Scouting
Scouting
Tonight I put together a bunch of aerial shots of potential sites for 2015. I'll take these with me when I put the boots on the ground this spring after the snow melts, hopefully it will give me more confidence going deep into places where I would normally get lost in. I'm also thinking about getting a GPS for this same reason... I was looking at this one - Garmin E-Trex
Now it won't display a detailed map like these Google Earth print outs do, but it would tell you which direction your previous waypoint is and that would be huge. Especially if you were to set a lot of them as you go deeper into the bush... it would be easier to find your trail back rather than cutting straight through a new path all the way back to your first waypoint (starting point).
The location I dubbed Bear Country was actually found last year when I was on landwatch.com It was up for sale, 100+ acres of logged land that was pretty much massacred unfortunately. Nobody wants it, it has no real value that I can see from first glance besides some snowmobile trails going through the property pretty much. Upon leaving after my first scouting mission I actually ran into an old man and his grandson that were taking a walk down to the pond that's located on the far side of the property. He asked me what I was doing there, and I had my tripod and camera out along with my birdwatching hat so I played my alibi part and he didn't bat an eye, he opened up and told me the property has been up for sale for a while now because of how severe the logging had been in the past. He said the owners moved to California, and he watches over the land pretty much for them by walking his grandson down to the pond every now and then. He warned me about the mtn. lions, bear and moose that come out during the spring to hunt... and I told him about the tracks I found. He seemed like a good dude, so maybe this spot will work out if I play my alibi properly this year...
It makes me a little uneasy when I'm not at the top of the food chain...
The trout stream - this thing snakes through 1/3 of the parcel and I'll be growing near it I think because that's the only places where the growth is green still. God damn loggers. Serious potential is to be had here though with this water source. We get 40'' of rainfall annually, but I would still store water in the spring before the creek dried out just to be safe. There is a dry period (all of August) so getting through that is always the challenge on dry land patches.
I'm going to dig trenches and line them with pond liner for each patch. Debating on taking the plunge and investing in the Honda wx-10 for filling the reservoirs, but I'm not sure the noise level of these things yet so I'm still on the fence. Has anyone used one of these pumps before?
I'm thinking about lining a 5 gallon bucket with foam and customizing it to fit over the pump to muffle the sound, but I'm not sure how much justice this would do. It worked well for my exhaust fan, I know that.
The rest of the property is like this, semi bare with a bunch of pine trees scattered about. I would plant on the south side of these tree lines, next to baby pine trees that are in the 4'-10' range since they stay green all year round.
Bear Country definitely has the most potential out of all 3 sites I've eyed out so far. It's 5x the size of both of the others combined, but also is more dangerous because not only is there bigger game up there but other grows could potentially be going down there as well. It's literally a perfect spot to grow... there's gotta be at least one other likeminded grower in the 1 hr radius that has found this abandoned mountain side. I think people use the one trail that cuts through the parcel for snowmobiling in the winter, and I'm sure there are motorsport enthusiasts that ramp around during the summer but I would plant nowhere near any trails of that kind. I just know those guys blaze so it makes me wonder how risky a spot like this is, even though there's a considerable amount of acreage to work with.
Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid 4 wheelers and dirt bikers this summer?
Scouting
Tonight I put together a bunch of aerial shots of potential sites for 2015. I'll take these with me when I put the boots on the ground this spring after the snow melts, hopefully it will give me more confidence going deep into places where I would normally get lost in. I'm also thinking about getting a GPS for this same reason... I was looking at this one - Garmin E-Trex
Now it won't display a detailed map like these Google Earth print outs do, but it would tell you which direction your previous waypoint is and that would be huge. Especially if you were to set a lot of them as you go deeper into the bush... it would be easier to find your trail back rather than cutting straight through a new path all the way back to your first waypoint (starting point).
The location I dubbed Bear Country was actually found last year when I was on landwatch.com It was up for sale, 100+ acres of logged land that was pretty much massacred unfortunately. Nobody wants it, it has no real value that I can see from first glance besides some snowmobile trails going through the property pretty much. Upon leaving after my first scouting mission I actually ran into an old man and his grandson that were taking a walk down to the pond that's located on the far side of the property. He asked me what I was doing there, and I had my tripod and camera out along with my birdwatching hat so I played my alibi part and he didn't bat an eye, he opened up and told me the property has been up for sale for a while now because of how severe the logging had been in the past. He said the owners moved to California, and he watches over the land pretty much for them by walking his grandson down to the pond every now and then. He warned me about the mtn. lions, bear and moose that come out during the spring to hunt... and I told him about the tracks I found. He seemed like a good dude, so maybe this spot will work out if I play my alibi properly this year...
It makes me a little uneasy when I'm not at the top of the food chain...
The trout stream - this thing snakes through 1/3 of the parcel and I'll be growing near it I think because that's the only places where the growth is green still. God damn loggers. Serious potential is to be had here though with this water source. We get 40'' of rainfall annually, but I would still store water in the spring before the creek dried out just to be safe. There is a dry period (all of August) so getting through that is always the challenge on dry land patches.
I'm going to dig trenches and line them with pond liner for each patch. Debating on taking the plunge and investing in the Honda wx-10 for filling the reservoirs, but I'm not sure the noise level of these things yet so I'm still on the fence. Has anyone used one of these pumps before?
I'm thinking about lining a 5 gallon bucket with foam and customizing it to fit over the pump to muffle the sound, but I'm not sure how much justice this would do. It worked well for my exhaust fan, I know that.
The rest of the property is like this, semi bare with a bunch of pine trees scattered about. I would plant on the south side of these tree lines, next to baby pine trees that are in the 4'-10' range since they stay green all year round.
Bear Country definitely has the most potential out of all 3 sites I've eyed out so far. It's 5x the size of both of the others combined, but also is more dangerous because not only is there bigger game up there but other grows could potentially be going down there as well. It's literally a perfect spot to grow... there's gotta be at least one other likeminded grower in the 1 hr radius that has found this abandoned mountain side. I think people use the one trail that cuts through the parcel for snowmobiling in the winter, and I'm sure there are motorsport enthusiasts that ramp around during the summer but I would plant nowhere near any trails of that kind. I just know those guys blaze so it makes me wonder how risky a spot like this is, even though there's a considerable amount of acreage to work with.
Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid 4 wheelers and dirt bikers this summer?