195 Acres Southern OK

[bearcat]

Did I read that right where you were taking 88 does off 195 in 1 year?

Not quite, sorry for the confusion. My property is enrolled in a management program. I’m not sure on the exact acreage for the year, but we are probably around 12k-15k acres. The 88 doe was a quota for the entire association.

I did get my first doe off the new place yesterday morning. She came in about 8:00 am and was working through the oak bottom. Slightly quartering towards me shot at about 18 yards. I was able to see her go down about 40 yards away. It was a great feeling taking a doe off my new place!

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[bearcat]

I'm pretty much done hunting at this point and ready for habitat season. My main goal for this year is getting rid of cedars and opening up the canopy. The cedar project is starting in about a week or so with help from local sawmill and some heavy machinery. I'm curious what how you guys think I should approach my TSI project. Removing the cedars will help some areas tremendously. There are areas in the actual timber(oaks, elms and hickory) that I'd like to thin out and areas I'd like to try to encourage bedding. The southern 1/2 of my property is almost broke up into 4 quadrants They are about 20-30 each. I'm thinking of trying to thin out the perimeter of these 4 quadrants with some selective TSI and the cedar clearing. As for the inner parts or hearts of these quadrants, I was thinking about hinge cutting about 2 acres or so. I'm thinking this would allow me to hunt the N and S sides of these area and leave the heart left alone. I'll also be expanding my plots a little this year as well . I'll probably shoot for the same plan with the eastern half across the creek.
I have the Prescribed Burn Assoc. working up a plan for me to burn the 2 middle portions of the southern part of the property in early Feb.

 

[buckdeer1]

I would think about leaving cedars where ever you feel like you need to block somethings view either neighbors or deer.I like to have groups of cedars spread out for bedding I just like them far enough apart so grass will grow.I also plant them on north side of some of my shrub plots for game bird thermal cover.Looks like you have a good plan going

 

[bearcat]

It was a nice day yesterday and I was a little tired of sitting inside after a few cold rainy days. I picked up a new chainsaw on the way to the farm. I get tired of lugging my Farmboss 291 around the woods. My thoughts are also the smaller saw would be safer. The new one I got is the Stihl MS 171. I’ll be using it around the house and for trimming at the farm. I was pretty pleased, my only negative comment would be about the fuel tank. I’m just used the fuel tank on my farm boss. I can cut for an extended amount of time and never worry about refilling. I decided to head out and do some hinge cutting. I watched too many Steve Bartyllla videos after the last few days! After looking at a few areas of the farm, I decided to start in the NE corner. The other areas I considered may be best to work on after our next prescribed burn. There are currently just too many briers in some spots.
Here is an area that I started working on to increase bedding opportunities.

I’ll continue to work on a few other areas similar to this spot. I’m choosing areas that are pretty secluded and that I could hunt the edges of these blocks of timber. There are lots of large oaks through the farm. I chose to either eliminate or hinge cut the winged Elms that tend to pop up in and around my oak flats.


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[buckdeer1]

That MS171 is a great little saw,I usually use the canned premix container when away from truck.

 

[bearcat]

We went out this weekend with the family for a few projects and some Turkey hunting this weekend. We didn’t have any luck with the turkeys, but my son shot his first pig. He missed this same pig 2 weeks ago and was beating himself up. We were just about to get out of the blind around 10:30 on Saturday night and decided to make one more sweep of the food plot when we saw him. He made a good shot at 75 yards. He is one of the biggest pigs I’ve seen. Pretty exciting for his first one

The cereal rye and clover has really started to take off in the plots. There are some thin spots, but overall I’m pretty happy for my first try. I’m may spray next weekend with butyrac to suppress some broadleafs.

Great weekend with the fam. Also got started on our shooting range and got about 15 acres burned off.






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[lakngolf]

Congrats. That looks more like a HOG than a pig!!

 

[George]

Congratulations to the young feller. That's a monster, will it be food or fertilizer?

G

 

[bearcat]

Congratulations to the young feller. That's a monster, will it be food or fertilizer?

G

Thank you. We will eat the smaller ones, that is too large for tasty table fare. We put a game cam on the carcass. It will be fun to see what decides to make a meal of him.


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[bearcat]

The cedar clearing continues. I’m focused on about 70 acres out of our 200. It’s a slow project, but things are starting to open up. I’m amazed at some of the nice oaks I found hidden in the cedar thickets
A few before and after sin some spots

 

[Mennoniteman]

The cedar clearing continues. I’m focused on about 70 acres out of our 200. It’s a slow project, but things are starting to open up. I’m amazed at some of the nice oaks I found hidden in the cedar thickets
A few before and after sin some spots

In about 4 years you are going to look at the fantastic transformation of your habitat and tree species, and you're going to say "I should have done twice as much, and done it ten years earlier".

 

[buckdeer1]

Looks good I am cutting some big cedars also and dragging them in some NWSG to add structure for nesting and bedding

 

[bearcat]

Throw and mow questions
I let my fall plots go this year instead of terminating and planting a summer plot. They got pretty hairy.
Here are some pics after this first herbicide application last week.

They are pretty thick. How would you suggest to move ahead. Go with throw n mow. I do have access to a disc and cultipacker. Just curious if I should throw, mow and cultipack? Or I should let lightly disc the dead stuff in before seeding. I’m worried about too much thatch.
This will be the 2nd fall for me to plant. I’ll be going with cereal grains, clover and brassicas. I’m shooting for planting after Labor Day when ever it decides to rain

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[catscratch]

I've done TnM in similar. Never had too much thatch. Mowing will shake the seeds down to the soil.

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[KSQ2]

Is there clover underneath?

 

[bearcat]

There was, it dies out by mid to late June because of the heat. Usually looks pretty great in the spring


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[KSQ2]

There was, it dies out by mid to late June because of the heat. Usually looks pretty great in the spring


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Does it come back when the fall rain comes?

 

[bearcat]

Does it come back when the fall rain comes?

I’ve got volunteer clover that pops all up over the rest of the farm. I will pay closer attention this fall and see what I see. This is only the second fall for us to have this place.


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[bearcat]

Good news and bad news
Good news is that my cedar clearing project is starting to look pretty good. I’ve got some really nice openings starting to take shape. I was excited to see what would sprout once the sunlight and rain started hitting the open ground. Bad news is I’ve got quite a bit of Bermuda popping up.
What should I do from here? Should I go ahead start treating with gly?


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[OkieKubota]

Good news and bad news
Good news is that my cedar clearing project is starting to look pretty good. I’ve got some really nice openings starting to take shape. I was excited to see what would sprout once the sunlight and rain started hitting the open ground. Bad news is I’ve got quite a bit of Bermuda popping up.
What should I do from here? Should I go ahead start treating with gly?


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Bermuda or Johnson Grass? Bermuda usually takes some time to establish...Johnson grass and Sericia Lespediza are the devil...