Awesome bucks you got there Baker. May I ask reason for crimping the dove field instead of mowing? I planted a dove field first time this year and would like to know your insight on this. I have a crimper so I am able to replicate your method. Also why are you crimping now and then later? Thanks again
Good questions and astute observation. I only crimped a portion of the field early trying to get the doves coming in with the plan to finish the field about 10-15 days prior to season. I started with the crimper but after I made a pass with the bush hog decided to mow the whole thing. There was a fair amount of grass in the field and while the crimper mash what I planted down nicely the grass popped back up. Mowing worked better. All that said I never did attract many birds and the ones that were there left before season. The field was a bust
Stayed tuned, looks like this year is back to normal. Don't think you will need to squint. I promise to post.Rusty, I looked real hard, even squinted but I still couldn’t see the compromised antler quality.
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Back in 2004 I had a tremendous buck we called Airport . He was 31-1/2" wide inside spread and one of the widest net B&C bucks ever. There was a youngster easy to age that had a very similar frame thus we named him airport Jr.which morphed into A J. He was easy to keep up with and I actually have video of him every year. Interestingly he topped out in the mid 170's but always had a giant frame and wide.From about 12-15 he was a giant 5 pt. Had an extra drop tine one year at14 I think. Always cool and appeared to be in good shape last year.
Great video Rusty. Can you talk a little about what kind of soil you're dealing with and what prompted you to put lime on the spots you did? I was also wondering if you've ever tried cranking up your cool season grass % and drove down your legume % to try to thwart the grasses that come on. I wonder if your sunnhemp isn't throwing off so much nitrogen that the grasses can't help but find a home in it all.
I like your questions.
Good stuff. I was curious if you were going off a soil test or if you were seeing visual deficiencies. I was just ribbing you a bit about the barley. I have no idea how it'll do in the south. It works well up here because of the short life cycle. That northern advantage may be a management problem in a longer growing season area.
I'm pretty disappointed that buck shot... he was one of my pipedream favorites.
I was of course joking (somewhat) in my disappointment of this buck getting harvested. Truly a special deer and I can understand why he didn't get the camera turned on. That's the kind of deer that can make a grown man melt into his boots!
