LET EM GROW

Go on craigslist and fins a spring tooth harrow drag. they work well. A lawn roller is a good investment too, to firm your seedbed after disking up. seed, then roll again for small seeds.

Keith Warren is a tool! Absolute idiot.

I try to keep from posting pics until after they are harvest, trail cam encounters, etc... I trust "MOST" everyone, but I've run into some "creeps" on other pages before. Since then I typically don't post Trail Cam pics. I miss posting them because I enjoyed sharing them with everyone. But for my own sake, and especially my neighbors sake. We work to hard to have our efforts ruined by the "creeps" or greedy people.. Im sure if the people really wanted in, they would do enough digging and figure out where I am regardless of pics or not.. Again, I trust "MOST" everyone, but not all. Lol.

Anything to rid weed competition. We have taken a 4-5ft tall golden rod field, Spread seed and rolled with a lawn roller which broke the stems of the bigger plants with good results. Duff layer kept in moisture and Winter Peas took off! And they are a bigger seed, compared to a brassica seed

If you get any grass or weed growth there, keep it at bay for the most part and sprayed off before you want to plant it. Then just spread the seed before a good heavy rain. Between the dead vegetation, rainfall and small seed, it will grow for you. Weed-whack it down over top of the seed if you'd like.. Just a thought. It works. not 100% but not far from it.

Had a few opportunities at younger deer that didn't meet our standards for harvest. And I missed my #1 with Bow. I guess you can call it Tag soup. Yes, I still have all of my tags, but it was a successful season regardless in my book. I would like to take a deer or 2 before season since the family loves venison, Only got out a half dozen times all season so far. I Learned a lot more than I thought I knew again, and saw deer every sit. Just waiting for #1 or #2 to step out this last week or a couple of decent doe.

I make it a point to only hunt the right days, when my cameras show that it should be a good sit or when the neighbors haven't been around. For 2 years now we have not stayed in our cabin on the property and the daylight activity has been awesome. The big bucks and does will basically walk right to the back door(some apples fall off the tress and roll down). I also like to park far away as possible, It makes for longer walks in but they pay off is worth it. Typically after Thanksgiving or the weekend following, I stay out of the woods.. until the last weekend of gun season then start to hunt it again as the deer shift to mainly food sources, that time off gives them time to calm down some. IT has paid off in years prior, and i don't even have any cover to offer the deer yet... Here is what Ive done on my piece to try and better my chances, or promote daylight activity.. As you can see, its tought promoting any bedding, im hoping that cutting unwatned trees down and tops mixed in with new growth may promote bedding. My woods are open, and the deer have nearly every advantage on my piece. The hill between the new orchard and my big plot has a couple small saddles(dead end ridges) on it, going to try and make them bedding benches if possible..

I am no forestry expert, actually far from it. But if i were to plan this out. I would first focus on entry and exit routes to stand locations. Then from there, focus on making several smaller bedding locations for multiple doe groups to hold up in. Or a good sized sanctuary directly in the middle of the property. With your food plot on the side that best suits your primary wind direction. OR Another smaller plot on the opposite side for other winds. Use the downed tops to build edges on your plots to funnel them in and out of only certain spots. Bigger the plot is good, but not always for daytime activity, unless maybe screening off sections. And if human pressure is very low in the area.. But a sanctuary, food and water, kept as close together as possible and all human pressure away is KEY. Never step foot anywhere besides on your way in and out of stands or tracking wounded game. If I was to have food or a sanctuary and could only choose one, It would be a sanctuary. I have the food (fall/winter) including soft mast on my 13 acres(that I own) but not the cover, As long as hunting pressure is minimal the property is pretty decent to hunt, but soon as hunting pressure picks up, like in gun season my property is a flop. They only come through after dark at that point. Im trying to build up bedding areas but the way mine is laid out, its near impossible. very low pressure and cover is key, and then food would be a plus! Looking forward to your decision and progress, i love this stuff! Wish i had more room to do such work on..

I shoot that setup out of my T/C Triumph and my T/C Omega both in 50.cal. Always shot well with (2) 50gr pellets also, but I let my old boss use them on a Colorado Mule deer hunt so I upped the powder charge.

Probably wont help but, I shoot the Shockwaves in 250gr. Very accurate, lots of damage done from entrance to exit hole. (3) 50gr Triple 7 pellets Winchester 209 Primers Accurate out to 250yards

Take a roller and make modifications to it. We are going to try and make a Roll Crimper out of a lawn roller this winter. Im cheap and my time is limited for all the things i would like to do each year. Therefore I improvise lol.

I took a a buck that shed its antlers early mistaking it for a doe on last weekend of Gun years back. But he had taken a slug across the top of his back across length wise from one side to the other. From opening weekend, (I know the guy) Poor deer. Damn near laid wide open. Probably did him a favor, could tell he was acting weird.

I use a poly roller too, This year id like to upgrade to a heavy duty steel roller. Only because I am not "packing" loose soil, im trying to push seed into soil under dead vegetation. Id say go with a poly roller or a craigslist ad. and use a quad or lawn tractor to pull it. Unless you have the money for a bigger setup

Exactly! The spring after I do a Fall "bulb" planting, is like a perfectly prepared seedbed for soybeans. I just spread seed, and roll it in, if i dont have a cereal grain growing. It is awesome. When I tilled years prior, I darn near did the same as you stubb.

Yea it killed a lot of Bush Honey Suckle we had growing. it was beautiful after but the shrub has returned. Maybe someday ill do a burn. but probably not for a little while yet. My neighbors were not to appreciative that day.. I love mine also. I have a 6' setup. When it digs, it makes my 450 Honda work for it, But my 28hp CAT tractor owns it. Reminds me to get that thing fixed and ready to go for spring. I've got a huge awesome looking game plan going for spring.. That tractor would make easier work no doubt, compared to the quad.

Oh I've read up on it and researched it, but after fighting a couple other hot April brush fires in recent years around camp and with what happened to my place. Ill find other ways around it lol

I use the dead vegetation as a mulch to keep the bare soil from being exposed to the sun and heat. Keeps moisture in. and will break down into soil. I shy away from burning. Years ago we left camp on one of those hot dry April days after the burning barrel went out. There was not a flame left in the barrel. Drove the 65 mins home, We were not home for 20 mins when the phone rang, it was our neighbors stating they along with the Fire dept just got done fighting a fire that spread through our woods from the burn barrel. The woods were very nice looking and it took off great that year. but for that reason, i leave the prescribed fire for others lol. If done right im sure it would never be a hassle, lol but im not one to play with that..

I agree, when i turned soil, those were my favorites where a tiller wouldn't do so well(rocks). The only downside of the the spring tooth harrow, you'll pull up more rocks than you would like to, and will gather any taller vegetation so you may have to clean the tines of debris... Otherwise works well!

Anytime, but deer prefer different foods depending where you are, and whats available to them. 3 Miles down the road form me, my buddy swears by GHR over PTT. lol. Silly critters.

Soon as that seasons planting seasons have come and gone, I'm already thinking about what would make things better for next year lol.

Lol, i wont have any plots there til this year hopefully. If I can find the time.. And i never seem to have enough of that lol

In my experiences and deer herd, I would add a pound more of PTT and drop a pound of GHR. Just for my deer preference. They dont do much wIth GHR, not nearly as much as the PTT draws them in

This year i planted 3 different plots. A 1.5 acre plot, a 1 acre plot and a 1/2acre plot. I did a poor mans "fence" with pie tins and rope around the 2 smaller ones just long enough to get the beans started(18") tall, then pulled the fence down. It worked but should have left it up longer. In all 3 plots I broadcast seed by ATV rack mounted spreader and a lawn roller to press seeds in, That is all i used.. Right before good heavy rains.

Its like a drug! My wife hates it and hates me for it lol

I havent had the best of luck overseeding brassicas into clovers. I think because my clovers were always to thick. But a good blend for you would be a brassica planting with annual clovers as well as a perennial or 2 mixed in. Your bean plot, if deer take to it, will likely get hammered, which isnt bad.. but perfect for overseeding a nice mix into for fall. Then any remaining bean pods will be winter food as well. I did a lot of summer foods this year, and it worked great. I did soybeans, they grew great deer devoured them rightuntil novemebr when they finally ate everything and nothing was left. I overseeded each plot with a brassica blend, they all started growing well, but i think because the deer were already in the beans chowing down, they ate the brassicas as they grew and became leafy. Therefore leaving me with very little brassicas for fall winter. I will be fencing most any beans i plant in the future. unless i want them to devour them and i can plant or seed into them.. Summer foods are tough without proper acerage to plant. I spent mor emoney than i intended this year to try and have good plots for winter, and still failed. dry conditions didnt help.. but Just my .02$