Bowhunter's upstate New York property tour

[Elkaddict]

No fawn pics are sightings here yet. However, we’ve hit the stage where mature does have disappeared. I suspect the photos will show up this week.

 

[Bowhunter]

I did a little bit of work today expanding one of my food plots where I’m planning on planting a little orchard here before too long. This was just old dead sumac that I cleared out. This is going to be a brassica mix after having it in a cereal grain mix last year.

 

[Bowhunter]

I finally got my 2016 archery deer back from the taxidermist yesterday. It took a while but he did a great job.

 

[Bowhunter]

 

[farmhunter]

Great job - agreed! Had a very similar buck on ours once - disappeared in the end. The high on the beam brows were distinctive - and yours is a great looking buck!

 

[Bowhunter]

I finally got a chance this morning to lime and fertilize this field. It’s been very dry here lately and we got some much needed rain last evening that made the discing go much better. Putting in Hancock Seeds Killer Clover mix. We’ll see how it does.

 

[Bowhunter]

I finally got a chance to get this field planted yesterday afternoon. I managed to get it done before the rains came today which we were in desperate need of. This field was Hancock Seeds Killer Clover mix. Hopefully it does well.

This is a LC cereal grain mix that I'm rotating into Brassicas. I got it mostly disced up but had to shut her down when the rains came. It's never easy discing up a beautiful clover plot, but it's gotta be done.

 

[farmhunter]

Willow put your brassicas in this week?


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[Elkaddict]

Bowhunter, I spent yesterday preparing for the rain. Got 11/2 acres of LC brassica and an acre of turnips in. Not a fan of monocultures but turnips are cheap starvation insurance. All told, we’ll go into winter with 5 acres of brassicas and 4 acres of corn/beans. I’m going to try putting 1/2 acre oh triticale/ alfalfa (with a little clover for insurance) a month from now. It may go bust....but I’m in the mood for something new. We’ve already got 6 acres of clover/chicory in.

 

[Bowhunter]

Bowhunter, I spent yesterday preparing for the rain. Got 11/2 acres of LC brassica and an acre of turnips in. Not a fan of monocultures but turnips are cheap starvation insurance. All told, we’ll go into winter with 5 acres of brassicas and 4 acres of corn/beans. I’m going to try putting 1/2 acre oh triticale/ alfalfa (with a little clover for insurance) a month from now. It may go bust....but I’m in the mood for something new. We’ve already got 6 acres of clover/chicory in.

That's a lot more acreage than I put in. My two LC brassica fields that I planted today only totaled about about one acre combined. I've kind of gotten away from doing any larger fields because I just don't have the time, and I feel like they hunt a little better for stick and string season. Someday I hope to be able to put in as many acres as you do Elkaddict.

 

[Bowhunter]

Here is the first field I put in this morning that I tilled up yesterday evening. I planted an LC brassica mix in this small 1/2 acre field. I did a mix of Purple top turnips, smooth Kale, and scarlet tipped radish's. Last year I did this combo and the deer ate it to the dirt.

One thing of note that's impressive with the LC mix that I've been using on this plot now for three years is how much organic is put back into the soil when done correctly. Originally this plot was primarily stone with minimal soil. Now it's a really healthy looking loamy soil that is hard to come by on the hilltops near where my place is located. Should be a great plot for years to come.

 

[Bowhunter]

Here is the second small plot that I put in today with a LC brassica mix. This one is only a 1/2 acre, but should turn out good. With the amount of rain in the forecast I have high expectations for what I planted this weekend. Weekly updates to come for these fields.

 

[Matt Galati]

One thing we’ve started doing is planting a buckwheat sorghum cover crop and then carving out our plots in them for cover . Being in NY I completely agree with you on size of plot & huntability.

Here is one we just did with LC brassica into cover crop




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[Bowhunter]

Looks good Matt.

I've planted buckwheat before as a soil builder but haven't used it as an exterior cover crop. That sounds like a good idea.

 

[Elkaddict]

Only thoughts I have on Buckwheat as a cover crop is its lifespan is so short, you will have volunteer plants a couple months later. That may or may not be an issue. Before we had our buffet thing going, our deer hammered the buckwheat.

 

[Matt Galati]

Buckwheat sorghum and sun hemp is what we use , this is what it looks like in November . Seeded this strip a bit too heavy, hence the yellow


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[Bowhunter]

Here is a field that I put in of Hancock's Killer Clover seed mix on July 10th. It's just starting to green up nice.

 

[Bowhunter]

This is another field that I put in of Hancock's Killer clover mix. I put this in on July 15th right before we got almost 9" of rain. Not sure if the rain helped, or hurt this field as there is still standing water in a few places.

 

[Bowhunter]

This is one of my LC brassica mix fields that I put in on July 22nd. Not sure why it's not doing any better with the amount of rain we got but this past week it started to pop up pretty decent.

 

[dogghr]

View attachment 13090

This is one of my LC brassica mix fields that I put in on July 15th. Not sure why it's not doing any better with the amount of rain we got but this past week it started to pop up pretty decent.

Brassica like rain but they love the hot sun. Should pop up by fall hopefully. If you haven't, pound it with Urea, especially a month after planting.