# Habitat Plans for 2014...



## Triple C (Jan 12, 2014)

Thought it would be interesting and informative to see what others are doing to improve their habitat.  Each year, we start immediately after the season is over on habitat stuff.  Heck…it's bout 70% of the fun for me.  This year is no different.  We got started yesterday immediately after the rain stopped.  Planted 100 Virginia pine, 50 wax myrtle and 10 crabapples.  We ordered these as bare root seedlings from the GFC.  This is our 2nd year ordering from them and after last year's success we decided to do more.

Wax myrtles are native to the southeast and really grow fast.  A great spreading evergreen shrub that grows to about 15 feet and about as wide.  We use them for screening along our property boundary.

Virginia pines are fast growing and are great for adding structure.  We use them around the edges of wildlife openings, food plots and any where we need to provide additional cover.  Density of a cedar but much faster growers.

We got started yesterday in our "bean field plot" by adding a few Virginia pines around an outcropping that comes out into the field.  The pine in the pic has a camera mounted on it.  Deer just naturally use this outcropping to enter the field.  Thought it would be beneficial to add a little more structure and cover to this area.






Planted the crabapples in our "Lower - Lower Plot" basically under the stand where this pic was taken.  Planted more virigina pines in the fallow area at the north end of this plot.





Would like to hear what others are doing on their property this time of year prior to plotting season.


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## MD746 (Jan 12, 2014)

Clearing out 1ac of pine to extend a older food plot then lime ,lime and lime. I would also like to plant something to block a road view. How fast does wax myrtle grow compared to red cedar or pine?


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## Triple C (Jan 12, 2014)

MD746;8411517 How fast does wax myrtle grow compared to red cedar or pine?[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> Up to 5 ft a year.  Much faster than cedar.  Very inexpensive as bare root.  We planted 250 along our north property line last year.  During prescribed burn fire got down into them for about 150 feet.  Much to my surprise, they sprouted again this fall.  Plus their non-invasive and grow very dense.
> 
> Here's a pic at planting time last year in February and a pic I took in October.  Now that roots are established I expect them to really take off this Spring.


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## Canuck5 (Jan 13, 2014)

Good job!!!  You're way ahead of the game here!


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## Canuck5 (Jan 13, 2014)

As time permits, I'll be going back to the camp and fertilizing some of our tree's.  Then we will be opening up a couple of new food plots, subsoiling to start with.


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## MD746 (Jan 13, 2014)

I needs to get my hands on some wax mytrle I have a 80' line that needs to be planted.


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## Triple C (Jan 13, 2014)

Call your local GFC office and see if they still have any available.  My guess is that they can get you some now. Come in bags of 50.


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## GAGE (Jan 13, 2014)

I have quite a bit of pruning to do, plus 4 more pears to plant, and hope to pick up 5-6 chestnuts next month when Wal Mart gets them in. I have another spot that I want to put in a plot, but it is going to need some work, as it is in a pine row. 
Also looking to find bagged lime on sale, as well as get a couple burns done before March.


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## GeorgeShu (Jan 13, 2014)

Harrow fire breaks to begin prep for controlled burn next month. I burn 1/3 of my woods each year.
Fertilize trees planted in years past.  Trim as needed.  Add protective wire cages to a few to protect against deer rubs next year.  Don't ask why I decided to put them up.
Take down and store ladder stands. Add shooting rails to some of them.
Harrow up dusting spots for the turkeys in a couple of traditional strut zone areas.  They also make good "track traps" to determine sex of turkeys using them.
Continue weed control in food plots.


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## Triple C (Jan 13, 2014)

GAGE said:


> I have quite a bit of pruning to do, plus 4 more pears to plant, and hope to pick up 5-6 chestnuts next month when Wal Mart gets them in. I have another spot that I want to put in a plot, but it is going to need some work, as it is in a pine row.
> Also looking to find bagged lime on sale, as well as get a couple burns done before March.



Gage…When you prune your fruit trees, post some before and after pics.  We're a couple of weeks away from pruning ours.  Mostly Keiffer and Orient pears and a few apple.  Pears grew profusely last year.  Probably too much fertilizer.  Learning to take it easy on fertilizing the fruit trees.  Amazing how much time I've stared at a few of the pears determining exactly how they need to be pruned.  Will post before and after pics when we prune.


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## Triple C (Jan 13, 2014)

GeorgeShu said:


> Harrow fire breaks to begin prep for controlled burn next month. I burn 1/3 of my woods each year.
> Fertilize trees planted in years past.  Trim as needed.  Add protective wire cages to a few to protect against deer rubs next year.  Don't ask why I decided to put them up.



Probably a rub or 2 on a few of your trees.  We did same thing.  Got all of our fruit trees caged.  Burned our 24 yr old loblolly's last spring with the help of the GFC.  Previous owner burned 2 years prior.  Trying to bring along a couple covey of quail using our property.  Our young pines are 14 yrs old and getting closer to their 1st thinning.  About 110 acres of 14 yr old pine.  Looking forward to the day we can quail hunt in the pines if we can control the predators.  Post pics of burn day if you can.


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## Tucaway (Jan 13, 2014)

Plan on planting some apple trees and sawtooth oaks if it ever decides to dry out a little and wire cage them, take down deer stands,  cut some apple grafting wood for this years grafting, get ready for some control burning, prune apple trees, limb the roads and areas where I got hit in the head while bushogging during the summer, rake up some pine straw to be used around the house and lastly this time of the year I do some heavy duty dreaming of what else I can do to make a small piece of the world He has trusted me with better.


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## slow motion (Jan 13, 2014)

GeorgeShu said:


> Harrow up dusting spots for the turkeys in a couple of traditional strut zone areas.  They also make good "track traps" to determine sex of turkeys using them.



Gonna show my ignorance but how do you determine a turkey's sex by tracks? Is it their size?


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## ChattNFHunter (Jan 13, 2014)

got some persimmon seeds i plan to start in a green house and then transplant this fall in a few locations on the property.


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## GeorgeShu (Jan 14, 2014)

Slow motion - yes by size.  Gobbler tracks are larger than hen tracks.  Easy to see difference when both hen and gobbler tracks are nearby.  May also see "strut marks" where gobbler drags his wings while strutting.


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## ssiredfish (Jan 14, 2014)

Man yall make me look like I sit around all year!  Nice work and effort guys!

Triple C - Your Wax myrtles look to more like Sea Myrtles(Baccharis halimifolia) to me.  Hard to tell in the pics but yours look like sufficiently larger/wider leaves than that of the wax myrtle and more serrated.   For what you're using them for, the desired effect will be the same.  They do however grow faster and re-seed better than a Wax Myrtle(Myrica cerifera).  If you post a better pic I could tell you for sure or if it bloomed little white frilly things thats a sure sign its a Sea Myrtle.  Not tryin to go all poindexter on ya just thought you should know


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## jesnic (Jan 14, 2014)

This is an awesome thread! I just ordered wax myrtles, red cedar, dog woods and redbuds. Can't wait to get them and start planting. I also have some yellow buckeye seeds that I have kept in the fridge since I got them last summer. I am thinking about getting them out and starting to plant them as well.


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## joey1919 (Jan 14, 2014)

put in two new food plots. about 5 acres total. planted 56 hardwoods; chestnut , sawtooth , gobbler sawtooth and dwarf chinkipins. planted about 60 fruit trees, pear, apple, persimmon, crabapple and plum.also about 40 honeysuckle. mulched and caged all of the trees. ran a chopper across the new ground to break up all the sticks, roots and stumps and have harrowed once. Dang! I'm tired. still got to spread the lime and chicken litter, dig a couple big stumps, harrow some more,plant the rest of the honeysuckle, and if time permits i'll plant a few more trees.

also there are a lot of Chickasaw plums growing naturally on the place so I want to locate and flag as many of them as I can. I want to be able to fertilize them and avoid them with the bush-hog


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## Triple C (Jan 14, 2014)

ssiredfish said:


> Man yall make me look like I sit around all year!  Nice work and effort guys!
> 
> Triple C - Your Wax myrtles look to more like Sea Myrtles(Baccharis halimifolia) to me.  Hard to tell in the pics but yours look like sufficiently larger/wider leaves than that of the wax myrtle and more serrated.   For what you're using them for, the desired effect will be the same.  They do however grow faster and re-seed better than a Wax Myrtle(Myrica cerifera).  If you post a better pic I could tell you for sure or if it bloomed little white frilly things thats a sure sign its a Sea Myrtle.  Not tryin to go all poindexter on ya just thought you should know



redfish…GFC coulda pulled one over on me!  Planted 250 of em last year and ordered 50 more this year.  They're delivered to the local GFC office from their nursery and the bags have "wax myrtle" written on em.  1st bear roots we ever planted and wow was I surprised how well they grew.  Expected to lose quite a few but the lil rascals just kept on growing.  I'll take a close pic of the leaf the next time I'm down and post it for a better view.  Virginia pines did good as well last year.  Expecting them to really pop this year.  Crabs were much bigger than I expected so not sure how well they will do as bare roots but we will see.

Habitat improvement is a bunch of fun!  Also did my first hinge cutting last weekend near bedding areas.  Intend to do quite a bit more the next time I'm down and will post up some pics as I progress.  Would love to see pics of what others are doing on their property.


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## Triple C (Jan 14, 2014)

joey1919 said:


> put in two new food plots. about 5 acres total. planted 56 hardwoods; chestnut , sawtooth , gobbler sawtooth and dwarf chinkipins. planted about 60 fruit trees, pear, apple, persimmon, crabapple and plum.also about 40 honeysuckle. mulched and caged all of the trees. ran a chopper across the new ground to break up all the sticks, roots and stumps and have harrowed once. Dang! I'm tired. still got to spread the lime and chicken litter, dig a couple big stumps, harrow some more,plant the rest of the honeysuckle, and if time permits i'll plant a few more trees.



Post some pics for your efforts when you can.  We cage all of our fruit trees and sawtooths and will cage the crabs we just planted as soon as I see they're gonna make it.


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## joey1919 (Jan 14, 2014)

This is the larger of the two plots, the pictures aren't great but its all I had on my phone, I'll try to get some better ones next week.I'll be out of town this weekend. This is after the planting nd caging. After I ran the chopper over it. And before and after the harrowing


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## Canuck5 (Jan 15, 2014)

Looks good!!!


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## Crakajak (Jan 15, 2014)

joey1919 said:


> put in two new food plots. about 5 acres total. planted 56 hardwoods; chestnut , sawtooth , gobbler sawtooth and dwarf chinkipins. planted about 60 fruit trees, pear, apple, persimmon, crabapple and plum.also about 40 honeysuckle. mulched and caged all of the trees. ran a chopper across the new ground to break up all the sticks, roots and stumps and have harrowed once. Dang! I'm tired. still got to spread the lime and chicken litter, dig a couple big stumps, harrow some more,plant the rest of the honeysuckle, and if time permits i'll plant a few more trees.
> 
> also there are a lot of Chickasaw plums growing naturally on the place so I want to locate and flag as many of them as I can. I want to be able to fertilize them and avoid them with the bush-hog



Doesn't your tractor have head lights?


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## Crakajak (Jan 15, 2014)

I am going to add a few more trees and over seed the clover,prune trees, and turkey hunt later in the spring. Most of the hard work is behind me now.
Just found out the timber company is going to be thinning one of our tracts of land. We will be busy this fall.


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## joey1919 (Jan 15, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Doesn't your tractor have head lights?



It does but its my crappy phone that needs the headlights, it wasn't as dark as it looks in that picture.


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## humdandy (Jan 15, 2014)

Lime all plots this winter.  Fertilize plots and Sawtooths, they border the plots.

Might plant some spring/summer peas this year depending on the price.


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## Crakajak (Jan 15, 2014)

Old Timer said:


> It seems when I get ready to get a jump on chores every thing goes wrong. Trying to move some fallen trees with a bobcat got stuck. Went to get dozer and batteries dead. Next week I bought new batteries and tried to pull bobcat out. I got dozer stuck big time. So here I am by myself with 2 machines mired in mud (too much rain should have waited till it dried out some). Went to get my tractor with fel to try and grade my way out. Tractor has flat front tire. Two Saturdays wasted and all equipment down. Whats next??
> Good luck everyone.
> OT



All I can tell you is all that can be fixed and I am grateful everyday that I have problems to fix and deal with. Even with the equipment problems a bad day at the farm is better than a good day at work.


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## Broken Arrow 68 (Jan 15, 2014)

The next decent weather weekend, I plan on bushhogging the logging trails and any plot maintenance cutting that needs to be done.  Plus, clean my fire breaks.  Build a bridge over a small creek to access backside of my property.  And if still have time, start building addition onto my deck of the cabin.


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## Trigabby (Jan 16, 2014)

What's your method for planting that many trees?  I still have about 20 gobbler sawtooths to get in the ground that I potted last year, plus I have 50 regular sawtooths, 10 chestnut oaks and 10 persimmons coming from GFC next week...   I guess my main problem is just finding places to plant them as my acreage is slam full of planted loblolly.. I have to spend time finding pockets of bad trees, get rid of them and plant a few good trees here and there...

When you get the bare root seedlings, how big of a hole do you prepare?  With the potted ones I have to dig a nice big hole with the ole PHD... Is it okay to create a smaller hole with the bare root trees?


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## Triple C (Jan 16, 2014)

For your bare root trees coming from the GFC you need a dibble bar to plant these.  Go on Amazon or any forestry supply store to see them.  We have 2 different style dibble bars.  One has a pointed end and the other looks like a wedge attached to the bottom of the handle.  I prefer the wedge style with the flat bottom.  Just stab it in the ground, put you foot on the foot bar and wiggle back and forth until the dibble goes down even with the foot bar.  Stick bare root in and close opening.  Be sure and compact the opening with your heel to insure no air pockets remain around the root.


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## humdandy (Jan 16, 2014)

Triple C said:


> For your bare root trees coming from the GFC you need a dibble bar to plant these.  Go on Amazon or any forestry supply store to see them.  We have 2 different style dibble bars.  One has a pointed end and the other looks like a wedge attached to the bottom of the handle.  I prefer the wedge style with the flat bottom.  Just stab it in the ground, put you foot on the foot bar and wiggle back and forth until the dibble goes down even with the foot bar.  Stick bare root in and close opening.  Be sure and compact the opening with your heel to insure no air pockets remain around the root.



This is what I do.  

Also, make sure the hole is deep enough so the root does not bend.  I was told this is a "j-root" and will stunt or kill the tree.


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## Trigabby (Jan 16, 2014)

Alright.. Just ordered from Amazon the one with the wedge...  Now off to get more tubes!


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## Triple C (Jan 16, 2014)

Trigabby said:


> Alright.. Just ordered from Amazon the one with the wedge...  Now off to get more tubes!



Good point by humdandy.  Push your bare root all the way to the bottom of the hole with roots at bottom then pull back up to where base of bare root trunk is even with the ground.  J root no good!  Once you get the hang of it you can plant a bunch of seedlings in a few hours.


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## Trigabby (Jan 16, 2014)

Yeah, I've done that with all of my trees that were potted.. unfurled the roots (carefully) and dug DEEP.. Dang, their roots grow fast and long...  I potted the first batch, not going to this time, that's for sure..


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## bruiserbuckgrower (Jan 18, 2014)

Going to plant sawtooths with south ga lefty this morning. Might get some plots mowed today too, plan on adding 2 more plots this year with chicory, arrowleaf clover, Alice, maybe some durana, crimson, and bulldog red, and diakon radish.


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## ranger53 (Jan 18, 2014)

I have 20 acers behind my house to hunt it is 90% hard woods with one little corner in pines and about 1\2acer field I plan to make a food plot out of. The only problem is its the field is on my property line any suggestion of what I need to plant to hold deer. Also forgot there is about a 50 foot wide track behind my property that's in high brush. I know deer bed in there but it doesn't hold them. Railroad is behind that then mountains.


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## Cornfed (Jan 19, 2014)

We'll be getting ready for a prescribed burn as well- GFC will be bringing in a dozer to widen some of our roads to become better fire breaks. We have been bush hogging and trying to knock down a bunch of briar patches. Have Keifer pears to get in the ground. We worked yesterday getting some pretty big rocks out of the ground around our biggest food plot using the FEL and the road leading into it- biggest rock was almost the size of a 55 gallon barrel, others were a bit smaller but they were on the road in the woods and harder to get out because of the trees and limited spots we could drive the tractor around. One thing we really need to do is work on our erosion control and get some water bars in on some roads. Also thinking about tossing some rye grass on the roads after discing them and cutting a new road in using some wide shooting lanes in the area to give the old road a rest and allow us to spread out our driving options. I remember asking some of y'all on here what you recommend to plant and I know rye grass isn't as nutritious as rye grain but we really need to hold that darn soil down. Also planning to dump loads of small rocks in the ditches to slow down the flow of water.


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## aaron batson (Jan 19, 2014)

Planted 50 sawtooths yesterday. Just getting started...


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## Triple C (Jan 19, 2014)

Cornfed said:


> We'll be getting ready for a prescribed burn as well- GFC will be bringing in a dozer to widen some of our roads to become better fire breaks. We have been bush hogging and trying to knock down a bunch of briar patches. Have Keifer pears to get in the ground. We worked yesterday getting some pretty big rocks out of the ground around our biggest food plot using the FEL and the road leading into it- biggest rock was almost the size of a 55 gallon barrel, others were a bit smaller but they were on the road in the woods and harder to get out because of the trees and limited spots we could drive the tractor around. *One thing we really need to do is work on our erosion control and get some water bars in on some roads.* Also thinking about tossing some rye grass on the roads after discing them and cutting a new road in using some wide shooting lanes in the area to give the old road a rest and allow us to spread out our driving options. I remember asking some of y'all on here what you recommend to plant and I know rye grass isn't as nutritious as rye grain but we really need to hold that darn soil down. Also planning to dump loads of small rocks in the ditches to slow down the flow of water.



Best thing you can do for erosion is just what you mentioned…put water bars along your road system and put more than you think you need.  Any amount of slope and you're gonna have erosion without water bars.  Then scratch it and throw some rye on it just to get something growing.  It it gets enough sunlight you could plant NWSG's for a permanent solution but definitely need sunlight on it.  GFC helped us burn 73 acres last year.  The results were fantastic.  Lots of forbs and cover.  Plus, killed a good many of the hardwood stems coming up…mostly sweet gum.  Here's a pic from the burn.  My son and grandson were down for the burn.


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## southernman13 (Jan 19, 2014)

What's nwsg's. Did you only burn in your pines? I've got burnin to do as well. I have on block of hardwoods maybe 20 acres that looks lt may not be too didicult to burn, it has a bunch of privett growin in it. Wasn't sure if that was as no no to burn the hardwoods. If not I had planed on hitting it with the mulcher to knockdown the privett then spraying w glyphosphate to try and get privett under control


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## Cornfed (Jan 19, 2014)

Triple C you know I'm following your advice! I even saw your stuff on another board and told my dad and brother "y'all gotta see what this man and his family are doing!" Our family is in a similar situation where my folks bought an old farm.


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## Triple C (Jan 19, 2014)

Cornfed said:


> Triple C you know I'm following your advice! I even saw your stuff on another board and told my dad and brother "y'all gotta see what this man and his family are doing!" Our family is in a similar situation where my folks bought an old farm.



Thanks for true kind words Cornfed.  We been hunting for decades but only 3 years into the land management/habitat improvement scene.  Still feel like we're in a big learning curve.  The journey is where the joy is at!  Spent almost 4 hrs yesterday doing my 1st hinge-cutting on the property to create more bedding areas and open up the forest floor to sunlight.  Must say the end results look awesome!  Will post pics in the next couple of days.


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## Triple C (Jan 19, 2014)

southernman13 said:


> What's nwsg's. Did you only burn in your pines? I've got burnin to do as well. I have on block of hardwoods maybe 20 acres that looks lt may not be too didicult to burn, it has a bunch of privett growin in it. Wasn't sure if that was as no no to burn the hardwoods. If not I had planed on hitting it with the mulcher to knockdown the privett then spraying w glyphosphate to try and get privett under control



NWSG's is Native Warm Season Grasses.  Burn your pines and you'll have broomsedge blue-stem popping up which is a NWSG.  You're grandparents probably called it broom straw.  Used it to make brooms years ago.  There's other on this forum that know a lot more than I do about establishing NWSGs.  We're just starting on this project other than the broomsedge we encourage along the interior roads and fields by not bush hogging anything other than enough to drive the UTVs thru.  Hopefully more of the NWSG experts will chime in.

As for burning your hardwoods, I would recommend hiring a consulting forester or contact your local GFC forester before I ran any fire through my hardwoods.  Don't think they take to fire very well.  Best thing you can do with privet is nuke it with a heavy dose of gly when green up starts.  The big stuff you may need to take a chainsaw to and then treat the stem with a heavy dose.  Otherwise it will take over!


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## southernman13 (Jan 19, 2014)

Ya 10-4 I'm headed back up tomorrow and I had planned on calling a forestry consultant about various things. Thought I'd pick your brain. Broom sage is what I call it and I'd love to get that established in my pines. Theyve been thinned over the years and now look more like a plantatiion style. I just purchased the land this year so don't know the history on th stand of pines.


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## ranger53 (Jan 19, 2014)

I guess I forgot to ask for advise on my previous post. I need ideas I'm new to food plots


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## Canuck5 (Jan 20, 2014)

ranger53 said:


> I have 20 acers behind my house to hunt it is 90% hard woods with one little corner in pines and about 1\2acer field I plan to make a food plot out of. The only problem is its the field is on my property line any suggestion of what I need to plant to hold deer. Also forgot there is about a 50 foot wide track behind my property that's in high brush. I know deer bed in there but it doesn't hold them. Railroad is behind that then mountains.



For the 1/2 acre field, I think I would get a soil test, tell them you want to plant a perennial clover, amend the soil per the soil test and start getting the weeds under control for a fall planting.

1/2 acre is nice, but it is not a lot, not knowing what else is around there, as far as food sources go.  A perennial clover plot (Durana, Imperial Whitetail Clover, etc.,) will give you a good food source, for a larger percentage of your year and not have to replant for a while.


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## bruiserbuckgrower (Jan 20, 2014)

Just picked up some chinkapin oaks and white oaks to plant pretty soon


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## ranger53 (Jan 20, 2014)

Thanks canuck most of the property is either white oak red oak or hickory. Should I open a small area in the middle of it for a food source too?


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## Triple C (Jan 20, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> For the 1/2 acre field, I think I would get a soil test, tell them you want to plant a perennial clover, amend the soil per the soil test and start getting the weeds under control for a fall planting.
> 
> 1/2 acre is nice, but it is not a lot, not knowing what else is around there, as far as food sources go.  A perennial clover plot (Durana, Imperial Whitetail Clover, etc.,) will give you a good food source, for a larger percentage of your year and not have to replant for a while.



Canuck…We're gonna do the same with a couple of our smaller plots.  We always add clover in the Fall when planting these smaller plots but then plow it under in the Spring and plant summer forage.  Problem is that some of these plots are just not big enough to handle beans in the summer.  I like the idea of reserving the larger plots for Spring/Summer forage plots and replanting with Fall/Winter forage plots, but a few of the smaller plots are going to be converted to nothing but clovers and a little chicory thrown in to boot.

Learning as we go...


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## Triple C (Jan 20, 2014)

*Our 1st hinge cutting experience*

This past weekend I conducted my 1st attempt at hinge cutting.  For the past 3 winters, all of our timber stand improvement work has been focused on removing hundreds if not thousands of cull/weed trees in order to release the mast producing trees in our hardwood draws.  When I say thousands, keep in mind that many of these were just small diameter…1 to 3 inch sweet gum and elms.  I would cut them to the ground and then pile them up and either leave them for birds and small game or burn the piles.  The end result was the release of many, many oaks with a park like look.

After reading extensively about the advantages of hinge cutting where you cut through 2/3 to 3/4 of the tree and then tip it over on it's side with a portion of the cambium in tact so it continues to live, I dove in and got started this weekend.  The goal was to open up the canopy to get ample sunlight on the forest floor in order to promote early successional growth and allow the tipped over trees to provide additional browse, bedding, and where the deer couldn't penetrate, provide a barrier to young oak seedlings as the sprouted.

We are fortunate to have 5 distinct hardwood draws that lead out of the south end of our property, which is all hardwood bottoms, and meander up through our planted pines.  I did this hinge cutting in one of these draws that runs between 14 yr old planted pines and is located near our largest food plot of 3.5 acres.  

The 1st pic is a view through this draw after the leaves dropped.  As you can see there is very little to browse due to the canopy being completely closed.  Lots of oaks which is good when the acorns are dropping but very little cover.  My goal was to hinge cut the edges of this draw which are full of sweet gums and elms.


After 3 hours of running the chainsaw, here is what the edge of this draw leading up to the planted pines and big food plot looked like.  Notice the sunlight opened up to hit the forest floor and imagine how thick this will be by the end of summer.  I hinged these trees about shoulder high in order to allow plenty of room for deer to walk under for bedding and browsing.  Will update pics in the Fall to see how it turns out.


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## Triple C (Jan 20, 2014)

*Trophy Rock*

Place a Trophy Rock in the head of this draw just to see how it works out.  Always one to try something a little different.


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## Triple C (Jan 20, 2014)

*Natural shallow water pond*

The draw where I did the hinge cutting has a nice little shallow water pond in the head of the draw.  Very thick growth around it and for some reason, very heavy clay in this small area.  Plan to dig it out just a little more.  Grandson couldn't help but walk it.  Just comes natural to a kid.


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## Crakajak (Jan 21, 2014)

You got a lot going on Triple C. Lots of hard work. Looking good.


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## GAGE (Jan 21, 2014)

Hinge cutting with a hand saw is too much like work, great job!


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## Triple C (Jan 21, 2014)

GAGE said:


> Hinge cutting with a hand saw is too much like work, great job!



You got that right!  Although it is a Silky.  Should require a permit to carry.   Fortunately did all that hinging with a chainsaw on Saturday.  Showed my oldest son and grandson my progress on Sunday and actually did hinge a few more trees with the handsaw.  That is one sharp, bad-to-the bone handsaw!


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## bruiserbuckgrower (Jan 21, 2014)

Picked up some overcups, nutalls, and shumards today


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## Triple C (Jan 21, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> You got a lot going on Triple C. Lots of hard work. Looking good.




Thx Crakajack!  Labor of love


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## humdandy (Jan 21, 2014)

Got 4 tons of lime spread yesterday.


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## Pudd82 (Jan 22, 2014)

Hey trip c, I've ordered from gfs before. crabs, plums,persimmons and pines plus cedars. The crabs I ordered were one main shoot and no branches and looked dead on arrival and indeed died, have you had any luck? Everything I have got from them had great looks and results, other than the crabs. Let us know you success rate please.


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## Triple C (Jan 23, 2014)

Pudd82 said:


> Hey trip c, I've ordered from gfs before. crabs, plums,persimmons and pines plus cedars. The crabs I ordered were one main shoot and no branches and looked dead on arrival and indeed died, have you had any luck? Everything I have got from them had great looks and results, other than the crabs. Let us know you success rate please.



Worried about the crabs myself.  They almost seem to big to be bare root and the roots had been clipped back.  Not sure there is enough root mass to support the size of the crabs.  Will definitely be nursing these along.  Updates to follow.

Question for the fruit tree experts on here…Is it too early to prune pears?


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## Crakajak (Jan 23, 2014)

With the lower than average temps I am going to wait until late Feb or early march to prune.


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## Tucaway (Jan 23, 2014)

To be safe I am waiting like Crakajak said to prune my pears especially with this years weather patterns. Might be ok with an older pear tree but young ones are more prone to winter injury.


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## Triple C (Jan 23, 2014)

Appreciate the advice on the pruning.  Late Feb it will be!  How about some of you fruit tree gurus post a few before and after pruning pics when you start pruning.  I feel like a surgeon about to cut on his very 1st patient.  Don't wanna cut in the wrong place.


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## Bowyer29 (Jan 27, 2014)

The stump with the trophy rock will disappear quickly!


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## Canuck5 (Jan 28, 2014)

It's all looking good!!  And it's making me feel lazy!!!!!!!!!  LOL!!


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## Triple C (Jan 28, 2014)

Bowyer29 said:


> The stump with the trophy rock will disappear quickly!



After 1 week I could not detect any use of the Trophy Rock but did get several pics of deer coming into the area from behind the rock.  I have camera set on 30 second intervals to see what happens when they finally take to the Trophy Rock.

Went down this past weekend and did a little more hinge cutting.  Son cleaned out wood duck boxes in beaver ponds.  Gonna put a camera on one of the wood duck boxes this coming weekend.


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## Triple C (Jan 28, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> It's all looking good!!  And it's making me feel lazy!!!!!!!!!  LOL!!



Canuck...You'll be busy soon enough.  Won't be long til we'll have questions of dirt and planting stuff.  One I have right now is...Should I spray mineral oil on my fruit trees this time of year?


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## Canuck5 (Jan 31, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Canuck...You'll be busy soon enough.  Won't be long til we'll have questions of dirt and planting stuff.  One I have right now is...Should I spray mineral oil on my fruit trees this time of year?



That question is above my pay grade!    Maybe someone with more experience on fruit tree's can give you a better answer, or maybe your local extension office?


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## Triple C (Jan 31, 2014)

Gonna stop by Athens Seed in Watkinsville on the way down today and get the scoop on spraying fruit trees while dormant.

Not really habitat work but work going taking place on our "habitat".  Son brought down a load of rough sawn pine he picked up from local sawyer who owns a Woodmizer.  Cuts some really nice pine.  We've used him for all our rough sawn.  Decided to enclose our equipment shed.  A few pics in progress…


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## Gadestroyer74 (Jan 31, 2014)

That looks good


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## Canuck5 (Jan 31, 2014)

Oh that is nice!!!


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## Canuck5 (Jan 31, 2014)

Next weekend I will head down and freshen up our mineral sites.  Again, not 100% sure how much good they do, but I don't think they hurt anything.  The mix I use, was stolen from someone on GON, LOL
Ingredients: 

1 part di-calcium phosphate, this is a dairy feed additive bought at feed stores.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $24. You need one bag.

2 parts trace mineral salt, the red and loose kind without the medications.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $9. You need two bags.

1 part stock salt, or ice cream salt.
Comes in 50lb Bags at around $9. You need one bag. It may cost a little more or less depending on where you get it.

Directions:

-Use a 3 pound or similar size coffee can to use as your measure for each part of the mix.

-Dig or tear up a circle in the soil about 36 inches wide and about 6 inches deep.

-Mix your mineral mixture with the soil.

So, for around $51, you get 200 lbs of mineral mix.


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## Broken Arrow 68 (Jan 31, 2014)

Nice job, Triple C!


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## Triple C (Jan 31, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> Next weekend I will head down and freshen up our mineral sites.  Again, not 100% sure how much good they do, but I don't think they hurt anything.
> 
> Canuck…I'm with you on whether what we do really does make that much difference.  I guess half the fun is in the journey of experimenting.  Do mineral licks really work?  Honestly, I have no idea.  I do know one thing…Trophy Rock is making a fortune on folks like me.  I bought 4 of the rocks that weigh 12 lbs each.  When I got to the register I bout fell over when they rang it up!  Probably my last Trophy Rock.


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## Triple C (Jan 31, 2014)

Broken Arrow 68 said:


> Nice job, Triple C!



Thanks Broken Arrow!  Looking forward to seeing your place soon and having you out to our place.


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## Canuck5 (Feb 9, 2014)

Well, we got out minerals put down ...... For $200 I got 800 lbs of my mineral mix.  You can see that they have been waiting for me to freshen the mineral sites up!


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## Canuck5 (Feb 9, 2014)

Aside from cutting up some wood, I did some checking on the clover plots.  With all the cold weather, the Durana is still holding on and starting to come back.  The food plots are absolutely full of tracks!


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## Canuck5 (Feb 9, 2014)

And low and behold, these are some of the gems we found in the food plots


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## Triple C (Feb 9, 2014)

Good stuff Canuck!  Just got back from the farm late this afternoon.  Did some more hinge cutting and pruned the pear trees.  Couldn't stand it any longer on the pruning.  My son finished enclosing the equipment shed today, thanks to the help of a couple of buddies.  I'll post some pics later.


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## Triple C (Feb 9, 2014)

Decided to go ahead and prune a few of the pear trees today.  Before pruning…


After pruning…


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## Triple C (Feb 9, 2014)

Pulled SD cards on 3 cameras today.  Pretty cool pic of here…2 wannabes squaring off at each other while big boy looks on.


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## Triple C (Feb 9, 2014)

Took the grand kids to Disney World this past week.  Got home yesterday about 4:15 and told my wife I needed to head to the farm for a day of decompression…

Son spent a few days working on the equipment shed while I was gone.  Today, a couple of his buddies came down to help him finish.


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## huntall (Feb 9, 2014)

That's awesome triple c! I'm keeping up with your projects.  Lots of work, but fun work....right?   I love it!


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## Canuck5 (Feb 10, 2014)

Very Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Crakajak (Feb 10, 2014)

Triple C.
I pruned all my trees this weekend also. 
Your equipment shed is looking great, A LOT of hard work to do that.
Your son has some great friends.


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## Triple C (Feb 27, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Triple C.
> I pruned all my trees this weekend also.
> Your equipment shed is looking great, A LOT of hard work to do that.
> Your son has some great friends.



I sent his buddies a Case Canoe knife as a small token of my appreciation for coming down and helping him finish the siding.  Lights and electrical outlets installed this past Monday.


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## Triple C (Feb 27, 2014)

This weekend I'm going down to do a little more hinge cutting.  In the past, we've cut to the ground and removed the cull trees in order to release the smaller oaks.  Gave it more of a park type look which I really like and will greatly benefit the mast trees.  But, after reading so much about the benefits of hinge-cutting I decided to go that route this year.  I'm really anxious to see what the hinged areas look like this summer and how much the deer actually use it for bedding and cover.  I've also hinged areas to block deer movement and funnel their travel route toward the trophy rock area in the previous pics.  Here's a pic of what we used to do when we conducted timber stand improvement.


Looks great and smaller oaks that were released really took off last year but no cover.  The hinge cut pic below should produce great cover and bedding.  We will see come this summer.


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## Canuck5 (Mar 12, 2014)

Looks good Triple C!  I've seen some hinge cutting where they don't cut all the way through the tree, but leave some of it attached, so that the tree will continue to grow and provide some "food", while creating a nice bedding area.  But creating some nice cover is not a bad thing at all!

Well, I guess the clover must be starting to pop!  Over the next 30 days, it should put on a lot of growth and hopefully by the end of April, I'll be looking at starting some summer planting!  I know I will regret saying this, but the rain could stop for a little while!!


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## Triple C (Mar 12, 2014)

Thanks Canuck!  With the exception of a few of the bigger trees in the pic above that snapped off when tipped over, the vast majority tipped over with a good portion of cambium layer an bark still in tact.  In this area we cut at about shoulder height which will allow the deer to walk under the trees with no problem and provide additional browse and bedding in the remaining live tree tops.  This should be one really thick area come summer.  As stated earlier, our past TSI has been to cut at the ground level and completely remove cull trees to release smaller oaks and put sunlight on the forest floor.  This is our 1st year of hinging cull trees.  I did another area this past weekend.  I'm also hinging around the border of a couple of our food plots.  The idea is to provide a thick, living screen around the food plot with funnels to enter and exit.  Can't wait to see how all of this works out.  Will post up progress this summer.

Clover is definitely greening up.  Green up is always highly anticipated and can't wait til it finally gets here!  Amazing how we look forward to the beginning and ending of each season.  Had about all the gray I care to look at.


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## Triple C (Mar 12, 2014)

*More hinge cutting...*

This past weekend we did more hinge-cutting on the edge of a hardwood draw that bumps up against 15 yr old planted pine.  On the other side of the pines is our largest food plot we call the bean field.  It's just over 3 acres in size and big enough to get cowpeas and soybeans established.  On either side of the bean field is a strip of planted pines and on the other side of the pines on each side is hardwood draws that run parallel to the pines and bean field.  It's in these draws we're doing most of our hinge-cutting.  This area is located in the center of our property.  It is heavily used by deer throughout the year and during the rut, plenty of bucks cruise through this area.  Great bedding areas are just off the bean field where the pines meet the hardwoods.  Lots of brushy undergrowth.

My oldest son and grandson were down this weekend so I handed him the chainsaw and we headed into the draw.  Here's a great pic of how we're hinge-cutting this area.  You can see the trees are cut at about shoulder height and a layer of the cambium and bark remain in tact which should produce great cover and browse.  Notice the safety glasses, hard hard with hearing protection and saw chaps.  Can't believe I used a chainsaw for so many years when the boys were growing up without any protection.  Kinda like seat belts...can't drive without being buckled in and no longer can use a chainsaw without the proper safety equipment.


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## Triple C (Mar 12, 2014)

*Expanded water hole...*

A couple of weeks ago my youngest son used his mini-excavator to expand one of our water holes.  Went from a water hole to an almost small pond.  Added a wood duck box.  We'll see if the water hole is big enough to attract a nesting wood duck next year.  We've got plenty of wood ducks down in our beaver sloughs and ponds but thought we would see if we could get one to nest on the northern end of the property.


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## Canuck5 (Mar 13, 2014)

Wow, you really are making a nice habitat there!!!!!!!!!!


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## Cornfed (Mar 18, 2014)

Alright y'all have inspired me again to do a better job of taking pictures and contribute to this thread, so here goes:


Here is a week old pic of the utilization cage in a 1 acre green field. We planted BFO and Rackmaster Deluxe Fall Deer Mix containing oats, Austrian winter peas, rye, clover, and wheat on 9/21/13. The field already had clover in it so we just scratched the surface a bit, broadcasted, and finished with a chain drag harrow to cover the seeds. We put down lime as well but no fertilizer at all.


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## Cornfed (Mar 18, 2014)

Here is our DHM5 woods disc harrow tearing up a little half acre plot. The ground on our property is real rocky and I spent about 15 minutes hand tossing rocks out of this plot as my dad was discing it up. Our tractor does a great job pulling through the ground with those turf tires, never had to lock the rear or use 4 wheel drive yet. This plot was bulldozed clear several years ago but has always been fallow and nothing more than a turn around spot along the road.


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## Cornfed (Mar 18, 2014)

Here is a pretty good pic of overgrown underbrush. We are scheduled and still waiting on the GA Forestry Commission to come out to help us finish build the rest of the firebreaks before they come out and light it up! It's amazing how different our landscape can be within just 100 yards or so, from rolling hills of mature hardwoods to this kind of overgrown pine, then smooth bottom lands and more hardwoods. We'll get some pics of the burn whenever it happens and i'll post the results.


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## Triple C (Mar 18, 2014)

Cornfed...We used the GFC last year to assist us with the burn of our 24 yr old stand of loblolly.  Love those guys.  They reworked our firebreaks with their dozer the day before the burn and then spent all day on the burn.  Turned out great!  Really did a number on the smaller hardwood stems in the stand.  It is amazing the seed bank that lies dormant in a mature pine stand until you run fire thru it.  All kinds of forbs pop up after the burn.  It's starting to get that plantation look with native grasses and forbs running thru the pines.  We have several covey of quail on the property and hope to keep improving the habitat to increase quail population.

Keep the updates coming as you progress!


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## Gadestroyer74 (Mar 18, 2014)

Looks great love seeing y'all's pics


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## Canuck5 (Mar 21, 2014)

*Well, it was bound to happen ....*

If you put out corn long enough, they too will come .... along with their damage.  Or was it because I built a little smokehouse for the camp ..... ?  It will be an interesting year with hogs on the property now


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## Crakajak (Mar 21, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> If you put out corn long enough, they too will come .... along with their damage.  Or was it because I built a little smokehouse for the camp ..... ?  It will be an interesting year with hogs on the property now



Thats not good.Tell your turkey hunters to change over after lunch and go sit at the feeders.BBQ for dinner.
PM me which tract if you don't mind.I have a solution for the overturned feeder. 3 poles ,cable pully and a winch.
Stop by in late April and I will show you my new feeder trough I am building and hopefully my weed wiper also.


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## Canuck5 (Mar 21, 2014)

I have alerted all the turkey hunters and heavy artillery is being brought with them .... some are excited about the opportunity, but those of us who plant the food plots are fearful what will happen once we turn over some fresh dirt!

Yeah, I have seen the cable and pulley set up and that is what we will have to change over too .... a good suggestion!!!  I plan to pop over next time I am there!  PM sent!


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## Triple C (Mar 21, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> If you put out corn long enough, they too will come .... along with their damage.  Or was it because I built a little smokehouse for the camp ..... ?  It will be an interesting year with hogs on the property now



Bad deal on the pigs Canuck.  We just got to where we tolerate them.  Hopefully you'll have some members willing to shoot all spring and summer.


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## Gadestroyer74 (Mar 21, 2014)

There is a heap of people willing to kill the fool outta hogs that's the easy part


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## Canuck5 (Mar 22, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Bad deal on the pigs Canuck.  We just got to where we tolerate them.  Hopefully you'll have some members willing to shoot all spring and summer.



Yeah, we have a few willing to step up to the plate, to at least keep the numbers down!


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## Canuck5 (Mar 22, 2014)

Gadestroyer74 said:


> There is a heap of people willing to kill the fool outta hogs that's the easy part



There is!  I just need to get a handle on how many we really have, too!


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## Gadestroyer74 (Mar 22, 2014)

I use to work on a big ranch in Texas learned a ton about that stuff it was a lot if fun back then. They can surely get outta control quick if you don't take swift and fast action. Deer and hogs don't mix I know that


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## Canuck5 (Mar 22, 2014)

Gadestroyer74 said:


> I use to work on a big ranch in Texas learned a ton about that stuff it was a lot if fun back then. They can surely get outta control quick if you don't take swift and fast action. Deer and hogs don't mix I know that



Yes, as I understand it, a sow (along with her female offspring, who mature in 6 months) can have upwards of 60 pigs among them, in 14 months .... that can get out of hand pretty quick.  A sow can have a litter in 16 weeks or so.


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## Canuck5 (Mar 23, 2014)

Some predator removal was done this weekend along with a successful turkey hunt or 2


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## Triple C (Mar 23, 2014)

Canuck...Add a pig and make it a trifecta! Nice!!!


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## Canuck5 (Mar 23, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Canuck...Add a pig and make it a trifecta! Nice!!!



Oh, our crack team of hunters down there this weekend, know it is a priority!!!    wished I was there!!!


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## Cornfed (Mar 23, 2014)

Good job on the coyote and turkey Canuck!

We finally had the forestry guys come out and get started on our prep work for the upcoming burn. Unfortunately they had to reschedule from Tuesday (which I had requested off) and came on Friday (which I couldn't get off) but my dad was able to take some pictures of videos. Oh and I was able to work Tuesday and had to work Saturday so thank goodness for a good boss and gainful employment.

Anyhow here are some pictures:


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## Cornfed (Mar 23, 2014)

Here is a firebreak being freshened up. We already have about 90% of our property surrounded in a firebreak that we have improved into a pretty decent road system. They even scraped along the grasses on field edges to get down to the dirt. You can see a dozer in the distance. They used a JD 550 LGP (low ground pressure meaning wider tracks)


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## Cornfed (Mar 23, 2014)

Here is a view of more firebreak. You can see the little tracks from my dad's golf cart to give the pictures some scale.


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## Cornfed (Mar 23, 2014)

Another shot through the deep woods.


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## Cornfed (Mar 23, 2014)

They also helped us get out a couple big rocks in their way that our FEL tractor couldn't budge. Our property has been surveyed and has spindles or marked trees about every 10 yards. I understand they'll be back out to work on interior breaks next, and then hopefully get it lit up. I really hope I can be there for the burn!


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## Gadestroyer74 (Mar 23, 2014)

Great pics enjoy seeing them


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## Canuck5 (Mar 24, 2014)

Nice Cornfed!  Keep us posted!


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## Crakajak (Mar 25, 2014)

GFC does a great job.Hope you get your hog problem under control Canuck.Please DON"T head  them across the creek in my direction.


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## Canuck5 (Mar 26, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> GFC does a great job.Hope you get your hog problem under control Canuck.Please DON"T head  them across the creek in my direction.



Guess I shouldn't have dropped that trail of corn, over to your place, huh?


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## Cornfed (Mar 30, 2014)

We finally got our burn done last week, sorry I've been too busy with work and such to post the updates. Here are some pics:


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Notice how most of the little pines were scorched and are dying from the heat. They didn't all burn up this time but next time I expect some pretty good flames.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Again notice the green and brown colors.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

We went out the evening after the burn as well to check for anything still smoldering in the woods, here is an example of stuff we found. Having been a boy scout it will take me a while to feel it's ok leaving a smoldering fire in the woods!! The GFC guys said some things may smolder up to a week, but of course we have had rain since and everything is doused and cooled off now.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Here's also a pic of the actual burn and a pic of one of the GFC guys on a four wheeler patrolling the firebreaks.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Here is another of a GFC guy riding around checking on things and such.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

A little flames and smoke can't stop my old man from getting work done. Here he took a picture from the tractor as he was discing up another food plot while the fires raged on. Notice the smoke and little piece burning on the right of the picture.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Here's an example of their water bars and ripples they left on trails for erosion control, made some of the roads pretty rough.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

We put the blade on the 3 point and did some grading work on the roads to smooth them out a bit. We bought a couple bags of rye grass to put out sometime soon as well to also help with erosion control. They did a pretty good job making more water bars but we'll tune them up a bit as well.


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## Cornfed (Mar 31, 2014)

Here's a picture of a dirt road after a couple passes with the 3 point blade attachment and then a little drag harrow pulled behind the 4 wheeler. We are looking into rocking some of these main roads.


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## Gadestroyer74 (Mar 31, 2014)

Great pictures looking good


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## Crakajak (Mar 31, 2014)

Lot of work doing a burn. Looks like you had a good burn.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 2, 2014)

Getting it all in good shape there, Cornfed!  This weekend, if the rain holds off, I'll be doing some sub soiling of a new food plot and spreading some 0-20-20 on the food plots we will be planting the cowpeas on this year.  Just getting it down now and since there is no nitrogen in it, I won't loose anything doing it this early.  It'll save me some time when the ground warms up.


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## Cornfed (Apr 2, 2014)

Thanks y'all, we had a great time and are extremely satisfied with the results. FYI my dad was talking to the guys during our burn and the GFC will do dozer work on your property for $95 an hour, so consider that if you ever have a burn and would like some other things tuned up a bit. I am not sure if that is only if they are out for a prescribed burn or what the particulars are, it's just something my dad mentioned.

Canuck good luck on the weather, I think it's a high chance for rain Friday but i'm not sure where you will be playing in the dirt. It will be too wet for us to work our ground Saturday but we'll probably be out thinning timber or planting some of our Keifer pears.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 3, 2014)

We are right smack in the middle between Macon and Columbus ... in Talbot County.  Looks like a 40% chance of rain tomorrow.  If we miss that, I should be able to get the little amount of tractor work, I want done, on Saturday ... but heavier rain is moving in on Sunday.


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## Crakajak (Apr 3, 2014)

You should be able to subsoil.(Might need a rain suit) Don't know if you will get the fert. turned in or not with the weather.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 3, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> You should be able to subsoil.(Might need a rain suit) Don't know if you will get the fert. turned in or not with the weather.



Yeah, I'm really not worried about turning the 0-20-20 in, since I'll probably be back down in a couple of weeks, if it's dry enough.  My big goal is to get some sub soiling done ... just been too wet each time I've been down there ... maybe this time, with a little luck, I'll get it done!


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## Triple C (Apr 3, 2014)

Not much going on at our place over the past couple of weeks.  Finished hinge-cutting for the year.  Other than chasing a few toms around, just waiting on planting season to get here in about a month.  Gonna let our smaller plots continue to grow with chicory, clover and winter grains and plant soybeans n peas in our larger plots.  Last weekend I did a little spring cleaning in our cabin with my lil' helper.  Check out my grand daughter getting it done.  Also a few pics of plots greening up with chicory n clover...pruned pear in bloom and a decent tom.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 7, 2014)

Well, I was lucky enough to my 0-20-20 fertilizer spread on my clover & soon to be soybean/cowpea plots.  Also got an old hay field, sub-soiled, to turn into a new food plot.  After I got it done, it looks like we got more than an 1" of rain, to help break up the soil in that new plot.

I've got my inoculant for the cowpeas and soybeans, so now I just need some warmer temps and a little drier weather in the forecast!  We're bumping our acreage this year up to a little under 4 acres, so we should keep the deer happy.


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## Crakajak (Apr 7, 2014)

Canuck5,
Glad you got your subsoiling and fert out before the rain.
Triple C,
 you got a great place that you can be proud of. Congrats on the tom and  you sure have a lot of good help.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 7, 2014)

Yes Triple C has a great place there and a cute little helper, whom I'm sure will be begging Grandpa to take her there!!!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 7, 2014)

Looks like the ground temperatures are warming up, at least in my area, between Columbus and Macon, to plant soybeans and cowpeas.  Hopefully I'll get back down there in a couple of weeks, if it's dry enough, to get some in the ground.

http://www.griffin.uga.edu/aemn/cgi-bin/AEMN.pl?site=AAAA&report=XS

It's sort of a good time to plant those, because Mother Nature is greening up the other area's of the property (clover included), so that when I work the ground up, the deer will have other options for food and possibly take some pressure off what I will be planting.


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## Triple C (Apr 7, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> It's sort of a good time to plant those, because Mother Nature is greening up the other area's of the property (clover included), so that when I work the ground up, the deer will have other options for food and possibly take some pressure off what I will be planting.



Like the way your thinking Canuck.  Told my son to spray fields next weekend with gly in preparation of planting at the end of the month or 1st of May.  Hope the clover/chicory/winter peas are enough to keep the deer off our bean n pea fields.  Prolly gonna throw in a few sunflowers to give the peas something to climb.

As for the little helper...hope she's as excited when she's a teenager about spending time at the farm as she is now.  Wishful thinkin on my part.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 8, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Like the way your thinking Canuck.  Told my son to spray fields next weekend with gly in preparation of planting at the end of the month or 1st of May.  Hope the clover/chicory/winter peas are enough to keep the deer off our bean n pea fields.  Prolly gonna throw in a few sunflowers to give the peas something to climb.
> 
> As for the little helper...hope she's as excited when she's a teenager about spending time at the farm as she is now.  Wishful thinkin on my part.



Well, you never know ... but you are creating "lots of memories" for her now, which won't go away!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 15, 2014)

Looks like the ground is warming up http://www.griffin.uga.edu/aemn/cgi-bin/AEMN.pl?site=AAAA&report=XS ....... we'll see what tonight cold snap does, but I think my plan, as long as the rain holds off, is to plant my spring/summer food plots the weekend of 4/26.

I've got my inoculant for the soybeans and cowpeas.  My 0-20-20 fertilizer has all been spread and I will work that up into my wheat, crimson and arrowleaf clover plots and follow up with planting.  I'll have some Durana clover as well as a couple of food plots that I will leave untouched in order to leave some food available for the deer.  Plus, Mother Nature is providing an abundance of food for the deer right now, which should give my legumes a chance to grow.

We've had a good amount or rain down there in the last couple of weeks, so the sub soiling that I did will have helped open up the ground, allowing the rain to enter the hard packed soil and maybe make things easier for me to break up the soil.  My plan is to work that ground up, spray it, lime it over the summer and get it ready for a fall planting.


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## Triple C (Apr 15, 2014)

Same here on the planting date Canuck.  Already looking forward to seeing the pics of everyone's summer plots in a few weeks.  Bout as much enjoyment if not more so than hunting!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 15, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Same here on the planting date Canuck.  Already looking forward to seeing the pics of everyone's summer plots in a few weeks.  Bout as much enjoyment if not more so than hunting!



We have a sickness that there is only one cure    just getting out there and planting something!!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

Ok, I have my iron & clay cowpeas ($36.99/bag) and some plain Jane soybeans ($26.99/bag) ordered from Manchester Feed & Seed, ready to be picked up and planted this weekend!  I'm increasing my seeding rate to about 100 lbs/acre of cowpeas and 30 lb/acre of soybeans.  Might be a little on the heavy side, but based on what I saw last year, I'm sure the deer will keep it clipped down.

I'll also be throwing in some deer corn in some strategic spots in my larger plots, to give a little comfort to the deer while feeding.  Just enough to make them feel a little more secure around the edges.

Everything will be inoculated again this year, primarily because I am putting this mix in a few more plots that I did not plant last year.

Should be lots of moisture in the ground since our area has gotten 9" of rain this month alone .... just hope it's not going to be too wet.

Also, I am leaving a couple of plots in grain & clover to keep some feed out there for the deer, while this mix germinates.  I will probably also leave a 10 foot wide strip in some of my larger plots, just to keep them coming back.  Mother Nature will provide the rest!


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## Crakajak (Apr 23, 2014)

Been trying to get the pastures bushhogged between turkey hunting and the rain I am way behind.
Hoping to finish this weekend. Also been working on a permanent feeder and a weed wiper.
Going to plant some Cowpeas just to give the wildlife something extra besides clover.
Sprayed the clover patch last Sunday and need to finish this weekend also. Hope the rain holds off.I need some dry days on the weekend.
Canuck5 stop by if you get a chance. I will be home around 6-6:30 on Friday.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Been trying to get the pastures bushhogged between turkey hunting and the rain I am way behind.
> Hoping to finish this weekend. Also been working on a permanent feeder and a weed wiper.
> Going to plant some Cowpeas just to give the wildlife something extra besides clover.
> Sprayed the clover patch last Sunday and need to finish this weekend also. Hope the rain holds off.I need some dry days on the weekend.
> Canuck5 stop by if you get a chance. I will be home around 6-6:30 on Friday.



I need to check out the weed wiper!  If I am not making dust on Friday, I'll pop over!


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## Triple C (Apr 23, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Sprayed the clover patch last Sunday and need to finish this weekend also.



What do you spray your clover with for weed control?  We're going to leave several of our plots in clover/chicory that we seeded last fall in the brassicas.  It is really doing well but won't be long till weeds start showing up.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

The good news is there is a herbicide that will kill weeds in a chicory/clover mix ..... it's called Raptor http://agproducts.basf.us/products/label-and-msds/raptor-herbicide-label.pdf


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

The bad news is ... http://www.keystonepestsolutions.com/raptor-herbicide-1-gallon-better-than-slay-herbicide-89.html  but you only need 5 ounces or so per acre, so a gallon can last you a good while ..... can you pick me up a gallon while you're at it?  I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a gallon, today


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

A clover/chicory mix is a great combo, but weed control can get expensive.  Anything else you use to kill the broadleaf weeds in the mix, will hurt the chicory


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## Crakajak (Apr 23, 2014)

Thats why I gave up planting chicory with my clover.
I buy Arrow2EC and Butrac for my clover patches. It works good. Time to spray before the weeds get to big or it is hard to kill them.
The key is to either spray or cut the weeds before they can go to seed.Last year I bushhogged every 2 weeks to keep ahead of the weeds.I didn't spray last spring so I had to just keep cutting them.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 23, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Thats why I gave up planting chicory with my clover.
> I buy Arrow2EC and Butrac for my clover patches. It works good. Time to spray before the weeds get to big or it is hard to kill them.
> The key is to either spray or cut the weeds before they can go to seed.Last year I bushhogged every 2 weeks to keep ahead of the weeds.I didn't spray last spring so I had to just keep cutting them.



^^^^^^^^^  Yeah, clover and chicory are both good .... but not as economical, when they are together.  Maybe if we all grouped together and shared some ...


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## GAGE (Apr 23, 2014)

I sprayed two plots this morning that will be planted in buckwheat on Sunday.  My plan is to let these go to flower and turn them over for my July planting of corn in one, and mixed beans, peas and corn in the other.  Our clover plots (both white and or crimson) are looking great, and will be left for turkeys and fawns for a couple months.


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## Crakajak (Apr 23, 2014)

GAGE said:


> I sprayed two plots this morning that will be planted in buckwheat on Sunday.  My plan is to let these go to flower and turn them over for my July planting of corn in one, and mixed beans, peas and corn in the other.  Our clover plots (both white and or crimson) are looking great, and will be left for turkeys and fawns for a couple months.


MY clover is up to 10-12" tall If my spraying kills most the weeds this spring I will only cut it once this spring/summer.I like to "trim the top to 6" to keep new growth coming for the  wildlife to eat on during the fawning season.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 27, 2014)

It was a busy weekend!!  We got a lot of work done, after Crakajak came over Friday night and gave my team a motivational speech, in how to get things done!  Along with a few good stories!!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 27, 2014)

Friday afternoon, I worked under a little less than 4 acres of wheat and arrowleaf clover.  It really worked up nice and the clover should release some nitrogen into the soil, to give the iron & clay cowpea/soybean mix that I planted, a good start.  Now I just need some rain!


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## Canuck5 (Apr 27, 2014)

On our "new" property, which was logged about 3 years ago, there was an area, that wasn't a logging deck, but more of a staging area where equipment and trucks would sit.  The ground was as hard as a rock, so, in February, we bush hogged it and then sub soiled it and it was a job to get the sub soiler to bite, but we made many attempts at it and got it done.

Mother Nature then provided us with around 20" of rain, since we did that, which worked it's way down into the ground and started to help break things up.  Today, I went in with a set of disc's and went over it twice.  It's not perfect, but it has come a long way since we started.  Now we have to get the weeds under control thru spraying and more discing.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 27, 2014)

Crimson clover is always pretty to see, this time of year.  There is also Arrowleaf in there, which should overpower the crimson in the next 30 days.  Although I tilled up and planted a lot of ground this weekend, I still left some good food standing, either in complete food plots, or strips in a larger plot.


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## Cornfed (Apr 28, 2014)

Looking good Canuck. We have a field with some crimson blooming now too, not as pretty a patch as you have there though.


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## Cornfed (Apr 28, 2014)

We went out and had a relaxing family day on Saturday with a picnic and golf cart/ 4 wheeler rides around the property.

We planted a line of kieffer pears a few weeks ago so I checked up on them again and gave them a big watering. We have big beach buckets full of water with a small hole in them to help irrigate each little tree.

We also have done some work to create more edge around our fields, the second picture shows some of those results. We ran the tractor around and bladed out some of the big spots, then disced where we wouldn't be near roots of any trees we want to keep, then used the 4 wheeler and spreader to apply rye grass seed over the bare dirt (for aesthetics honestly, it was left over from other work) and ran the drag harrow over it.


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## Cornfed (Apr 28, 2014)

Here's a closeup of some clover I took for my wife.

Also have a lot of activity near at a salt lick site we just established last year, never had it before and was pretty surprised at how much of a draw it has been. We crushed up a standard white salt block from Tractor Supply sometime before deer season last year and poured it all over a stump. What you see of the hole and piece of wood is all that's left of the stump. I also had a piece of the brown cattle mineral block from Tractor Supply that I had sitting there for a while. We removed it all before deer season and never had any activity, but boy they are liking it now. I know some of y'all have special concoctions so i just wanted to pipe in that we had some success with standard cattle licks.


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## Canuck5 (Apr 28, 2014)

A nice habitat there!!


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## Crakajak (Apr 28, 2014)

After a great visit with Canuck5 and a few members at Slippery Hill Hunting club. Here is what I  finished up this weekend


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## Canuck5 (Apr 28, 2014)

I'm sorry, but there is no "sneeze guard" on that buffet table


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## Canuck5 (Apr 28, 2014)

Just what your place needs .... more food!!    Looks great!!!!


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## Forest Grump (Apr 28, 2014)

That thing looks to me like it is set up to do a feed preference trial: all those separate compartments, kind of begging for somebody to test some of these "mine is better than theirs" feeds from another thread...

I may have to construct something similar (in the open, with an electric fence around it to keep out hogs & coons), & see if we can really determine a deer preference, if you don't mind me pirating your design... Will be interesting to see if I can teach my deer to jump over a low hot fence; currently, I can just put the posts up without wires & prior experience tells them to avoid it! 

I encourage anyone else to participate; we need a design that will exclude the coons, & the swine: any ideas?

How come you made the blocked area in between the posts? Seems like that would have been space that would reduce your # of trips?

(also, some feller is driving in your clover plot; you really need to chastise him about that...)


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## Triple C (Apr 29, 2014)

Crakajak...That is one fine feeder build!  Mind sharing your plans and material list?

Not a habitat project, but I ran across my neighbor while down at the property this past weekend and he showed me an incredible find.  Looks like a spear head of some type made from flint.  We've found lots of arrow heads and a few hand type tools but only 1 from flint and nothing like this.


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## Crakajak (Apr 29, 2014)

Forest Grump said:


> That thing looks to me like it is set up to do a feed preference trial: all those separate compartments, kind of begging for somebody to test some of these "mine is better than theirs" feeds from another thread...
> Thats sorta came into play with the design
> I may have to construct something similar (in the open, with an electric fence around it to keep out hogs & coons), & see if we can really determine a deer preference, if you don't mind me pirating your design...
> Go for itWill be interesting to see if I can teach my deer to jump over a low hot fence; currently, I can just put the posts up without wires & prior experience tells them to avoid it!
> ...


I spoke to him about that. He said if I wanted free labor he was gonna drive to the work area.


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## Crakajak (Apr 29, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Crakajak...That is one fine feeder build!  Mind sharing your plans and material list?
> 
> Not a habitat project, but I ran across my neighbor while down at the property this past weekend and he showed me an incredible find.  Looks like a spear head of some type made from flint.  We've found lots of arrow heads and a few hand type tools but only 1 from flint and nothing like this.
> 
> View attachment 785820


Great find Triple C.
The power poles were given to me when the power Co. replaced them on the power line that runs thru my property. 
The poles are spaced appox 48" inside/inside.
They are 3' in the ground concreted in.
The feed trough is 36" wide x 89" long.
I used 2- 2 x 10  for the supports attached to the poles.
I cut these short 5 " on each end to help keep the coons from climbing.
I used  2 x 10  # 2 yellow pine for the trough floor.I used 8 pcs cut 32".
I used 2 x 6 for the outside edge of the feed trough and 2 x 4s for the dividers.(you could go to 2 x 8 /2x6 if you wanted to so it holds more feed.
The roof frame is 72"w x 120"l
I then came up appox 42" on the low side an guessed at  the amount of fall I wanted( I think I increased it  6")
I used 2 x 6 frame for the roof and cross supports.
I had to put the cross supports to stabilize the roof.
I used 6' privacy fence for the cross supports on the roof.
I screwed everything together. I used 4 1/2" timber screws for all the supports going into the poles.
I used 3" screws to secure the 2 x10 floor,2x6 edged, and the roof.
I used 1 1/2 screws for the cross pcs on the roof.
I used metal roof screws for the metal roof.
If you have any more questions.send me a P.M> I probably forgot something .


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## Forest Grump (Apr 29, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Looks like a spear head of some type made from flint.  We've found lots of arrow heads and a few hand type tools but only 1 from flint and nothing like this.
> 
> View attachment 785820



I think it is more likely a knife, but post a pic in the Primitive Skills forum & you'll have an answer pretty quick. You don't happen to have any other pics of that point, by chance? (I'd like to be able to see the base better; if I see what I think I see, it might indeed have tipped a spear)


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## Canuck5 (May 4, 2014)

Although I don't have any pictures, the reports I've gotten, the cowpeas and soybeans are up and doing nicely, after Mother Nature provided us with a good couple of inches of rain this last week.  Seeds have only been in the ground for 7 days now.


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## Triple C (May 4, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Great find Triple C.
> The power poles were given to me when the power Co. replaced them on the power line that runs thru my property.
> The poles are spaced appox 48" inside/inside.
> They are 3' in the ground concreted in.
> ...



Thanks for sharing.  That is one of the best feeder builds I've seen.

We're still a week away from planting.  Sprayed last weekend and want to make sure everything including roots is crisp before we disc.  Learned my lesson last year of trying to disc green I/C peas under in late September.  Not good!  Kept having to untangle pea vines among disc axles.  Fields we sprayed last fall before planting were a breeze to disc.


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## Canuck5 (May 11, 2014)

Planted 4/26/14 ..... 2 weeks ago .... deer are in my iron & clay cowpeas/soybean mix and nipping the cheap (relatively) soybeans off first and seem to be leaving the cowpeas alone, for now.  Just like they did last year.


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## Canuck5 (May 11, 2014)

Last year, I bought some "deer corn" and planted it in certain areas to act as a screen.  I did the same thing this year and increased the screening in 5 plots total.  Not one .... repeat, not one kernel of corn seemed to have germinated.  I was disappointed but planting deer corn can be a hit or miss proposition.


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## Crakajak (May 12, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> Last year, I bought some "deer corn" and planted it in certain areas to act as a screen.  I did the same thing this year and increased the screening in 5 plots total.  Not one .... repeat, not one kernel of corn seemed to have germinated.  I was disappointed but planting deer corn can be a hit or miss proposition.



You could always dig it up and take it back for a refund.
Cow peas are looking good. I need to plant mine in the next few weeks.


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## Triple C (May 12, 2014)

My wife and I are visiting across the pond in Killarney.  Bout the only thing keeping me connected to hunting stuff is this forum.  Thank goodness for wifi!  Son sent me a pic yesterday of our bean field he plowed.  Speaking of sub-soiling...he ran a sub-soiled thru it on Friday prior to discing winter rye, oats an clover under yesterday.  We sprayed it 2 weeks ago so it really disc'd well.  This is our 4th year of planting this field and it gets better each year after 3 years of heavy liming and killing what was once weeds n bermuda grass.  We'll plant next weekend - Soybeans in the field with about 2 ft of tall grain sorghum around the edges.


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## Crakajak (May 12, 2014)

Triple C.
That is always a great view from the tractor. Hope your having a good time.
Looks like you have a lot of good help that can keep things going while your on vacation.


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## Triple C (May 12, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> Triple C.
> That is always a great view from the tractor. Hope your having a good time.
> Looks like you have a lot of good help that can keep things going while your on vacation.



Thanks Crak!  I should give more credit to my son, Brooks.  Truth is I do very little of the machinery work.  He pretty much does it all and I add to it when I'm down about every other weekend.  He lives about 30 minutes away and I live 2:15 away.  But...I do think about it all the time.  And at this point in my life, provide most of the funds for all the habitat work.  I figure it's a pretty good trade and in the end, something the entire family ends up enjoying year round! 

And yes...we are having a good time but as always...can't wait to see some red clay!


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## GAGE (May 12, 2014)

*The life of a food plotter!*

My daughter and I planted two plots of buck wheat on the 29th of last month, and have yet to see a drop of rain.
Some of it germinated from the moisture that was in the soil, but has since burnt up.


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## Canuck5 (May 12, 2014)

Crakajak said:


> You could always dig it up and take it back for a refund.



Hey, I wonder if I could do that!  LOL!!!!


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## Canuck5 (May 12, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Thanks Crak!  I should give more credit to my son, Brooks.  Truth is I do very little of the machinery work.  He pretty much does it all and I add to it when I'm down about every other weekend.  He lives about 30 minutes away and I live 2:15 away.  But...I do think about it all the time.  And at this point in my life, provide most of the funds for all the habitat work.  I figure it's a pretty good trade and in the end, something the entire family ends up enjoying year round!
> 
> And yes...we are having a good time but as always...can't wait to see some red clay!



You're doing it the right way!!!!


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## Canuck5 (May 12, 2014)

GAGE said:


> My daughter and I planted two plots of buck wheat on the 29th of last month, and have yet to see a drop of rain.
> Some of it germinated from the moisture that was in the soil, but has since burnt up.



Hope you get some rain soon!!


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## Crakajak (May 13, 2014)

GAGE said:


> My daughter and I planted two plots of buck wheat on the 29th of last month, and have yet to see a drop of rain.
> Some of it germinated from the moisture that was in the soil, but has since burnt up.


You didn't do the rain dance when you planted did you.


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## Canuck5 (Jun 9, 2014)

Got a report on the soybean and Iron & Clay cowpeas ..... looks like the deer are in there doing what I want them to do.  I planted more acres this year and you can see by the pics they are keeping them trimmed back, but the I&C cowpeas are doing their best to regrow!  I can't wait to get back down there!


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## Triple C (Jun 9, 2014)

Canuck...Good insurance by planting the I/C peas.  We did all soybeans this year thinking we had enough acreage.  Looking like we made a mistake.  Deer are wearing on the soybeans pretty hard.  Live and learn!  We will def go back to tried and true I/C peas in 2015.


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## livetohunt (Jun 9, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> Got a report on the soybean and Iron & Clay cowpeas ..... looks like the deer are in there doing what I want them to do.  I planted more acres this year and you can see by the pics they are keeping them trimmed back, but the I&C cowpeas are doing their best to regrow!  I can't wait to get back down there!



Looking good. Have you tried any methods to keep deer off them during the early stages? Battery powered radios, a parked tractor, rags with cologne, and scarecrows seem to work pretty well for me. I'll post up some new pictures when I get a chance..


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## Canuck5 (Jun 9, 2014)

Triple C said:


> Canuck...Good insurance by planting the I/C peas.  We did all soybeans this year thinking we had enough acreage.  Looking like we made a mistake.  Deer are wearing on the soybeans pretty hard.  Live and learn!  We will def go back to tried and true I/C peas in 2015.



After Forest Grump posted those videos of Dr. Kroll, I picked up on him saying that I&C's can withstand 22 oz/acre of glyphosate, so, I am going to do a small test area and see.  That would be great to help control grass and time it to spray small broadleaf weeds.

The I&C cowpeas sure do try to produce!


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## Canuck5 (Jun 9, 2014)

livetohunt said:


> Looking good. Have you tried any methods to keep deer off them during the early stages? Battery powered radios, a parked tractor, rags with cologne, and scarecrows seem to work pretty well for me. I'll post up some new pictures when I get a chance..



I have not, and maybe I should, but I'm just in the frame of mind, that, at this time of the year, I want the does to be eating all the protein they can get, for fawn development.  There were several fawn sightings down there this weekend.  I guess this is my way of feeding them vs using protein feeders and hopefully my acreage can keep up.

This year I went up from 1 5/8 acres, up to almost 4 acres.  I know not everyone has that amount of land to do that and it is best if you can do some things to keep a little pressure off them, to keep them from getting wiped out.

For now, I am letting them eat to their hearts content and plan to replant this fall.


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## Canuck5 (Jun 9, 2014)

I also, to anticipate the deer getting in there sooner, I went up from 100 lbs/acre of the mix, last year, to 133 lbs/acre this year.  I'm considering increasing the poundage, next year.  We'll see how things turn out .....


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## livetohunt (Jun 9, 2014)

Canuck5 said:


> I have not, and maybe I should, but I'm just in the frame of mind, that, at this time of the year, I want the does to be eating all the protein they can get, for fawn development.  There were several fawn sightings down there this weekend.  I guess this is my way of feeding them vs using protein feeders and hopefully my acreage can keep up.
> 
> This year I went up from 1 5/8 acres, up to almost 4 acres.  I know not everyone has that amount of land to do that and it is best if you can do some things to keep a little pressure off them, to keep them from getting wiped out.
> 
> For now, I am letting them eat to their hearts content and plan to replant this fall.



Yes I thought about just letting them eat too but figured if the plants get up just a little taller they will produce so much more food in the long run.. Either way,  your plots are looking good!  Keep updated pictures coming...


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## Canuck5 (Jun 9, 2014)

I will!  And I know, this year, if I had any less acreage, I would have to use some sort of deterrent ..... they've taken a liking to that mix and will be in there till either the first frost, or I work it up and replant.  

I have some other plots that did not get put into a spring/summer food plot, but likely in September, I will put a couple of those in IC cowpeas, wheat, clover, likely AWP peas and radishes.


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