Henry Rifle Forums

I have a half mile trail on my place that I take the dogs on a daily hike plus use it for access to the lower part of my property. One part of doing maintenance is keeping it mowed, especially the lower part that is heavy with fern bushes. Even being sick yesterday I was feeling pretty good and very bored so I pulled the tow behind brush cutter out. Changed the oil and filters and off I went. Even tho it had rained the night before and the lower fern infested area is moist by the time I was done it got pretty dusty. Got it done and now the dogs can navigate the trail. (Not that they stay on it )


Before, can’t hardly see my dog.


In process



Happy dog.

Very nice. I built a mountain bike single track trail system on our property and when I switched from upright bikes to recumbent trikes, I widened the trails for the three wheelers. Yeah, I know what maintenance is all about. Being able to just walk out your door and go for a ride on trails in the woods is such a blessing, though.

Are ticks a problem in the Northwest? If so, keeping the trails clean is probably good for the dogs.

HenryFan wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 23, 2025 12:03 pm

Are ticks a problem in the Northwest? If so, keeping the trails clean is probably good for the dogs.

Where I'm at, we have ticks, but they generally aren't a problem unless the deer let you pet them.

We have more of a problem with mosquito swarms that live under the ferns. Mosquitos usually aren't a problem away from the ferns. Just when you walk through and disturb them.
A field of ferns like in Hatchdog's picture would get you eaten off trail.

Where I'm at in Eastern WA we generally have some tics but they are not too bad. Occasionally they can be very thick. I have a trail alongside my irrigation ditch and can remember a few years when you would see them every few feet perched on the ends of blades of grass just waiting to latch on to someone or something. I would have to weed eat the trail very often and would still strip down on my porch and immediately jump in the shower whenever got back from using the trail.

Ticks are despicable, at least to me. Late last week, after mowing grass, I scratched my left wrist and found a small tick. I too wash work clothes soon after outside activities and take a good shower. Ticks are despicable.

Living in Florida for a few years and South Carolina all but seven or so year of my life, I have experience with mosquitos. Until they get big enough to fist fight, they don't bother me too much.

Ferns aren’t very common in my area and when we bought this place I was very surprised to see how many ferns I have. They are down the hill from where my house is located in an area that must be sub-irrigated as ferns like moisture. I get the occasional tick but not often. I was hating walking on the trail before I mowed it for that exact reason. My pup won’t stay on the trail of course and I call him my “little tick magnet”. We treat the dogs with Frontline every month. It won’t prevent ticks but if one does attach itself the Frontline will kill it. Our groomer rarely finds ticks on either of our dogs which is surprising.

NCG, couldn’t agree more, it’s nice to have a place at home to bike, hike etc. I enjoy that the dogs don’t need to be leashed for our hikes.

Yes, letting dogs be dogs when you hike on your own property sure is nice.

It does depend on the dog, though. Our English Setter could never be trusted off a leash. He would chase deer and disappear for hours, so he went on a leash and strayed on a leash anytime we went for a walk. He was not a good trail companion.

On the other hand, our Border Collie is very special. She's my best ever trail buddy. She never wanders off. Stays with me and even helps to clean my trails by picking up sticks for me. Being a Border Collie, her doggy IQ is off the charts, of course.

A couple times a year Tina runs the bush hog along the fence lines in the wooded areas to keep the track open so we can run the UTV along that route to check the perimeter. The fence lines in the open areas get attention every time the pastures get topped, so they aren't a concern.

It's not so important these days since we have gotten rid of the livestock, but we still make at least one pass a week to insure the security of the property. You can't be too careful. We have pretty good coverage with the remote cameras, but best to patrol the fence lines on a regular basis. Downed trees, critter activity, water damage to fence posts, you never know what you will find.

We like to keep the place LOOKING nice regardless.


Yeah, yeah, someone commented the last time I posted pics about the condition of the flags. The Wind Comes Whippin Down the Plains and they don't last long here... Miss T orders flags two each at a time... I change them out when they get ragged on the end.... the new ones are up. Two more of each are on order...

Beautiful pics BOM. Your and Tina’s pride of ownership is obvious. Around here we can have a place like yours and a quarter mile down the road a trash dump. So sad that more folks don’t have the will and energy to keep their places up.

Hatchdog wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 03, 2025 10:47 am

Beautiful pics BOM. Your and Tina’s pride of ownership is obvious. Around here we can have a place like yours and a quarter mile down the road a trash dump. So sad that more folks don’t have the will and energy to keep their places up.

It's the same here. The pride of ownership shows here and there, then you'll have someone living on 100 acres they inherited, with opaque plastic over broken windows, broken siding all over the house, faded paint everywhere. The yards filled with trash and debris, inoperable vehicles left where they died, grass and weeds overgrown and pastures and fields returning to nature. The lack of care magnified by the pride shown on either side.

They either don't have, or don't enforce laws to prevent this type of behavior. When I was still working in VA, I spent nearly three years enforcing Zoning laws before returning to patrol. The neighborhoods appreciated us. It kept property values high, prevented rat/vermin infestation, and reduced vandalism. NOT like HOA rules, but limited trash and debris, hoarding, inoperable vehicles, etc. You could have an inoperable vehicle, but it had to be covered, or stored out of view in a side or rear yard.