Friday, June 28, 2013

We are the proud guardians of the most baby quail chicks that I have seen on Riverview in many years.. Evidently, our full court press with our mamallian trapping program this spring is really paying dividends.Of course,almost perfect timing on our rainfall and great nesting cover has been a plus also. Every time Cader IV and I leave the office to go to the sweet corn fields, I buckle my seatbelt because he slams on breaks so hard when he sees the baby quail crossing the road that my rather prominent proboscis almost goes into the windshield..
 Those of you who visit here from mid-October until Thanksgiving may well be shooting AT as many native quail as early release quail this season. For some reason, native quail are not able to read our boundary signs indicating that Riverview is a commercial hunting plantation. They are no better at sign reading than our deer are at reading the "no wildlife allowed" signs posted around our sweet corn fields courtesy of our idiotic federal government.

Friday, June 14, 2013

I remember my father telling me a story years ago about a very hot day in south Georgia. He said that he was plowing corn with his mule. It seems that it got so hot that day that the corn started popping. The old mule thought it was snowing and froze to death. Well we had a day just about as hot as that yesterday here on the plantation. We are in the midst of our sweet corn harvest; so we are all having to stay out in the fields a good bit. The temperature/humidity index hit 113 degrees at 2:00 pm. When you add about two trillion gnats swarming around your face to the opressive heat, it's safe to assume that we were not happy campers.
 Many of out guests look at these beautiful facilities located here along the flowing Flint River and ask us why we do not operate an off season business. To which I always respond,"you have to be a native to survive South Georgia in the summer time".
 While the farm crew is trying to draw all of the gnats in creation to the field, the conservation crew is steadily planting food plots for the quail. We are seeing so may pairs of quail lately that we have had to institute a speed limit on our woods roads. After experiencing several years of spring and summer droughts at Riverview, we decided to plant a drought resistant sorghum in many of our food plots this year. Guess what? Ronnie bogged down three times yesterday on the lead tractor and harrow that makes the first pass over the ground! Go figure. I think that we guess the weather around here like I do the stock market. If I buy it,you should short it if you wannt to make money.

Monday, June 3, 2013

After abundant early spring rainfall,the clouds dried up in south Georgia for a while. We have finally received enough rainfall to begin planting food plots for the quail. We are also beginning to see some amorous couples of quail beginning to pair off, and know that nesting season is upon us. Since we had one of our best spring,controlled woods burning program in years, we just need to make certain that there is plenty of food available for the next cycle of quail on Riverview.
 We are also in the process of ordering shotgun shells for the fall. I do believe that the ammuntion makers are working overtime making bullets for pistols and assault rifles. I wish that they would get more concerned about starting up production of shotgun shells for the wing shooting public. While I am certain that we will have plenty of shells in stock, I feel much better when they are in my storage room rather than a promise that I will have them.
 I wonder how many of you know how the origin of our "gauges" in shotguns and shells began. Everyone knows that the larger the number of the gauge, the smaller the shell while the smaller the gauge,the larger the shell. This methodology began when shotshell lead equalled the the diameter of the shotgun barrel's bore size.The number of lead balls of a particular size that totaled a pound in weight determined the gauge of the shotgun. A twenty gauge shotgun would have 20 lead balls equalling one pound while a 12 gauge shotgun would have 12 balls per pound.
 After the gauge of the shotgun is selected, then the shot size needs to be chosen. In the south if we say that we are going "bird hunting", you can always assume that we are talking about quail. My personal preference on quail has always been number 8 shot. I do not shoot a 410 gauge anymore because I am not as good of a shot as I once was. Come to think of it, I'm not as good at a lot of things as I once was, but I sure am grateful to still be able to enjoy the sport of hunting. But, I digress. If I were to shoot a 410, I would go with a 6-7.5 shot size.
 Stay tuned for more thoughts later on as the summer progresses. We will  talk about bird dogs,shotguns,and funny hunting stories in the future.