Choosing between options for hunting

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Center pivot, a type of irrigation. Think of a really long sprinkler system that rotates around a central point.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Okay, yeah I've seen those when I've driven through Kansas, along with the straight irrigation systems. Do the antelope go there for food or water or cover or what?
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I would suspect food. Most of Wyoming is dry and lots of sage brush. Give game animals good feed and they will tend to stay around it.
 

BHuij

Active Member
I learned something new too, my name is Brandon, turns out.

Not too worried about achieving "trophy" status on my first hunt. I'll be happy to bag an antelope at all (I think my chances are good), but even if I don't, a bad day spent out camping and hunting is better than a good day in the office, right? I'm going with a friend of mine who has gone to the same spot for the last 10 years or more, he almost never comes home empty handed. With 2.5 MOA or better, limiting myself to 200 yards or less, which should be very feasible, I'm fairly confident this old antique Russian rifle can still bring home some jerky.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I still can’t believe you don’t even know your own name
 
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BHuij

Active Member
As a side note, I just loaded up 50 more ladder test rounds. The 4064 wasn't metering very well through my thrower, so I ended up individually weighing each charge. I suspect inconsistency may have contributed to some of the inaccuracy of my last tests. So aside from homing in on what seems to be a node with this rifle/bullet/powder combo, I am hoping to see things tighten up a bit more because my charge weight should be significantly more consistent.
 

Rootmanslim

Banned
It a big rotating irrigation device used to grow crops where Mother Nature never intended, raise the humidity and lower thr water table.

Note the sagebrush in the background. Eventually the ground is contaminated with dissolved minerals from the irrigation and will grow nothing. "Greed and stupidity" strike again.

nrXox4E.jpg
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
yep only green spots in the desert other than the few waterways or occasional spring.
it's odd to be out in a big half alkali half delineated limestone flat and see a dot of green cat tails off in the distance.
you know it's there because you'll see a jack rabbit and a cow dragging their canteen that direction long before the green dot appears.



adding the water isn't the problem it's mis-managed soil amendment and the use of 'aftermarket' fertilizers.
if the soil was slightly built up with the proper natural additives and the soil microbes were allowed to develop they could run that crop of alp alpha for 50 years with minimal additions, and not really disturb the surrounding plants other than give them a good misting of water as the pivot went past.
 

Rootmanslim

Banned
Afraid USDA disagrees w/you:

"Salt Problems in Irrigated Soils More than one-fourth of the irrigated farmland in the United States does not produce abundantly because the soil is salt-affected. Salt-affected soil may contain too much salt, too much sodium, or both. An accumulation of salt in the soil may retard plant growth. When sodium, which is contained in common salts, is adsorbed on (adheres to) soil particles, the soil may be difficult to till, and water penetration may be poor. Salt problems are especially serious in 17 Western States, where more than 7 million acres of irrigated land is salt-affected. "
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
the salt affects the micro-organisms in the soil first which is the problem.
it blocks the nutrient exchange between the organisms and the plants themselves.
if the soil is amended properly to begin with, the amount of water used can be drastically reduced without negatively affecting the plant health or growth.

part of the problem with the above field is there are no trees, and no boundary vegetation.
there is no system in place other than water and fertilize [the Monsanto system]
 

BHuij

Active Member
I think I have reached the point where it's time to unsubscribe from this thread, as riveting as soil mineralogy is ;)
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Come on Brandon,you might learn something other than your name!
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
No thread drift till post 72 just may be a record, Brandon. Hang on, man, and see where else it goes. It may be that I've learned more from drifting threads than whatever the original posts were about.

Besides, knowing soil mineralogy may improve your odds of killing an antelope.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yep, where else are you going to get such boots on the ground advice from experienced hunters observing year-'round conditions? Take your bow along, too.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
so I don't get to go into chlorates tying into the salts and then breaking apart when the water is evaporated.?
it's like having too much tin in your lead alloy.
 

Rootmanslim

Banned
If you read Jared Diamond's brilliant book COLLAPSE, you will find the American SW will be far from the first place to be destroyed by bad irrigation policy. We are chasing them as fast as we can.