Farm Report

[ranwin33]

I hope you will be as thrilled with the NWSG as we are - we have only 8 acres, but know it attracts deer.  A neighbor about half mile away had 80 acres in it, and the number of deer we would see there was phenomenal.  He just converted it over to crops though, so now we're the only NWSG in the area which makes me smile.  By the time we're done we should have three interconnecting pastures with a total of about 20 acres.
 
Don't let the price of seeds shock you too much.  And the price of wildflowers per pound will blow you away even more.  Just know that in the long run you should be pleased. 
 
Also remember it will take 3-4 years before you really start to see these things take hold so be patient.  The field may look pretty ugly over the next couple of years.
 
Be prepared to spend at least a couple hours with the PLC - ours always gives us plenty of time when he visits.  The first time we had one visit we actually video taped him so we could review what he was telling us later because we knew we'd never remember it all. 
 
Best of luck with the visit, let us know how things go.
 
 

[ranwin33]

whubbard, something else you might consider is doing some edge feathering.  Ask your PLC about it. 
 
It is easy to do, and at least in the past MDC paid pretty well for it.  We have edge feathered a 2+ acre plot and deer love it.  Since there is little actual cost with the edge feathering, other than your time and chainsaw work, you could use money from that to help pay for NWSG seeds if $$$ become an issue.

[ranwin33]

August 7, 2009 visit.
 
Was surprised to see two inches of rain in the rain gauge, weather reports had indicated we hadn't received much rain lately. 
 
Met my brother on Thursday with a plan to plant some trees and cut some trees, and maybe move a stand or two.  Weather was suppose to heat up by the weekend so we wanted to get thing done by Friday.
 
Got two apple, two crabapple and a pear tree planted on Thursday.  These are large trees I picked up at Home Depot for $5 each.  The crabapples went in our "orchard", the apples went to the Hilltop plot and the pear went in near our barn.  Not sure how the apple trees will fare, the Hilltop plot tends to be some very well drained soil and dries out quickly.  If we don't get rains they could be in trouble, but I figured for $5 each, what the heck I'd give it a try.  The Hilltop plot itself has been struggling this year, not sure what's going on as we limed, fertilized, and overseeded it earlier in the year.  It had some pretty good weeds growing this time so gave it a mowing.  Also got the alfalfa plot mowed.
 
Cut five good size trees on Friday after it rained for a couple of hours that morning, about 1/2 an inch per the rain gauge.  Got the trees cut up and logs split and stacke for firewood.  These were trees we had Tordoned earlier in the year, so they weren't entirely green and should burn okay.  Did the cut on the New plot, this really opened things up for the plot as well as some oaks we have regenerating nearby.  The plot itself is staying pretty short so need to get a utilization cage on it.  This plot really proved itself as a great hunting plot last year.  It looks like, given the short clover crop, it may be a good one again this year.
 
Didn't do much on Saturday other than play with our bows and practice, practice, practice.
 
The NWSG are really looking good this year, the Big Bluestem is getting it's height.  Can't wait to see how they look next year after we burn one more time in the early spring.
 
Had a doe and a couple fawns grazing out in front of the barn in the evening on Friday.  That was the only live deer sighting we had, but weren't really looking.  One game camera had over 1400 pictures on it - 2-3 shooter bucks and several smaller legal bucks that should be nice size next year or the year after.  One of the shooters, kind of borderline, appears to be related to the 13 pointer I shot two years ago.  He has the same split G-2.  Will post pictures in a couple of days.
 
All-in-all a good trip.  Hope to be back up in a couple weeks to set out some ground blinds and move one more tree stand.

[ranwin33]

Some photos from our dozer trail mineral lick. Seems it won't let me upload them all in one message.

[ranwin33]

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