My Little Slice of Paradise
- Thread starter Paradise725
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Paradise725
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Thank you sir! I’ve been enjoying watching your property thread this year.
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Paradise725
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It’s been too long since my last update, so here goes! We had at least two great bucks make it through the season unscathed, and I can’t wait to chase them this fall.
We searched for their sheds this winter but did not find them. We did, however manage to find a few sheds from years past. This matched set was from a mature buck we had on camera in fall of 2017, but never saw him again after that season.
We picked up a few other smaller sheds, and managed to get the kids involved with all of the shed finds.
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We searched for their sheds this winter but did not find them. We did, however manage to find a few sheds from years past. This matched set was from a mature buck we had on camera in fall of 2017, but never saw him again after that season.
We picked up a few other smaller sheds, and managed to get the kids involved with all of the shed finds.
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Paradise725
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On the habitat side, as always, didn’t get as much done as I wanted to. However, we got a few nice projects done this winter. First was to do some edge feathering around my new plot. I wish I had gotten about 4 more hours worth done, but i opened up the canopy along one edge pretty good and reduced some competition for some of the white and red oaks along the west edge of the plot.
Hard to tell much progress, but it’s there. Before:
After:
Another good project was to burn off an old field.
Before:
After:
I’m hoping this turns into a magnet for the turkeys this spring and summer. It should have lots of diversity.
Next up is spring planting. I’m doing 7 acres of Stratton’s Heritage blend, and 2 acres of their forage soybeans. I plan to rent the drill sometime in May. Thanks for following along. Hope everyone else has gotten a lot done this winter and with the Coronavirus. Our state stopped selling non resident turkey tags effective last week due to COVID-19 concerns, so two of my regular hunting buddies will be unable to hunt with me this spring. It’s a shame really because we have the means to practice social distancing even in the cabin where we stay, but I guess you can’t be too careful these days.
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Hard to tell much progress, but it’s there. Before:
After:
Another good project was to burn off an old field.
Before:
After:
I’m hoping this turns into a magnet for the turkeys this spring and summer. It should have lots of diversity.
Next up is spring planting. I’m doing 7 acres of Stratton’s Heritage blend, and 2 acres of their forage soybeans. I plan to rent the drill sometime in May. Thanks for following along. Hope everyone else has gotten a lot done this winter and with the Coronavirus. Our state stopped selling non resident turkey tags effective last week due to COVID-19 concerns, so two of my regular hunting buddies will be unable to hunt with me this spring. It’s a shame really because we have the means to practice social distancing even in the cabin where we stay, but I guess you can’t be too careful these days.
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Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
Your place looks beautiful Luke. Great job in keeping it up and still balancing time with the family and of course a job.The kids look like they are really enjoying their time with Dad. That is so nice to see, Those precious times will always stay precious to you. Those left over bucks are real slammers, hope you and your buddies have some great hunts with them this Coming fall.
Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Opening weekend of KY turkey season was successful! The birds were very quiet opening morning, but Jonathan managed to lure this nice double bearded tom into range in our largest food plot.
I made it back out on Sunday morning and was pleased to find there were a lot more birds gobbling off the roost. After hearing my bird gobble from a long way off, and deciding the closer bird wasn’t going to come in, I started to relocate closer to where I’d heard the last gobble. After cutting less than 20% of the distance between me and the last gobble, I was surprised to hear a bird drumming right in front of me. I sat down immediately in the logging road and got my gun up. This bird and another tom came walking up to 30 yds and both gobbled. Then they continued on to 20 yds before noticing me sitting in the middle of the trail. After pausing with their heads in perfect alignment for about 10 seconds, the birds finally separated and I shot the one on the left. It was an exciting hunt, and resulted in another double bearded bird for the weekend!
Now it’s time for food plot season!
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I made it back out on Sunday morning and was pleased to find there were a lot more birds gobbling off the roost. After hearing my bird gobble from a long way off, and deciding the closer bird wasn’t going to come in, I started to relocate closer to where I’d heard the last gobble. After cutting less than 20% of the distance between me and the last gobble, I was surprised to hear a bird drumming right in front of me. I sat down immediately in the logging road and got my gun up. This bird and another tom came walking up to 30 yds and both gobbled. Then they continued on to 20 yds before noticing me sitting in the middle of the trail. After pausing with their heads in perfect alignment for about 10 seconds, the birds finally separated and I shot the one on the left. It was an exciting hunt, and resulted in another double bearded bird for the weekend!
Now it’s time for food plot season!
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shawn cox
Well-Known Member
nice, beautiful place and bird. congratulationsOpening weekend of KY turkey season was successful! The birds were very quiet opening morning, but Jonathan managed to lure this nice double bearded tom into range in our largest food plot.
I made it back out on Sunday morning and was pleased to find there were a lot more birds gobbling off the roost. After hearing my bird gobble from a long way off, and deciding the closer bird wasn’t going to come in, I started to relocate closer to where I’d heard the last gobble. After cutting less than 20% of the distance between me and the last gobble, I was surprised to hear a bird drumming right in front of me. I sat down immediately in the logging road and got my gun up. This bird and another tom came walking up to 30 yds and both gobbled. Then they continued on to 20 yds before noticing me sitting in the middle of the trail. After pausing with their heads in perfect alignment for about 10 seconds, the birds finally separated and I shot the one on the left. It was an exciting hunt, and resulted in another double bearded bird for the weekend!
Now it’s time for food plot season!
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Paradise725
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Paradise725
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Well, it has been a busy summer at the farm, so it’s time to catch this thread up. First, we planted 8.5 acres of Stratton Heritage Blend in early May. I sprayed 2qts/acre gly + 1 pint/acre 2,4-d about 14 days prior to planting. Here is our biggest field a week after planting:
Fast forward about a month and Houston, we have a problem! Massive amounts of cockle burr, Johnson grass, and crabgrass have emerged from the seed bed and are out-competing the Heritage blend with the exception of some of the milo and sorghum.
After talking with Adam Keith of Land and Legacy, he believes I was impacted by the residual 2,4-d in the soil even though I waited two weeks to plant. I have heavy clay soils, so it makes sense to me. I am still disappointed that all that work and money didn’t turn out any better than this. Adam advised that I let it grow thru July and burn it down in early August before drilling a diverse fall mix into it. So that’s what I did... more to come!
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Fast forward about a month and Houston, we have a problem! Massive amounts of cockle burr, Johnson grass, and crabgrass have emerged from the seed bed and are out-competing the Heritage blend with the exception of some of the milo and sorghum.
After talking with Adam Keith of Land and Legacy, he believes I was impacted by the residual 2,4-d in the soil even though I waited two weeks to plant. I have heavy clay soils, so it makes sense to me. I am still disappointed that all that work and money didn’t turn out any better than this. Adam advised that I let it grow thru July and burn it down in early August before drilling a diverse fall mix into it. So that’s what I did... more to come!
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Paradise725
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So, fast forward to August 7th and we are back again to spray with gly and drill a diverse mix for the fall. I went with 30lbs wheat, 30lbs rye, 5 lbs radish, 5 lbs PTT per acre. I plan to frost seed a mix of clovers into these plots in February. I failed to take many pictures this weekend because we were so busy, but I do have one where a tree I had girdled fell into the new plot I had cleared last summer. This was planted in heritage blend and game changer soybeans in May and hasn’t been touched since:
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Paradise725
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And now for the exciting part... buck pics! We’ve picked back up the one buck we were most excited about that we knew made it thru last season: Stickers! He’s a brute this year and I hope one of us is be able to get him:
Another familiar buck from last year that we called “Socks” for his white legs. We think he is 4.5 this year and is going to be a really nice 9 point:
This big mature 8 point has been fairly regular on one of our plots:
Along with his younger buddy:
We also have a few other really nice bucks that we will likely be targeting:
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Another familiar buck from last year that we called “Socks” for his white legs. We think he is 4.5 this year and is going to be a really nice 9 point:
This big mature 8 point has been fairly regular on one of our plots:
Along with his younger buddy:
We also have a few other really nice bucks that we will likely be targeting:
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Paradise725
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I agree! I hope to show you some close up pics in a few months!
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Paradise725
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Well, Jonathan made it happen yesterday on opening afternoon of archery here in Ky. This beautiful buck entered the plot 1.5 hrs before dark with 7 other bucks:
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Congrats to Jonathan...it’s hard to fathom deer hunting this early!Well, Jonathan made it happen yesterday on opening afternoon of archery here in Ky. This beautiful buck entered the plot 1.5 hrs before dark with 7 other bucks:
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Paradise725
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I agree. I plan to wait for cooler weather before I start going after them. He said the velvet was crawling with seed ticks
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Paradise725
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Well, my 2020 buck tag has officially been punched! I’ve copied and pasted my FB post from Sunday below to save myself some typing:
Yesterday was a wonderful day to be in the Kentucky deer woods. I had been getting pictures of a number of nice bucks in one of our food plots, and the wind from the NNE coupled with the cold front pushing through created the perfect conditions for sneaking in to hunt yesterday afternoon. Within minutes after getting into the tree stand, I noticed a large buck bedded in the brush about 200 yards away. I kept my eyes on him all afternoon while also observing several deer using the food plot at close range. I decided to grunt at the buck an hour before the end of legal shooting time with the hope of coaxing him into bow range prior to dark. After the first grunt, he immediately stood up. After the third, he began slowly heading my direction but quickly disappeared into the brush and woods. About 20 minutes later, I heard a deer walking my way through the damp leaves from the direction I had last seen the buck, and soon I saw antlers. The buck stopped behind some limbs and worked a scrape and licking branch at 30 yards while I held at full draw. Once he finished at the scrape, he stepped into my shooting lane and I grunted at him with my mouth to stop him. I made the 25-yard shot and watched him run away, then heard him crash just out of sight. This 10-pointer is the biggest antlered deer I’ve taken, and I’m happy to have been able to take him quickly and cleanly with a bow.
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Yesterday was a wonderful day to be in the Kentucky deer woods. I had been getting pictures of a number of nice bucks in one of our food plots, and the wind from the NNE coupled with the cold front pushing through created the perfect conditions for sneaking in to hunt yesterday afternoon. Within minutes after getting into the tree stand, I noticed a large buck bedded in the brush about 200 yards away. I kept my eyes on him all afternoon while also observing several deer using the food plot at close range. I decided to grunt at the buck an hour before the end of legal shooting time with the hope of coaxing him into bow range prior to dark. After the first grunt, he immediately stood up. After the third, he began slowly heading my direction but quickly disappeared into the brush and woods. About 20 minutes later, I heard a deer walking my way through the damp leaves from the direction I had last seen the buck, and soon I saw antlers. The buck stopped behind some limbs and worked a scrape and licking branch at 30 yards while I held at full draw. Once he finished at the scrape, he stepped into my shooting lane and I grunted at him with my mouth to stop him. I made the 25-yard shot and watched him run away, then heard him crash just out of sight. This 10-pointer is the biggest antlered deer I’ve taken, and I’m happy to have been able to take him quickly and cleanly with a bow.
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