70 in Texas, 50 in Oklahoma
- Thread starter TexOk
- Start date
Another thing - you typically will never get a picture of your largest buck at a feeder even at night. Mineral station is your best chance for that...
TexOk
Active Member
Thanks Weasel, that's pretty much how I look at it. It's not quite the same as having my own land to do whatever I want with it, but at the same time I do feel lucky to have two private properties that I can hunt, and that I can manage the habitat to some extent.
TexOk
Active Member
For that reason I just set up our first mineral station with a camera on it a couple of weeks ago. Obviously it would be more ideal to have it set up in the spring/summer (which we will in the future), but I figure might as well get it started now. And as you noted I was beginning to think that the big boys would never show up to a feeder, which is how they got to be big boys, so that's why I have the plans for new stands away from the feeders for next year. And of course now I'll be scouting the hill now to see where I can put a stand up there!
TexOk
Active Member
Well the situation with the neighbor in the Country (aka the Texas property) took a turn for the worse this week. We heard from a relative, who is the designated spokesperson for the family with this guy, that now he wants to be able to hunt "his spot" for the next two years. The neighbor relayed his concerns about overhunting and ruining the buck to doe ratio and some other excuses as to why he should get to hunt there longer... I think he believes us to be some dumb city folk who are going to go in there and shoot anything brown. Now, we may actually be some dumb city folk, but not quite that dumb. And even if we are, seriously man, it's not your land!!! This guy owns over a hundred acres, so it's not like he'll be without places to hunt, he's just got himself a nice little setup that he has been hunting for a long time and he doesn't want any one else to hunt it. Still, in the interest of trying to maintain some sort of relationship, we decided to go ahead and let him hunt this year but after the season ends he needs to clear out. We'll see how it shakes out. Really annoying though.
LOL - you guys are already doing a lot more than I would...
TexOk
Active Member
On to less aggravating topics... so I was able to go up to the Property in Oklahoma this last weekend and got a couple of things done. My big project was my first attempt at food plotting. I'm trying to get my white clover patches going along some old logging roads that lead to our stands. Next spring I hope to get the main food plots established with summer crops, but this is a first step to get my feet wet. So here are the tools I had to work with:
Obviously going with a throw and mow approach, or to be exact, throw and weed eat. Less than ideal, but ya do what ya can with what ya got. So my plan was to broadcast some rye and my clover mix and then weed eat all the grass and weeds down on it to make some thatch. Here's the clover mix I decided to go with:
My hope is that the rye, crimson clover and red clover will work as a nurse crop to help get the Durana established. We'll see how it pans out.
Obviously going with a throw and mow approach, or to be exact, throw and weed eat. Less than ideal, but ya do what ya can with what ya got. So my plan was to broadcast some rye and my clover mix and then weed eat all the grass and weeds down on it to make some thatch. Here's the clover mix I decided to go with:
My hope is that the rye, crimson clover and red clover will work as a nurse crop to help get the Durana established. We'll see how it pans out.
TexOk
Active Member
Funny side story about the rye, I called a couple of local feed stores to see if they carried rye grain. I finally found one that did and went to go get it the next day. I went to the counter and said I needed some rye grain, and the lady looked at me and said, "you mean rye grass?" I said no, I needed rye grain. She looked bewildered. She called another lady over and said, "do we have rye grain?" and the other lady said, "you mean rye grass?" Again I said no, I needed rye grain. "Well what are you using it for?"
"Food plot for deer."
"Oh, then you need rye grass."
"No, I definitely don't want rye grass, I'm looking for rye grain. I was told over the phone you had some."
"Well whoever you talked to must have thought you said rye grass, cuz I don't even know what rye grain is."
"It's kind of like wheat or oats, but it's called rye, it's what you make rye bread out of."
"Well we have wheat and oats."
"Yes, but I really wanted rye."
At this point the lady is getting annoyed with me, and she turns around and looks at a sheet of paper on the pegboard behind her.
"The only kind of rye we keep in stock according my list here is rye grass and Elbon rye."
I took a deep breath and said, "Elbon rye... that's rye grain, that's what I need."
"Oh, okay, I'll get you a bag then." She comes back and says that they are all out of rye grain. By this point I had looked around a bit, and noticed that they had all of their food plot seed in buckets for sale by the pound right next to the register where we had been talking. Sitting there between the buckets for GFR and Bob oats was Elbon rye. So when she said they were out I simply pointed down to the ground next to her and said, "It's right there. I need fifteen pounds please."
Am I crazy? It's referred to as rye grain, right?
"Food plot for deer."
"Oh, then you need rye grass."
"No, I definitely don't want rye grass, I'm looking for rye grain. I was told over the phone you had some."
"Well whoever you talked to must have thought you said rye grass, cuz I don't even know what rye grain is."
"It's kind of like wheat or oats, but it's called rye, it's what you make rye bread out of."
"Well we have wheat and oats."
"Yes, but I really wanted rye."
At this point the lady is getting annoyed with me, and she turns around and looks at a sheet of paper on the pegboard behind her.
"The only kind of rye we keep in stock according my list here is rye grass and Elbon rye."
I took a deep breath and said, "Elbon rye... that's rye grain, that's what I need."
"Oh, okay, I'll get you a bag then." She comes back and says that they are all out of rye grain. By this point I had looked around a bit, and noticed that they had all of their food plot seed in buckets for sale by the pound right next to the register where we had been talking. Sitting there between the buckets for GFR and Bob oats was Elbon rye. So when she said they were out I simply pointed down to the ground next to her and said, "It's right there. I need fifteen pounds please."
Am I crazy? It's referred to as rye grain, right?
TexOk
Active Member
I know what you mean Okie. My brother in law and I were wanting to drive over there and put a lock on the gate right then. But the womenfolk in the family really wanted to try to make some kind of peace, and since we had done zero scouting and had no tree stands or feeders or anything ready to go we figured why not try one more olive branch. We'll see if it gets smacked down though...
It took a while for our coop to start carrying Rye grain over our way. Most folks just buy wheat, turnips, and clover over here...
TexOk
Active Member
So this gives you an idea of where these white clover strips are, in the light green areas. I wound up making the north clover strip much longer, taking it all the way south to where the trail curves to the west towards what will eventually be the Apple/Oak food plot. In total the two plots together are almost 1/3 of an acre. The bummer about the north plot was my dad and I were there three weeks ago doing some work and the co-owner was going to be there as well, bringing along his tractor and brush hog. I was going to tell him to avoid brush hogging those trails, but he had gotten there early and had already mowed the north trail. Fortunately enough we had some really good rain up there the next few weeks so much of the grass had regrown by the time I was there to plant.
TexOk
Active Member
You can see in the trail pic some of our American beautyberry, got quite a bit of it in this part of the property. I like it because deer browse it and song birds like the berries... And it's one of the few plants I can easily identify. I'm working on expanding that list, but it will take me a while to catch up to some of you guys!
TexOk
Active Member
As you can see the south strip has quite a bit of tree and shrub growth on either side. Our plan is to go back in a couple weeks with the chainsaws to open that up more. In another month or two we'll be planting chestnuts along the strip, so we are going to need to clear out some competition to make sure the chestnuts get plenty of light. The north strip on the other hand is pretty open, and some persimmons will be planted along that strip.
TexOk
Active Member
Unfortunately on the Property there is a chemical pesticide ban per the co-owners, so no gly was used in this process, so I weedeated everything down to the ground as best I could. I'm hoping the thatch will do the trick, protecting the seed from the birds and the scorching sun. Of course when I planted last Sunday there were chances of rain this week, which promptly disappeared. But as I said, there had been a lot of rain the week before so the ground was still pretty moist, and there was a ton of dew on the ground the next morning when we left. There's a 60% chance of rain tomorrow and some really good chances for later next week. Fingers crossed!
TexOk
Active Member
So while we were planting the clover strips we of course had to check the cameras. We normally had just two cameras, one on each feeder, but a few weeks ago when we got the feeders up and running we set up a mineral site as well. The very next day we got a pic of this Big Boy:
We've even got some pics of him at the feeder, of course only at night. If you look close you can see him in the back:
He's not a record breaker but he's the biggest buck we've seen so far. And then there's this guy who is all over the feeder about every other night. Remember how I said the buck that I didn't recover last season had a goofy left antler?
I'm not sure if it's the exact same buck, but makes me wonder...
We've even got some pics of him at the feeder, of course only at night. If you look close you can see him in the back:
He's not a record breaker but he's the biggest buck we've seen so far. And then there's this guy who is all over the feeder about every other night. Remember how I said the buck that I didn't recover last season had a goofy left antler?
I'm not sure if it's the exact same buck, but makes me wonder...
TexOk
Active Member
More does and fawns coming by the feeder this year than last year. Makes me really excited about getting some year round food plots going rather than relying on corn feeders!
These two were at the feeder while I was loading up the four wheeler to get to work on the clover strips.
And someone wanted to check out the camera at the new mineral site.
These two were at the feeder while I was loading up the four wheeler to get to work on the clover strips.
And someone wanted to check out the camera at the new mineral site.
