Upstate Obsession

[Elkaddict]

I’m long overdue for an update. Life upstate continues to be busy working too much….and I find myself contemplating how I want to prioritize my time the next decade.

Because my no-till planter did not arrive in time, I broadcast and disced in 71/2 acres of ag beans. I planted heavy knowing deer numbers would be a real issue. As anticipated, many were browsed too early and did not survive. Still, we managed to grow enough that as snows have piled up, deer are stacked deep in the plots with remaining grain.

 

[Elkaddict]

In all the beans, I also broadcast rye and brassicas. Both have been hammered.

In June, we broadcast 4 acres of buckwheat. In Mid July, I rolled it with my cultipacker, sprayed it and drilled in brassicas. Brassica germination was excellent but ultimately, drought really hampered growth. Instead of knee high forage, it topped out at ankle height…although that also reflects serious browsing since they were lip high. In September, I also broadcast in rye.

Using my GP no-till drill, I also planted 41/2 acres of rye/clover/chicory. It too has been browsed lip high.

As has been the case for sometime, we have too many deer….and the food plots get hammered. Fortunately, we continue to benefit from 24 acres of hinge cuts which added substantial browse.

We have some good for our area bucks on the property, 4 of which are 41/2 or older. While I haven’t seen all 4 this season, I have seen 2 which did not offer good shots. I have passed younger bucks every sit. Conditions were not great during the rut…high winds/unseasonably warm and a full moon. Still, I’ve had a good sit each outing.

If I don’t see one of my older bucks, the younger up and comers will get a pass. I’ll fill doe tags to try to impact the spiraling numbers.

I’m cool with this as I’ve already had a great fall. I took a nice bull and buck in CO, and passed 50+ bucks in MT looking for something special. I’m also going to do my annual TX archery buck and boar hunt with my boys.

 

[Elkaddict]

For those interested in such things, the bull was shot at 482yds with 300win shooting 200g Accubonds at 3060fps. I’d spotted him the night before and got on him the next morning. I had to wait 3 hours for him to offer a shot through a small window. He dropped at the shot. With broken tines, he went 305. Not my biggest, but too nice to pass.

The buck was shot the next day at 178yds in his bed. I repositioned the spotting scope 3 times over 30 minutes trying to judge him before confirming he was good enough. He was 29” wide and scored 172.

This was what remained of the 200g Accubond after striking the bedded buck in the knuckle.

 

[Native Hunter]

For those interested in such things, the bull was shot at 482yds with 300win shooting 200g Accubonds at 3060fps. I’d spotted him the night before and got on him the next morning. I had to wait 3 hours for him to offer a shot through a small window. He dropped at the shot. With broken tines, he went 305. Not my biggest, but too nice to pass.

The buck was shot the next day at 178yds. I repositioned the spotting scope 3 times over 30 minutes trying to judge him before confirming he was good enough. He was 29” wide and scored 172.

Congratulations. Sounds like a great hunt.

 

[Elkaddict]

90 seconds after I shot my bull, my buddy shot this 5 pt. Mine was on the upper right marked spot, his was the lower left.

 

[Elkaddict]

I’m long overdue for an update. Life upstate continues to be busy working too much….and I find myself contemplating how I want to prioritize my time the next decade.

Because my no-till planter did not arrive in time, I broadcast and disced in 71/2 acres of ag beans. I planted heavy knowing deer numbers would be a real issue. As anticipated, many were browsed too early and did not survive. Still, we managed to grow enough that as snows have piled up, deer are stacked deep in the plots with remaining grain.

I’m long overdue for an update. Life upstate continues to be busy working too much….and I find myself contemplating how I want to prioritize my time the next decade.

Because my no-till planter did not arrive in time, I broadcast and disced in 71/2 acres of ag beans. I planted heavy knowing deer numbers would be a real issue. As anticipated, many were browsed too early and did not survive. Still, we managed to grow enough that as snows have piled up, deer are stacked deep in the plots with remaining grain.

Looking at my last post has forced me to contemplate the loop I’m in…. I’m working and too much. Indeed, I’ve been out of town on business more than I’ve been home this year…not what I’ve hoped for or wanted at this point in mt career.

I was able to get 4 acres of corn, 5 acres of brassicas and 5 acres of grain/clover in this year. The deer have crushed all of them. I simply have too many deer on the place…..

 

[Elkaddict]

I was able to hunt NM and CO. My son and I took decent deer in CO and I shot a personal best bull in NM.

 

[Elkaddict]

I’ve got another year experience planting brassicas and grain/clover with the no-till drill. It did well when the ground was moist enough. When it’s dry, I need more weight to get down (the stock configuration of 3150lb struggled at times to cut through any residue and plant grain deeper than an inch or so). It’s been a nice addition as it saves a bunch of time. I’d planned on 10 acres of forage beans but I waited too long before ordering. I hope to try again next spring.

I’ve been planning for some time on picking up a 2 or 3 row no-till corn planter. I’m a little concerned it too will have insufficient weight to do the job…. Fortunately, the ground is usually moist in late May/early June.

 

[1100LT20]

Awesome bucks and bull!

 

[gjs4]

Looking at my last post has forced me to contemplate the loop I’m in…. I’m working and too much. Indeed, I’ve been out of town on business more than I’ve been home this year…not what I’ve hoped for or wanted at this point in mt career.

I was able to get 4 acres of corn, 5 acres of brassicas and 5 acres of grain/clover in this year. The deer have crushed all of them. I simply have too many deer on the place…..

NY guy here...but in a different area (and think that matters).... a hard task but one with amazing ROI.... is get a weekend with some friends and annihilate your does, especially in any areas where theyre coming on/off yours. Couple that with underseeded WR,WW, Triticale and minimize the winter pressure (even things like snowmobiles) and youll see continual improvement for the bucks there every year.

 

[Elkaddict]

Gjs4,
Our area is a draw for does, and you generally can't hit it without preference points. While landowners with >50 acres do get one DMP, it is not enough. My brother’s bow hunt when they can make the trip but it’s usually a fiasco as far as herd management is concerned. I do have friends I trust enough to allow them unsupervised, but they both have comparable acreage in the same unit with their own DMPs. Allowing strangers is a nonstarter with all the trouble we’ve had….

In our experience, grains such as WR, Triticale and even oats are the strongest draw until buried in snow (that’s already happened). Once snows pile up, deer split there time between the brassicas and corn/beans. I have 2 6 acre food plots and try to provide multiple winter options. Winter draw of beans are great but the turkeys really hammer them (I counted 59 in one flock yesterday while waiting for some does to make their afternoon appearance). Unless the snows really pile up, I’ve got enough corn and brassicas to at least provide groceries through January.

If you’ve read the whole thread, you also know we’ve done significant timber management to enhance available browse. If we get notice of a big snow coming, I’ve identified a half acre or so that I will hinge cut this winter.

I did enjoy thinning the herd last night. After watching 15 deer including two 8pts for an hour, I bloodied a new rifle (6.5PRC) taking a doe at 303yds. The 156g Bergers were devastating. I had several does at less than 100yds, but wanted to test bullet performance for my western hunts where ranges have averaged 350 or so.

I may have time to get out with a muzzleloader. I also still have an unpunched archery tag. Southern tier regs may yet allow me to thin the herd further.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Looking at my last post has forced me to contemplate the loop I’m in…. I’m working and too much. Indeed, I’ve been out of town on business more than I’ve been home this year…not what I’ve hoped for or wanted at this point in mt career.

I was able to get 4 acres of corn, 5 acres of brassicas and 5 acres of grain/clover in this year. The deer have crushed all of them. I simply have too many deer on the place…..

That career loop sounds all too familiar, most of us are in a similar situation, managing a hunting farm takes money, and the demands of earning that money takes us away from managing the farm.
However, your nice pictures of crops and deer prove that you are getting ahead of the loop, that's a beautiful scene. Its almost uncanny how our places are in a very similar setting, both having drought planting issues, too many does, planter won't pentrate in dry conditions, outsiders/friends shooting does failures etc.
As far as the does, after ignoring this one important detail for too long, we've recently gotten very serious about balancing our deer herd numbers, we have been removing a significant amount of doe every year, and really paying attention to not shooting button bucks. This is the third year of seriousness, and we're very slowly seeing this ship change direction.
Because of being to busy to shoot does, getting people in who promised to shoot doe and then shot bucks, and not realizing the true gravity of the situation, we went from growing a beautiful soybean field every year to not being able to grow beans anymore, because our oversized herd ate them faster than they grew. This was the real wakeup call for us, realizing that getting people in to shoot does is a bad idea. Realizing that we have to do this ourselves. Realizing that once we are balanced, going forward ideally we'll want to shoot one doe for every buck, but for our particular property, due to poaching, we will probably need to shoot 2 does for every buck for the foreseeable future.
Our longterm goal is to get away from the past of seeing 20 deer in a field and 19 of them don't have antlers, to a future of seeing 10 deer in a field and 4 of them have antlers.
I thought that maybe hearing from someone who's walking along a very similar management path will give you some affirmation that you are on the right track.

 

[Elkaddict]

That career loop sounds all too familiar, most of us are in a similar situation, managing a hunting farm takes money, and the demands of earning that money takes us away from managing the farm.
However, your nice pictures of crops and deer prove that you are getting ahead of the loop, that's a beautiful scene. Its almost uncanny how our places are in a very similar setting, both having drought planting issues, too many does, planter won't pentrate in dry conditions, outsiders/friends shooting does failures etc.
As far as the does, after ignoring this one important detail for too long, we've recently gotten very serious about balancing our deer herd numbers, we have been removing a significant amount of doe every year, and really paying attention to not shooting button bucks. This is the third year of seriousness, and we're very slowly seeing this ship change direction.
Because of being to busy to shoot does, getting people in who promised to shoot doe and then shot bucks, and not realizing the true gravity of the situation, we went from growing a beautiful soybean field every year to not being able to grow beans anymore, because our oversized herd ate them faster than they grew. This was the real wakeup call for us, realizing that getting people in to shoot does is a bad idea. Realizing that we have to do this ourselves. Realizing that once we are balanced, going forward ideally we'll want to shoot one doe for every buck, but for our particular property, due to poaching, we will probably need to shoot 2 does for every buck for the foreseeable future.
Our longterm goal is to get away from the past of seeing 20 deer in a field and 19 of them don't have antlers, to a future of seeing 10 deer in a field and 4 of them have antlers.
I thought that maybe hearing from someone who's walking along a very similar management path will give you some affirmation that you are on the right track.

Thank you MM for the kind and encouraging words. I also need to work the turkey numbers. Only a a handful get killed on our place. This was the front yard yesterday. I’m amazed at how quickly they can strip a corn or bean field.