My Place

That's a very nice layout for a hunting farm, I see tremendous potential. One of the biggest factors in hunting a new property is that the learning curve can't be avoided, although there's ways to speed it up. It takes about 5 years to get a handle on wildlife patterns in a new area, and 10 years to really get proficient at hunting it. On a new property I'd advise getting a few plots going asap and then spending a lot time in various different stands and locations observing wildlife before making more major investments in habitat management. Too much, too soon on new ground often ends up going towards the natural flow of things. Spending more time observing and mapping deer sightings is the key to short cutting the necessary time required to understanding a property.
 
I made it down to my ole Kentucky farm last week, in the hell like heat, to get my fall plantings in, which is a little early for my liking, but time is precious. Also got some general work done
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Cleaned up the 2ac clover field that deer and turkey are liking, and tidied up around the Dunstans.

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Apple and pear orchard at the other end of the clover. Back row was planted last year, front row planted this past spring.

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This Whitney is my best from last year. It is now 10’ tall and clean. A little shocked at how much it grew. :D

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Moon glow was off to a slow start in the spring but looking good now.

I finally got the lime truck to come in. 17 1/2 tons later things should start taking off
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The LLC is right, it’s the only way to lime. ;)

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Getting better at tree ID. I found a couple of chinkapins.

To be continued...




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Just got back from the Ky farm and it was hot, hot, hot, mid 90’s almost all last week. I managed to get a few days of hunting in but got tired of sweating, so I got to work.

I found a bunch of native persimmons of which all the females were loaded.
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I marked the line on this tube on this Chinese Chestnut back in July. It put on around 3’ of growth since then!!!
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I had mixed results on my throw and mow brassicas so I decided to to overseed with a mix from my local seed supplier. 50% chance of rain on Monday.
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Talked to the neighbors about their dogs.
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Managed to get 5 stands up and ready for November. Staked up some Apple trees that were leaning. Also enticed a local farmer to plant a 2 ac field of soybeans next year. :);)


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Got the dozer back this weekend. Enlarged one plot to make it about 3ac
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Had another road built for access and to tie into another rd
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Freed up native persimmons from impenetrable brambles so the deer could get to them.
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Time for an update:
Rifle season was a bust. Didn’t see anything worth the bullet. It got a little chilly in Ky for a few days:
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Decided to make the new part of one of my plots a Chinese Chestnut grove. I'll girdle/remove the remaining sunlight blocking trees. The plot is still 2.5 ac
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Put my trapper to work:
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So far catching some nest predators. 3 opossum, 1 skunk. Helping the turkey and quail.
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Just got back from a week of fun in the Kentucky sun. Got almost everything done I wanted to.
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New water hole holding up good. It gets a little sun but mostly shaded.
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Walmart Dunstans I nursed all last summer and planted last December are looking good. The late frost set them back a little, but 3 trees have catkins.
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Don’t do the lime, if you ain’t got the time. Another 520 pounds on a small plot the lime truck can’t get to.
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Blackberry everywhere. In particular along my roads.

Also had a farmer put 2.5 ac of beans in, got my fruit trees and
2 ac of clover cleaned up, got cowpeas/lablab/sunflower mix in, and trying out chuffa for the turkeys.
There’s never enough time...


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Looking good! Blackberries are quite prolific in our area. I like leaving patches along trails to make it easy to pick them when they are ripe!


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Nice looking place! I bet there are bucks moving through a place that thick that the cameras never pick up. Regardless, you already have some good looking deer running around.
 
A brief update:
Had a farmer neighbor put 2 1/2 ac of beans in for me:
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Looks like my cowpea, lablab, sunflowers are taking off:
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Clover was being over run with switch grass. A light does of gly, cleth and 2-4 dB has it looking pretty good. Thanks Mennonite Man!!
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Lookin good! Not to be negative, but if you have a goodly amount of deer that 2.5 acres of beans is as endangered as ice cubes on a hot sidewalk. I'm rooting for the beans because I like an underdog, let us know how this turns out.
 
Lookin good! Not to be negative, but if you have a goodly amount of deer that 2.5 acres of beans is as endangered as ice cubes on a hot sidewalk. I'm rooting for the beans because I like an underdog, let us know how this turns out.
I hear you about the beans. I am literally surrounded by hundreds of acres Ag, beans and corn within 1/2 mile or less. Last year the same farmer that planted mine, planted a neighbors 2 acres that abuts me. It looked like they made it with so/so damage. I'm optimistic. My caretaker said it didn't look like they were being hit YET. Hoping for a late season draw.
BTW, they are planted in stubble ;).
Ill keep you posted.
 
I hear you about the beans. I am literally surrounded by hundreds of acres Ag, beans and corn within 1/2 mile or less. Last year the same farmer that planted mine, planted a neighbors 2 acres that abuts me. It looked like they made it with so/so damage. I'm optimistic. My caretaker said it didn't look like they were being hit YET. Hoping for a late season draw.
BTW, they are planted in stubble ;).
Ill keep you posted.
"Planted in stubble" is a soil friendly BMP (best management practice), and definitely doing things right. BMP is a catchall phrase that we are going to be hearing a lot more of as regulations regarding water get stricter and keep getting updated.
 
Was down at my place last week. The highlights are we updated the tractor by 40 years. With this 89’ Massey.
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And I found a whole slew of producing hazelnuts in the woods I didn’t know I had, some 8’ tall, which I will be relocating.
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Not sure, but I think these or a lot of them are hazelnuts. Also, got my fall/winter food in.


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Transplanting hazelnuts generally works really well, because they have a shallow root system. Try to get transplants from different areas and put them near each other. That will help with pollination. I try to get a big dirt ball when I dig them up. That increases the chances of survival. Good luck!
 
Finally got some time to do an update, enjoy.
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First crop of apples from the first trees I planted 3 years ago. These are Whitney’s both of them are producing. I also have a Chestnut Crab producing as well.
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Bumper crop of native persimmons from nearly all the female trees scatted about the property.
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Post Oak
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This white oak is loaded as well.
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First burs from a Walmart Dunstan. 10 others are near it, but this is the only one with burs.
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Although I need to badly bush hog, all of the tubed chinese chestnuts (7), in this little grove are well above the 5’ tube. There were only mid tube tall in April.
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Impressive growth on this Dr. Deer Walmart pear. It’s about 14’ tall. Possibly have fruit next year. There were 5’ tall when I planted them 2 years ago.


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