Inheriting a farm

[treebilly]

Hmmmm. East coast. Just thinking.

 

[Jonny]

What you gonna do about the beavers? Leave em be and knock their stuff down occasionally or maybe learn to make hats?

 

[Burnham]

This is cool, Gary. Great to see all the pics.

 

[Altissimus]

What you gonna do about the beavers? Leave em be and knock their stuff down occasionally or maybe learn to make hats?

. Old thread around somewhere maybe , I have done a bit of this work years back. Hated the smell and the killing at the end .... you can make Beaver Baffles though , Culvert and Screening no draining and shooting required

 

[pantheraba]

I will have to re-visit the baffles idea. We did a "beaver box" in the 90's...buried a long pipe in the dam that had a submerged inlet high and let water pass thru the dam. It worked for years but the beavers got wise to it at some point. 12 gauge with #2's is helping out for now but it's time consuming. I like watching them swim and work but they burrow and tear up the dams. Our big pond is right at flood stage now due to their work. When it floods it sometimes takes out the road.

We had a spillway from way back when Grandaddy built the ponds...4'x4' fed a culvert to control the water level. The beavers have slowly mounded mud up to it and just sealed it off in the last few months...no flow at all now...some water is going out over a side dam which will erode and blah blah. It's gonna take some thinking and work.

 

[flushcut]

Not to make a dirty joke but... from what Iv'e heard beaver is very tasty. Possibly a better reason to dispatch the critters other than property management.

 

[Tree09]

Get some conibear 330s, and get your air compressor ready. If you have a trapper buddy now is the time to call in that favor, if not find the right bar to find that guy lol.

 

[pantheraba]

I reluctantly admit I set two Connibears while there. My cousin had them and he has successfully trapped several. He showed me how to set the first...camo, forced routing, etc.

I set 2nd on my own...sweating 50 caliber bullets the whole time. I felt like I was defusing a bomb when I removed the safeties. I like your idea about visiting the bar to find a grizzled old trapper to do the job. I'll keep you posted.

 

[pantheraba]

I checked the traps several times a day but did not have any luck catching any. Although the first night they were set I had the 12 gauge and patrolled the pond by the road. I shot at two beavers that were swimming nearby using ambient light and could make out the silhouette and the sights so felt like I likely scored a couple of hits. The first day I broke the beaver dam they started building it back and then I set the traps and then shot that night. Maybe I got two of them because they haven't been back to rebuild the dams since. I left the traps set for my cousin to monitor for the next few days we'll see how it goes. That picture of the pond at night is what it looked like the night that I shot at those two beavers.

Kyle...what is the air compressor for..related to Connibears?

 

[Tree09]

For skinning them, because you need to be trapping them legally and in season. Go find a guy that knows what's what, a trap that size will break your arm. Knowing how to build a proper set is everything, and will greatly affect your success rate.

 

[Benjo75]

Looks like you found the blower for the forge. Looks better than my hair dryer on a ceiling fan riostat that's hooked up to mine. Nice looking place you got there. Congratulations on all the work you're about to get into.

 

[squisher]

Cool thread Gary really enjoying seeing it all.

 

[pantheraba]

@Tree09 Kyle...here you geaux, brother. Some fodder to pore through...the whole kit and caboodle. Uploaded 380 picts to my Smugmug account. If you make it thru those picts you can explore other "galleries" of picts on that site....Farm, Tree, Bando, etc.

Grandaddy shop cleanup and Farm inventory Sept 2020 - GaryLayton

This gallery hosted by SmugMug; your photos look better here.

garylayton.smugmug.com

 

[Tree09]

Thx my friend

 

[Ed L]

Damn Gary, got your own little piece of paradise there.

Ed

 

[Jonny]

What a cool place! Probably a small fortune in antiques to the right buyer, and so much room for business and recreation.

I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with such a place, but I’d never have to worry about finding a site to dump chips.

This is gonna be cool watching what happens with all that in this thread, quite a story in the making

 

[pantheraba]

Alex and I brought the boys to the farm last weekend and Alex stayed a few days and helped rebuild Grand addy's shop. We replaced the east wall and added trusses in between the existing rotted trusses. Alex did some excellent work figuring out how to support things while we replaced and rebuilt.

 

[lxskllr]

A metal detector might be fun for the kids around there Gary. I think it would be super fun, but maybe that's just me. I bet there's all kinds of stuff buried around the farm.

 

[pantheraba]

That was granddaddy's old drill press that the boys helped rig down. pretty heavy and bulky and a very cool piece of equipment. Then they were doing some treasure hunting where the tools had fallen over the years between the tin and the footer. We found some old veterinarian medicine in a bottle, wrenches, saw blades, just stuff.

 

[pantheraba]

The boys helped as we needed and then they were picking pecans up to fill in the time. At this point we've probably got at least 30 to 40 lb of pecans and there's a lot more to be picked up.

I think you're right about a metal detector. There would be a lot of cool stuff to find. There's a harrow slowly making its way up through the grass out in front of the shop. There has to be a lot of stuff just under the dirt We don't see. And the dirt here is mostly sand so it would dig easily. Metal detector might be in the works for a Christmas present. Thanks for the idea.

 

[lxskllr]

I love stuff! I still have a horseshoe in the back of my truck from the last PA job I did. It was uncovered in the excavation. What makes it especially cool to me is it's certainly from when horses were the only form of transportation, and they were made to work. Just a whole different time and mindset. It was a different world then compared to the pasture horses that are just expensive lawn decorations as is largely the case now; Amish excepted, and out west with Jim.

 

[pantheraba]

Finishing touches and a picture for posterity.

We still have to rebuild the north wall which is the one that supports the big door. But that will be another day when it's hopefully cooler.

 

[lxskllr]

Nice work!

 

[vharrison]

Making memories!

 

[theTreeSpyder]

Very Awesome!