Elk Meadow Farm

[Satguy]

Hello all, Like most of everyone else here I came over from the QDMA forum. I will start my land tour anew. I have owned my farm for a little over a year. 122ac in Gasconade county Missouri. 25ac tillable and 97ac timber. 3 ponds. I will be putting in my fall plots in a couple of weeks. My corn and beans are doing ok but could be better.

 

[Lost Arrows]

Been tough this year here in MO with the drought and heat.

 

[Satguy]

Been tough this year here in MO with the drought and heat.

I have had a lot of rain at my place. nearly 4.5 inches this month. Where is your property at?

 

[Brushpile]

I always need rain in Polk County MO in SW Missouri. I've had daily heat advisories and am learning to live with drought.

 

[Satguy]

I always need rain in Polk County MO in SW Missouri. I've had daily heat advisories and am learning to live with drought.

The 15 day forecast for my area has a 50% chance of rain forecasted for 6 of those days . I hope they are right.

 

[Satguy]

I picked up 2 of the stands yesterday at my local sporting goods store. I really like ladder stands with the double rail for strength.
Next year I plan to add a Redneck blind buck palace.

 

[Satguy]

Map layout of Elk Meadow farm

 

[Satguy]

Here is an overlay of my property. the blue is food plots. The green is the apple orchard I plan on planting this fall. the red X's are treestand locations. The teal is a future large ladino and chickory plot

 

[Chainsaw]

I picked up 2 of the stands yesterday at my local sporting goods store. I really like ladder stands with the double rail for strength.
Next year I plan to add a Redneck blind buck palace.View attachment 21

I picked up some Muddy stands last fall;I liked the way the platform is deep going completely under the seat. The extra space and security that provides is nice.

 

[Satguy]

I picked up some Muddy stands last fall;I liked the way the platform is deep going completely under the seat. The extra space and security that provides is nice.

I put one together tonite and it was real labor intensive. I will assemble the other one tomorrow and plan on putting them out in about a week.

 

[Satguy]

My wife and I were looking to buy property and we would take drives on weekends looking at land all over the state of Missouri and we eventually found this place and we both liked it so we bought it. The original farm was 310ac and was on the market for a long time but was not selling so the owner sold 80ac to the farmer who joined to the west and that left 232ac and the day we took a 2nd look at it it was being showed to another also so we beat them back to the realtors office and bought the half we wanted and they bought the other half and we closed on the same day.
The property has 122 ac total with 97ac timber and 25ac tillable with 3 ponds. Initial soil tests was a ph of 6.4. I bought a used Ford 3000 tractor, 6ft King Kutter tiller and a 2 row allis chalmers no till planter. I put 2ac in plots last year and got alot of deer activity and took a 5.5 year old 9pt buck during muzzleloader season. This year I planted corn and beans and they are doing ok so far but could be better.
What we liked most about our location is all the properties around us are larger landowners and no run down looking houses or properties. Closest Ag fields are several miles away. Mostly cattle farms in our area. Last year me my dad and my son deer hunted and my dad who missed on a couple opportunities got nothing and my did not see a buck he wanted. We had at least 4 bucks that were on the hit list and the biggest was around 165" but did not see him while hunting. I did get a trailcam photo of him on 12/31/15. Hopefully he put on more growth this year. We were put into the new cwd zone on 6/1 of this year so no more feed or mineral sites. My trail cams are now set up on known trails so hopefully get some pics.

 

[Satguy]

We found this antique barbwire sticking out of an old stump. I researched it and it was made in 1881. Its called buckthorn

 

[Brushpile]

The 15 day forecast for my area has a 50% chance of rain forecasted for 6 of those days . I hope they are right.

I have five days of 50% to 60% alternating days of rain, but I'll believe it when I see it. I could use five days of rain!

 

[Brushpile]

We found this antique barbwire sticking out of an old stump. I researched it and it was made in 1881. Its called buckthornView attachment 99

Interesting that it lasted that long without rusting away.

 

[Satguy]

Interesting that it lasted that long without rusting away.

We found about 7 feet the first time and then we found another 15ft about 100yds away from the first. We left it attached to the tree. Just goes to show how well they made things a long time ago. We also got .10" of rain yesterday.

 

[dogghr]

I was in a state park museum near here not long ago, and they had a display of the different fencing over the last century. It was pretty cool. But for you to find that on your place is just awesome.

 

[Satguy]

I took this buck on 12/19/2015 on the opening day of Missouri's muzzleloader season. A 9 point 5.5 year old.

 

[OkieKubota]

I like the layout of the property you bought. Some open ground but lots of timber with a large area of timber to draw from. In all the places I have hunted if you have too much open ground all around it is tough to have mature deer coming and going to your property...

 

[Satguy]

I like the layout of the property you bought. Some open ground but lots of timber with a large area of timber to draw from. In all the places I have hunted if you have too much open ground all around it is tough to have mature deer coming and going to your property...

I'm kinda at a loss right now on how to do a good camera survey this year since MDC put our county into the CWD containment zone. My farm is only a quarter mile from the county line and that county is not included. We are banned from feeding deer and putting out minerals do to congregating deer. I have my cameras at known crossings but not seeing anything like I did last year. I havent pulled cards in 2 weeks so we will see.

 

[OkieKubota]

If it's like here (Hot and Dry) waterholes are good choices or on clover plots...