Land Management

[gunther89]

Some more.

[buckhunter21]

looking good sir! are those brassicas in the third pic on the right?

spraying my eagle forage beans this weekend. will post some pics!

[gunther89]

It's actually rape.

[umpiremark]

I am heading up to Necedah next weekend (16th) to put down 4 food plots of turnips, wintergreens and winter peas. Nothing else grows in that Juneau County sand. We've had mild success with different Mossy Oak and Whitetail Extreme turnip products. The winter peas is a new trial for me this year. We're not actually feeding the deer on that 120 acres, mostly hoping to get them to stop by, munch a little free groceries and leave scent all over for curious bucky for later in the fall.

Looks like rains might be in the forecast (60% Thur & Fri) and again after we plant. All I can do is hope. I'm gonna go back up the middle/end of August to see how things turned out, take some pictures and put up trail cameras.

The attachement is the back end of one of the four fields around the 16th of June. We had sprayed round-up on everything Memorial weekend and tilled everything over in mid-june.

Stay tuned, wish me luck!!!

[umpiremark]

In the pic, it looks like dirt ... but it's really a dark sand ...........

[bullwinkle]

Update on trials:

1. The Iron Clay Cow peas I planted on Memorial Day are totally wiped out - inside the cages they are well over a foot high, outside - lawn mower height with few leaves. Multiple, multiple deer on camera - these lived up to their reputation and will be a staple in my plotting plans

2. Eagle vs forage soybeans - cant tell them apart. The deer are keeping both trimmed to 4-5". I planted one plot with the Eagle on the field edge and forage outside and one the reverse. They both look the same. The deer are not killing the forage either - they are standing up to the heavy browsing. Right now, I cant see why I will plant the $105 bags of Eagle again. Will see what happens by the fall to make the complete conclusion. I don't think I will be getting pods this year so I am making plans to plant these plots in fall blends.

Planted Frigid Forage brassicas head to head against feed mill rape/turnips. This will be a fun trial to watch through the winter

We have a boat load of deer in Waupaca/Shawano country this year boys. It reminds me of the '07-'08 times. I never had this much summer plots so it may be I am drawing deer but we are seeing a lot of small bucks and does with triplets.

I think I have more fun doing this than hunting

[bullwinkle]

Early observation on the feed mill rape/turnip vs Frigid Forage - no difference. For some reason they - both- are getting hammered this year very early. One evening we had 21 does and fawns in a half acre trial plot - the deer were spread out all over the plot and did not favor either. The last time I planted rape/turnip they did not get hit hard till Dec but the deer population was a lot lower. In the same field we had Iron Clay Cow peas, Eagle and forage soybeans, clover and alfalfa - they favored the brassica plot????? We had one doe with 3 fawns walk across the 400 yard field, through and past everything else, to get into the brassicas????? I would have never, ever guessed this at this time of year

I think I am going to put in another 1/2 acre of feed mill rape/turnip this fall to take advantage of this trend

In two weeks I will have the following trials taking place:

Feed Mill Oats vs BFO
Rye vs Oats
Kale vs Rape/Turnips
WI Chicory Plus
WI Clover
Iron Clay Cow Peas vs Austrian Snow Peas in the fall. Are Iron Clay cow peas only a summer food plot or will they grow in late Aug/Sept in Wis

I am very quickly coming to the conclusion that commercial blends are just marketing ploys and there is no significant difference between this seed and feed mill seed - expect the price

[gunther89]

I know the $10 bag of RR beans we got from the NWTF look the same as our $50 Real World soybeans. Next year we will just buy the $10 bags and save some money.

[bullwinkle]

6 acres in this weekend.

BFO/Austrian Snow Peas
Oat/Austrian Snow Peas
WI Clover
WI Chicory Plus
Rape/Turnips and Kale
Rye/Austrian Snow Peas

I did one interesting experiment - planted Iron Clay Cow Peas and Oats together - hoping the oats can grow under the peas. My theory is the peas will be fantastic till first frost and the oats will take me to gun season.

Now all we need is to get out of this drought and let it rain

[umpiremark]

$300 worth of seed, planting turnips, brassicas and winter peas in 5 food plots in Necedah August 6th ... less than 1/4-inch of rain since then until yesterday, 3/4-inches. I think I have five $300 dirt patches to bow hunt over this year. Friggin' drought ... ...