Big mess cleaned up

[Hatchdog]

Our property up north was in bad need of some love after a couple of years of neglect. We decided to head up there next week sometime with the RV and the UTV and do some grouse hunting and just general hanging out. Knowing what a mess was waiting for us we loaded up the pickup with tools and headed up on Tuesday. Yep, a big mess indeed. Lot’s of 4’ tall Canadian Thistle which is nasty stuff to deal with. I pulled all the thistle and my wife mowed the driveway which is probably 1000’ long. Then I sprayed the RV pad area with weed killer. I went back up by myself on Wed and mowed the upper part of the field, did a bunch of cutting with a weed wacker and then sprayed the driveway. After two days of effort it’s looking better. Here’s some before and after pics.

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All loaded up and heading home.

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[markiver54]

Nice job Mr and Mrs Hatch! I've been doing the same type of clearing up here at the cabin this season. It sure is rewarding when the job is complete. Nice set up Ya got there with the 4Wheeler.

[Vaquero]

Nice lookin place buddy, how much land do you have up there?

RP

[Hatchdog]

Nice lookin place buddy, how much land do you have up there?

RP

It’s 20 acres. The bottom third is pasture and the rest is treed.

[daytime dave]

You did a lot of work. The before and after photos are great. It's nice to have the right equipment to take care of those projects.

Beautiful property there. You are fortunate.

[BigAl52]

Looks like fun Hatch. Where is the shooting range

[Sir Henry]

Nice job. Do you make house calls. I have about five acres of trees that need thinning. I’ll most likely hire someone as I don’t have the time or equipment.

[Hatchdog]

Looks like fun Hatch. Where is the shooting range

Behind the metal building the property starts to go uphill pretty steeply. There’s a place where it levels off before going uphill again. I can squeeze in a 100 yards range in this spot and the firing line will be about a 100 yards above the building. Plan is to put a railroad tie back stop in and with the increase in elevation plus no homes for miles behind the property it will be very safe. With the firing line being so close to the building my plan is to just use my portable shooting bench rather than building a stationary bench. This is because I will be shooting from the road that runs to the back of the property so don’t want to block it. I’ll take some pics of the spot next time I’m up there. BOM has given me lots of great advice on using the ties to build the backstop.

Edit, forgot I took these pictures last time I was up there. First pic is the firing point and the backstop will be in the trees in the distance. Second pic is from the target area looking back to where the firing line will be.

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[BigAl52]

Looks good Hatch. Sounds like you just need more time.

[graywolf]

Would be nice if you could have cows, goats or something to keep it eat down.

[Hatchdog]

Would be nice if you could have cows, goats or something to keep it eat down.

That would work great as it appears the pasture is sub irrigated and even this late in the summer is still very green. Plus a creek runs thru it so water is plentiful for animal drinking. But since we don’t live here the only way that would work would be to lease it.

[dave77]

Do you have any problems with trespassers or vandalism on the property? Any close by neighbors to keep watch?

[Hatchdog]

Do you have any problems with trespassers or vandalism on the property? Any close by neighbors to keep watch?

Only one time, had a break-in in the shop. The burglars went thru the stuff and had it staged at the door probably to come back with a truck and load it up. They had walked in. Thankfully that night there was a big dump of snow that probably discouraged them from returning. I have a locked gate but a simple snip with bolt cutters on the chain would defeat that. The guy who lives across the road keeps an eye on it for us and he was the one who spotted the break-in. He walks down to his gate (directly across the road from ours) every morning and afternoon and that morning he noticed the sliding door was open about a foot. He called me and I went up and we snowshoed up the driveway to get to the building. Later that winter when I was able to drive in I added two deadbolts to the door and re-in-forced the strike plates with angle iron.

I got the message and cleared out most of the stuff I had stored there. Now I only keep the John Deere mower, a box of hand tools and some garden type tools there. Nothing of great value.