Farmhunter's Deer Management and Property Improvements

well - if I'd waited a day - I wouldn't have posted my concern for Patches - she finally showed up this week and looking good! Can tell in the videos and in the 1st picture that she's nursing - don't let anyone tell you about "old dry does". She turned 10 this May.

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well - if I'd waited a day - I wouldn't have posted my concern for Patches - she finally showed up this week and looking good! Can tell in the videos and in the 1st picture that she's nursing - don't let anyone tell you about "old dry does". She turned 10 this May.

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Looks like a great triple draw spot- fresh dirt, early growth browse and a ? 50 year old apple producer. Glad to see Patches is still at it.
 
plots are shaping up - still need to spray a few bean plots -
Also prepared two plots for turnips to be planted in 3-4 weeks.

Red and White clover - year two after Spring oats cover
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Rye plot (with red clover under) - Red clover mostly - plot to left (Year 2 after fall planted with oats)
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Some corn progress - 2nd was accidentally double planted with soybeans - calling that an experiment - lol.
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And one of the Bean plots - checkerboard planted - recently sprayed with gly
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We have an old doe that we call Whiteface that is at least 12 years old (she was 2 or older when we met her, and we've been on the property 10 years). I wouldn't call her any smarter than the other does, but maybe she is just comfortable (low pressure). Last year, she either didn't fawn or she lost her fawn, so she was fair game. None of the other 2 guys want to take her and when I had the opportunity, I already had several does in the freezer and was waiting for a buck. I only post all this to say, I'm conflicted because I have so much history with her, but at the end of the day, venison is venison, and it would seem a shame for her to pass and feed the coyotes. If she shows up at the right time without a fawn this year, I feel obligated to take her and appreciate the bounty that nature gives us. Do you feel the same about Patches?

Here is WhiteFace and her 3.5 doe offspring at 15 yards in January:
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Nice to see your old doe. I think a lot of us see old does and do not know how old they really are. I understand your confliction. With Patches - in the beginning I could have taken her- i and others almost did and decided not to almost without discussing it. Now I could not take her. I look forward to seeing her and I learn a lot from her. I’ve never had those thoughts about any other deer so I cannot explain the attachment except for the years of living in close proximity.


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Another corn plot - about 3/4 acre - red cover 1 acre behind it - Rye/ Red clover 1.5 acres behind that.
Brown area to right is 1/4 acre where turnips will go in this field in 3 weeks.
Picture back a few shows red clover in between this corn and the corn in foreground. Growing fast with 80s temps.
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coyotes have been very active this summer. this one was chasing something all around in here. Looks like a young one.
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everything progressing well enough- corn/soybeans a little behind - but gaining fast - planting brassicas in two plots and in the open spots in the corn this week, should have some of those pics in a couple days, At this point in the growing season, I start to feel like I can start to sit back a bit, when things are looking good and rain is in the forecast - got most of the spraying in - looking good.

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We got most of the brassicas planted before the big rains this week. I had several to work with - 2 lbs daikon radish, 5 lbs purple top turnips, 2 lbs dwarf essex rapeseed and a bag of Whitetail Institute Tall Tine Tubers (turnips) -

so I varied the mix in each of the 4 plantings I did -and I planted the DER with some PTT in the openings in the corn. still have a bunch of that left - that I'll seed into the browsed soybeans - after second spray -

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This plot still had clover in it that was mostly dormant when I sprayed - looks like some might come back with the mostly turnip mix in this strip.
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Our bucks are starting to grow their racks pretty well now - here's a couple with some promise -

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And we got the backhoe out and are making the south tower waterhole - its a learning experience trust me -
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Looking good. Planting should do well. We are 6 to 8 weeks off yet. Love pic of buck in the corn "hey guys, when will this stuff be ready?"
 
Nice to see everyone's plots coming along. I got my brassica plots in the last week in July -
the best looking one so far is a little micro plot - good soil in here,
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the beans are finally filling in - had to do a second spray on some of them. Dry weather and deer browse delayed them canopying. you can see the grasses dying back - sprayed three days ago -
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these couple look a little better -
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and the pond is done and waiting for water, made my dam a little high - might have to pare it down a little but will see how it does first.

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deer crops are at peak and pond is 90% done.
Great year for corn especially, really didn't have much that didn't come better than expected. First picture - this is the 1/3 acre we accidentally planted soybeans over top corn we planted the week before - just plain forgot. Beans are stalky but surprisingly filled in - in between the rows - wouldn't do it on purpose - but it grew better than expected.
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We planted corn as screens - corn in strips - corn in blocks - and even mixed sparsely with soybeans -
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The pond has been a fun project - and a learning one. Would do it different if I started over - but I'm happy with what its turned into -

its filling and holding rainwater and Deer are finding it - all pluses!
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I got the pipe in last weekend -
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still got some tweaking to do
 
Pond Tweaking is done. Calling the digging over for the year. will check for leaks come spring - I know I need to add some bank on the south side to taper the slope on the back of the dam - I can get the dirt from the taper in - but I want to see how the water levels out before I dig more. Also will work on the dock at my leisure - nice to have the hard work done.

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A couple shooter bucks have shown - right on time. Picked up some very interesting mock scrape pictures and video -

this buck is 3.5 - we call him Bodie. He was an 8 last fall and met our criteria - but disappeared. We had a couple broken antlered bucks last year that we knew of - maybe he was one - or maybe has has a winter hide-a-way. This year he's the best we've seen and for us, he's a real trophy.

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Seeing 4 or 5 others that could be shooters for us, One is a big buck with a 4 point Left side and just a brow on the right. Need to get a better picture or two to post. We are already debating on whether to pass or not - but truth is we may never see him while hunting.

This 8 point we are calling Charlie - he's a 2.5 year old buck and is a real homebody for us. On almost every camera every week - Pretty dominate actually - maybe a bit of a bully. He's the buck we had in the corn early on.
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Can you provide me with a little more info about the pond.
Is the pipes purpose solely for over flow?

As I understand it clay soils are what is needed to hold water. I know you said you are watching it to see if it holds water, but I am wondering did you randomly pick the spot or did you do some type of soil test reveal clay or some level of it.

Any concern with water getting stagnate or causing a problem for the critters that drink from it.

Obviously not a pond guy myself. Nice work, the entire place looks great.

Thanks
 
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Thanks CTM1 - the spot was picked for a couple reasons. It is an area that is quite often wet - but I didn't understand why until I started reading about ponds. the field is right on a 1700 ft contour line and the crest of the hill looking down the valley. The wet spot is down the hill a bit (originally this was a 15 acre field that we've split up). The spot drains at least 3-4 acres of the old field. Where the soil is wet - is where the old farm lane transects the field - for the last 100+ years. What we found is that the farm lane through the field is like a Dam because its compacted. ALL the soil on this hill top has clay 1-2 feet down tops, and the rainwater that makes its way down the hill through the thin topsoil - hits the compacted roadway and pools there - and the soil always seems wet as a result, sometimes it gets so saturated that it comes up and out of the ground and runs on top the ground over the old roadway. Not because of a spring - and that's a good thing in my opinion.

so the plan here was to dig away the topsoil up the hill from the farm lane and use the clay soil from the bottom of the dug pond to build the dam core. This will stop the water from leaking under and/or through the dam. Now - its hard to know if you really got all the topsoil away- especially when you are newbie pond builder like me. So there is is a chance the dam could leak, so far - the bottom is solid - the water in the pond is only from a couple rains -so we did good with the placement and drainage.

The pipe you see is for drainage if/when it fills. That way if it over fills it doesn't come up and over the dam. I did build a lower section in the dam that is an emergency spillway - I cannot imagine ever needing it - but should the pipe plug and we get a monsoon - the water will run over the dame on one compacted edge and go around the dam instead of over it. If I don't get the pond fill like I want - I might lay some tile to divert runoff more directly into the pond, Its hard to catch it all with such a small pond.

I'm not worried about stagnation - we have beaver ponds, and vernal pools around - some of which are pretty stagnant -and its never been an issue. We do not have EHD issues here historically either. This pond will put water right at the food source - which we've never had before - already we can see the deer relating to it. The closest creeks/ponds are not real close by - and most are all the way off the property - so this has been a goal for a while.
 
You’ll like having a water amongst your plots—-facilitates additional moment. We put in two in our 6 acre complex (one where a spring bubbles up, and the second that drains a perpetually wet part).
 
Yep - looking forward to it Elkaddict - the rains today should have helped me out. On the weekend we got the deck on the dock, 2 x 8 treated deck board is a very solid platform. The grass seed has took on the dam and all around - so hoping it'll thicken up to help reduce erosion on the backside especially this fall.

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Got camp cleaned up - and getting ready for hunting season. Putting away all the equipment, and about done working the fields this season. Moved three tree stands, the 59 degree weather felt odd, and foreign - its been such a warm summer.
 
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Fall came upon us quickly - the pond has filled - the corn is dented and turning brown.
Oct 9th - still no frost - actually hot - high 70s today. beans are just now turning yellow - strange hot, wet summer!!

Opening week bow - we saw three of our shooters coming to feed - no shots were presented. saw our piebald doe - she's 10.5 years old this fall. Saw lots of small bucks and does and fawns. Had a fun long weekend - and looking forward to some serious hunting in November!

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Bodie - our #1 goal buck crossed the field I was hunting out of range this weekend. He was with a smaller buck -and they only cared about eating - interestingly he ate in the clover/turnip strip - in the middle of the big plot area -
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