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mattys281

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Posts posted by mattys281

  1. Posted · Report reply

    13 minutes ago, twistzz said:

    Hey Mattys281, how did you get rid of the gophers?  I got one with a bb gun but have caddy shack guy that doesn't give me a shot.  Did you use some kind of trap?  Thanks!

    I didn’t.  Tried to flood them, but it didn’t work.  They wiped out my entire pumpkin patch, about 15 plants.  They got a few before I even knew what I was dealing with.  They dig up right underneath the plant, eat the roots and the stem, then bury their hole behind them when they leave.  I didn’t want to use poison, because my dogs have caught and ate a few rodents, so I tried to flood and trap.  They won that round.

    in the future, if you’re planting melons or gourds in hills or digging out a planter bed, you have to lay down steel wire eat the bottom so they can’t get through it.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    On 6/13/2020 at 10:38 AM, CatfishKev said:

    That's pretty sweet.  

    You’re not the only one with a black thumb of death on this forum amigo.  I could never get it right when I lived down in the valley, I either started too early and a late frost got me or I went too late and the heat killed everything, I was in Avondale at the time.  
    this was the first year that I really hit it hard since moving, up in the Prescott area.  Our property came with pots of nice big brick planters, so I thought Man!  This is going to be awesome!!!  Turns out growing in a pine forest is no picnic either.  All your ‘sunny spots’ are only really sunny for a few hours per day, the water here is super alkaline which anything acidic hates (peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, etc), and the deer and squirrels that are soooo cute and attractive while house shopping become your mortal enemy.  However, it’s important to note if deer and squirrels are the mildly irritating ahole neighbors of your garden, the chipmunks and gophers are the devil incarnate!  I lost count of how many rodents I trapped and killed this summer, but in the end they ate more veggies than we did.
    We got a really good haul on zucchinis, cucumbers and tomatoes.  A few eggplants and some strawberries.  In general though what I got the most of was a rough education.

     

     

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    • Like 2

  5. Posted · Report reply

    I saw a lot of good tips on here, but didn’t read through them all so forgive me if I’m redundant.  I was the general manager of. 45+ employee aerospace machine shop for a number of years before striking out with my own company.  I had no leadership experience what so ever prior to getting that job, I went from being a manufacturing engineer/Cnc programmer to being everybody’s boss all at once.  It was definitely one of those experiences where I had to learn to swim by being tossed into the deep end.

    Based on that , I’d say communication is probably numeral uno for successful leadership.  First step for you is to define your role with your employer.  Are you a manager or a supervisor?  They’re not the same thing.  What level of responsibility do you have and what authority?  Have a meeting with your boss, take notes.  Always take notes and keep them.

    After that you should address your subordinates and make sure they understand your new role as well as you do.  Also make sure they know you’re there to support and help them as much as possible, you’re not I interested in busting balls, but be clear that the priorities that the boss has flowed down to you are the priorities of your team.  If there’s entrenched people (also known as ‘unfireables’) I’d address them separately and be honest about your new role.  Make sure they know you respect their experience, you recognize your own inexperience and you are counting on them to help make the team successful.  
    If part of your new role is to address employee performance and discipline, make sure you take good notes and keep a log of employee accomplishment/praise as well as disciplinary issues.  I had several managers under me, so I made sure there was always two of us in the room for these discussions, and documented who was there on my log.  This is log is vitally important if someone has to be fired and hen they try to sue or file a bs unemployment claim.  I had to fax my discipline log to the unemployment office a couple times, but nobody I fired ever got a dime out of the company afterwards.

    its an exciting growing and learning experience.  Your boss should be your safety, make sure you use it!  When in doubt, ask questions.

    best of luck!

     

  13. Posted · Report reply

    I would guess it’ll shoot fine and group right with your others at short ranges.
     

     I’ve noticed a difference in point if impact on arrows that were supposed to be the same (but from different batches) at 40 yards.  Only a couple inches but enough to make me crazy.  A micrometer and grain scale revealed that my new arrows were .003” smaller diameter and 15 grains lighter.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, UggRedBilly said:

    That helps a ton thank you! I do have a question on an ethical kill range for a bull though. My bow Is 24 inch draw length this 55 pounds draw weight. I am hitting dimes and pennies at 40 yards no issue and hitting apples at 70! I use 100 grain tips with 340 arrows. Would 35 be an ABSOLUTE max? Or lower down to 25-30 range?

    What does your arrow weigh and what’s the setup chronograph at?  55# at 24” sounds very low energy, I’d personally be very concerned with penetration.  A lot of bulls have fallen to low energy bows before, but I think it requires some extra consideration.

    I’d be trying to get as close as possible and use a heavy arrow with a fixed blade 2 blade cut on contact head.  
     

    just my .02, good luck.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Report reply

    27 minutes ago, tomharveyb said:

    Let me try again..wasn’t trying to divide anybody.   Just airing My opinion.  I said I was super happy to see a kid succeed. To all you guys who ripped me,  No need to get your undies in a wad because I see things differently than you.   Great buck, congrats

    I think perhaps there’s just a difference in perspectives.  I, personally, enjoy to hunt all alone and I also enjoy to hunt with my good friend when our plans can line up.  But that’s just a personal preference, I don’t think it’s necessarily better or worse than how others hunt.  Historically, hunting has long been a male bonding group effort across many cultures.  It’s a tradition that spans millennia for men and the boys who are old enough to ride away from the village and chase wild game in the wilderness.  Theres certainly a value to working hard on your own and accepting either success or failure on your own, but there also a significant value to seeing a group effort bare fruit isn’t there?  I also think in an age where virtually anything that is the least bit manly is labeled ‘toxic masculinity’ or some other nonsense, it’s vitally important for young lads to be around men doing manly things and to see that it’s a good thing to be manly and they’re not alone in those endeavors.  The only thing better for a boy than spending time with a good man is to spend time with several good men.  From that perspective , I think there’s a huge value in guys coming together to help a kid on his hunt.  Just my .02

    congrats to you and your son on that cow hunt :)

    • Like 5

  24. Posted · Report reply

    7 minutes ago, Calebwalter said:

    This is great advice. I’ve been looking “for deer” in general. Picking apart Every piece of the landscape seems like a more thorough way to approach it. If I’ve found beds and poop within A reasonable distance to water do you think those clues are enough to to warrant spending more time glassing that area?

    Couldn’t hurt, something left that sign behind.  I’d just pick a high enough vantage point where you can glass those areas and lots of other country at the same time. 

  25. Posted · Report reply

    2 minutes ago, Calebwalter said:

    This will be my strategy on my next outing. Maybe I’ve been glassing hillsides that are too close, In the 100-300 yards away range. 
     

    ive watched every meateater episode about Coues deer and Steve Rinella said something like “once you see one, and your eyes know what to look for, you will see more”. That’s what I’m hoping for, I just haven’t seen one yet...

    When you’re glassing don’t look for deer.  Try to look at the ground and look at everything, picking apart every rock, look through bushes at the ground behind them, try to touch literally everything in the field if view with your eyes.  Glass in a grid pattern and pick apart everything in your field of view before you move your binos.  I only move half a FOV at a time so I essentially relook at everything.  Coues deer are remarkable at being invisible.  Often you won’t see the deer, you’ll see an ear or their nose.  I’ve found them literally bedded inside of low growing bushy junipers, I couldn’t see anything then it flicks its ear and gives itself away.  I usually will glass pretty fast at first to try to find the “obvious deer” then if you don’t find it go back to the beginning and begin your slow methodical glassing.  
     

    keep in mind too that a “good spot” doesn’t necessarily have deer in it every day.  Desert deer have bigger territories than their woodland cousins do and the herds move around in their range.  You may be in a good spot and doing things right, yet there just aren’t deer there today. I’m not a rifle guy, I’ve killed all mine with a bow and arrow sitting ambushes.  I’ve had to sit for several boring days in a row before the deer moved back into the area and things got hot again.  Sometimes you get there at just the right time and it seems easy.  Other days it seems like you’re the only living thing on the planet.  That’s normal.  If you’ve got some areas that show good sign, glass those spots a few days in a row.  They might be there tomorrow if they’re not there today.  
     

    I think a lot of folks give up on spots too quickly because they get discouraged and invent reasons why the deer have left: it’s too dry, I made too much noise and bumped them out, there’s too many other hunters here, etc etc etc

    You gotta give a spot time to pay out.  Stay positive and be persistent.  My first deer took 14 days of hunting, and numerous blown stalks.  You just have to keep going, and then when you connect and put your hands on those antlers you’ll think, “Huh!  That wasn’t so hard....”

    • Like 4
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