughter accompanied me back to the land Sunday afternoon to do a few housekeeping things. The camp looked outstanding after Jay mowed it. A simple mowing does a huge difference. Whenever Caroline comes with me to the camp, she insists on going to see the school bus in the middle of the woods. Due to our lack of bushhogging, walking the short distance to Bus Road made me uncomfortable. We absolutely have to get in there with a bushhog and take care of business.

First thing we did was go to my shooting platform and finish the flooring. I added ten more inches of flooring to shore it up. I then cleared out every bit of brush that blocked my shooting lanes. Now, I can see perfectly up and down Pond Circle Road. We also poured a bag of stump licker all over a stump off the trail. I set the camera up in front of it. If this stuff works like the bag said it would, I should get some interesting pictures.
I also hung a tire swing at the camp. I swiped a brand new tire from my neighbors trash pile. It isn't a full sized tire, but it's perfect for the seven and under crew. Caroline christened it in grand style.

Camp Work Day Part Two

The second camp work day began at 8:00 a.m. Thankfully, the weather failed to live up to the hype that was the rest of the summer. Temperatures didn't reach 100 degrees, and the sun stayed behind a thick blanket of clouds for the most part. I have a couple of before and after shots related to the work. Below is a shot of the campsite area. There are a number of abandoned outbuildings around the camp site, the utility of which is unknown. On the first camp work day, we cleared out a tangle of brush around this building. The new site will serve as the home of our new skinning rack.

Bill and Jay starting digging the holes for the post (3 feet deep in hard clay), while Justin and I constructed the actual rack. A couple of 12 foot posts, a 10 foot post cut in half, some hardware, and we were done.

Jay and Justin are putting the final touches (of the day) on the rack. We plan to improve on it by adding a roof.

Jay also helped me put together a shooting platform. I pre-cut all the parts at my house, and assembled them all in the field. It was simply too heavy to tote all the way from Brandon. Every piece fit perfectly. I am pretty proud of it if I say so myself. The picture below is the spot off Pond Circle Road where I put the platform. Before:

After:

It's eight feet high, six feet wide, and six feet deep. It's also pretty stable, so long as you aren't dancing on it. Materials total about $90. My 5' x 5' pop up blind should fit perfectly in the middle of it. That pop up blind sits two comfortably. This will be the main stand I use when my kids come with me.

Below is the view you see from the platform to the right. You have about fifty yards line of sight down this trail on both sides. Not a bad place to catch a deer slipping by.