My Little Slice of Paradise

[Paradise725]

So are the standing trees (areas in green) going to stay as is? Personally, I think that is a better shape than what you had originally planned and it appears it will pinch them down closer to your stand. I like horseshoe shaped plots!

Yes they are going to stay as is for now. The main issue I have is that I want this to be a destination food source that I will plant in soybeans. The smaller the plot, the more likely I’ll have issues with browse pressure.

I agree that I love the shape of the plot as it is from a pure setup standpoint but when you factor in my other goals for the plot it’s not as ideal as I would have liked.


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[pinetag]

Yes they are going to stay as is for now. The main issue I have is that I want this to be a destination food source that I will plant in soybeans. The smaller the plot, the more likely I’ll have issues with browse pressure.

I agree that I love the shape of the plot as it is from a pure setup standpoint but when you factor in my other goals for the plot it’s not as ideal as I would have liked.


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Understandable. It looks like it will turn into a great plot no matter which way you go!

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[wbpdeer]

Great project that will pay off for many seasons to come. Might be able to donate a few chestnut seedlings if you want to add to that new designation plot.

Love to see those young ladies shed hunter. They had great success - their clothes prove that.

Wayne

 

[Paradise725]

Great project that will pay off for many seasons to come. Might be able to donate a few chestnut seedlings if you want to add to that new designation plot.

Love to see those young ladies shed hunter. They had great success - their clothes prove that.

Wayne

I sure hope it does! Chestnut seedlings are always welcome! The first three you gave me a few years back are all doing great! Zach made off with the last batch you gave him because he had “truck trouble” the day he was supposed to deliver them to me! I know he is enjoying them on his place anyway.

Yeah I take pride in my little blonde kiddo getting dirty at the farm. She’s a lot of fun.


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[wbpdeer]

Reckon we should "done Zach" for not splittin the take. Ha Ha.

I will have some chestnut seedlings in late Sept / early Oct. Did I see those three chestnuts in one of your recent pictures - or was that some other young trees.

Tell your daughter I bragged on her shed hunting skills. Little brother will be collect sheds before you know it.

Wayne

 

[Paradise725]

Reckon we should "done Zach" for not splittin the take. Ha Ha.

I will have some chestnut seedlings in late Sept / early Oct. Did I see those three chestnuts in one of your recent pictures - or was that some other young trees.

Tell your daughter I bragged on her shed hunting skills. Little brother will be collect sheds before you know it.

Wayne

You can see them here on the left. I’ll try to get a better picture for you next time I’m up.

I’ll try to plan a trip to Portland in September/October if I can!




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[wbpdeer]

Those seedlings look very good to me. At least 10 feet tall. You planted them in an excellent location.

Wayne

 

[Paradise725]

Summer updates:
It has been a great year at the farm with a good balance between family time and farm work. Maria joined three of us last weekend for a work/play day to wrap up the summer farm activities.

Our new plot has very good soybean germination, but needs rain as expected when planting so late. Two weeks ago, I overseeded the beans with welter seed big buck brassica mix with 3 lbs/ acre of their jumbo ladino clover mixed in. We got a couple of small rains after that so there was some evidence of germination in the shadier spots.

After mowing in late July, our other plots were hit or miss. I’ve got some weed and grass issues that need addressed at some point, but I’m pretty pleased with the amount of clover in all of them.

Also, the powerline maintenance crew came through recently. I bet they were hot!!

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[Paradise725]

Targets for 2019:

#1 Ex-Tex: this deer blew up from a nice 3.5 yr old 9 point last year. He almost got shot by my uncle back in December but (thankfully) the wind switched and my uncle couldn’t get a shot off in time. He’s the largest buck we’ve ever had on a consistent pattern. Hopefully one of us can connect with him on opening weekend.

#2: Stub. This is a 5.5 yr old that we’ve had on the farm for a long time. We have his 3.5 yr old sheds and he really hasn’t gotten much bigger. He pretty much runs the show in his part of the farm and I’d really like to shoot him.

#3: Splits. Don’t know this deer but we’ve gotten him on a couple of our plots this summer and he looks super nice, I’m estimating 4.5

Others that are likely shooters in my book:

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[suburbhunter]

Nice crop of deer!!!!

 

[Paradise725]

Nice crop of deer!!!!

Thanks! It’s shaping up to be a much more target rich environment this year!


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[Paradise725]

I’m incredibly happy to report that this year has been the best year we’ve ever had on our farm. I feel like all of our hard work finally came together this year.
First off, we killed three mature bucks we believe to be 4.5 or older off the farm for the first time ever. We also had more mature bucks on camera this year than ever before. The current tally is at least 11 different bucks that I estimate to be 4.5 or older on camera on our 725 acres at some point in time since July. Our previous best was in the neighborhood of 6-8. The following posts will break things down even more so maybe others can learn from our experiences.


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[Paradise725]

First up this year was my uncle who shot this great buck with his bow on the morning of November 3rd. This stand is what we call the logging yard and it is by far the most difficult to access stand on the south side of our farm. Consequently the morning of November 3rd was the first time anyone had hunted there all year. South winds kept us out of this part of the farm during the early season. After hunting nearby the morning before and seeing 28 does, my uncle decided to move up the ridge to the log yard in hopes of intercepting some bucks. He was not disappointed. This buck entered the plot shortly after daylight and sparred with a few younger bucks before my uncle made the shot.

Shortly after the shot, my uncle had to sit on his hands as two larger mature bucks worked their way past the stand with groups of does. Here is one of those bucks from trail camera

Dave’s buck field dressed 165 lbs, which is about average for our 4.5 yr old bucks. I didn’t get to see it in person, but my uncle and buddy Jonathan insist the deer appeared to be quite old and possibly on the decline. It’s tines were blunted and carried mass all the way to the tips.


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[Paradise725]

During the build-up to the rut, we were getting quite a few pictures of bucks heading into a piece of timber near where I had killed my previous best buck about 8-9 years ago. With a north wind on November 2nd, I hunted the south end of this block of timber where does like to bed and had an encounter with this great up and comer:

I elected to pass in the hopes of catching up with this more mature deer I’d been capturing on camera there too:

On November 11th, I had a south wind and hunted the powerline right of way that borders the nw edge of this block of timber. Shortly after daylight, this great buck came out of the block of timber, cruising through the thick brush across the right of way. That put him 39 yards away from my stand. I first thought about passing him because he was a buck I’d never seen before and I couldn’t tell how mature he was,but once he stepped into an opening where I could see his full body I knew I wanted to shoot him. One shot from my DPMS Gen 2 .308 put him down within 20 yards.

This buck also field dressed 165lbs and I’m confident he was at least a 4.5. I will be saving his teeth for aging as well. He is my biggest antlered buck to date. 18” inside spread. Roughly 124” gross based on my quick measurements. I am extremely happy with him and grateful to have a place where I can have a reasonable opportunity at seeing bucks like this every year.


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[lakngolf]

Great job and great stories. Some NICE bucks

 

[Chainsaw]

Congratulations Luke on a great deer and also on being successful in growing a whole herd of great deer. I like those dark antlers. What sort of tree makes them color up like that (Presuming it is colored from rubbing)?

 

[Paradise725]

Great job and great stories. Some NICE bucks

Thank you!


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[Paradise725]

Congratulations Luke on a great deer and also on being successful in growing a whole herd of great deer. I like those dark antlers. What sort of tree makes them color up like that (Presuming it is colored from rubbing)?

I’m guessing it is from rubbing red cedar or Virginia pines. I hear those sappy trees tend to cause their antlers to be darker.


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[Paradise725]

And finally, the story of a buck that has made a number of appearances on this thread. I named him Stub when he first showed up as a 3.5 yr old. He’s always had kind of stubby antlers, so the name stuck. We found both of his sheds as a 3.5 year old near our bean field, and have had pictures of him in and around the beans regularly since 2017.

My buddy Jonathan did not fill his buck tag last season on the farm in an effort to shoot something 140” or better. He saw some great bucks last year and even passed up on stub during the early ML season in 2018 when he was a 4.5 yr old. This year, he had 9 days off from November 9-17th and was committed to shooting a big mature buck. Well, after 6 days of hunting daylight to dusk, including under some brutal single digit conditions, he finally decided to hunt our bean field. The beans didn’t do very well this year due to some weed competition, but I sweetened the spot up in early October by broadcasting some wheat in a few strategic locations in the field.
About an hour before dark, Stub stepped into the field following a doe and Jonathan elected not to let this old bruiser walk away this year. He shot him at 200 yards with his suppressed DPMS gen 2 .308. Stub was the heaviest deer we have ever taken off our place, at 185lbs field dressed. A great deer and a great way to cap off our 2019 season.

I also should mention that Jonathan has been a great hunting partner on the farm who has passed some great bucks over the years to allow to grow. The buck below bred a doe in front of him this year and presented numerous shot opportunities but Jonathan passed in hopes of seeing him next year.

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[HB_Hunter]

Congrats on a great year! Nice to know there are plenty of targets running around.