Throw N Grow

[WNYBuckHunter]

If you cant find any close by, let me know, I can pick up whatever you want at Turners and then bring it with me to work and we could meet up and Ill get it to you.

[Five Seasons]

1 hour ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

If you cant find any close by, let me know, I can pick up whatever you want at Turners and then bring it with me to work and we could meet up and Ill get it to you.

appreciate that. I'll let you know.

[landtracdeerhunter]

On 8/13/2018 at 1:09 PM, Belo said:

Getting ready to do some work. I don't really see any varieties of oats that are "no till". Am I missing something? 

checked out these 2 so far

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/plotspike-forage-oats?cm_vc=-10005

and at twice the cost...

https://www.whitetailinstitute.com/whitetail-oats-plus-annual/ 

Figured I would mix in some clover or winter rye with the oats for the first go round. 

 

Also most of these are recommending some serious fertilizer. I don't mind flushing $50 down the drain, but not really sold on the work and extra effort and expense to do 300 lbs of fertilizers and what not the first year. Maybe if it works ok I'd get more serious. Anyone do ok without messing with lime and fert?

That flushing could yield you a very nice return on investment. Never know unless you try, Belo

[Five Seasons]

Did some plotting yesterday. It was too hot and humid for my liking, but this was probably our only real shot at getting this in. Also praying these storms roll in today or tomorrow. I took a half-assed approach to this, but also tried to do what I could to increase my odds. In the end I bought some imperial no-plow https://www.whitetailinstitute.com/imperial-no-plow-annual/ from tractor supply and some 15-15-15 fert from countrymax. They recommend 400 lbs an acre of 17-17-17 and to be honest I put down about 40 pounds on my ~1/8 acre and I stopped because it just seems like too much. I didn't do any soil testing or lime. In total I'm out $80 not including the equipment i already own and still have enough fert and seed to do another 1/4 acre. And about 2 hours sweat equity.

I leaf blew the area, then used my cultivator trimmer attachment and that little guy really did a great job. Area is pretty rooty, but soft and not rocky, so that helped. Next applied the fert followed by basically a whole bag of the no-plow. The bag was good for 1/4 acre but I bought this cheap $10 hand spreader and that thing sucked and kept jamming. So I doubled up but I'm not worried about that. Followed that by a light hand rake and some walking on. 

Now I've done a clover plot before, but this is the first plot in the deep woods and a couple thoughts. The Honda Rancher my dad bought 2 years ago made this job exponentially easier. Like, there was no way we would have survived a wheel barrel trip back there with this gear in this heat. We could  have done it yes, but man...I also left some of the existing vegetation because I don't think it'll hinder much. My troy-bilt with the brush cutter and cultivator is a great tool for these small plots. https://www.lowes.com/pl/Trimmerplus--String-trimmer-attachments-String-trimmer-parts-accessories-Trimmers-edgers-Outdoor-tools-equipment-Outdoors/4294506768?refinement=4294955043 Leaf blower helped too, but not mandatory, just saved some sweat from raking. 

I think in the end, I enjoyed the time in the woods with dad. We scouted a bit and developed a plan for a new stand, put some cams in and didn't spend a lot of money or time if it doesn't work out. If it does, it was a good experiment for future, more elaborate plots. We're surrounded by corn and apples this year, so our goal isn't to feed or grow racks, but to help build some staging areas and guide the deer to use certain runs over others. fingers crossed.

push mower unrleated

 

prior to work (old logging road, stand on the right up the hill) whole plot not pictured.

leaf blown and picked up

tilled

view from other end

final product

a very small spot at a new spot. just hand raked this spot. used some leftover seed and fert. took maybe 20 minutes. so why not? haha

[Five Seasons]

So I hunted this stand for the first time since the we put in the plot yesterday morning. My dad has some trail cam pics that show more vegetation than this. So either the deer are nailing it, or the lack of sun has hurt the plot. Not sure what to expect, although this is a pretty sheltered spot so i didn't expect a putting green. I'll see if i can upload some trail cam pics. Hoping it was the deer destroying it, and not that it has died out some.

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by Belo

[BizCT]

So I hunted this stand for the first time since the we put in the plot yesterday morning. My dad has some trail cam pics that show more vegetation than this. So either the deer are nailing it, or the lack of sun has hurt the plot. Not sure what to expect, although this is a pretty sheltered spot so i didn't expect a putting green. I'll see if i can upload some trail cam pics. Hoping it was the deer destroying it, and not that it has died out some.

 

No cam on it? The deer Hammer mine.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Five Seasons]

I do have a cam on it, but don't have access to any pics right now. They were definitely munching on it pretty good the last pull a few weeks ago.

[LET EM GROW]

IT could be a combo of the two. IF they don't receive adequate sunlight they get stunted for sure.. Plus deer browse. Will def make it look that way.