Land Management

[bullwinkle]

I forgot one of my favorites:

On one of my field edges I have about 10 absolute major trails the deer use to get to the fields in the evening. I have 3 tree stands strung out over this edge. It is real fustrating hunting a stand only to find out the deer come out too far out of bow range.

This spring a couple of buddies and I got on the field edge and feathered it by dropping huge trees to block the trails. I am very excited about this - if the deer come out now, at least they will be under one of my 3 tree stands. I think my chances of scoring just increased significantly. It will be a lot easier to pattern the big boys now. I am down to about 4 major trails.

[bullwinkle]

We got 2.7 acres of beans in this week. Hope to have another 3 this weekend. Also are trialing a mix of lablab, corn, beans and oats that a buddy had a bag of. Will put it head to head against the soybeans and right on the field edge to see if the deer walk through this blend to get to the beans. We are also planting 1/4 acre of ground hog radishes as a trial. I am sticking them in an inconvinent place for the deer to get at to test their attractiveness.

15 acres of vidals for my 4 legged friends. Will redo some fields in Aug for fall attractivenss plots and add another acres of killing plots. I also plan to test a radish, rape, and turnip mix in July. Brassicas have been getting absolutely destroyed on my farm these past two seasons. This year I want to expand them to 2 acres to see if I can get them to grow. This should be the first year ever where the deer had more to eat than what they physically can. I am hoping it pays big dividends this fall.

It is fun playing around non the less.

[bullwinkle]

It is working already. While planting the 3 acres of soybeans yesterday a very nice buck came out on one of the trails we purposed feathered the edge this summer. Dandy, could see horns 1/4 mile away. Standing right under the stand. I love it when a plan comes together - now if it will just happen in Nov.

Spring planting is now officially completed. Just praying for rain

[bullwinkle]

Update: Bought a Plotwatcher. This is going to be a neat tool. Gives you a complete view of activity on your plots. We have only had it out a week and have already learned of a bedding area we were unaware of.

The corn and WI clover is getting hammered. They have eaten a few rows of corn already - uggg. I have 2 acres of beans 5" tall and 3 acres about 2" tall. The rain came just in time. We planted .5 acre of groundhog radish this morning. Interested in this trial. I have been hearing rave reviews. I think I can stage that Plotwatcher so as to cover some beans and radish at the same time. I put the radish in an inconvenient spot - it this plot attracts deer with all the other goodies I have for them, it will be the real deal.

We have had the camera out only a couple of days. Pulled the chips to make sure they were set up correctly and already have 15+ different bucks on film. Nothing huge but a lot of bachelor groups are hanging out in my plots - these food plots are worth the effort. The deer in Shawano county are in great shape