Recent content by Flatiron75

^ ^ ^ ^ New England has gotten a batch of rain so far this year. Lots more than normal. Storms just seem to park there this spring. Hope you get some good sun & dry out a bit.

X-2, KSQ2. Takes decades to grow new oaks to large size.

This. ^ ^ ^ You can't go wrong adding clover to just about any food plot. It adds nitrogen to the soil in its roots automatically, and it adds a high-protein food for the deer. Mowing after seeding makes a mulch that keeps moisture in the soil & helps keep weeds down.

Thank-you, sir! ^ ^ ^ ^

^ ^ ^ Pic #1 looks great. All that wheat, oats, crimson clover, vetch & chicory all died on their own??? Just curious - why didn't you let that plot feed deer all summer - or at least most of it??

If that's buckwheat coming through that duff (post #4 pic) - that might be the answer to our "turkeys eating all our BW seed" problem. When we plant BW in a nice, disced, harrowed, culti-packed field, the turkeys clean it all up as seed. Might have to plant a batch of WR and use it as thatch...

Anyone know of a good, factual book on what weeds tell us about our soils?

I always have enjoyed trying to read the signs in a piece of terrain, piecing together when a buck travels there, where he might be bedding, his preferred travel routes, food sources, etc. I learned a lot from reading books by the Wensel brothers about reading / interpreting sign. Their advice...

Me either, on the vertical bow. Had to go to a x-bow a few years ago due to a bad back + shoulder issues. Better than not going!

I've used Thunderheads, 3-bladed 125 gr. for a number of years - no problems. I took my first couple deer using the old Savora heads years ago, then went to Rocky Mountain 125 gr. heads. I shot one with the Rocky's, but moved on to Thunderheads.

You still have mountains there in SW Pa.? ^ ^ ^ Never been to SW Pa. --- Furthest west in Pa. was to Kinzua Bridge when it was still standing. I love archery season for ALL it offers. I like not freezing my bass off in an open tree stand in December (!!!), the fall colors, frosty...

Isn't beech dying from a type of blight in the northeast? A Pa. state forester told us not to bother planting beech seedlings at our camp, because they would just die from a disease that's spreading. What's your experience now in 2025?

I just tired of shooting young, "handful" racks. I shot plenty of them when I was younger. I like the challenge of trying to outwit an older, mature buck. Since AR in Pa. started, more mature, bigger-racked bucks to be seen. A 3+ year-old in Pa. is now more possible since AR lets them get a few...

Great firewood - easy to split when green. Son and I just cut a batch of chestnut oak last week.

We've always eaten the deer we take, or we share some with family & friends. "Trophy hunter" can mean a few things. One is that you don't eat what you kill. The other is that you hold out for a trophy buck, and don't shoot the first legal one you see. At this point in my 50+ years of hunting, I...