Berniez

Japanese Knotwood is a real pain to get rid of. Do not cut it as the cuttings will sprout (thats why it spreads along waterways as people throw it into a stream and the folks downstream have it start to grow on their banks). Also if it matures it will take many applications if not years to get rid of. Make your roundup concentration really strong. For a small area like you seem to have paint the leaves an branches almost full strength (No run off just paint it will a paint brush). It will die back but will probably come back in Sept. I use the herbicide Banvel (dicambia) and it takes a few years to kill it. Some people actually inject the stalks with 2-3mls and it really works.(no run off and there is no drift onto wanted crops) Careful ....dicambia works but you have to handle it with care using really good technique and use protective gear. Get rid of it ASAP. BernieZ

Folks, This morning I had 27 deer consuming what is left of a 2.5 acre standing soybean field. Attached are 2 of the 4 bucks taken off the property this year. It’s a brag but it’s also the result of years of hard work and finally getting the right combination of crops and cover. I want to help other landowners who really want to “grow them big” and don’t have a lot of money. While I may be a newbie on this sight I have been planting food plot/managing my property for the past 40 years. I have probably spent more time, energy and money doing these projects than 95% of anybody on this list. I have had some great success and spectacular failures. (The first 25 years of owning the property was one of great frugality as I was raising kids and trying to do what I could on a very limited budget. So before you spend$$$$ take advice, ask questions. I say this because after trying every cockamamie food from beets, radishes, rape, turnips, triticale, oats, field peas, mangrels, comfrey, to clover beans and corn..etc…I know just how much hype is just that hype. As for gear needed?.I have done stuff with a gravely walk behind with a chain link fence to an 80 HP diesel(with the same chain link fence) so you can get stuff done... you just need to understand what your limits are in time and money. About once a week or so I am going to offer my observations and thoughts on the various ideas posted. Feel free to question, condemn or agree with what I postulate. Why listen to me? MY property has consistently produced good deer. This year we nailed a buck scoring 152. After the season we still have 7 different antlered bucks still walking around. I have 85 acres and am surrounded by neighbors whose motto is “If it’s brown it’s down!” They shoot the first legal buck they see and do not understand why I have a 9, two 8’s and a broken rack 10 still walking around after the season. So in spite of neighbors you can harvest good deer you just need to work on it. Make plans (multiple) because what others do on their property affects what happens on yours. I am not trying to pontificate but want to let others know what has worked for me. Anybody is welcomed to contact me at [email protected] and come by the property for a visit (off I88 in Otsego county) I will be happy to answer questions show you the what, how and why I did things. I am trying to give something back to this great sport before I am too old to pass on some knowledge….and while it’s all fun…. you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did in time and money. Good luck and happy hunting Next installment will be: “Stop or hold” it’s your choice

size depends on quality of food.age just makes the racks thicker. If the one you showed is a farm country deer 2.5 if big woods 3.5. The 10 with the 2 picks is definitely over 5 (I have his shed from 2 years ago.) The buck with the thinner rack is 2.5 as I passed on him last year. IN any case they are all shooters

The first year I planted soybeans the deer were NOT used to the crop and really did not bother it much to the point where in the spring I lightly disced it in and they reseeded themselves. That was the last year that ever happened. Now I leave 3 acres standing for winter feed. By late march the deer have it completely consumed every bean. Once the beans emerge from the soil the deer hit it every day. So from June to when they strip the field bare...you will have deer visiting it. I believe they like it more than corn. Caveat of some note: they seem to hit the field hardest after dark whereas they visit the cornfield during shooting hours. At $65 a bag.....it's a great return for your money. You just have to make sure you plant enough acreage so the deer don't destroy the field before July.

keep it mowed to <6 inches. This promotes more tender growth and less chance of weeds taking over.

Disk now wait 10-20 days do it again and then plant buckwheat. (Broadcast and very lightly disk it in. Deer / turkeys love it. Buckwheat loosens soil and chokes out weeds. When ready for fall planting just disc it in and plant what you want. Old timers used buckwheat like we use roundup....choke out the weeds but buckwheat also builds the soil. (Also great for bees .)

If you are going to plant rye in the spring use a spring variety such as Gazelle or Common and NOT a winter variety (which should be planted in September), FY:I try a triticale/field pea mix or a spring barley (this can be planted now as barley germinates at 40 degrees and ignores frost). Triticale/pea an be planted in a couple of weeks. That draws in many deer in june July august and adds lots of nitrogen and has a high Protein content. Then in September plow under and get you other stuff in. IF you overseed with Clover when planting in the spring..... you only have to do it once and have a great green crop for the fall.. good luck and let us know how you did

Before you start planting chestnut trees from Walmart that are only “partial” American Chestnuts.....why not try to plant a “mother tree” on your property so when the government gives its ok we can get American Chestnut trees back into the wild and in huge numbers. These trees willbe 99.999% American Chestnuts. These trees will supply a huge increase in available food supply for deer turkey and bear as well as non-game species. Read the below article https://theconversation.com/new-genetically-engineered-american-chestnut-will-help-restore-the-decimated-iconic-tree-52191 Join the NY Chapter of the American Chestnut Society http://www.acf.org/Chapters_ny.php

Get a permit to shoot them from the DEC during the spring and summer and get a trapper there in season. THEY are "Bank Beaver" (Living in a stream instead of a pond/lake), meaning you have a high beaver transient population. They will be cruising up and down the stream eating what they can all year long while they look for a place to dam up a stream. I have been fighting them on my property for years.......they have been chewing and killing apple trees and other stuff on my banks for the last 40 years. One year I had a stream change course and go through my cornfield, I shoot then all summer long and a trapper still traps 18-25 "in season." Try a fence and a .357.

Plant Clover. With a small plot 50 x 50 you are just interested in having them slow down in front of your stand while they are going someplace else... not a bad idea It's an attractant not a food plot.

A few years ago three of us and 2 dogs went into a 5 acre swamp (in brush so thick visibility in most places is under 15 feet.) We hunted this swamp chasing rabbits, pheasants and grouse for over an hour. There was quite a lot of shooting/laughing/talking as we walked out of it with 3 rabbits and 4 pheasants. As we exited and started to walk out the dogs jumped another rabbit who sought safety in the tangled morass we had just left. The dogs ran the rabbit around that swamp for 10 more minutes. It was after all this disturbance/ barking/ shooting. that we saw 5 does sneeking away and discretely exiting the swamp using a scrubby swale as a path taking them to another brush-lot on the property. While anecdotal that convinced me that the deer somehow knew we were small game hunting and that dogs, guns and laughter didn’t bother then in the least, if they think they are not the target of the disturbance.They did not want to leave the swamp but we finally disturbed them enough to slowly, without panic, move 300 yards away. After that I have no problem when a hunter asks to run their dogs for coons or coyote on my property. (Most don’t because I 88 is real close.).

Bersa thunder 380 auto...fits in a pants pocket, disappears from view and is truly concealable You can't go wrong .

A few years ago the NRA did a study about "Brush Busters" and concluded that the Shotgun slug was actually one of the worst for being deflected....the rainbow trajectory was probably the reason. A rifle shoots flatter and you don't have the worry about Kentucky windage trying to avoid that 7-9 inch drop at 100 yards. A rifle (esp a 270) needs a smaller opening to slip that bullet through. I have hunted with slugs for 30 years and unless I am in my swamp the flatter shooting rifle with a smaller diameter has a much better chance of getting through without deflection. Anecdotal information to the contrary stick with a rifle unless you enjoy that extra challenge. In any case do what you enjoy. Have a Happy New Year, .

ERNST SEEDS Wholesale Price List - 2015 http://www.ernstseed.com/files/documents/2015-wholesale-pricelist.pdf 800-873-3321 Here in NY CAve-in-rock is a good choice but it is not that tall 3-5 feet. But the price is right. If you have a real low spot....I like Blackwell as its 5-7 feet tall and sets a 5-10 foot tap root. iT DOES WITHSTAND YEARLY FLOODING I grow both on the property. The price is really good and you just have to be patient with switchgrass but once established lasts for at least 20 years if you do some periodic maintenance. I have 1 plot over 20 years and is still in great shape. One year during a drought I let a neighbor cut it the last week in july and he got over 10 tons per acre. The next year it came back even stronger. IF you want to plant it this spring buy it soon and leave it in the garage/barn/outbuilding. The cold will stratify the seed and improve germination

Do not rush into your decision. Red cedar though heavily browsed in NJ has little nutritional value for the deer. Also there are three rust diseases: cedar-apple rust, hawthorn rust, and quince rust. All three fungi spend part of their life cycle on the eastern red cedar and are ... The hosts of cedar-apple rust are leaves and fruit of apple and crabapple trees.Severe leaf infection and defoliation may make trees susceptible to winter injury. Severe defoliation reduces fruit size and quality, and infected fruit is deformed, sometimes very seriously. So is a plant with no nutritional value to deer worth the possible damage to your apple trees? You can do a lot better ...this is the time to read and ask lots of questions......and Hope you get it right. If you want hedgerows at little to no cost ....disc up/ disturb the length and width of the row. String a single wire or rope the length of the hedgerow. Birds will sit on the wire and deposit lots seed. Throw rotten apples/or cores and seeds from berries (even from the grocery store) and seeds collected from local bushes into that disturbed area. In no time you will see a natural hedgerow from seeds that grow in that area. In the meantime before spending lots of money on stuff that can affect what habitat you currently...read and ask lots of questions. I've been doing this for 30 years and have wasted a lot of money on nonsense fads. SO my best advice is do what you want success or failure can be the best teacher you'll ever have. Good luck and have a great New Year.

HOW CAN ONE FORGET ? It was a doe In NJ in 1969 using a borrowed JC Higgins s/s 12 gauge 30" mod choke with hand loaded triple 000 buck at 70 yards. That shot buckshot better than any other shotgun I ever used. (It patterned 9 pellets (33 cal) in a 5 inch circle at 70 yards-she never twitched).

Please do everybody a favor and report just how good your Ruger shoots. I bought a Ruger Hawkeye in 7mm-08 and am very disappointed in its accuracy. I have taken the rifle to 2 different smiths. After 2 rebeds and using every other machination 60 years of combined gun smithing knowledge...I still have a nice looking rifle that I will not take hunting. My savage 110C in 243 shoots great and my advice for anybody on a budget is....BUY a Savage. Right out of the box you will actually be able to hit what you are aiming at.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9349.html or try a commercial hunt plenty of birds and no crowds

Accuracy is more important than size. Hit them in the right place they go down without issue. Hit them in the wrong place with anything (including the 300's) and you get wounded animal with 3 legs or a deer dying 5 days later with no recovery. Currently I shoot a 6,5 x 284 WINCHESTER.great ballistics with superb accuracy.Practice practice practice and any caliber will be the right one.

....and attached (I hope) is a picture of a little larger buck living less than 3 miles from davenport..... It's all about the groceries you have for them all year.....corn, beans. clover, a small apple orchard and lots of thick cover.....oh and don't shoot the little ones unless they are under 80 lbs cause they will not make it through the winter.

Apples this year are hit and miss. I have about 55 trees on the property. About 15 have a decent amount of apples. The rest have either few or none. One tree thats a consistent producer has about 1 dozen apples on it. One tree is loaded and the tree next to it has zero. One tree has really sweet apples and is being used by 4 bucks and 4 does...the rest are seeing little action. I think there is so much food in the woods that they are just being picky.

Careful those plums trees are covered with spines. While they make great thickets (not to mention great jelly and jam)s they can become invasive and impenetrable to hunt. Just be ready keep them in check.

before you broadcast your seed mix it with some pulverized lime. That raises the pH around each individual seed allowing for a higher germination rate while waiting for the limed area to work. Just make sure you have good seed to soil contact or you are wasting you money

White-tailed deer do eat grass, but they do not eat a whole lot of it. Contrary to popular belief, deer consume only a small quantities of grass and usually only when it is young and tender. In general, grass makes up less than 10% of a deer’s annual diet. Forbs and browse make up the majority of whitetail food.People commonly see white-tailed deer eating in fields of grass, but are they eating the grass itself? Probably not. During the spring and fall, cool-season forbs, commonly referred to by people as weeds, are available and abundant. These are the plants that deer are looking for among all that tall grass! Stay away from anything with any fescue in it, Just keep the field green and lush with all kinds of broad-leafed weeds and the deer will be there.

Your seed needs soil contact in order to germinate. No till means the seed is planted into the ground (not on the trash/ without disturbing too much of the ground (Easier, cheaper and faster than regular tillage/moldboard plowing). .Dropping seed on dying grass/weeds without good soil contact will do little except feed the mice.. And lime usually needs months to get the ph up. I'd mix the seed with some pulverized lime. That way the lime gives the seed a pretty good micro environment to start growing especially if the soil is <6.. good luck and enjoy