WNYBuckHunter

No, thats me lol

Patterns start changing right around now. One of the reasons I dont put a ton of faith in summer time pics or patterns. I have a couple of cams set in places where the summer patterns bring them, and others in typical fall pattern areas. Ive been seeing the transition between the cam sites recently as well.

Ive done it many times, works great, just dont want to do it in the garden. Ive used gas and diesel.

I use a tow behind spreader with my ATV for doing lime, fertilizer and Winter Rye/Oats/Winter Wheat/etc. It works fine over broken ground. For any seed that I need better control over, I use a hand crank bag seeder. Ive used these for plots from 1/4 acre up to 2 acres.

This weekend I found a hole under one of the hostas in one of the flower beds. Im gonna try the dust stuff, because I dont want to set this on fire and burn up all of the landscape fabric and mulch. Or the flowers and plants for that matter lol.

I pay $13 per 50 lb bag IIRC

Turners

Yeah theres a difference. This is what you want. The price isnt bad, but shipping is probably going to kill you. If you have a semi-local feed and seed or agway around, I would go there. https://www.deercreekseed.com/winter-rye

Whatever the local feed & seed has, I dont even know what the brand name on it is.

They wiped out the winter rye in my rye/clover plot as well. Im telling you, the deer in my area are like vacuum cleaners. Ive planted alot of food plots over the years using alot of mixes, and in areas that are considered high population, and have never had anything happen like I saw last year. I had pictures of 20+ deer in the plot at a time. It was about 1 acre in size last year. Day and night they would be in there, it was crazy. Im hoping that happens again this year, but during the season, thanks to the fence.

Buckwheat can be planted spring or fall. I like to plant in the spring, that way it can mature and seed out. Turkeys and other birds love the seed.

I was working on a couple of computers at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Syracuse. People started milling around the office and talking about something going on in NYC. Once I heard a plane hit one of the towers, I went into their break room with them and watched as the second plane hit. As I was finishing up what I was doing I heard the Pentagon got hit. I walked back into the break room just before the first tower fell, and thats when I left and started back to Rochester. I listened to the radio as the reports of Flight 93 came across and the second tower falling. The reports coming over the radio were chaotic, and it was hard to tell what was real and what wasnt. When I got back to the office, not much else got done that day, and everyone went home early. It sure doesnt feel like it happened 18 years ago.

Oh ok. I dont know what life would be like without bacon lol.

Do you eat pork?

Another great ground breaker for first year plots is buckwheat. Adds N to the soil, grows with minimal fertilizer and plowing, and out competes most weeds. Weve used it a bunch of times with brand new plots.

You have to remember that most state land was once private land. Way back in the day, farmers would take their old junk out onto their land and dump it in brushy areas. Every farm Ive ever been on has at least one. Heck, my place has a pile of old tires and rims out in the woods. One of these days Ill haul it out of there and take the stuff to the dump.

He was shot the following season by one of the neighbors. Same basic rack configuration, just more mass. A couple of us saw him during the season, just never had a chance at him.

Yeah that ol boy was a hog

Thanks. Ive done lots of hillside plots (alot more slope than yours) the same way I did mine this year. No issues with erosion year in and year out. Here are a couple of examples. In the second pic, the plot there goes 50+ yards beyond the top of the ridge, which you see just behind the deer, and drops off significantly. The larger tree in the background with the thick bottom branches, those branches are 15+ feet up from the ground. We can drive 90hp tractors under them without dropping the ROPS.

Anyone that plants food plots have had bad experiences. Heres my advice, based on what has worked best for me over the years. Till it. I dont screw around with multiple sprayings per year or anything like that. In mid July, I brush hog it about 6-8" high, ideally give it a week so that things start growing back a bit, and spray it with a very heavy Gly mix. I mix mine about 3 times what is recommended and then add plant oil and 2-4D if I can get my hands on it. Its like napalm. In 2 weeks, it will be dead, and its time to mow it as short as you can. Next, rototill it, then spread fertilizer (again, I go heavier than recommended) and till that into the top 2-3 inches. The next day, I broadcast my seed (each size seed separately) and roll it in. I am in a very high population area, so this year i installed an electric fence so that the deer didnt mow it to bare dirt before the season started, like they did last year. I have a feeling thats whats happening with your cow peas. Ive done peas before, and the deer were nipping them off as soon as they got an inch tall. I thought they werent germinating the first year.

https://www.qdma.com/will-deer-avoid-hot-pink-stand/ found the article

Looks good. Dont sweat the "camo" pattern on it, you could paint that tower hot pink and the deer would get used to it and pay it no attention. IIRC, the QDMA did exactly that for an article to show people that box blinds need no camouflage.

Same here. We get them living around our place during the spring and summer, and then they seem to disappear late summer and into fall. Maybe a baited spring season would be the best option. It wouldnt affect deer hunting/baiting laws in any way.

I roll them in. Ive used cultipackers, lawn rollers, logs dragged behind and even just driving back and forth with the ATV. All of those worked well. I would not use a york rake, they tend to pick up ever little weed, stick or root and then it will clog and make a mess.

I didnt Have time to this year. I suspect my ph is a bit low, but I’ve been dumping my fireplace ash back there, so that may be helping a bit. Next year I’m going to test the soil to see if lime will help more.