Land Management

[gunther89]

I hear what your saying about the drought. Been terrible down here near Madison as well. We finally in the last couple of weeks have gotten a couple of inches of rain but crops don't look to great. I wouldn't give up on your plots yet. They can still grow. It took well over 2 weeks for our beans to sprout because we had to much rain and cold weather but now they look awesome.

[bullwinkle]

The deer are destroying my rape/turnip and frigid forage. Oats and peas up 1-2" but it is dry. We need rain in Shawano/Waupaca County. Tues event went right around our farms

Farmers are talking crop damage tags, there are deer like back in 06/07. Cant wait for 3 weeks

[bullwinkle]

Update:

1. Interesting - during the drought, the frigid forage brassicas held their color and withstood the dryness. My feed mill rape/turnips withered.

2. Got 2" of rain the last 24 hours. Checked out the plots today. Oats are up nicely. My new rape/turnip plot is getting hammered. The acre pea plot is questionable. I overseeded it with oats. The peas are spotty and only 2" up and it looks like weeds not oats. The turkeys may have hurt me on this one. I had an extra bag of oats and the peas were already planted - I just overseeded with oats after it was cultipacked. Oh well.

3. My acre of soybeans have been destroyed.

Lots and lots of deer in the woods this year guys. I am excited about the work this year, getting close to seeing the fruits of the labor

Two weeks

[bigwisconsinbucks]

Enjoy reading your updates bullwinkle!

Our acre and a half of beans looks awesome and there are tons of pods so it should make for a perfect late season food source. We planted an additional 1/4 acre of beans in middle July and they are looking decent now, but the deer have been hammering them and it should be a great early season setup.

The Biologic Maximum we planted appears to be growing good, but no bulbs have grown yet and we are not sure why.

Our 3 small clover plots look decent as well. The 2 Antler King ones have gotten minimal browse while the Clover Crush by Evolved Harvest has seen by far the most browse. We actually just mowed it for the second time today as the weeds were coming back in it again and the clover was tall enough to mow once more.

Should be a good season!

[bullwinkle]

Klye - Guys by me rave about the Antler King clover - I planted about 4 acres in Whitetail Institute Clover and Chicory Plus this year. I know the clover will be good protein but I am worried about clovers ability to draw and hold deer in areas with Ag land. I just have to find some perineal to plant to cut back on the work and expense each summer.

Have you hunted the clover? Does it hold deer in Nov? I found Oats/Rape/Turnip/Soybean/Corn to the be the best Nov plots. Alfalfa browns at the first major frosts, I would guess the clover will as well? The chicory I hope helps

Those soybeans are key - you never know for sure but the last two years when I have had soybeans and iron clay peas, the antler size has been noticeably larger. Obviously weather, passing up small bucks, and a lot of other things could be causing it as well.

I will keep you all updated on my trials. Rye vs Oats, Buck Forage Oats vs Feed Mill Oats, whether Iron Clay Peas will grow and how long they last if planted in Aug and how the Frigid Forage brassicas fair against the feed mill rape/turnips will be fun to watch. Next year I want to try those radishes the boys on QDM are talking about

[gunther89]

Bullwinkle: This was our first year having our clover actually grow so we will find out this fall if the deer are using it alot. I am hoping to get the right wind to hunt it opening night. We are debating on planting oats next year in our 1/4 acre plot where we put beans in. I think the oats can handle the browse better from the deer. We also plan on putting in 2 or 3 acres of beans next year and are trying to have a winter food source for the whole winter to get them through the hardest time for them.

[bullwinkle]

I am a big fan of oats - the reason is last gun season the alfalfa around me was brown and my oat plots were green. Guess where the deer were. Some food plot buddies of mine swear winter rye is even better and stays green like winter wheat all winter. Thus my head to head trial.

Unless you have a big enough field to get pods on your beans (I dont), I look at beans as a great summer protein plot. By the time early season rolls around mine dont have any leaves on it and surely not enough beans to make it worth stick through the yellow phase

[bullwinkle]

Update on plots:

My in woods plots and field edge plots are doing well. I think I lost my big field plots due to the lack of rain. I am real bummed. Lot's of weeds. Here is what I noticed

1. Frigid Forage is getting hit harder than the feed mill rape/turnip. They definitely have made it through the drought better.

2. BFO vs feed mill oats - the deer are hitting both, cant tell the difference

3. My soybeans still are getting hit very hard.

Acorns are dropping. Buck sightings are down on the cameras, they have changed patterns. We are dry and no rain in the forecast this week. Not good. 2/3 of my 6 acres look very spotty and poor.

[umpiremark]

Well ... more than a month since we planted our five food plots (1/3rd to 1/4 A in size on 120 acres) and only 2.05" of rain in the past five weeks, I must say I was mildly surprised when my son and I went up to Necedah Saturday. Whereever the sun wasn't a direct hit all day, most of the turnips/beets and brassicas grew. the winter peas in plot #5 did not grow (80% sun all day) and the beets and turnips do not appear to have bulbs started underground yet (hard to say). But here's a few pics of the four plots that did germinate and did grow something green.

[umpiremark]

One more ... the back half of the field we call the "Figure 8."