Working at the Farm - Took a few I-Phone Pics

Native Hunter said:

The only reason I said #4 copper plated lead is that I know some folks want to stretch the limits on distance. We really shouldn't be doing that, but the extra retained energy of #4 might make a difference if someone did. Copper plated lead in #5 in a good shell that patterns well should kill a turkey much further than most hunters should be shooting at them.

If you are taking 10-20 yard shots, a tight shooting gun is more of a liability than an advantage. As you said - you must aim precisely or you will miss. At short distances like that, almost anything you shoot is going to be very deadly. Some hunters have gone to an "over and under" or "side by side" for these situations. They set up one barrel for close shots and the other barrel for long shots. If you do this it is important to know your gun well and the POI of both barrels.

From what you have told me, I really doubt you need to change anything. The premium ammo is for someone who wants to shoot at longer distances. At 30 yards and under, almost anything you shoot in a 12 gauge is going to be deadly unless someone misses.

Good luck, deer parch......

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I may still try the Indian creek choke in the near future just to tinker with the shot pattern. I had a decent turkey season this year as dad and myself got a tom. We are trying to let the turkeys come back by not hunting the toms we have left, which includes 3 toms, at least 10 jakes and at least 6 hens that are using my place. The problem this year was the jakes had the toms beat down to where they wouldn’t gobble. Had a set of 6 jakes and another set of 4 that would come in when a person would call and gobblers would just parallel them about 100 yards out and not commit to coming in. Makes for hard hunting for sure. Next year should be fun if all the jakes hang around though.

I thought I would do a little update.

Last year I started working on some places to promote wild blackberry in areas that are easy for picking. These are areas at the edge of the oak planting where the land gets enough sunlight. They are also areas that I work food plots and mow some, so keeping trails cleared serve multiple purposes. On my land all you have to do is not mow the areas where you want the berries and cut back any trees and shrubs that come up near them. Mother Nature does the rest of the work.









My food plots are off to a good start. Some of them have grass coming in, but I will worry about that later. I have tons of clover and chicory.

The tall species in the background of the first pic is oats that were planted last fall. I'm going to let the mature for the birds.







Apples and pears both have taken a hit from our late freezes, but some trees are doing okay while others have failed crops.









Arrowwood Viburnum in bloom. This is the most heavily browsed shrub on my place - and it is spreading like crazy. I can't believe how many new ones I see popping up.





Male and Female bobcat on same camera. He is much bigger than her.





I've got us a deer to watch that is starting out with some good mass. Hope to have better pictures soon.



That's about it guys. I have my mowing finished and I'm hunting down thistles now in my spare time. Happy trails until the next update.

Very nice. You will be up to your eyeballs in black berries. I really like your viburnum.

G

George said:

Very nice. You will be up to your eyeballs in black berries. I really like your viburnum.

G

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Drop by sometime and we can dig you up some of the viburnums. They are multiplying fast. I have even killed some in places where I want blackberries. Every small one you see will have quite a bit of browsing, but it doesn’t kill them. I’ve also started transplanting them for road screening.

Native sets the BAR pretty high.
He guided me thru the Pear tree grafting process. So far we have good results.

Adding a better picture of the one above:

I can’t hardly keep up with the blackberry thickets behind our house. It was hayed regularly before we bought it 6 years ago so there isn’t any shade to keep them in check. I brushed hog two of the biggest thickets this early spring, I might do that again next year and put some oaks in there well marked. And help them out a couple years with weedeating the blackberries to give them a head start.

KSQ2 said:

I can’t hardly keep up with the blackberry thickets behind our house. It was hayed regularly before we bought it 6 years ago so there isn’t any shade to keep them in check. I brushed hog two of the biggest thickets this early spring, I might do that again next year and put some oaks in there well marked. And help them out a couple years with weedeating the blackberries to give them a head start.

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I love blackberry except for when it invades the native grasses. I sprayed some this spring in a few spots.

Update 6-12-21

My food plots are really growing well. We have had an abundance of rain over the last few days.







This is a plot that was too thin. Two weeks ago I mowed the mature wheat down on some new seed, and the rains have given me great germination. This is some summer species and quite a bit or red clover seed I had left over from last year.



June apples are ripening. These are absolutely delicious. The deer are cleaning up every one that hits the ground, so I picked some for myself today.









Switchgrass rebounding from spring mowing:



Chinkapins:



Some other fruit:







Bracing trees I topworked this spring to keep wind from damaging them:





Soybeans coming up:

A few deer:















That's about it guys - have a good one....!

Great update Native. Word for the day.....Healthy....
Thanks for the help with my pear tree grafting. I have similar braces on one tree and have about five more to go

lakngolf said:

Great update Native. Word for the day.....Healthy....
Thanks for the help with my pear tree grafting. I have similar braces on one tree and have about five more to go

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You're welcome Lak. You will notice that I did the bracing two different ways in the above pictures. In both I used cane sticks, but in one I used electric fence post as well. You can slide these up and down in the cage to adjust the height. You will also notice that I turned the sticky side of the duct tape away from the tree so it could slide easily if necessary.

Things are starting to come together around here.

Great looking place you have, love all the photos!

Looking great, you might have some shooters this year. It looks like I should think about putting out some cameras soon.

Mennoniteman said:

Looking great, you might have some shooters this year. It looks like I should think about putting out some cameras soon.

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Yes, over the next few weeks they should really pack it on. It would be a good time to get those cameras out so you can watch them grow.

Native Hunter said:

Yes, over the next few weeks they should really pack it on. It would be a good time to get those cameras out so you can watch them grow.

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I wanted to buy a few tactacams to see if they live up to the hype, but since they're all sold out i guess I'll be putting out my brownings again

I recently sprayed Cleth on my plots. I hadn't done this for a long time and was getting a lot of grass. Once the grass dies, I will overseed the plots and mow them down fairly close to get some good new growth for fall.



Getting some nice apples right now:







Some more fruit:





Deer are still growing well. Plenty of soybeans now to help them fill on out:









That's about it guys. Have a good one.

Native, what are you going to overseed your plots with? And will you do another throw and mow this fall, or is this your fall throw and mow?

KSQ2 said:

Native, what are you going to overseed your plots with? And will you do another throw and mow this fall, or is this your fall throw and mow?

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This year I will just be enhancing existing plots and not starting any new ones. It will be done strictly throw and mow. My existing plots already have a good stand of clovers and chicory, and after the grass killing with cleth, there will be some bare and thin spots. I will fill those thin spots with a combo of more clover and chicory, but I will also throw in some extras to boost the fall attraction - such as sun hemp, canola, wheat, oats and a few radishes. By next spring the extras will be essentially gone, and I should end up with another good stand of chicory and clover.

The value of chicory and clover cannot be overstated. The neighbors beans are just now coming up. The deer will start hitting them soon more than they will my plots, but what about the whole spring up until July before the beans come up? That's when the food plot really fills an important gap. Of course we know that it fills a gap in the fall and winter, but I think we sometimes overlook the early part of the season when half of the antler development is taking place.