Bowhunter's upstate New York property tour

[Elkaddict]

Congrats! Thanks for sharing. Although I’m covered up in turkeys, I haven’t seen a fan or heard a gobble in 8 days. They started way early this year....and may be done. I may be stuck sitting on dusting sites... in years past, I’ve seen the equivalent of a “second rut.” Does anyone know enough about Turkey reproduction to weigh in?

 

[Buckly]

Later in the season the gobblers will be hanging around good nesting areas. Almost circling around brushy areas where hens are sitting on nests.

 

[Bowhunter]

Congrats! Thanks for sharing. Although I’m covered up in turkeys, I haven’t seen a fan or heard a gobble in 8 days. They started way early this year....and may be done. I may be stuck sitting on dusting sites... in years past, I’ve seen the equivalent of a “second rut.” Does anyone know enough about Turkey reproduction to weigh in?

I know that if a hen looses her nest to predators she will get bred and have a second or even third clutch if she can. That would kind of be like a second rut if you will. The "Wild Turkey Doc", aka Mike Chamberlain did a podcast on predators and how turkeys react to them a while back that I remember listening to.

If you haven't listened to any of his content you should check him out.

 

[Bowhunter]

Got my new planter delivered yesterday!

Rdh Outdoors did a great job on the planter. This thing will last me a lifetime more than likely.

I got two of my fields planted yesterday and have one more to do tonight or tomorrow. It did better than expected even on my rocky ground with the no till setup. With 85 day corn I should have just enough time for the corn to reach maturity.

 

[Elkaddict]

How much does it weigh? I’m trying to figure if it’s heavy enough to cut through the previous year’s stalks. It would save me a day and one-half every year, and the loss of a layer of top soil that the York rake inevitably removes when cleaning up the stalks.

 

[Bowhunter]

How much does it weigh? I’m trying to figure if it’s heavy enough to cut through the previous year’s stalks. It would save me a day and one-half every year, and the loss of a layer of top soil that the York rake inevitably removes when cleaning up the stalks.

Shipping said it was 1200 lbs on the pallet. It felt like all of that when I had to take it out of the back of the truck. Plus you can put almost 400 lbs of fertilizer in the hopper as well.

I bet you wouldn’t have any issue getting through the year old corn stalks.

 

[cutman]

Add the fertilizer hopper extension (I bought one on Shoup) to it and exchange those no till coulters for row cleaners (I bought Martin) and you can do anything with it.

 

[Bowhunter]

Add the fertilizer hopper extension (I bought one on Shoup) to it and exchange those no till coulters for row cleaners (I bought Martin) and you can do anything with it.

If you replace the no-till coulters with row cleaners can you still no-till plant?

I was planning on doing the fertilizer hopper extension but forgot to ask Ryan at RDH Outdoors to do it for me. I’ll have to pick one up for it.

 

[cutman]

If you replace the no-till coulters with row cleaners can you still no-till plant?

I was planning on doing the fertilizer hopper extension but forgot to ask Ryan at RDH Outdoors to do it for me. I’ll have to pick one up for it.

Yes, the row cleaners help more than the coulters unless you plan on planting into living cover crops. If you are planting green (as the farmers say), the row cleaners are useless. But if you are planting into dead material the row cleaners are awesome.

 

[Mennoniteman]

How much does it weigh? I’m trying to figure if it’s heavy enough to cut through the previous year’s stalks. It would save me a day and one-half every year, and the loss of a layer of top soil that the York rake inevitably removes when cleaning up the stalks.

Avoid raking corn stalks into piles, just run a bush hog over it once and follow up with a disc and the old corn fodder won't be a problem for planting. Shredded corn fodder is a great OM builder and helps conserve moisture.

 

[Elkaddict]

MM, tried that multiple times. The bushhogging simply doesn’t cut up the stalks on the ground, and dozens of passes with the disc is insufficient. I’ve thought about picking up a shredder to better chop up the trash cutting it against the ground), but not knowing how successful it would actually be (or how often I’d be replacing blades-chains), am inclined to put the $ towards a heavy no-till.

 

[Mennoniteman]

MM, tried that multiple times. The bushhogging simply doesn’t cut up the stalks on the ground, and dozens of passes with the disc is insufficient. I’ve thought about picking up a shredder to better chop up the trash cutting it against the ground), but not knowing how successful it would actually be (or how often I’d be replacing blades-chains), am inclined to put the $ towards a heavy no-till.

Actually, you are right, most farmers use a shredder for corn stalks. If you watch farm sales old shredders can often be had in the $300 range.

 

[John Paul]

Add the fertilizer hopper extension (I bought one on Shoup) to it and exchange those no till coulters for row cleaners (I bought Martin) and you can do anything with it.

So you are running just row cleaners on your planter Cutman? I'm trying to sell my John Deere 71 planters possibly this Fall and look into getting a fix me up John Deere 7000 or 1700 series or Kinze 2000 or 3000 series planter. I wanted to start experimenting with planting some spots this Fall with cover crops and roller crimping them and green plant right into them. I hear the row cleaners do a great job of helping with green planting into standing cover crops. Trying to pick some people's brains about items I might need to add to a planter.

 

[John Paul]

Very nice planter Bowhunter!

 

[cutman]

So you are running just row cleaners on your planter Cutman? I'm trying to sell my John Deere 71 planters possibly this Fall and look into getting a fix me up John Deere 7000 or 1700 series or Kinze 2000 or 3000 series planter. I wanted to start experimenting with planting some spots this Fall with cover crops and roller crimping them and green plant right into them. I hear the row cleaners do a great job of helping with green planting into standing cover crops. Trying to pick some people's brains about items I might need to add to a planter.

You don’t want row cleaners in that situation. Row cleaners are best used when you want to move a layer of thatch/stalks/duff/whatever you want to call it to get a clean seed bed. If you try to plant green with row cleaners, the living plant material will get wrapped up in cleaners. Planting green requires weight and sharp coulters - the vast majority of farmers on newagtalk recommend no special attachments whatsoever. When I’ve planted green before (6 foot tall rye), I raise up my row cleaners and just plant. The seed trench can be hard to close so pay attention to your closing wheel down pressure.

 

[John Paul]

You don’t want row cleaners in that situation. Row cleaners are best used when you want to move a layer of thatch/stalks/duff/whatever you want to call it to get a clean seed bed. If you try to plant green with row cleaners, the living plant material will get wrapped up in cleaners. Planting green requires weight and sharp coulters - the vast majority of farmers on newagtalk recommend no special attachments whatsoever. When I’ve planted green before (6 foot tall rye), I raise up my row cleaners and just plant. The seed trench can be hard to close so pay attention to your closing wheel down pressure.

Still learning, good info which makes sense.

 

[Bowhunter]

Here is how my first attempt with my new planter is going 55 days in. Really impressed with this planter as the ground was very hard and dry at planting time. Didn’t expect to have this much germination with so many rocks.

Hoping the next 30 days it really takes off.

 

[Bowhunter]

Corn has really taken off this week with all the rain we’ve gotten and the humidity that’s moved in from the hurricanes. I even have a few stalks that have tasseled out already.

 

[Bowhunter]

It’s been a while since I’ve been on and updated how my hunting season has gone so far.

I did end up finally taking a plunge on a hunting blind and I went with the Grizzly Coolers blind. Super impressed with this blind so far. Haven’t found anything about it that I dislike.

Here is the base that I built for it.

It’s resting place for the hunting season.

I ended up getting a crack at my main target buck on November 11th and I got him from the new blind. Felt really good to put a tag on a buck that I had passed up the previous two seasons.

 

[gut_pile]

Nice buck and blind. Congrats