One of the criticisms that was leveled about our main covered shooting position is too many bugs. In particular ticks. Actually it’s fair to say it is the single worst location on property for ticks. By a lot. Which is saying something.
Looking at the situation the biggest factor for ticks is habitat. In this case it’s the growth of trees behind the shelter. Those trees exist because the remnants of a cattle fence, barbed wire and all, right under them.
The previous owner, a farmer, used to hay this field right up to the fence line. Which kept things cut back. We however started our initial shooting position under these trees, built benches, and otherwise stored things there.
As we moved forward with the covered shooting position, more and more stuff just grew up behind us. Which became a hazard to cut because of debris and undocumented barbed wire. So what started off as a cute little shaded spot, turned into an unmitigated, tick disaster!
Now it’s time to attack the fence, fence posts and barbed wire. The first step was installing the draw-bar onto the Massey. It’s a big tractor that can pull a lot of weight. But I wanted to ensure I did it right. Meaning all of the force is concentrated on the singular location a tractor is built to pull from.
And guess what? Turns out I had to get under the machine to unbolt and re-bolt the drawbar hardware. It’s at moments like this that reenforce my desire to have a cement floor on the future John1911 barn! But either here nor there…
Next it’s attaching the tow straps to the tractor and fence posts. And not coincidentally, it all just kinda hooked together with a pin. No clevis needed. Super convenient!
After that it’s just alternating between pulling out fence posts and cutting segments of barbed wire to keep it away from the tractor.
Next up was using the front mounted Lane Shark to cut scrub low, tree branches high, and otherwise dig deeper to get to more fence posts and barbed wire.
Final note. In this use case, the Lane Shark earned it’s keep in two very significant ways:
First, since it’s on the front, I didn’t need the big 8’ brush cutter on back. Which freed up the draw bar for pulling.
Second, should I have accidentally tangled up a bunch of barbed wire in the Lane Shark; getting access to clear / cut that off is super easy and safe, since it all can be done without getting under the deck or the front end loader.
The work never ends. All the while keeping up with my personal shooting schedule, running the website, publishing content, running The Armory and trying to grow this little business.
Sincerely,
Marky
www.John1911.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
Areas of focus: Defense and National Security, Modern Light Weapons, Small Arms, Weapons Training.
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