Just received a group of pictures from Tim Oldham with a lot of great updates on the Duck Creek property. Things are chipping away and getting closer to completion every day!

-Finished the shooting range.
-Poured a concrete patio along the front of the lodge. Will enclose this next season.
-Planted and strawed the yard.
-Got the electric terminated into the houses panel.
-Dish Network installed in the guide house and lodge.
-Most importantly, fall food plots are under way!!

Back home in Ohio! Panic and reality is starting to set in. The opener is not far away and there is A LOT to get done!

This spring we worked on my Morton Building adding three new bedrooms. Just needed to put some finishing touches on like staining, trim and doors. Not to mention the finish plumbing and HVAC work! Work on things around the lodge during the evenings and weekends. During the days, I run cameras and work on hanging our new Muddy Treestands!

The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall in to place for the Sept. 26 opener. I have most sets ready and trimmed with a handful to go. This week I will put up some observatory stands where we can watch some areas safely from a distance! This will help on some fine-tuning.

I will place a couple pictures below of some deer that are targets for the opener. These are deer that are regulars and I have pin pointed fairly well.

From Missouri last week pulled in to Illinois for a long 4 day weekend. There is a lot to do in Illinois but we are chipping away at it. Towards the end of July, we wrapped up a 14x20 scent-free locker room. Looks NICE!! Once again, it was a very productive few days with several items checked off the list.

-Gun range under construction.
-Water and electric ran to the house.
-Clean up of dozer piles and yard preparation.
-Parking area completed with split-rail fence surrounding it.
Tim and Ben have been spending a lot of time on the property bush hogging, preparing exit/entrance routes, fall food plots and wrapping up stand preparations.  In all there spare time(Ha Ha) running 25 scouting cameras and glassing in the evenings. I think all of the hard work is going to pay off big dividends on this property!!

I spent the last week working at our Missouri land in the town of Purdin, located in Linn County. There is a large Morton building that had a portion already finished, but the layout of it was less than ideal. We added another bedroom and 3 bathrooms. That gives us 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths for the upcoming season. With no more than 6 hunters per camp, things will be very comfortable with NO bathroom congestion. While in Missouri, also checked several other items off the to-do list.
-Interviewed a cook/housecleaner and got all details worked out with her for the upcoming season.
-Made a run 3 hours south to Muddy Outdoors and picked up 155 treestands that we had ordered.
-Walked some new leases the last day and got out 6 new cameras!

Overall, a very productive trip with no wasted time!!

Pulled several memory sticks while in Missouri. So be sure and check out trail-cam pictures!!

As July arrived in Missouri, the rains continued to cause problems and delay a lot of farmers from getting crops out. Between the rains and the
attempts to locate the equipment we wanted, it has been a tough battle. The first week of July we hit it hard and planted a lot of switch grass and Round-up Ready soy beans. Now, we pray that the rains don't come to a sudden halt.
During the end of July and August we are working on completing the Morton building for lodging. Adding a few more bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. We have several cameras running in Missouri, so stay tuned for some trail cam pictures.
Later.

I have spent the entire first half of July getting cameras on mineral sites that have been prepared or freshened up weeks ago. I have out around 50 cameras on 32 different parcels. After several years of camera placement, you sort of get a knack for it. ie. What to do and what not to do.
-Always place pointing north or south if possible.
-Make sure working when you walk away!
-Use large memory sticks. Minimum 1 GB. I prefer 2GB or larger.
-No flash or infra red only. If I have a flash camera I shut flash off!
-I put the cameras about chest high pointed downward slighty toward target area.
Note: Deer will see the infra red but it will not spook them.

Favorite camera sites:
-Well placed mineral site. High traffic corners or intersection.
-Apple or pear trees. If I have only a couple on a farm, every big buck will visit them!
-Really big deer can be tough to get pictures of. If I see them and know they are there, I will simply put where I see them staging in the bean field.
Put a good triggereng camera covering a wide portion of the field.

Enough about cameras, I have got to head back to the ball fields. My town has ran the T-ball and coach pitch tournaments for the county. It has been a busy week to say the least. Time to prepare the fields for a Sunday of ball!
See Ya!

We really have our work cut out for us getting Illinois ready by October. You can see the house sitting in the parking lot as of last week. It will be sitting at the end of that driveway up on the hill.
We spend the days getting equipment ready for the upcoming season and keeping all of the many food plots sprayed and looking beautiful.
We saw some nice showers last week which is nice for the crops and the horns!!
See ya next week!