Recreating a Deer Woods

Chainsaw - have you had any other issues posting on this site?
No Okie, except for the problem in the spring of pictures not loading which has since been corrected on my end everything is working fine. It has been an extremely dry and hot summer for here so a lot of time is being spent in a cooler place like at the water.

Have just begun brush hogging trails and fields in prep for regrowth and then killing for early September BFO planting. We have four acres of beans planted but growth is stagnant. Finally got rain a few days ago maybe beans will begin to grow now.
 
Stayed at the lake over the summer, did a lot of gardening and a little fishing and a lot of just plain relaxing. Woods projects have been minor but past projects will carry us nicely. Yesterday started removing MFR (Multi-Flora Rose) plants. They have their seeds showing now so it is easy to recognize them from that alone.
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As the pic shows the MFR seed pods are easily distinguishable from the Blackberry. Also evident is the uniqueness of the leaves for each. I had never compared them side by side but just sort of knew which was which but could have been mistaken some times. Now looking at the differences it should be easier for me to tell them apart.
 
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To remove the MFR we just dig them with the front end loader bucket; the roots come up easily. Within a day or two it dries out and is soon dead if one gets it all. Here is a major MFR dug up but looking at the pic, it is obvious some was missed. Will hit it again soon to finish it off.

Having trouble loading pics to continue the postings--probably doing something out of order. Will try again when I get it figured out.
 
My deer browse MFR in early spring greenup but it sure can take over an area, especially heavy thinning log cuts.
 
Dave, I had to show you this tree. This is your scion wood from last year. Actually, this isn't the largest one. There is one more that has grown bigger than this one. It wouldn't surprise me to see apples on these next year.

PS: You did a good job picking trees that were CAR resistant. The leaves on all of them are spotless. The tree in the picture stands a few feet away from a Goldrush that came close to dying from CAR this year.

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Dave, I had to show you this tree. This is your scion wood from last year. Actually, this isn't the largest one. There is one more that has grown bigger than this one. It wouldn't surprise me to see apples on these next year.

PS: You did a good job picking trees that were CAR resistant. The leaves on all of them are spotless. The tree in the picture stands a few feet away from a Goldrush that came close to dying from CAR this year.

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Yikes Steve!! That is unbelievable growth; I had no idea that grafts could grow that fast. Thanks on the C.A.R. comment but I have little to do with it; most apple trees here have some resistance. However I'm beginning to suspect that some years each tree can respond differently to Cedar Rust. Some trees here are not normally affected but some years those same trees are affected minimally and of course we only share those apple tree cuttings that show the resistance trait. Definitely I'd expect apples on that one next year.
 
Dave I may need to get some of your special scions this year. I started grafting this year and had good success at home but total failure at camp. The failures were all top works but I have a bunch of rootstock that will be in the ground three years next spring. I have them all caged up and should be great for grafting next year. I just have to figure out how to get them through the first winter without the snow pack breaking the grafts. I am thinking 2’ tubes, they seem to hold up in the snow pack. I grafted my favorite local tree this year and I have one more I want to try next year but I would love to spread some of your favorite trees on the Hill.
 
Dave I may need to get some of your special scions this year. I started grafting this year and had good success at home but total failure at camp. The failures were all top works but I have a bunch of rootstock that will be in the ground three years next spring. I have them all caged up and should be great for grafting next year. I just have to figure out how to get them through the first winter without the snow pack breaking the grafts. I am thinking 2’ tubes, they seem to hold up in the snow pack. I grafted my favorite local tree this year and I have one more I want to try next year but I would love to spread some of your favorite trees on the Hill.
That will be fun Jeremy. I'll keep it in mind this fall as we see which apple trees are measuring up as the winners this year which is a good year to take notes as not all trees are producing this season.
 
I have been a bit of a slacker this year food plot wise. The food plots put in by Weasel, Pa Hillbilly Farming, Upstate Obsession and many of you this season is just awesome and should result in some tremendous deer activity on your properties. We usually have pretty good hunting with or without great food plots but the years that we have had great plots were some of our best hunting years. As expected my food plots are a little less than stellar this year. We have six clover/chicory plots which are looking good now after a mowing earlier this month. There are four acres of beans but the plants are badly eaten( planted late into very dry soil) and the extreme continued dry weather we had most of the summer help keep them stunted. Our farmer planted 35 acres of winter wheat two days ago (Sept. 27) and also no-tilled in four bags of Buck Forage oats today. That is a full two weeks after the end of our regular grain planting window so we don't know what the result will be. We did have some rain on Sept. 26 which softened the soil somewhat and made for good no-till planting.

Regrowth in the woods after all of the timber harvesting in 2013 thru 2016 and annual poplar cutting is excellent despite the dry weather. The fields have a lot of volunteer rye growing that germinated after we prepped the fields for the winter wheat planting. Surprisingly we have seen many deer in that volunteer rye over the last couple of weeks despite the property being surrounded with bean, alfalfa and corn fields.

Some apple trees are full here but many have none. Often in mediocre apple years we have some excellent hunting; when every tree in the areas is full of apples, everyone has plenty of apples and no single property stands out apple wise. Conversely though when only a low percentage of trees have apples such as this year, those with a lot of apple trees such as this property have a big draw. So the season here will be interesting at least and maybe even great despite our rather weak food plot effort this year; we shall see what it brings.
 
Know you too well Chainsaw, I know those deer are well fed even if it were only your natural browse and mast. Good luck.
 
Know you too well Chainsaw, I know those deer are well fed even if it were only your natural browse and mast. Good luck.
You are right Dogghr,
The deer have plenty to eat here for sure and the natural browse and mast and the large chunk of relatively secure cover that this property enjoys will hold and support a lot of animals; it will just be missing the slam dunk more predictable travel patterns that the plots facilitate and we will have to hunt a little better to score. I am actually looking forward to putting forth the more effort it will likely take to be in the right spots at the right times.
 
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I am 70 years young today and so far it has been a great day, got some "work" done earlier, watched a doe and two young-ins feeding in the yard and then brought up the daylily forum on the computer (yes even daylily hybridizers have forums) and saw a most perfect post from one of its' members "Rob Faulkner" I have never met him but he reminds me of our Dogghr in his ability to SEE things so clearly also whom I've not yet met. Anyhow Rob's daylily post sums up so perfectly the good of the many people on this forum; everyone I have met or conversed with in some way comes across as wanting to help each other improve and enjoy our game of deer hunting. The two passions are similar; In deer hunting we improve our land, plant food and cover and thus improve our hunting and enjoyment of our outdoor world and in daylilies we improve our gardens and hybridize to create new daylilies that enhance our gardening experience and added beauty to the new generations of daylilies.

Here is Rob's post from the Daylily Forum (American Hemerocallis Society) that reminded me of the deer forum and how everyone is so helpful.

" I like to see this paragraph added to the AHS handbook for the betterment of the society and for the good of all.....

WE are all in some ways looking at doing daylilies as a game.In some games we are all participants and the goal is not to win or lose
But to beautify the game.

In other games, winning is the goal and in such games we are merely “spectators’ Or consumers or worse, cannon fodder. The latter types of games may be interesting To the main players but then everyone else is irrelevant or can be discarded.

Playing the game so that everyone can win and no one can lose and the game just keeps Getting better is the better way to go.
---If you need to win in the world of daylilies,and hope others lose it might be good to get your ego repaired."

This is not to say that us on the Deer Forum always behave perfectly and don't have egos that may try to surface on rare occasions but I'm so happy those occasions are not our norm and I'm happy to be a member of this deer forum group that just keeps helping each other enhance and enjoy our sport (game).

Everyone have a great day and if you see any nice bucks today, chase them my way and I'll shoot them with my camera (camera offer good today only-a once on 70 year offer for sure!).
 
Happy Birthday. I have always been amazed of your dual love of deer and daylilies. I remember that detailed description how you cross pollinate. Enjoy the day like you enjoy life always!
 
Well happy Bday young man. Hope its awesome. Thanks for all the info on your thread beginning back on the old forum. Lots of good stuff. Funny there is a daylilly forum, but I shouldn't be surprised. Pretty cool.
 
Happy birthday Chainsaw!!! Passion is akin to hope. Anyone can tell by following ur thread that you have an over abundance of both!
 
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