Upstate Obsession

The biggest change for me come retirement is I won’t be 3 hours from the property and limited to fair weather weekends. I’m happiest when my projects (work or personal) have me at a slightly frantic pace. However, travel and praying for fair weather on the weekends is beyond frustrating when there is a narrow window for projects like planting or spraying.. I think being up there full time will also aid in the ongoing battle with trespassing.
 
The biggest change for me come retirement is I won’t be 3 hours from the property and limited to fair weather weekends. I’m happiest when my projects (work or personal) have me at a slightly frantic pace. However, travel and praying for fair weather on the weekends is beyond frustrating when there is a narrow window for projects like planting or spraying.. I think being up there full time will also aid in the ongoing battle with trespassing.

Absolutely Tom. It is so much easier to do jobs when conditions are right and the trespassing issues are easier to control when there is a presence on the property.
 
Got to the farm to check on progress. Corn and beans planted two weeks ago have popped—I’ll spray gly next weekend. So far, germination appears better than last year. I got 2.5 acres of clover/chicory sprayed at the home plot. I also got 3 acres sprayed with gly in preparation for rutabaga/Winfred planting’s I hope to put in in two weeks. I also mowed 3 acres to try to knock back annuals in my clover. I also got a bunch of lime spread in a strip I plan to plant alfalfa. I’ll mix in a little ladino just in case it doesn’t work out.

Last night, I was watching one of our plots when a mama porcupine and her lil baby came in. She was focused on soybean sprouts, but was interrupted every couple minutes by the lil one who wanted to nurse. This was a first for me. Since putting in our plots, the porcupine population has really grown. People think I’m nuts for not shooting them all on sight. Most of the time, they’re focused on clover...of which I have plenty. Frankly, I like seeing them, and know they’ll keep the fishers around. Wish I’d had a camera.

Today there’s almost no wind. I’ve been waiting for such a day to check some loads in a 7mm STW and a 270 win. I’m always amazed at what an accuracy difference can be made by tweaking a powder charge by a grain or two, or changing Cartridge Overall Length. In the 270, groups doubled in size by tweaking 20 thousandths. A 2 grain adjustment in powder shrunk groups from 1.5” to .5” in the STW. For those that shoot big rifles, you need to give Reloader 26 a try. Superb accuracy and top velocity!
 
Will do Matt. Some areas are ok, some fantastic and some a little disappointing. South slopes unsurprisingly have showed the most growth. Perhaps the single biggest benefit (other than cover) is all the browse has given young growth on the rest of the property a real rest. I can’t believe all the 2’-4’ oak and maples!
 
55E6D01F-BD73-469D-B602-757BCF3948DE.jpeg CA8B3E32-3DD5-496F-8B01-4415B4516DDC.jpeg Per Matt’s request, here are some hinge cut photos done 4 years ago. We did 23 acres worth. The thickest new growth is in our sanctuary that I won’t venture into for pics. Last fall, trailing a deer we ventured in. Stem count was super dense and averaged 8’ tall. South facing slopes seem to the best. Even amongst those, there is a wide variance on how they compare.
 
Taking these photos has had me thinking about the impact. Cover is phenomenal, and the available browse as compared to before is also amazing. If I had to choose between plots and extensive hinge cuts, the chainsaw is clearly the winner. As long as my health and wallet is up to it, I’ll do both:)

I’ve got 3 acres ready to plant Rutabagas/Winfred brassicas. Hope to get them in the ground the next 2 weeks. I’ll put in an acre of LC brassicas and an 1.25 acres of turnips in a month from now. Between that and the 4 acres of corn/beans, the deer should be in good shape. The turnips are pure starvation insurance.

Although it’s a bit early to be definitive, trails cams suggest mature buck numbers are way down. I know our two biggest we’re killed last fall. It looks like the coyotes/deep snow took the rest. I do have a silly number of young bucks running around. There are 4 in particular that come out to feed whenever I’m in our biggest plot complex. They’re content to feed within 50 yds of the tractor....even in the heat of the day. I enjoy the company.
 
Last edited:
5EBFF50A-38A1-4158-8DE5-67B68C5DFC6F.jpeg F07835F1-E8DB-4B7B-8137-B699C18734EE.jpeg 891346EE-8388-41C9-9BA9-32530A04E30A.jpeg Time for an update. A number of folks have asked about broadcasting corn. These photos show the good, bad and ugly. These are mixed with beans, broadcast and disced to cover and cultipacked. We plant heavy knowing the turkeys, crows and geese will pull up the young sprouts to get to the seed. We also have to deal with deer browsing early growth. These were planted 4 weeks ago (3 weeks behind farmers down in the valley(it was still too wet up on the mountain)). If you study the photos, it’s thin in places and thick in others. Interesting thing is the thinner areas will sprout bigger and more ears per stalk. I’ve tried to justify a planter...but can’t rationalize it yet.
 
Last edited:
A45617B1-7E72-4A3D-98EA-251D8122A690.jpeg 4FD4FC12-4F6F-4CDE-AF9F-BFD9D5FAFB76.jpeg We found these rock piles on the property. The are both are on top of large rocks. They are nowhere near any section corners and their purpose remains unclear. I’ve wondered if they were winter grave sights when the ground was too hard to dig (there are numerous old in ground rock foundations). The bigger on is >6’ tall. Any thoughts about what they might be? I’ve been encouraged to work with state archeologists but see no upside for having them tramp about 50yds from the edge of our sanctuary.
 
D8CE30A7-96E3-4C10-AB4B-75319AE9FA1E.jpeg DCDC6787-2CFA-49DB-936D-82A177CE81F8.jpeg A76B7970-7012-4867-9636-E2C34D94B326.jpeg It appears we have more bucks than does right now (12-14 half of which are yearlings). Sadly, in the last 4000 trail cam photos, I’ve seen two fawns:(. The buck in the middle pictureis clearly an older buck looking at the muscle mass. A couple pics:
 
D4D5366E-7698-40DE-8786-7DA3D9FBC62B.jpeg This clover chicory Plot is 3 years old. I mowed it 2 weeks ago and it immediately flowered. I’d planned on rotating it into to brassicas this summer. It’s my only really pretty plot....but doesn’t get as many deer pics as the ugly ones do:). If the rains look sufficient for the corn/beans and Rutabagas/Winfred that go in tomorrow, I may give it another year.
 
Last edited:
952C415F-AB05-45E3-8E6E-18607EE09DA9.jpeg This clover patch planted last fall is adjacent to it. I’d also planned to rotate this into brassicas. I’ll decide the next couple weeks. I mowed the triticale a couple weeks ago and it would appear a few of the plants had enough energy to produce stunted seed heads.
 
Every camera has coyote pics..... Fortunately, we haven’t had to deal with bears this fawning season (they’ll move onto the property in 3-4 weeks for the berry explosion). Of course, coyotes are protected in NY from 4/1 to 9/31....the pups need parents to train them to kill more deer:(
 
Last edited:
View attachment 12512 View attachment 12511 View attachment 12510 Time for an update. A number of folks have asked about broadcasting corn. These photos show the good, bad and ugly. These are mixed with beans, broadcast and disced to cover and cultipacked. We plant heavy knowing the turkeys, crows and geese will pull up the young sprouts to get to the seed. We also have to deal with deer browsing early growth. These were planted 4 weeks ago (3 weeks behind farmers down in the valley(it was still too wet up on the mountain)). If you study the photos, it’s thin in places and thick in others. Interesting thing is the thinner areas will sprout bigger and more ears per stalk. I’ve tried to justify a planter...but can’t rationalize it yet.
Corn is looking very good considering you broadcasted it. I tried it a couple times with less than stellar results, and put off corn planting plans until I win the lottery and can afford a planter. Curious as to what you do as far as fertilizing when you broadcast your corn/beans? Also; do you use RR corn and beans?
 
I broadcast the fertilizer, disc it in, broadcast corn, disc it in and cultipack. As you undoubtedly experienced, it’s really challenging to evenly broadcast the corn. I set the spreader openings really small and try get even coverage by going over the field 4 times. Part of the bare spots are the birds pulling up the newly sprouts. Given the cost of RR corn, I’ve learned it doesn’t pay to try to do it quicker (expensive lessons).
 
Looking real good. I'm going to look into your rock piles a bit - I've not seen or heard about them before.

The plots look great - my old corn planter corn looks similar to your broad cast - LOL.

Deer coming along - always seems to take forever to see the bucks show their potential.

I wouldn't worry about the fawns too much - I've only seen a few on camera and none in the fields at all yet - except for one I bumped out of a weed patch. No fawns are both with Mom yet - that I've seen. Still keeping them tucked away. I think in my area - they'll start coming out of the woodwork soon.
 
Same here, fawns are not out all that much yet--still in hiding. Saw a young doe yesterday run across a neighbors lawn (one of those four acre ones) and then stop and out jumped a little tail wagger to nurse on her. So for here we really can't mow quite yet.
 
Back
Top