Foodplotting In The Mountains...The Sequel
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buckhunter10
Well-Known Member
Decent pattern at 20-some yards. I'll take it. Rough in fletching tho. Shoulder issues last few years has limited my recurve use. Started new program this early summer of just shooting 2 arrows 10-20 times. Seemed to have worked. Yea I know I'm 2 inches left of target bull but this was after hard workout at gym.
Funny at one time it was considered good enough to hit a pie plate. We always shot playing cards and I used to win quite a few bets back then. Not so much anymore.
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Good shooting. It's funny how as we shoot more we have to be perfect. Sometimes I enjoy shooting at a deer target because it gives you a much more realistic idea if it's a kill or not. Now at 40 yards with my compound if I'm not stacking arrows I am disappointed in myself.
Just have to step back and enjoy shooting sometimes!
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Few new Pics. Brassica slow during dry 6 wks. Have patches doing a little something, but you will see in a minute how it really looks. Brassica thruout the plot, just most not doing much. Can't say how glad I didn't till especially on my ridgetop plot. At least the dirt is covered by a nice thatch that is slowly decomposing improving the soil. If it would rain, could do urea and make them burst I believe. Not too late yet. I'm over seeding them with grains and clovers this weekend.
Why plant anything when deer hit stuff like this with a vengence. It's an ugly plant and I hate its looks, but it grows awesome in fallow fields. We always called it stinkweed and grows really great around cattle barns.
Yep, even have my miniture predators praying for rain. Gotta love natures insecticide. I'm not really anti chemical, but I do try my best to limit them. I absolutely never spray insecticides.
Why plant anything when deer hit stuff like this with a vengence. It's an ugly plant and I hate its looks, but it grows awesome in fallow fields. We always called it stinkweed and grows really great around cattle barns.
Yep, even have my miniture predators praying for rain. Gotta love natures insecticide. I'm not really anti chemical, but I do try my best to limit them. I absolutely never spray insecticides.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Now you can see how poor my plot is. Right side to planted no till by spraying gly, then broadcasting grain/clover mix this weekend. At that time, I will overseed these poor brassica. Like playing cards, always have to keep thinking even when nature is bluffing, or is she? Doubt you can see, but in back ground the bucks all come to attention in the video as this guy strolls across plot. He stopped to eat in the green for a few minutes. Coming from a direction bucks usually don't use. Haven't really figured him out just yet.
I think he may be following this creek bed into field. No way to hunt this with winds. One of my sanctuaries sit up the hill across from this pic.
I think he may be following this creek bed into field. No way to hunt this with winds. One of my sanctuaries sit up the hill across from this pic.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
And finally, love this time of year. Not only are we rushing to get our plots planted, our weapons tuned, stands to the ready, but even nature is hurrying to get that last hoorah before the winds of winter. Normally I finish plantings Labor Day and stay off land till season starts, but just be a little later this year, no worries, I hope. Good luck people.
"The Amen of nature is always a flower." ---Oliver Wendell Holmes,Sr
"The Amen of nature is always a flower." ---Oliver Wendell Holmes,Sr
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Good shooting with the recurve! I am fighting some shoulder issues and have been doing some short sessions with one of my longbows. I am doing three arrows at four or five rounds. Accuracy at 20 yards fair but not what it used to be
I think all of those years shooting competitive archery at 70 plus pounds has caught up with my old body!!
I think all of those years shooting competitive archery at 70 plus pounds has caught up with my old body!!
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Computer been down at home but w no rain not lot to show. Hard mast decent this yr but soft mast abundant. This Golden Del is 23 yrs old w no management except two priunings over the years and has failed only once. Produced 80+ qts of apples this year and deer eat maybe that many on ground. Grand pup gave some help??? No better tasting Apple. I look forward to it each yr
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dogghr
Well-Known Member
Past weekend planted two plots spray throw and roll. This was WR in last yrs brassica. As I walked up here I jumped 4 bear feeding in the thicket. Looked like 4 balls of fur rolling away. Hard to see butt momma stopped n thicket stood on hind legs to ck me out, then they ran on up into sanctuary. Pretty cool. I sprayed this w gly 2 days previous.
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dogghr
Well-Known Member
Hard to see this pic but Chickory is my new clover. I always liked how clovers spread thur out the fields on there own but I'm seeing same thing with the chicory. I have it everywhere. And where it grows tall, it competes well w weeds and grasses if my fallow fields. And while I see little browse of leaves, the deer love the stems w flowers. And in drought, perform as as well as my alfalfa. Variety on the table to handle weather issues. Love it.
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G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
Computer been down at home but w no rain not lot to show. Hard mast decent this yr but soft mast abundant. This Golden Del is 23 yrs old w no management except two priunings over the years and has failed only once. Produced 80+ qts of apples this year and deer eat maybe that many on ground. Grand pup gave some help??? No better tasting Apple. I look forward to it each yr
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He looks to be enjoying the apples, nice pic.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Thanks G3.
Drought. Great teacher of lessons. Just as anything in life, the most we learn is in adversity. And that education helps get us thru the next hurdle whether it be your foodplots, or what life throws at you. Plan ahead, and surviving the valleys makes getting to the mountaintop so much more appreciated.
Can't really see this in pic, but this mulch that has laid on the ground without rain for nearly 8 weeks was actually wet from dew it had soaked up. Now I know once the sun rose, it dried out again. But I can't emphasize enough how planting without any tillage here has saved me a bunch of soil, OM, and nutrients. Yes growth has been slow without moisture but it is there and growth covers entire plot. Rain chance this weekend so I will overseed with a WR/RC mix , maybe try to add some Urea, and this plot will salvage itself. In better lowland soils, you can certainly expect the soils to be more forgiving, but in your dry areas, the less manipulation of the dirt you can do, the better the results in subsequent years. I've said it before, you have to learn to look at these plantings differently in that the killed and standing mulch gives plot a brown appearance yet upon close look, you can see your success. And the deer don't know the difference. I've got video of them on this mess nightly.
Did as a fluke, but really surprised at attraction of my 2 waterholes I made. Just dug in to clay a few inchs after removing topsoil, and they have held water really good. Deer pass thru hear from bedding on ridge to the upper foodplots I just showed. Well worth the effort, and if one could be done in a huntable area, I think would be worth your while.
Drought. Great teacher of lessons. Just as anything in life, the most we learn is in adversity. And that education helps get us thru the next hurdle whether it be your foodplots, or what life throws at you. Plan ahead, and surviving the valleys makes getting to the mountaintop so much more appreciated.
Can't really see this in pic, but this mulch that has laid on the ground without rain for nearly 8 weeks was actually wet from dew it had soaked up. Now I know once the sun rose, it dried out again. But I can't emphasize enough how planting without any tillage here has saved me a bunch of soil, OM, and nutrients. Yes growth has been slow without moisture but it is there and growth covers entire plot. Rain chance this weekend so I will overseed with a WR/RC mix , maybe try to add some Urea, and this plot will salvage itself. In better lowland soils, you can certainly expect the soils to be more forgiving, but in your dry areas, the less manipulation of the dirt you can do, the better the results in subsequent years. I've said it before, you have to learn to look at these plantings differently in that the killed and standing mulch gives plot a brown appearance yet upon close look, you can see your success. And the deer don't know the difference. I've got video of them on this mess nightly.
Did as a fluke, but really surprised at attraction of my 2 waterholes I made. Just dug in to clay a few inchs after removing topsoil, and they have held water really good. Deer pass thru hear from bedding on ridge to the upper foodplots I just showed. Well worth the effort, and if one could be done in a huntable area, I think would be worth your while.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
We are always talking of thinking outside the box. Our past generations were so good at that. They couldn't hop in the internet and get a hundred quick answers to a problem they had. In addition, most had limited resources and had to make best of a situation. My grandfather started work in the mines at age 12 working a mule train hauling coal out of the mine. Yet as a selfeducated man, he remains one of the smartests men I've ever know. Give him a problem and he'd get a solution. I remember of his complaining of how the rains would split around his place, and the garden was always at a dry stage in summer. Fix? He routed rainwater from his roof to a dozen barrels buried into the ground that stored the water he used on the plants in dry times. We've lost a lot of that ingenuity partly because of less need due to our greater wealth, but really in part because we can be too lazy to think thru a problem we have.
So if we have a problem with our plots, or our land, or our hunting, then think up ways to change to help correct the issue. If our soil looks like a parched desert in the process of trying to feed a few deer that can survive regardless, then try something different until it works.
This is a coal chute originally built in the late 1800's. Mr Nuttleburg, who the eventual town would be named after, bought the land, built the infrastructure, began a mine, yet the railroad would not pass into here for couple more years. Yet he had a vision, and he acted. Do the same with your habitat. Have a vision, if something doesn't work, change. Twelve years old, working 12-18 hour days with stubborn mules hauling coal, and I think I have any right to complain my equipment fails me sometimes. Man we are spoiled.
Get a vision, whether it be your land or your life. Make a plan and put forth the effort. And if it doesn't work, don't whine or give up, but rethink try something different. You might just surprise yourself. You really can teach an old dog new tricks. I know because I have learned some new ones.. Hunting season opens here in another week. As I have been for more than a few seasons, I'm as excited as ever, already losing sleep thinking about it. Hope that never, never changes. Thanks for all the info always shared. Peace.
"Water is the driving force of all nature" ----Leonardo da Vince
So if we have a problem with our plots, or our land, or our hunting, then think up ways to change to help correct the issue. If our soil looks like a parched desert in the process of trying to feed a few deer that can survive regardless, then try something different until it works.
This is a coal chute originally built in the late 1800's. Mr Nuttleburg, who the eventual town would be named after, bought the land, built the infrastructure, began a mine, yet the railroad would not pass into here for couple more years. Yet he had a vision, and he acted. Do the same with your habitat. Have a vision, if something doesn't work, change. Twelve years old, working 12-18 hour days with stubborn mules hauling coal, and I think I have any right to complain my equipment fails me sometimes. Man we are spoiled.
Get a vision, whether it be your land or your life. Make a plan and put forth the effort. And if it doesn't work, don't whine or give up, but rethink try something different. You might just surprise yourself. You really can teach an old dog new tricks. I know because I have learned some new ones.. Hunting season opens here in another week. As I have been for more than a few seasons, I'm as excited as ever, already losing sleep thinking about it. Hope that never, never changes. Thanks for all the info always shared. Peace.
"Water is the driving force of all nature" ----Leonardo da Vince
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Now that boy knows the right way to eat a Golden Apple.
You need that red car. I could come out and we could play Dukes of Hazard...........
You need that red car. I could come out and we could play Dukes of Hazard...........
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Not so sure on the car Native. Not sure what had been ridden harder, it , or the old man that was trying to sell it. Claimed he'd owned it since he was sixteen. Felt sorry for him, but I'm pretty sure after talking with him for half an hour, I understand why she left. I just love people and their stories. Interesting always.
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
The fact that you took the time to listen probably helped him more than anyone knows. Life can be rough, and a little kindness goes a long way.
Weasel
Well-Known Member
Good looking brassicas & apples. Never a shortage of pearls of wisdom either.
Amen NH. I often get goofy looks but I always try to smile when passing people by. Sometimes just a smile is all it takes to change the course of someone's day.
Amen NH. I often get goofy looks but I always try to smile when passing people by. Sometimes just a smile is all it takes to change the course of someone's day.
Good stuff dogg! Grandpup eating apple is priceless and the divorce sale car is good to. I have a buddy that bought a 1970 GTO all original in great shape a few years ago for $1250 from a woman who won it in the divorce settlement - it was her exes car and she sold it CHEAP!
