Went down to Mason last week end to set up the new deer lease. Also managed to get out for a pig hunt the first night on the little piece of property I was able to keep leased from my old place, video of that below.
The lease setup up was a lot of work but I think we managed to get it substantially complete. I have a small punch list I need to get back and take care of sometime in the next few weeks but the major stuff is done. Did run into a problems along the way... Problem one was corroded connections for feeder batteries. This is the first time I've had feeder problems in the last 5-6 years and I believe the culprit was actually turning the feed times off for the last four months or so and the solar panels overcharging the batteries.
Problem two was our own fault and it was a real kick in the pants. We have one stand that is very large and heavy and probably takes as much time to assemble as all the rest of the work combined. It involves having to use an extended forklift (actually a Terex Telehandler) and and at least two people working together as well. Once we had the entire thing built, except for the ladder and porch assembly, we realized we had put it together "backwards" and the legs that have the ladder brackets on them were on the wrong side. We had to take it all apart and start over from scratch. Talk about a sinking feeling when I realized that...
As far as the feeders, we were able to rewire one and get it back to working order. The other one was fried significantly worse than that the first one and it has always given me problems one way or the other since the day I bought it. It was decided we would just replace it with a Ranch King, the type of feeder I am trying to completely switch over to now and what you see in the video below. Getting that feeder out, and maybe hanging a bow stand somewhere near it is the largest item left on my "to do list."
All in all, a successful weekend worth of work and I'm very relieved to know the vast majority of it is done now before it gets any hotter than it already is. Also happy to have functioning feeders and cameras out on the new place so I can start seeing what I might have for this fall.
https://youtu.be/OEZi46qaT38