1st week of Woodcock season results

 Well Bliss and I have the first week of woodcock season under our belts, sadly with little to show for it.Hunted 3 days in three different coverts and managed to find one bird. Bliss handled the bird nicely after it ran out from her point and relocated it, but it flushed before I could get in position for a shot.

Here are some pictures of the coverts we hunted.

It felt good to have a little 16 gauge hammer gun in the crook of my arm.

With rain in the forecast for my more northern coverts I may have to hunt closer to home tomorrow. Hopefully the 2nd week of the season will be more productive than the first.

Apples, Apples, Apples

 Due to several requests I've "revived" my blog. :)   Hopefully this fall the dogs and I'll have some experiences from my coverts to share with you.  Until then here's some of the apples I've been harvesting this fall. 

My Orchards are starting to bear fruit for me 6 years after my first plantings.  One of the things that I tell people who buy trees from me is besides weed control and sunlight you  need to have patience when growing apple trees. The  nursery catalogs like to tell you that you will be picking apples a year or two after planting but in reality it's closer to 5 or 6 years for an apple tree to bear fruit.  If a tree does set fruit in only a year or two you must pull off the fruit or you will stunt the tree.  A tree needs to grow wood before it bears fruit.  Enough of the apple growing lessons now on to the fruit. :)

Winecrisp, a "modern" apple developed by Purdue, Rutgers, and the University of Illinois it has a rich, spicy flavor great for eating off the tree or for cooking.

Myers Royal Limbertwig, an heirloom apple grown from a seed by the Myers family of Cades Cove Tennessee in the early 1800's.  A very juicy apple with a blend of sweet-tart flavors. My favorite fresh eating apple.

Black Amish.  Believed to be an old Pennsylvania apple but it's origin is lost to history.  A tart apple just off the tree it mellows in storage to a sweeter flavor.

Arkansas Black.  My young tree has not bore fruit yet but I did get this apple off a limb graft I made on a wild seedling tree growing in the old horse pasture. A very hard apple when first picked it's a supreme storage apple developing into a fine eating apple after several months in storage.

Must end todays blog, I have some Mammoth Black Twig apples that need picking. :)