Pa Hillbilly Farming

Double L said:

question fellow deer farmers. I’m trying to decide on are doe management this year. Last year we took 7 doe on my 350 and neighbor took the same on his 400. We got 30 plus acres of food plots out and you can easily see they are eating them. The browse pressure doesn’t seem bad yet. I took these pictures today of random spots in the woods and two pictures of my clover. It’s defiantly higher in side the fence. It’s 5 plus acres of clover last night I counted 22 deer in clover and 8 in my salty knob plot. Is it just a gut feeling on how many to take per year or is there some logic to it? Thanks for any advice.


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Just found your property thread. You’ve got an awesome place and you are doing some incredible work making it into a Mecca! As far as doe harvest advice, your best indicator is going to be browse pressure inside the woods. Your plots can feed way more deer than your acreage will support. Likely you are supporting deer during the winter from miles away. I’d just keep an eye on the amount of food available in the woods at ground level in March. You don’t want to hold so many deer that your timber regeneration is really stunted because that becomes an invitation for undesirable invasive species. 7 is a good number for you but I bet you could kill double that and not notice much of a difference in deer sightings the next year.


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Had a productive day today. Drone pics was too sunny for good detail. Tried to show where 101 trees got planted. Put in a culvert by lower cabin field. Got new post driver figured out for fencing around new orchards. And planted another new drop time seed mix. “ crimp befor Bean’s”. Time for this day to come to end.


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Chainsaw said:

Love Louies' use of the upside down deer beds; or maybe they are not upside down? It is inspiring to see all of the habitat work you get done after work! Any past failures you had no doubt WERE a great idea at the time; conditions must have changed. I like compartment planting as well as compartment crop tree releasing for the more consistent availability of food in each spot we choose.

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Thanks chainsaw. The variety of trees I planted are supposed to drop starting sept through feb. I’m very excited about the trees as we have nothing like that around us and there will be a lot of things we can do with the fruit rather than just feeding the deer. ( pies cider apple butter ) the list goes on and on. Lol.


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Paradise725 said:

Just found your property thread. You’ve got an awesome place and you are doing some incredible work making it into a Mecca! As far as doe harvest advice, your best indicator is going to be browse pressure inside the woods. Your plots can feed way more deer than your acreage will support. Likely you are supporting deer during the winter from miles away. I’d just keep an eye on the amount of food available in the woods at ground level in March. You don’t want to hold so many deer that your timber regeneration is really stunted because that becomes an invitation for undesirable invasive species. 7 is a good number for you but I bet you could kill double that and not notice much of a difference in deer sightings the next year.


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This year I applied for 10 D map permits which we should be able to use earlier in the year. Along with our regular doe tags. This year all our deer looked very healthy after the winter. I’ve realized that as much fun it is making and growing the food plots it’s a lot more thinking involved with managing the deer herd for a healthy deer program.


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Double L said:

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9 days in the ground



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trees seem to be likening the warm sunny days.


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This thread and the work you’ve done are extremely impressive.

cutman said:

This thread and the work you’ve done are extremely impressive.

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Thank you. As long as nothing breaks and weather is good. It is too much fun to call work.


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my wife laughed at my contraption I rigged up to take rake off, but a few minutes later when the rake easily came off she quit laughing at me and laughed with me


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warm rain is good for the new growth


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Your spring work should be about wrapping up and you can take a breather to enjoy what you've done. Of course, knowing you, you already have another big project in the making! I can't wait to see what you've accomplished with the new field. I grew up with an orchard and have a word of wisdom on the trees, the thought of picking your own fresh fruit is like a carrot dangling in front of you to keep you going through the myriad of frustrations of trying to get the trees to that point.

Mennoniteman said:

Your spring work should be about wrapping up and you can take a breather to enjoy what you've done. Of course, knowing you, you already have another big project in the making! I can't wait to see what you've accomplished with the new field. I grew up with an orchard and have a word of wisdom on the trees, the thought of picking your own fresh fruit is like a carrot dangling in front of you to keep you going through the myriad of frustrations of trying to get the trees to that point.

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Thanks MM. I may start planting the post for the fence around the orchards this week, and start clearing the pad for the new building. After I measured it I need to do some major clearing and moving of dirt. I might go head and clear the rest for another food plot while Im there with the equipment, After the new machine shed is up I should still be able to gain another 3 acres there for food. Then it is onto road work. That should atleast get me to July. LOL Found a nice deal on a 15' batwing mower not far from your place. "Roaring Springs" that Im going to pick up tonight.

after spraying clethodem on the clover for the grasses it has really helped them.


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Checked on my trees this past weekend. This is only tree I didn’t have in a tube. The difference between in and out of tube is huge. Look in back ground picture of how the other trees have been growing great and this one is just starting to pop out with leaves. Other ones have grown several inches allready. Have not been doing anything at cabin lately. Been down and out last 5-6 weeks. Kept feeling worse and after many trips to doctors. Last week was diagnosed with Whooping Cough. Been vaccinated and had the TDAP booster last year. Apparently when I had bronchitis in March it weakened immune system and I came in contact with someone with virus. I was flying back from Houston last Friday when Dr office got results back. Talk about poop hitting the fan. Health dept. CDC. And Dr office flipping out with me flying. I was patient zero. After tracking time line as to when I got sick they realized I was no longer contagious and they calmed down. Shortness of breath and relentless cough has taken the wind out of my sail lately. They say it may last for 100 days. Hopefully only 70 more to go. Couldn’t imagine dealing with this in the old days. So this week we’re taking the hot rods to Ocean City Md for there super cruise. Should be back in the habitat mode in a few weeks. So I’m trading in diesel therapy to see how much gasoline I can burn through my dual four barrels this weekend. lol.


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Double L you are one hard working and hard playing machine. It would be incredible for all that you accomplish if you were at the top of your game but here you are with Whooping Cough of all things and you still go full throttle. You inspire me to push harder than I do which is probably a good thing! Hope you recover quickly.

Thanks Chainsaw. “To be hard core you have to live hard core”. Is a saying I have hanging in the cabin. Lol. My dad wife and mom are leaving in the morning. Hopefully all goes well. Last year I was laying under my dads 57 in a hotel parking lot replacing the fuel pump. Safe trip without any break downs will make for a great weekend.


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Double L said:

Thanks Chainsaw. “To be hard core you have to live hard core”. Is a saying I have hanging in the cabin. Lol. My dad wife and mom are leaving in the morning. Hopefully all goes well. Last year I was laying under my dads 57 in a hotel parking lot replacing the fuel pump. Safe trip without any break downs will make for a great weekend.

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I'm extremely jealous of that 57!! Beautiful car!!

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Always a good read Double. You be a hard worker. I have a love/hate relationship with those tree tubes. I seriously doubt I use them again. They do give good early growth but between the wasps, bears, coons, and skunks, I have better luck with just caging. But 100 trees would be a lot of caging for sure. Thanks for showing.

Sorry to hear about the illness. Trees and clover looking great. Get well soon!

well we put over 800 miles on the old iron this weekend and they came back under there own power. Had a great trip. Had my first fawn on camera yesterday.


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