Memorial Day Weekend

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a fantastic February.

As the subject line suggests, I am going to try to put together a weekend up on the property over the Memorial Day weekend. Yes, sometimes I am a glutton for punishment. Last year we had to cancel due to a late snow. Hopefully, Mother Nature will be more cooperative this year.

There are many things on the to-do list this year. I still need to finish up the digging and fencing on Horse Meadow Spring and Hanna's Spring. That will finish up last year's projects.

This spring I will be doing some planting of bitterbrush, mountain mahogany, crab apple trees and wild roses. Hopefully, I will get most of this done before the Memorial Day weekend. Once I get some dates planned, I will email you and let you know. Of course, help is always welcome.

The main habitat project for this year will be the Aspen grove. It is about 1 1/2 acres in size. I need to fence it off with wildlife fencing and then I need to remove about a dozen big Junipers that are growing inside the grove. I need to also start removing the ground debris (dead limbs, etc.) and disturb the top soil so that the Aspens will start sprouting.

I want to get some owl nesting boxes put up this year. And I just recently got some plans for making some duck nesting boxes. I want to put 2 or 3 of them in each of the springs.

I plan to dig at least 2 new retaining ponds on the property.

Then there are the other projects that are not exactly habitat oriented. I need to finish the cabins. I hope to get 4 PLM deer tags and an antelope tag this year. I plan on guiding the hunts. Between a decent camp to stay in and the guiding, I should be able to get a good price for the tags. I could really use the funds to help pay for the habitat projects.

Now that I have the back hoe, I am going to set up a small shooting range with 3 or 4 benches and dirt burms to back the targets. Does anybody have a plan for a shooting bench?

And there are lots of little projects to do too.

Now that we are officially a non profit, you can deduct the mileage and any contributions you make from your federal taxes. If you would like to build some owl boxes, duck nests or shooting benches, you can deduct the cost.

I am hoping to be able to add some more fun to this year's gatherings. I am getting t-shirts made. I want to set up some horse shoe pits. I want to put together a treasure hunt where a combination of clues and using a GPS will lead you to a hidden prize. Just some other things to get people to come up and join in.

And don't forget, Eagle Lake trout season opens on Memorial Day weekend.

I will also try to put together several other gatherings during the summer.

Take a look at your calendar and see if you can come up and join us.

Count me in Dog! I have some limits on how much walking or physical labor I can do but building boxes or such things are right up my ally. Randall

Thanks for the offer of help Bigfoot. I will get you a link to the plans shortly.

OK, here are the plans for the Owl nesting boxes:


http://www.cooncampsprings.com/Owl_boxes.html

Make sure you keep a tally of your expenditures. Then I can send you a receipt for the total and you can deduct them from this years taxes.

Got it! How many can you use?

I want to put up two a year.

When do you want them? Whould anything else set up house in them

I will take them whenever I can get them. I won't be headed up there until later this month. It is snowed in right now. Plus I am headed to Missouri for a Snow Goose hunt. Once the snow melts, it will be pretty nasty until it dries out some.

As for someone else taking up residence, I am not sure. I am going to put them on a metal pole so that nobody can climb up to it. I know wood ducks use boxes for nesting if they are near the water. The owl boxes will be set up out in the valley and probably not near water. But if a duck were to set up residence, all the better, I will just put up more boxes.

BZZZZZZzzzzzZZZZzZZZZzzzzzzzzZZzzzzzz

Hmmmmm, what is that? A mosquito? A fly?

No, that is just Dave bugging ya again....lol. Just wanted to tickle you memory about the Memorial Day weekend, May 26, 27 and 28. Paul is going to go up a couple days early to open up the camp and I will be staying till the following Wednesday.

Come on up for a day, two or as long as you like. Meet some new people, help on some wildlife projects, throw some horseshoes, chase some coyotes, eat some good food and share the campfire.

For those of you down south, Southwest has cheap flights into Reno. If you want to fly into Reno, we can arrange to have someone drive over and pick you up. Or better yet, you could plan your flight to be there as I am passing through on my way up and I could pick you up then.

I am also headed up several weekends before then. I was going to go this weekend but needed to catch up on things at home. My next trip up will be March 30/April 1.