j-bird
Moderator
I dug into more of my road screen with MG. I have a county road that cuts across my place and I have had issues with road hunters in the past. So to start to address the issue I have been transplanting eastern red cedars along the edge at about 5 to 6 feet centers. They are growing OK, but I wanted something faster. So Bill kicked me in the pants and sent me some MG. I also transplanted some vine honeysuckle along the woven wire fence as well.
This was my potted MG I grew from cuttings from Bill.
I thought the root mass was pretty impressive considering these where "sticks" a few months ago!
Here you see I lined them out in a row behind the cedars. I let enough room for mowing and they are spaced at roughly 3 feet apart. I will fill in between if I need to with future plantings of MG. 29 1 gallon potted MG cuttings that have grown over the spring and summer.
Hopefully in a few years I will have a wall of grass here AND be able to harvest my own cuttings for other projects.
This was my potted MG I grew from cuttings from Bill.
I thought the root mass was pretty impressive considering these where "sticks" a few months ago!
Here you see I lined them out in a row behind the cedars. I let enough room for mowing and they are spaced at roughly 3 feet apart. I will fill in between if I need to with future plantings of MG. 29 1 gallon potted MG cuttings that have grown over the spring and summer.
Hopefully in a few years I will have a wall of grass here AND be able to harvest my own cuttings for other projects.
j-bird
Moderator
Also went up to check on things up north and pull a cam card.
We got some rain recently as part of the "spin-off" from Harvey so I wanted to see how the water hole was doing.......still way down.
I pulled the cam card at the piece of grape vine I hung from a tree. I am showing the sequence since I have my cams on video.
First video shows the buck using a trail off behind the vine by about 20 yards or so....
He then stops and come back to the vine for some reason.....there have been does checking out the vine......
Then he checks out the vine himself......then goes back to his trail and off he goes.....
Not the biggest buck in the world but the biggest I have caught on camera thus far this year. Just the fact that he is around this early is good news for me.....normally I only have young yearlings and the like.....
We got some rain recently as part of the "spin-off" from Harvey so I wanted to see how the water hole was doing.......still way down.
I pulled the cam card at the piece of grape vine I hung from a tree. I am showing the sequence since I have my cams on video.
First video shows the buck using a trail off behind the vine by about 20 yards or so....
He then stops and come back to the vine for some reason.....there have been does checking out the vine......
Then he checks out the vine himself......then goes back to his trail and off he goes.....
Not the biggest buck in the world but the biggest I have caught on camera thus far this year. Just the fact that he is around this early is good news for me.....normally I only have young yearlings and the like.....
John-W-WI
Administrator
Was this picture before or after you broke your ass?
:emoji_kissing:Looking forward to seeing the screen in the future!
-John
j-bird
Moderator
After - I worked with a broke ass! I had stuff to get done! Nobody feels sorry for a guy with a broke ass either......Was this picture before or after you broke your ass?
Looking forward to seeing the screen in the future!
-John
j-bird
Moderator
I was surprised to see him deviate his path like he did to check it out. Not sure if he will get a pass this year or not but I want to put my eyes on him
j-bird
Moderator
So once again my state DNR makes no sense! As an individual hunter.....I am allowed to harvest 2 antlerless deer with archery equipment, an antlered deer with a firearm, another antlerless deer with a muzzleloader AND 3 additional antlerless deer by any means legal during that season (archery, firearm or muzzleloader). So I as an individual hunter can legally take up to 7 deer in my home county. A county of 373 surface miles and one where we average a harvest of roughly 800 deer total the entire season. So, my DNR feels it's necessary to allow an individual hunter to take as many as 7 deer to control the deer population in a county where the vast majority of the county is corn or soybean field (DNR published that 18 to 24% of my county is considered deer habitat - because their own report lists 2 different figures), a county where the deer numbers are so low we average a harvest of just over 2 deer per physical square mile! We have had a maximum of 2 crop damage reports in a years time since 2005! The deer/vehicle accident rate also hasn;t changed as a ratio since 2005. Yet they also publish numbers that vast majority (72%) of hunters statewide harvest only a single deer and another 20% only harvest 2 deer and only 5.5% take 3 deer.....so how exactly does any of this makes any sense? They claim they manage deer numbers on a county level with these "bonus" deer figures yet, essentially NOBODY kills more than 2 deer, much less 3 or more!!!! Some counties have bonus numbers of 8! All of this while our statewide harvest numbers have dropped to levels not seen since the early 2000's. Down 12+% since 2012. So the overall harvest number continues to drop while the DNR essentially still allows a hunter to virtually kill as many deer as they will buy tags for. I figured it up ....if I as a hunter was so motivated and had the means I could travel the entire state and legally kill 348 deer this deer season! My DNR calls this management...... My DNR has no idea how many deer we have, they have no idea how many hunters we have every year. My DNR doesn't require a physical check-in.....so any data they collect from harvest we hunters actually provide to them. Virtually all data the DNR uses comes form hunters.....yet hunters are the last ones they listen to. Any Hoosier hunters that are interested in the data below for their county please let me know as I have it.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
SSDD in my Northern Wisconsin county, last year they offered 9,550 antlerless permits, this year they increased it a few thousand more. This is on top of buck permits. My county is only 853 square miles. They must think there is a deer behind every tree! My county is split between the southern half being farm land, and the northern half being big woods. The southern half does have a lot more deer, but it is mostly private land, so all the hunters buy these antlerless tags, and go hunt the northern half on the public lands. Then the farmers complain there is still deer crop damage, so they increase more for the entire county, but the land owners dont let more hunters in the southern ag land. They really can not be that dumb!
j-bird
Moderator
That isn't something we have much of an issue with here. 95% of Indiana is private ground and the state doesn't limit tags to any particular county. I can buy as many as I want and apply them in any county as I wish as long as I do not exceed a particular individual "quota" figure the state determines in advance. Any hunter in the state of Indiana can come to my county and kill up to 3 does as long as they have access and bought the tags. Doesn't matter if 100 a 1,000 or 10,000 hunters do it.....the state here doesn't control it! We also see issues where farmers do not allow access yet drive some of the inputs to the desired level of harvest and thus then the wrong area gets pounded.
What kills me is that we kill less than 10 deer per square mile of habitat.....yet the DNR allows an individual to kill as many as 7!!!! That isn't management.....that's letting hunters kill essentially as many deer as they want!
j-bird
Moderator
Well I took some more pics while I was out over the weekend......found some good news.....and some bad!
First the bad. I'm going to shoot who ever is responsible for this! This is the first time I have ever had this happen but somehow the cage was removed from one of my chestnut trees and if that wasn't enough they then proceeded to eat and rub the crap out of it! They turned a six foot tall chestnut tree into a 3 foot tall stick!!!!:mad: You can see the wire cage laying on the ground where I found it. I doubt it survives, but I put the cage back on it and will give it the chance to survive, but I plan on having to replace it come spring....
The other some-what bad news is my soy beans are not turning as soon as I had hoped. My ag fields of beans are yellow and they are the same beans, but I planted a bit later. I was hoping to broadcast wheat and brassica into them. But got a double whammy when the beans where still green AND my small spreader got smashed somehow!:mad: Good news is the beans are still full of pods and seem to be being browsed pretty good yet. I have 100 lbs of wheat and a couple pounds of PTT waiting to be spread.....
Some better news.....
My chestnut burrs seem to be maturing and I hope to have my first chestnuts soon....
Apples tree is still holding it's apples..... I'm not worry about them being pretty they are 100% for the deer.....
I also was able to collect a couple hundred acorns (chinkapin, white oak and bur oak) for a little trial I am doing. I am sort of trying a throw and mow/spray trial to see if I can get anything to grow that way in an area that is mostly fescue at the moment. Now before you freak out....I will be killing the fescue with gly yet before the oaks germinate......Like yet this week. I think IF I get anything it will be the chinkapin because of their smaller size, but I figured it was worth a shot. I tossed out the acorns, and mowed, and will be spraying yet this week. Maybe I just feed the mice, but who knows.....that why we try things.
I then pulled my cam card and had some visitors as well. This one catches my eye because it appears there is a pigmentation difference in this deer, but with it being at night I am not 100% sure. This is a still as I record video and the marks move with the deer, so I am thinking maybe he has a bit of "piebald" going on...... Sorry the pic quality sucks.....that is what you get from an $80 cam!
I had other young bucks and does really giving the vine a workout..... I think this may be a good place to set my daughter up for her youth hunt here in a few weeks to be able to smack her first deer.
First the bad. I'm going to shoot who ever is responsible for this! This is the first time I have ever had this happen but somehow the cage was removed from one of my chestnut trees and if that wasn't enough they then proceeded to eat and rub the crap out of it! They turned a six foot tall chestnut tree into a 3 foot tall stick!!!!:mad: You can see the wire cage laying on the ground where I found it. I doubt it survives, but I put the cage back on it and will give it the chance to survive, but I plan on having to replace it come spring....
The other some-what bad news is my soy beans are not turning as soon as I had hoped. My ag fields of beans are yellow and they are the same beans, but I planted a bit later. I was hoping to broadcast wheat and brassica into them. But got a double whammy when the beans where still green AND my small spreader got smashed somehow!:mad: Good news is the beans are still full of pods and seem to be being browsed pretty good yet. I have 100 lbs of wheat and a couple pounds of PTT waiting to be spread.....
Some better news.....
My chestnut burrs seem to be maturing and I hope to have my first chestnuts soon....
Apples tree is still holding it's apples..... I'm not worry about them being pretty they are 100% for the deer.....
I also was able to collect a couple hundred acorns (chinkapin, white oak and bur oak) for a little trial I am doing. I am sort of trying a throw and mow/spray trial to see if I can get anything to grow that way in an area that is mostly fescue at the moment. Now before you freak out....I will be killing the fescue with gly yet before the oaks germinate......Like yet this week. I think IF I get anything it will be the chinkapin because of their smaller size, but I figured it was worth a shot. I tossed out the acorns, and mowed, and will be spraying yet this week. Maybe I just feed the mice, but who knows.....that why we try things.
I then pulled my cam card and had some visitors as well. This one catches my eye because it appears there is a pigmentation difference in this deer, but with it being at night I am not 100% sure. This is a still as I record video and the marks move with the deer, so I am thinking maybe he has a bit of "piebald" going on...... Sorry the pic quality sucks.....that is what you get from an $80 cam!
I had other young bucks and does really giving the vine a workout..... I think this may be a good place to set my daughter up for her youth hunt here in a few weeks to be able to smack her first deer.
Great pics and thanks for sharing! The county I hunt in has a bonus quota of 8 this year. Don't plan on filling it, but I do hope my boys take a few! Due to time restraints, I probably won't even buy a tag this year (like last year) and just let the boys shoot them. Realistically, I'll probably buy a buck tag just in case a big 'un shows up outside of their range... ;)
j-bird
Moderator
I have NEVER limited out on deer. I have no NEED or desire to do so. I'm all for keeping the deer numbers in check with their habitat, but this "kill 'em all" mentality our DNR has rolled out isn't a good thing. What worries me the most is that the state doesn't know how many deer we have and they have not published a goal or target level of what they want it to be. Kill more deer......isn't a management plan. I hunt the land I own so I don't buy tags. I hope my daughter and son each get one and if that happens I will simply be hunting for one for the wall. If they come up short I'll shoot what I need to get us thru another year.
j-bird
Moderator
hahahahaha......that's a good one. If the mark on that deer remains - he just got labeled, "the chestnut buck". Not that we have any way to prove it, but it makes a good story! Just like a true mob family.....I'll have someone in the family make an example out of this guy.....maybe make sure he has an "accident"....you know, like getting shot!
John-W-WI
Administrator
Me too.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
It's got too suck when your rack is to big to lick your balls.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
j-bird
Moderator
As much as the sarcastic part of me wants to comment..... I won't! Lord knows I want to though.......
