Joe..........the "H" post bracing

Dave Parks

Dave Parks

Well-known member
Here's what I was telling you about this morning. Boni showed up at noon yesterday and we had all four corners of the flight pen braced by 4:30. We used 4x4's for the "H" braces and these ratchets on the New Zealand wire.
NZwire-1.jpg

A fence staple holds teh NZ wire in place while it's tightened at a 45 degree angle. You can also see the back end of the re-bar. The holes are pre-drilled in the post and "H" brace, then the re-bar is poubded into them with a 3# hammer.
NZwire-2.jpg



NZwire-4.jpg

Each corner is done this way so that I can put a lot of pull on the long NZ wires that run atop the posts from one end to the other. This will give support to the top netting and also a place to connect both teh top netting and teh top of the 72" tall chicken wire between the vertical posts.
NZwire-3.jpg

Due to the un-even ground, teh next step is to pull a line from on end to the other at 5'6" and then cut off all the excess height of the posts with the Saws-All. Then I will install the top NZ wire down the tops of the posts inside fence staples and put a NZ ratchet on either end and tighten the wire. Nezt will go the 72" chicken wire on the outside with teh excess turned out flat onto the ground. Then 2X6's will be nailed to the outside of the post on the bottom and the chicken wire will be stapled to them from the inside as well as the posts on the outside. Over that will go the heavy 4' garden fencing with the 2x3" mesh. This will keep out everything but a bear and I don't expect too much trouble from them with all the electric fencing wires that go over the outside of the pen. (wish I had 220V up there right now!) A lot of horizontal heavy mesh fencing will go underground around teh pen to prevent animals from trying to did under the pens. Mac says the first 60 days are prblematic then they seem to give up. The top netting goes on last and then the pen will be ready for the birds.

I'm taking notes and photo's as I go along. While talking to the publisher of the Game Bird and Conservation Gazette he asked me to do a photo essay on the building of the flight pen for their magazine, if all turns out well I may do it. I just hope they could live with my poor spelling and typo's :^)

Dave
 
Dave-

I'm really enjoying reading about your newest project on the farm.

Keep it up, you're doing a great job as usual!

-D
 
Thanks, I'm just trying to keep Joe up to date with teh project and whoever else is interested. I'd be building simething elase or doing some kind of project.........it's what keeps old farts like me busy. I'd probably be building a duck boat if I did'nt already have four of them....and they don't see much use since most my hunting here on the place don't require one.

Is the Striper bite over or are you still chaing them? Also, with the price of gas are you and dad still thinking about Dakota's this year? Unless the price drops back down I don't think they will see Judy and I in Montana this fall. Rick and his son are still planing to go, but later Nov. 1st. fo rtheir arrival this year. They want to do more waterfowl shooting this year. Rick is lucky because he can write the whole trip off each year becasue he also calls on customers up there........food, gas & motels all written off! SWEET DEAL!

Best,
Dave
 
Good Job.Birds pretty soon.You may need a resident Chiropractor on site ,to keep you and Judy going.Hope she gets fixed up today.
 
Nice Dave, I've been following along and it looks great.
Tried my hand at it a few years ago bu things didnt go as planned.
(Like they ever do). Hope to see the pens filled up soon.
 
Dave-

The small stripers have taken over, and I haven't been out after them in a while. Last weekend 3 of us went down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to try and catch Cobia and big Red Drum. We ended up with a ton of small grey trout and a bunch of sharks and rays. Two of us caught blacktip sharks on the fly. That was a pretty cool experience.

This weekend I'm headed into the deep for some yellowfin and marlin action. A buddy of mine has a nice fuel efficient boat that doesn't break the bank to run the 70 miles one way to the 100 fathom line.

My Dad and I are still hoping to make the trip out west, but haven't decided just yet. I just drew my elk tag for Colorado, so I can't do it all this year!

-D
 
Dave P.

I am presumeing that you are makeing a flight pen for birds to shoot over. Do you raise them just for your own pleasure or is this a commercial venture?

I'm envious!

Mark F. Cheney
 
Mark, Dave is doing all this work to attract a big black bear that has been harassing Dave. It tore up his tree stand several times ate his trail camera. It's become a personal thing. The bear doesn't like Dave. Dave doesn't like the bear. Dave is out thinking the bear he knows the bear can't resist all of those birds. Dave will get his revenge and then get to shoot a few birds. I know it's a lot of work but that no ordinary bear. Some say that bear has spiritual powers. Yette like. but he will be no match for Dave. Waawa hooo
 
Her trip to the bone-twister really helped today and she says she's ready to get back to work on the flight pen, but I told her not until she really recovers in a couple more days. She pulled a tendon in her right leg and also through out her leg, hip and back at the same time. She looked like old "Step'n Fetch-it" the last couple of days.

I took her out for Chinese this evening and she went to bed early with orders not to get up before 7am.

We stopped by Wal-Mart on teh way home so I could get a few more brooder baxes and some heat lamps. While browsing around I ran across just what I've been seeing in the incubator catalogs for $20, a small digital temperature/hygrometer. It's teh exact same model as in teh catalogs, but it's $6.95 at Wal-Mart! They take a single AAA battery and have a clip on teh back for attaching inside the incubators. They work neat and now I can monitor both the temperature and humidity which are both crucial to getting high percentages in hatching numbers. I now have the temps in two incubators exactly at 99.5 degrees and teh humidity at 83%.........PERFECT!

I've got to get the other two incubators going tomorrow. I had my egg orders all timed, but the guys I bought from shipped teh damn eggs to me via priority mail before they even got my payment! Today alone I got 30 chukar eggs, 12 Valley Quail eggs and 100 Georgia Giant Bobwhite eggs and I was not expecting them this soon. I've had pheasant eggs in the incubator since Sunday and I still have another 12 Vally Quial eggs and 25 of the Jumbo 7# pheasant eggs coming. I hope the rest of the incubators I ordered get here soon.

Dave
 
Thanks, I have rasied pheasants in the past but not on this scale. This egg incubating is fairly new to me since I have not done it since I was in High School an dthat was back a few hundred years.

Mac and I bought 500 day old straght run Pheasant chicks and they are being rasied at his pet shop equipment factory/caviary/brooding facility in town. They will be fully feathered and ready to be transported to my flight pen as soon as we get it finished.

The game bird egg incubatiob is just soemthing I want to get into because I plan to keep 25 hens and 10 roodters over the winter for breeding and eggs next spring. The balance of the pheasants will be released here on teh place as well as for dog training, etc.

I plan to expand into other game birds also for breeding, dog training and resale. I got a State game breeder/sales license and we will see how it works out. The money is in the rarer game birds like Scaled quail, Mearns quail and things like Barbary Partudges, Huns, French Red-legged Partridges and teh rarer species of pheasants. But there is also a good market for ringnecks, chukar and bobwhite on a local basis.

My idea is to just get enough birds to make it interesting, but not where I can't go anywhere. This is the reason I'm going with the automatic watering & feeding systems, plus I have Mac just down teh road from me that will take care of everything if we want to get away for a month or so. And in teh wintertime you just hold over a few of each species for egg hatching each Spring. I hope you enjoy the way things come together since you have some prior experience with this stuff.

Dave
 
Sharks on a FLY ROD! All I can say is....you are a glutton for punishment and I don't care if you are using a 9 wt. I would want a 16 wt. with a gimble belt set-up! My wrists hurt just thinking about it!

So, I take it........it's a go for Colorado again this year, I mean hell ya got drawn ya gotta go, RIGHT?

I hear ya on the Dakota or wherever with Dad. I hate missing teh Montana bird hunting this year. Like my buddy Rick says.....ya beter not miss a season of upland shooting when you are our age and can still enjoy walking up birds. He also added....You can always budle-up in a goose pit when you are in your 90's, so lets get all this "walking-Hunting" done now whuile we can. He makes a great point, but at $5 bucks a gallon, I'd be so pissed about it, I would not enjoy myself.

Keep 'Ur Line Wet!

Dave
 
It would be funny if it was'nt true. I sure hope that "Bugger Bear" stays up on teh mountain and away from my birds. Like I said, as soon as I get electricity up to the pens I'm going to replace teh "fence charger" with 220V 'cuz if'n that bad boy comes down I want to send hin right back up the mountain SMOKING!

As for now all he'd get is some of these:

zEggs-1.jpg

These are two of the three boxes of eggs I got in the mail today.
36 chukar eggs on left and 100 Geogia Giant bobwhite eggs on the right. It's pretty neat Pete, they have these sheets of foam rubber cut with the proper eggs diameter for shipping. There is a 2" think sheet of foam rubber with no holes under them and above them and I have yet to get a shipment with a single broken egg in it. They are shipped via USPS Prioruty Mail and can be just about anywhere in teh lower 48 within 2-4 days for about $12.50 shipping.

Like in the movie "Kelly's Hero's"......where Donald Sutherlin says "ENOUGH with the NEGATIVE VIBES" on that problem bear of mine. :^)

Dave
 
Glad to hear that Judy is doing fine.May have to tie that Squaw down, to keep her from working too hard.BIRD PROJECT IS MOVING RIGHT ALONG.TRY TO KEEP UP;0)

Going to the range this morning,then the airport.
 
The project is coming along and Judy is a lot better today. We are going up to the shop and build some portable brooding cages inside for the birds when they get too big for the brooder boxes.

Did you see on the News about the SOB's that are running Myanmar, they still won't let reporters in and here's why.....one British/Burmese reporter slipped in for a few days and found that the Military Government is charging money for all the relief supplies that were sent from various nations to help the people of Myanmar. That's what you call an air tight ditatorship!

Have fun at the range and go shop for that Super Cub!

Dave
 
Politicians are only semi-controlled dictators.We pay taxes,they spend taxes,mostly to their benefit.Great day at the range.Used the hammer gun.Shot a 23,first round.The chokes are too tight for skeet.I was smoking 'em.Got my student certificate today.Selling that Perazzi would go a long way toward flying lessons.No word.
 
Just what is a giant quail? Are you pulling my leg? Is that like a giant shrimp?

And watch what kind of moron you call me. Oxy or not. :)

Really are you raising Grouse and hoping to sell them to those southern boys or
what?
 
They've come a long way since you and I last raised game birds.

"Georgia Giants are similar to the Jumbo Wisconsin just larger, they weigh about a pound (16 oz) at maturity. This all purpose strain has been selectively bred for Size (big, meatier bird) Flight Ability (wing and tail feathers longer) High Productivity that produces a large number of eggs, disease resistance which makes them easier to raise. Will mix and interbreed readily with regular Bobwhite."
GGbobwhite-1.jpg


These along with the Jumbo Pheasants that will weigh up to 7 pounds should make for some good eating and good smoking birds this winter.

Dave
 
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No, the guy is squeezing her, that's how they get eggs out of them! :^)

Well, did you buy that Super Cub yet? You will want it filled with gas and flight ready as soon as you get your "wings".

A pilot's license...........what will you think of next?

Dave
 
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