WNYBuckHunter's Outdoor Journal

[Lawdwaz]

Looks like a prefect night!

[WNYBuckHunter]

I got down to the farm this past Friday to look things over with my hunting partner, and start coming up with plans for what we will be doing. The landowner just bought 150 acres adjoining the one farm, so we will have lots to do over there this year in addition to our other plots. We came up with a game plan for what to do on Saturday and called it an evening. Saturday morning, we headed to the farm early in the morning and started by looking for a break in the pasture fence. Next, we got the tractor and 7 foot brush-hog and started clearing out a plot we had begun clearing last summer. We had to cut out a few large thorn apple trees, so we did that and then started discussing how we want to shape the plot. Once we got things pretty much done, we turned our attention to a new horse trail that we had been wanting to put in. We spent the next few hours carving that out. By the time we were done with that, it was time to call it a day. This week we should be getting our herbicide and start spraying the brassica plots, which I would like to till and plant the last weekend of this month.

 

Heres a few pics from the day...

 

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I took the kids down to the farm last night and finished up the mowing of the plots we will be putting in brassicas. Thursday they will get sprayed.

 

 

While I was mowing one of the plots I decided to let Haley hop in the drivers seat for a bit. Shes been doing a good job mowing the lawn this summer, so I figured she could handle the big tractor as long as I was right there to guide her and shut things down if need be. She was a little scared at first, but did great and loved it. What 12 year old wouldnt get a kick out of driving a 90 hp turbo diesel John Deere?

 

 

 

 

[Doewhacker]

I took the kids down to the farm last night and finished up the mowing of the plots we will be putting in brassicas. Thursday they will get sprayed.

 

 

 

While I was mowing one of the plots I decided to let Haley hop in the drivers seat for a bit. Shes been doing a good job mowing the lawn this summer, so I figured she could handle the big tractor as long as I was right there to guide her and shut things down if need be. She was a little scared at first, but did great and loved it. What 12 year old wouldnt get a kick out of driving a 90 hp turbo diesel John Deere?

 

 

What adult wouldn't get a kick out of it? I would sure love it.

 

Although I saw a guy on Facebook do it on a riding mower, that looked pretty fun. haha

[WNYBuckHunter]

LMAO yeah I saw that too

 

I always get a kick out of running the equipment at the farm. I wish I could get myself into a position to farm for a living. I know how hard of a life it is, but it would be way better than what I do now.

[Doewhacker]

LMAO yeah I saw that too

 

I always get a kick out of running the equipment at the farm. I wish I could get myself into a position to farm for a living. I know how hard of a life it is, but it would be way better than what I do now.

 

Same here, we talk about it a lot but the reality is we need health benefits and retirement so we can do it when we are able to. For now we will do it part time and expand as we go. Next year meat goats on top of all the poultry we do now.

[dbHunterNY]

If you make good living farming it probably means you've got a ton of overhead. As supplemental income hay seems to be good. Animals are tough to make a buck with. Farm no longer has cows. Just hay crop now.

[WNYBuckHunter]

If you make good living farming it probably means you've got a ton of overhead. As supplemental income hay seems to be good. Animals are tough to make a buck with. Farm no longer has cows. Just hay crop now.

 

I was referring mostly to hay and grain farming. Id like to have some animals for personal meat consumption, etc, but not commercial purposes.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Got down to the farm this weekend and got a bunch of stuff done. Mowed I have no idea how many acres of open land and pasture, and sprayed all of the food plots that will be tilled and planted in brassicas. This year I got ahold of a 250 gallon water tank from one of the local farmers, so that made spraying very easy. I used the pump on the sprayer to transfer the water into the sprayer tank. I currently have to disconnect the pickup from the tank, hook the hose from the large water tank to the pump, then attach another hose to the bypass on the pump, etc. I have an idea to simplify it by adding a T fitting to the pickup hose between the sprayer tank and pump, then Ill add a fitting to the top of the sprayer tank and run a hose from the bypass to that fitting and ill just have to attach a hose from the large water tank to the T fitting, and open/close valves to fill the tank.

Couple of pics...

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

This past weekend I spent both days on the tractor and got all of our brassica plots in. Just under 3 acres including one brand new plot, which got tilled twice before the fertilizer went down. After the fert was spread on all of them, I tilled them all once more and then seeded and dragged the seed in. The ground is so dry right now I felt like Pigpen from Charlie Brown out there in a cloud of dust. The weeks forecast is looking good, with a decent amount of rain, I just hope the forecast holds up.

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I got down to the farms last night to swap camera cards, move a cam and check the food plots. The food plots are doing very well now that we are getting some rain. Im hoping for more rain this week and next so they will really take off. My camera results this time were not disappointing at all, with the bucks finally showing what they have this year. With a little luck, this might turn out to be one hell of a deer season.

I couldn't hang around the farm too long, as half way through checking cams, I got stung by something. I am pretty allergic to bees and other things ever since I got bit 200+ times by fire ants when I lived in Florida. I almost ended up in the ER from the reaction last night. Here are a few pics of the plots and stuff...

This is our newest plot, if you look close, you see the tint of green on it from the brassicas popping up. Not too shabby for a first year food plot that was nothing but tall grass and weeds a few months ago.

 

 

 

Nice yearling up and comer. I hope he makes it another few years. Well, unless he walks under my daughter's stand, he would be a great first buck for her.

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Over the last month, I have been working on getting food plots all set, stands moved and shooting lanes trimmed. My plots are growing, but the drought has severely stunted them. All brassica plots with the exception of the new one have been overseeded in Winter Rye. Trail cameras are showing more shooter bucks between the two farms than I have ever seen in one season. I will be primarily after the buck that my daughter filmed last year on our first bow hunt of the year. He has another year and a bunch more inches on him, but he has still kept his habit of being very visible. I have a plethora of pictures of him in one of our plots during daylight hours every day last week. Yesterday I hung a set just for him. Hopefully after last years encounters, I can put him on the ground. Heres a few pics from the last few weeks...

 

This plot was overseeded with WR and is coming along better since we have had a few rains recently

 

This plot was overseeded in WR this past weekend

 

This plot is the brand new one, and has turned out the best of all of them so far. Its still pretty pathetic compared to what I get on non-drought years, but no Winter Rye needed here

 

Pics of us hanging stands and Haley practicing climbing ladder sticks

 

 

[dbHunterNY]

you all have had it a bit harder with draught conditions then out here in in the east.  looks like you got something to work with though.  maybe we get some more rain and late frosts.  season is fast approaching.  youth weekend will be here before you know it too.

[moog5050]

Is it still a food plot when its the size of a normal field?  Go get em John.  If I was a buck, I would be hanging there for sure.

[turkeyfeathers]

Dang, is all I can say. Nice food plot and a lot of work deserves a "job well done sir"  

That lil lady have a lifeline on I hope.

[LET EM GROW]

Still looks good. We got some good rains this weekend, luckily. Hopefully just enough time and this week's warm weather and pray some later frosts

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[WNYBuckHunter]

1 hour ago, moog5050 said:

Is it still a food plot when its the size of a normal field?  Go get em John.  If I was a buck, I would be hanging there for sure.

I actually dont have a plot larger than 3/4 of an acre. If you add them all up its still under 5 acres right now. We didnt have as much time to get the new ones in as I thought we would. Oh well, lost less money in seed this way with the drought.

[WNYBuckHunter]

1 hour ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Dang, is all I can say. Nice food plot and a lot of work deserves a "job well done sir"  

That lil lady have a lifeline on I hope.

Thank you. She was strapped in in the first pic, but was practicing climbing in the second. That stand doesnt have a lifeline in it though. All of our stands have safety straps up top, but we have way too many to have gone with lifelines in all of them at this point. I add as many as I can each year.

[chiefbkt]

Plots are looking great despite the lack of rain. I didn't plant any small plots this year for that reason. Hope you and your daughters hard work is rewarded this season, good luck.

[LET EM GROW]

Speaking of lifeline I started making my own lifelines .. the exact same way HSS does theres. Supper simple and much cheaper.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

14 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

Speaking of lifeline I started making my own lifelines .. the exact same way HSS does theres. Supper simple and much cheaper.

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I make my own as well. If you are using the correct type of rope with sufficient shock strength, they are only $2-5 less than the HSS ropes. If you are not using the right rope, you are throwing your money and time away.

[LET EM GROW]

Then these probably aren't the right rope...

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[LET EM GROW]

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[WNYBuckHunter]

LOL, yeah I made the mistake of buying cheap rope in the past. One of my friends pointed it out and explained why they wouldnt work as I expected. I got rid of them immediately and have replaced most of them since.

 

The least expensive way to go is to buy double braid dock lines that are 20 feet long.

Like these

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|2276108|2226888|2226894&id=1410868

 

Then get a spool of smaller diameter prussik rope.

http://www.ems.com/sterling-accessory-cord-6-mm/26974300019.html?emssrcid=PPC%3AgooPLAs%3A149598009405_custom_label_0_climb_custom_label_1_climbing&adpos=1o1&creative=107003693565&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKEAjw34i_BRDH9fbylbDJw1gSJAAvIFqUhQZOM6UklQzSk2IYWuTAqWb1VzEn21TCe7hehJnqHRoCh-Dw_wcB

[LET EM GROW]

Thanks for the info, greatly appreciated. Safety first.