Mother Nature has been kind to me. Lots of wet stuff falling from the sky right now. Definitely timed my planting just right!
1023's 2023-2024 Season Journal
- Thread starter bowhunter1023
- Start date
Man ol' man was it nasty out there today!
Spent the better part of the day getting cams out and prepping a new spot for me to hunt with the kids. Started with clearing some brush to maximize solar panel operation on the new "Gate Cam". This is really the only way to trespass on our place via motorized means, so I've ran a cam here for years. I'll get daily pictures of does all year long, with a few roamer bucks come October/November. I upgraded to the Reveal Pro so I could take on-demand pics, it has GPS, and much better picture quality. Should make a good sentry for the front door!
The plot screen is looking good and the clover is ready to be sprayed. I'll hit it with clethodim in the next week, and I'll mow the stuff to the right so it's ready to be sprayed. Still debating on what to plant there, but it'll be another 1/2 acre of food.
Dug a ditch to drain the water off the minerals to keep it from contributing to any EHD issues if they arise. I added a bag of Trophy Rock Four65, then topped it off with the Grape Drank Mafia's special ingredient. The trails coming in/out of here are unreal. Plenty of doe traffic for sure!
A few months ago, we moved our buddy stand down the holler a few hundred yards to the spot where Kaydence killed her deer last year. I finished securing it, wrapped it in burlap, dropped a big elm to give us better visibility/shooting, while opening up the canopy a bit for a future food plot. This will be a no-till special. I'll nuke with herbicide, mow real low, drag, then seed with a new turnip from Biologic that's touted to be great at breaking up soil. This is s fun little spot to hunt and I'll probably sit here some. I have several daylight pics of my 2021 buck here in the week leading up to his demise.
I was pleasantly surprised to see beans sprouting after just 3.5 days! I'm making plans to get it fence, but we'll see if I can carve out the time to make it happen.
I also added a vine/scrape setup that's 25 yards from a new stand that will be going up soon.
Never hurts to see a massive pile near a set of big tracks!
In total, I have 8 cams out there now, with 4 of them being cell cams. I have a cell cam in my sanctuary for the first time ever. I'm excited to see how that goes. I also setup the feeder, refreshed minerals, and hung cams behind my house. I managed to get a cell cam to work on the minerals in the creek bottom. That's never happened and is a real game-changer for making the summer interesting. If the bucks hit it like they have in the past, I should have daily pics of good bucks hitting my phone.
A good long shower with a cold beer are in order!
Spent the better part of the day getting cams out and prepping a new spot for me to hunt with the kids. Started with clearing some brush to maximize solar panel operation on the new "Gate Cam". This is really the only way to trespass on our place via motorized means, so I've ran a cam here for years. I'll get daily pictures of does all year long, with a few roamer bucks come October/November. I upgraded to the Reveal Pro so I could take on-demand pics, it has GPS, and much better picture quality. Should make a good sentry for the front door!
The plot screen is looking good and the clover is ready to be sprayed. I'll hit it with clethodim in the next week, and I'll mow the stuff to the right so it's ready to be sprayed. Still debating on what to plant there, but it'll be another 1/2 acre of food.
Dug a ditch to drain the water off the minerals to keep it from contributing to any EHD issues if they arise. I added a bag of Trophy Rock Four65, then topped it off with the Grape Drank Mafia's special ingredient. The trails coming in/out of here are unreal. Plenty of doe traffic for sure!
A few months ago, we moved our buddy stand down the holler a few hundred yards to the spot where Kaydence killed her deer last year. I finished securing it, wrapped it in burlap, dropped a big elm to give us better visibility/shooting, while opening up the canopy a bit for a future food plot. This will be a no-till special. I'll nuke with herbicide, mow real low, drag, then seed with a new turnip from Biologic that's touted to be great at breaking up soil. This is s fun little spot to hunt and I'll probably sit here some. I have several daylight pics of my 2021 buck here in the week leading up to his demise.
I was pleasantly surprised to see beans sprouting after just 3.5 days! I'm making plans to get it fence, but we'll see if I can carve out the time to make it happen.
I also added a vine/scrape setup that's 25 yards from a new stand that will be going up soon.
Never hurts to see a massive pile near a set of big tracks!
In total, I have 8 cams out there now, with 4 of them being cell cams. I have a cell cam in my sanctuary for the first time ever. I'm excited to see how that goes. I also setup the feeder, refreshed minerals, and hung cams behind my house. I managed to get a cell cam to work on the minerals in the creek bottom. That's never happened and is a real game-changer for making the summer interesting. If the bucks hit it like they have in the past, I should have daily pics of good bucks hitting my phone.
A good long shower with a cold beer are in order!
Looks awesome dude and ya got her covered with nice equipment! I hope you can get sleep at night
If pissing your $ away were a picture...
Burnt up $200+ in herbicides, 60 gallons of water, and a few gallons of gas/diesel tonight getting plots ready for planting. Started by spraying clethodim on the clover plot and the timing should be perfect. It'll be ready to mow again in early August and the grasses should be done by then. Overall, it looks pretty awesome right now.
After that, I sprayed 3 kill plots, then nuked the Corner Pocket for the first full reset in 8 years. I wrapped up by mowing and spraying the other 1/3 of the big field (adjacent to clover field) and another smaller field we call the "little field". I planted @at1010's Carbon Load in the Big Field and the crimson clover came back with a vengeance this spring. It was in the perfect seed state. I expect that seed to lay dormant, then flourish again next spring. I don't plan on tilling it very deep, so the seed should be able to survive. Time will tell...
In total across the 6 plots receiving a fall planting, I'll be adding another acre and a half of food to the farm. It'll be a veritable smorgasbord if it all does well!
Burnt up $200+ in herbicides, 60 gallons of water, and a few gallons of gas/diesel tonight getting plots ready for planting. Started by spraying clethodim on the clover plot and the timing should be perfect. It'll be ready to mow again in early August and the grasses should be done by then. Overall, it looks pretty awesome right now.
After that, I sprayed 3 kill plots, then nuked the Corner Pocket for the first full reset in 8 years. I wrapped up by mowing and spraying the other 1/3 of the big field (adjacent to clover field) and another smaller field we call the "little field". I planted @at1010's Carbon Load in the Big Field and the crimson clover came back with a vengeance this spring. It was in the perfect seed state. I expect that seed to lay dormant, then flourish again next spring. I don't plan on tilling it very deep, so the seed should be able to survive. Time will tell...
In total across the 6 plots receiving a fall planting, I'll be adding another acre and a half of food to the farm. It'll be a veritable smorgasbord if it all does well!
Wiley E Coyote
Active Member
I snubbed @at1010 this fall, so hopefully he'll forgive me! But here's the lineup for 6 plots at the farm and 2 at the house. I'm not 100% sure what's going where yet other than the Domain BS which is for my small little woods plot behind the house. The new turnip from Biologic will probably go in the new plot down in the holler at the farm so it can work on breaking up that soil. Overall, I went for the diversity approach this fall to see if anything is obviously better than the next.
Deersurgeon
Junior Member
- 179
- 65
Big_Holla
Senior Member
The Domain Big Sexy is what saved our main plots last summer. We went almost a month without rain after we planted Big n Beasty. Luckily I won a couple containers of the BS and used them, I believe early October. That will be my go to brand and seed in most, if not all, of our plots this year.
Although not optimal conditions, the first of my fall plots are in the ground. I knocked off early today with the intent of doing these right, but the rain yesterday and this morning really screwed me. Given my schedule and recent weather patterns, I wasn't confident I'd have a chance to till these up in the near future, so I rolled the dice and got them planted right before this front. They were sprayed and mowed, but both still have a fair amount of leaf/weed matter that will hinder seed-to-soil contact. But both have some better areas and both have a mix of sun/shade. I also don't expect these to make much of a difference in our hunting here at the house, so they'll be what they'll be. I'm attempting to bring both back to life after years of dormancy, so simply adding lime and fertilizer, while killing off the existing vegetation will be helpful to next year's process.
Both plots received a blend of Domain Seeds Bombshell (Ethiopian Cabbage, Forage Collards, Hybrid Forage Brassica, Forage Turnip) and Real World Wildlife Products Harvest Salad (three different cereal grains and Austrian winter peas).
This plot is right at a 1/10 of an acre and it's located right below our barn. The thick brush and topography make it fairly secluded. There's a nice crabapple along the edge and a few nice oaks nearby. Deer like filtering through here, so a little extra food won't hurt their feelings.
This is down in the holler and is a textbook "middle of the woods plot". Ideally, I'd have removed all the leaves and thick thatch, but that'll have to wait until next year.
This beauty is parked over us at the moment, so I feel partially vindicated. We'll see how they perform from here!
Both plots received a blend of Domain Seeds Bombshell (Ethiopian Cabbage, Forage Collards, Hybrid Forage Brassica, Forage Turnip) and Real World Wildlife Products Harvest Salad (three different cereal grains and Austrian winter peas).
This plot is right at a 1/10 of an acre and it's located right below our barn. The thick brush and topography make it fairly secluded. There's a nice crabapple along the edge and a few nice oaks nearby. Deer like filtering through here, so a little extra food won't hurt their feelings.
This is down in the holler and is a textbook "middle of the woods plot". Ideally, I'd have removed all the leaves and thick thatch, but that'll have to wait until next year.
This beauty is parked over us at the moment, so I feel partially vindicated. We'll see how they perform from here!
Big_Holla
Senior Member
The tiny BS seed will definitely get soil contact there, even more so with the rain right after. Looks like the start of great things!!
Took a mental health day that went sour an hour in thanks to my OCD! I knew this was questionable, but really thought I could pull it off. Turns out this crossing silted in a good bit since last fall. Had to call in reinforcements to get back on track!
The goal was plant to plant my remaining 6 food plots, but I quickly found out my second experiment with beans in the bottom was a failure, so it needed to be redone. Barely any beans, but a good bit of volunteer turnips from last year. I tilled the whole thing again and reseeded with Whitetail Institute Destination and a little extra leafy greens mix.
I managed to get 6 of 7 tilled and 5 of 7 planted before I decided planting by moonlight was stupid. It also appears I've created a drought based on the 10-day forecast, so hurry to finish now. Not my best day, but a good use of PTO nonetheless.
The goal was plant to plant my remaining 6 food plots, but I quickly found out my second experiment with beans in the bottom was a failure, so it needed to be redone. Barely any beans, but a good bit of volunteer turnips from last year. I tilled the whole thing again and reseeded with Whitetail Institute Destination and a little extra leafy greens mix.
I managed to get 6 of 7 tilled and 5 of 7 planted before I decided planting by moonlight was stupid. It also appears I've created a drought based on the 10-day forecast, so hurry to finish now. Not my best day, but a good use of PTO nonetheless.
The list of things I "should" do stretches from here to Medina and back! It's been on the list for years, just haven't gotten to it (obviously). We even have some 16" heavy-duty water line that was procured for this very reason. Almost all of our crossings need work, especially in this holler.
Plots are all in. It's a real smorgasbord out there, assuming it rains soon and things grow. A couple of these need some time to come together since they're new, but overall, I'm pleased with how this plan came together. Roughly 4 acres of food mixed between bigger feed fields and small kill plots. If they go hungry, it ain't my fault!
My 2 acre clover plot took to the clethodim application well. It's time to mow and I can't wait to see it after its rebounded. This year's drone flight should be awesome!
My 2 acre clover plot took to the clethodim application well. It's time to mow and I can't wait to see it after its rebounded. This year's drone flight should be awesome!
Big_Holla
Senior Member
All that freshly turned dirt, all the hard work and effort, the vision and the plans implemented.....man that all looks like a dream! Definitely coming together for you out there Jesse and definitely an inspiration!!
Thanks, Chuck!
It's been a long, slow grind. Some of these plots have been in action since 2008, like the Corner Pocket. I went years without a PTO tiller, using discs on quads and tractors in an attempt to do the best I could with the tools I had. This is my 19th season with a plot of some sort in the ground and I've learned a TON! I'm also very fortunate and grateful to have the time and resources to achieve the results I did this year. Mowing clover and spreading seed by moonlight isn't optimal, but it's oddly satisfying and it gets the job done. I love this stuff more than the hunting at this point
It's been a long, slow grind. Some of these plots have been in action since 2008, like the Corner Pocket. I went years without a PTO tiller, using discs on quads and tractors in an attempt to do the best I could with the tools I had. This is my 19th season with a plot of some sort in the ground and I've learned a TON! I'm also very fortunate and grateful to have the time and resources to achieve the results I did this year. Mowing clover and spreading seed by moonlight isn't optimal, but it's oddly satisfying and it gets the job done. I love this stuff more than the hunting at this point
Deersurgeon
Junior Member
- 179
- 65
Wiley E Coyote
Active Member
Very nice! I hope you get your rain!!