Little River
- Thread starter David
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David
Active Member
Dad is aging well, he can honestly out work most folks half his age. His dad died on easter sunday of this year, and by default he became the new patriarch of the family. He is the oldest of 9, and now has 9 grand kids. His siblings look up to him as do his children and grand children.
David
Active Member
Summer plot update.....we started with this when i bought the place last august.....
now we have this! It might not look like it, but they are using it....i was able to put in 3 acres and that seems like the right amount this year to keep the pressure even. Exclusion cages are not showing any difference between inside and out yet, but nearly every single square foot has some browsing evidence.
I am thankful it turned out as it did....now with timely rain i am hoping to feed them through the summer. still working out a plan for what to do when this is done. I am considering a fall/spring rotation that will allow throw and mow for many years to come. something heavy with winter grains planted in the fall, and back to the beans/peas/buckwheat each spring. The soil still needs balancing also, there is a noticeable difference from one side to the other.
now we have this! It might not look like it, but they are using it....i was able to put in 3 acres and that seems like the right amount this year to keep the pressure even. Exclusion cages are not showing any difference between inside and out yet, but nearly every single square foot has some browsing evidence.
I am thankful it turned out as it did....now with timely rain i am hoping to feed them through the summer. still working out a plan for what to do when this is done. I am considering a fall/spring rotation that will allow throw and mow for many years to come. something heavy with winter grains planted in the fall, and back to the beans/peas/buckwheat each spring. The soil still needs balancing also, there is a noticeable difference from one side to the other.
David
Active Member
David
Active Member
First full summer as an owner and there really isnt much to report.
Camping and the beach
Finished my work on the outside of the barn
summer plots are doing well beyond my expectations
plenty of rain
In my effort to eliminate the cool season invasive mat forming grasses i have had an explosion of ragweed. I am very happy to exchange exchange the grass for the ragweed.
Camping and the beach
Finished my work on the outside of the barn
summer plots are doing well beyond my expectations
plenty of rain
In my effort to eliminate the cool season invasive mat forming grasses i have had an explosion of ragweed. I am very happy to exchange exchange the grass for the ragweed.
David
Active Member
The partridge pea i planted has done great. I had 3 strips that were maybe 15 feet wide, i nuked them and then heavily disked them down to dirt in the winter. I was hoping for more of a pure stand of peas than this, but happy to have it as it is. the bahia and dallisgrass really came in thick.
This is what it looks like from six and a half feet up....i left this 4 acre field un touched since i bought the place. later this fall/winter i will prep it for a burn next spring. Full of winged sumac, sweet gum, black berries, summer grass, cherry, locust etc. I would bet dimes to dollars that there are at least 4 deer bedded in this thing as i took the picture. If i were to walk through it, i would also probably find 2-4 fawns. if you look close you can see the strip i disced, and you can see more partridge pea.
two different ends of my bean/pea field...note the differences in performance. The exclusion cages tell the story that they are both being used, but the soil health across the entire plot is not even. the only good my scare crow did was to protect 3 sunflowers....these are the only 3 that made it...oh well, the kids had fun making it.
This is what it looks like from six and a half feet up....i left this 4 acre field un touched since i bought the place. later this fall/winter i will prep it for a burn next spring. Full of winged sumac, sweet gum, black berries, summer grass, cherry, locust etc. I would bet dimes to dollars that there are at least 4 deer bedded in this thing as i took the picture. If i were to walk through it, i would also probably find 2-4 fawns. if you look close you can see the strip i disced, and you can see more partridge pea.
two different ends of my bean/pea field...note the differences in performance. The exclusion cages tell the story that they are both being used, but the soil health across the entire plot is not even. the only good my scare crow did was to protect 3 sunflowers....these are the only 3 that made it...oh well, the kids had fun making it.
David
Active Member
Quick update....i went down yesterday for a stroll.
I really cant get over how many pounds (more likely tons) of food that was grown and consumed in this plot. in the picture, anything that is lime colored is simply the stem.
a little sickle pod, winged sumac, and for some reason lots of ground cherry was begun to grow, but i would say its still 90% clean.
another interesting note....in a previous post i asked about the two types of peas in "iron clay peas" learned that they are very similar except that one is more viney than the other.....seems as though the deer do not prefer the viney type as much. anything left with a leaf on it right now is on a vine.
I really cant get over how many pounds (more likely tons) of food that was grown and consumed in this plot. in the picture, anything that is lime colored is simply the stem.
a little sickle pod, winged sumac, and for some reason lots of ground cherry was begun to grow, but i would say its still 90% clean.
another interesting note....in a previous post i asked about the two types of peas in "iron clay peas" learned that they are very similar except that one is more viney than the other.....seems as though the deer do not prefer the viney type as much. anything left with a leaf on it right now is on a vine.
David
Active Member
went last night to mow around the house.
i walked out to check on my bean field, or whats left of it, and saw 14 deer. no trophy bucks, but a few 2.5 year olds. there is a dip in the field where i cant see, and after watching those 14 deer for 10 minutes, something spooked a bunch of does in the area that was out of my vision. there were 16 that ran to the wood line. that makes 30 deer in one 3 acre plot.
I've been thinking about it all day. thoughts of excitement over the upcoming season. thoughts of satisfaction, that my first attempt at a summer plot was so successful. fearful thoughts of what to do with so many does. thoughts on how many does to kill. as you can imagine, there is almost nothing left of my beans/peas. I imagine they will certainly spread out throughout the upcoming months, those numbers are very atypical of our deer density around here.
i walked out to check on my bean field, or whats left of it, and saw 14 deer. no trophy bucks, but a few 2.5 year olds. there is a dip in the field where i cant see, and after watching those 14 deer for 10 minutes, something spooked a bunch of does in the area that was out of my vision. there were 16 that ran to the wood line. that makes 30 deer in one 3 acre plot.
I've been thinking about it all day. thoughts of excitement over the upcoming season. thoughts of satisfaction, that my first attempt at a summer plot was so successful. fearful thoughts of what to do with so many does. thoughts on how many does to kill. as you can imagine, there is almost nothing left of my beans/peas. I imagine they will certainly spread out throughout the upcoming months, those numbers are very atypical of our deer density around here.
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David
Active Member
Before....
After....
They have eaten 99% of what is available....incredible amount of food was provided. I never saw the first pod, not sure if "forage" beans or peas actually produce any. It was amazing that it was able to get to maturity and then in a matter of weeks it was gone. There isnt even enough left to get good coverage for a throw and mow. I am actually going to attempt to replant the same thing again here in a few weeks with some oats added. Our first frost wont happen until November.
And often i get nervous looking at the small picture, but here are some chestnuts that will be dropping in 4-6 weeks. Always nice to have some food supplied that doesn't require any effort on my part. The longer i have this place the more thankful i am for the previous owners efforts. There are close to 30 mature chestnuts, and two thirds look like this.
I really love this picture. This is a stand of 7 chestnut trees with massive white, black, and red oaks in the back ground. Thousands of pounds of food are about to start dripping off the trees. The oaks are growing on a steep ridge leading down to the Little River, my stand is hung on one of the tallest white oaks.
After....
They have eaten 99% of what is available....incredible amount of food was provided. I never saw the first pod, not sure if "forage" beans or peas actually produce any. It was amazing that it was able to get to maturity and then in a matter of weeks it was gone. There isnt even enough left to get good coverage for a throw and mow. I am actually going to attempt to replant the same thing again here in a few weeks with some oats added. Our first frost wont happen until November.
And often i get nervous looking at the small picture, but here are some chestnuts that will be dropping in 4-6 weeks. Always nice to have some food supplied that doesn't require any effort on my part. The longer i have this place the more thankful i am for the previous owners efforts. There are close to 30 mature chestnuts, and two thirds look like this.
I really love this picture. This is a stand of 7 chestnut trees with massive white, black, and red oaks in the back ground. Thousands of pounds of food are about to start dripping off the trees. The oaks are growing on a steep ridge leading down to the Little River, my stand is hung on one of the tallest white oaks.
weekender21
Well-Known Member
All that hard mast is defiantly something to get excited about! Do you know how old those chestnuts are? They are looking great this year.
David
Active Member
This year i decided to hedge my bets and plant things on different dates. I didn't want to get caught with my pants down in the middle of another drought. So i replanted some left over beans/peas in my big field. Threw in some oats for the winter months. Its not a traditional combo for the fall, but the new beans/peas are already 3 inches tall. The oats are doing well also. I had intended to try a throw and mow, but the deer literally ate everything off the stem, there wasn't enough thatch left to cover the soil. I have graduated to now using the tractor spreader for the oats and beans. It has much less finesse around the trees, corners, rocks however it was obviously much faster. Measure twice, cut once....well that doesnt always work. I marked my acres on the ground as i always do with the bags of whatever i am going to spread....accept of course i didnt pay attention to them while spreading. so i ended up with an empty acre and 2 heavy doses of oats in the first 2 acres.
After i realized my error, i remembered i bought some name brand stuff on sale last year....i think its called "ultra mega master big buck rack seed".
anyways, i hand spread it over the last acre. There was some rye grass in one of the mixes, so that is counter productive to my goal of eliminating cool season grasses, but its fun to mess around with other mixes. For better or for worse, this field now has about 12 different seeds in it. i doubt there is a herbicide on the market that wont kill some of it.
lastly, check out my before and after pictures in post #74, this is the same plot, and it was completely wiped out. When the food from this plot was gone, it was amazing to see them crush my strips of partridge pea.
After i realized my error, i remembered i bought some name brand stuff on sale last year....i think its called "ultra mega master big buck rack seed".
anyways, i hand spread it over the last acre. There was some rye grass in one of the mixes, so that is counter productive to my goal of eliminating cool season grasses, but its fun to mess around with other mixes. For better or for worse, this field now has about 12 different seeds in it. i doubt there is a herbicide on the market that wont kill some of it.
lastly, check out my before and after pictures in post #74, this is the same plot, and it was completely wiped out. When the food from this plot was gone, it was amazing to see them crush my strips of partridge pea.
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David
Active Member
I love messing around with designs for access, stand sites, food plot locations etc with google earth.
A volunteer pumpkin from last years target practice!
getting ready for this Friday am!
Check your stands for rust...this is one of the last things for me to finish up repairing.
And finally i lost a few big trees, this is before the hurricane. This was a large river birch and two hickory trees. I am sure i lost a few more yesterday.
A volunteer pumpkin from last years target practice!
getting ready for this Friday am!
Check your stands for rust...this is one of the last things for me to finish up repairing.
And finally i lost a few big trees, this is before the hurricane. This was a large river birch and two hickory trees. I am sure i lost a few more yesterday.
David
Active Member
killed a doe this past saturday evening. She was being chased around by a 6 point. It was in my "bean field". The second picture is my view from the stand. You might be able to make out the small buck just to the right of the plum patch.
I spend extra money on soil tests, fertilizer, good seed, herbicide etc in order to insure my food plots grow the best they can....why not irrigate them? i bought 700 feet of hose and the biggest residential impact sprinkler head i could find. The well at the farm shoots out water like a fire hose. It worked pretty good. i measured and i can get a 40 foot radius...thats 5,000 square feet, just over a tenth of an acre. I can move the sprinkler head every 2 hours in a day, that equals over a half acre of ground. I really had in mind to water 2 plots this way, but one of them is 50 foot higher in elevation, and it just doesnt have the power.
Either way for less than 200$ it was worth it.
I spend extra money on soil tests, fertilizer, good seed, herbicide etc in order to insure my food plots grow the best they can....why not irrigate them? i bought 700 feet of hose and the biggest residential impact sprinkler head i could find. The well at the farm shoots out water like a fire hose. It worked pretty good. i measured and i can get a 40 foot radius...thats 5,000 square feet, just over a tenth of an acre. I can move the sprinkler head every 2 hours in a day, that equals over a half acre of ground. I really had in mind to water 2 plots this way, but one of them is 50 foot higher in elevation, and it just doesnt have the power.
Either way for less than 200$ it was worth it.
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cuffycreek
New Member
Awesome looking property. I have been following your thread for a while but just "joined the site" yesterday. We have about 500 acres nearby in Greenwood county.
