Mother nature fights back - 2020 edition

[plant_one]

Went north this weekend to do some property maintenance, sweep out the blinds for the upcoming firearm season and cut some standing dead ash for firewood.

Got up there and as we got setup to clean the west fence of fallen branches and repost the no hunting/trespassing signs we discovered a large tree top on the roof of one of our blinds.  First time in over 20 years we've had more than a small wrist thick sized branch land on any of our 24 permanent blinds.

A large canopy height maple broke off about 25' up and all 3 tops landed bullseye style right in the roof.



The roof was unsalvageable - every board used to construct it took some level of damage - but the rest of the blind  amazingly survived.  The back left corner post was driven down about 2" but the structure is still otherwise sound.



The shingle layer - somehow- didn't get pierced and there's almost no water damage on the inside.


We went into town and bought a dewalt 20v pole saw and using only a single 5aH battery (amazing tool! Worth way more than the $150 they sell for!)  removed most of the limbs to reduce weight/ tangle and then pulled each section off the roof one at a time with the tractor.  Unbelievable how well that pole saw worked and how efficient it was on power consumption!!!



Roof was replaced with metal roof sheeting and the blind is now dried in and will be cleaned out, sealed against insects and mice/squirrels again this coming weekend.  will get some more pics on the repair when we finish the cleanup - just too wet and tired to care when we were all done.

For reference this blind is 9' to the floor and the front peak is just under 19' in the air, and had a 8x8 roof on it.





The colors were just past peak, and the rain was taking a fair ammount of the canopy down



sure does look pretty back in the woods tho





went over to quickly tack some more insulation into my deer shack to find this mess inside



appears my door upper/lower corner latches came loose and a squirrel somehow wedged himself in and got trapped.  EVERYTHING was on the floor - including the heater and latched storage tote - not to mention all the insulation i installed last year on the lower half of the walls :/

didn't have the cleanup supplies necessary to deal with it, and we were wiped from getting that tree off the other blind so i'm leaving it for this coming weekend.


Needless to say - the firewood got put in the back  burner, but we left the trailer there and intend to go back up this weekend for round 2...

[Al in Mi]

sorry for your misfortunes there buddy.

on the pole saw, what's the length of it? sounds like something i may need!

[Spike1]

That sucks man. We have 9 blinds on are 925 acres. Lots of work maintaining them. Good luck partner

[plant_one]

That sucks man. We have 9 blinds on are 925 acres. Lots of work maintaining them. Good luck partner

other than the cleanup at this point... the hard work is done. the rest will just be contractor bags and a staple gun to re-mount some insulation.


thanks though, and yes... its an every season thing. always something to be done

[plant_one]

sorry for your misfortunes there buddy.

on the pole saw, what's the length of it? sounds like something i may need!

its a 2 or 3 piece pole thing... supposed to give 15' of reach. i'd have to put it together to get you a measurement - but its long. the cool part i do like.. becuase its a 2 or 3 peice assembly... theres no telescopic section. you either screw the tool head on the battery/trigger peice, or the battery/trigger, extension, and then tool head peice. twist lock with a socket assembly that only goes one way.

this is the one i purchased

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCPS620B- ... 07VQHQD2H/

looks like theres a hedge trimmer head for it too, as a combo kit, or sold seperately

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20-V ... /314472194

[Al in Mi]

does it feel head heavy at full length?

[plant_one]

does it feel head heavy at full length?

no worse, and likely better than any other similar tool ive used in the past. i'll have to grab my cousins corded one next time i'm out there and compare and contrast to be sure. it impressed the hell out him too - and as noted.. he already has a corded model at his place.

total weight is under 12 lbs (with 5amp/hr battery). bare tool is just a few oz under 10lbs


and i mean... its dewalt... 90 day money back guarantee... so nothing to lose if you hate it - just like i told the guy at home depot when he asked if i wanted an extended warranty lol

"nah man.. if it sucks i'm bringing it back tomorrow anyway. thanks"

[plant_one]

Went back North and treated my truck like a proper truck for the weekend.

Dad picked massive standing dead ash and two more leaners that needed to be drug out to load up some firewood for my cousin.

We loaded (6) 14' main trunk sections around 12" with the largest topping out at 15" diameter, with 4 reasonable sized branches also at 14' long. We figure >2k but <3k. Trailer rated for 3500 lbs. Thank God for the bucket loader and the forks.

Towed like a dream down the highway. Smooth and seamless. Coolant was at 194 the whole run and the trans never went over 153 - and that was passing a slow camper on the highway. The remainder of the trip was running in the 143-145 range.

Ran 12.6 mpg with the load on the highway. Nice to know what that number looks like with some real weight back behind her.

This is the tip of the iceberg for wood up there.... we could make another 10 loads like this and not dent the firewood supply there.









Still some nice colors but the weather did a number on half of them already.





Also got the deer shack cleaned and re-insulated. The new insulation - just ¼" accordion foam but still a nice addition. it will need a coat of some flat black paint come next season... but...

I'm ready to hunt here when our firearm season kicks off








3d printed slide latches will hopefully help keep me critter free in the future and not have to deal with the mess we found last weekend again.