BTW Telemark. Very nice username. I learned to telemark ski in Iceland years ago. And, I was lucky enough to visit Norway way back when as well. Oslo is an amazing place. Trondheim is cool too. Wonderful people and a beautiful country.
Kooch 80
- Thread starter Kooch
- Start date
Also, along the wolf question. I'm told by my neighbor up there, who's got a couple of years on me, that many times when it's a lone wolf running around it'll be a sick and aged one that got run off from the pack. I'm not sure how accurate that is. But, he's been up there more than a couple years so I suspect he knows a few things.
We hunted hard, and I think pretty smart. But there just aren't a lot of deer up there. And they hadn't acclimated to my plot yet. The resident doe families used it in daylight most every day. I had many photos of them in daylight. I had two cameras out on the plot, one on the North end and one on the south, with a timer set. The were like clockwork in the plots morning and evening, then sometimes in the middle of the day.
Late October, I started getting a couple little bucks on the cameras, mostly at night. Then, it snowed. We got a hard layer of frozen rain covered by about a foot of snow by the time the deer season rolled around. With the first snow, the deer activity as captured on the cameras, plummeted. I went out on the plot and tried to dig to the rye. It took a lot of work with the heel of my boot to get down to the still green food. I imagine the rye was just too much work for them.
This is a problem I think I may have to address with my food plot plantings. I'll need something that stands up to heavier snow without getting smothered and covered to the point it's inaccessible to the deer. Maybe last season was abnormal. But, it's pretty far North. The season before it was shirtsleeve weather for the first two weeks of the season, then a blizzard for the third week.
Late October, I started getting a couple little bucks on the cameras, mostly at night. Then, it snowed. We got a hard layer of frozen rain covered by about a foot of snow by the time the deer season rolled around. With the first snow, the deer activity as captured on the cameras, plummeted. I went out on the plot and tried to dig to the rye. It took a lot of work with the heel of my boot to get down to the still green food. I imagine the rye was just too much work for them.
This is a problem I think I may have to address with my food plot plantings. I'll need something that stands up to heavier snow without getting smothered and covered to the point it's inaccessible to the deer. Maybe last season was abnormal. But, it's pretty far North. The season before it was shirtsleeve weather for the first two weeks of the season, then a blizzard for the third week.
We did manage to kill two deer up there in our first season. We wouldn't starve without venison for the freezer, but it sure is nice to have. The entire family loves it. It's buck only up there but kids can shoot a doe. My daughter shot a doe and I held out until I finally decided I just had to kill the spike I'd seen day in and day out. He crossed the food plot on his way to wherever he was going most mornings and evenings. It's not exactly a trophy. But, it was our first year there and we wanted the meat. I won't be shooting spikes or forks anymore.
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kfab12
5 year old buck +
Good reading, interesting thread. I'm on my third year with food plots. I have three food plots on forty acres, first years was a failure because I rushed things and didn't realize the ferns were more aggressive than I thought, second year (last year) was doing great until we had a severe drought for several weeks and that pretty much did it in, this year I fee like I'm starting from square one and still trying to figure out this food plot stuff. Jeff Sturgis is very knowledgeable and I wish I could afford to get him to my property. Kooch, sounds to me like you're having fun and that's what it's all about, isn't it?
First thing I did was put in an outhouse (which my wife insisted on). The Amish have a business near by that builds sheds so I bought a bunkhouse and with no electricity and 25 miles from a lumber yard I went this way for about $4K, delivered. I figured I'd save time and gas/money because I know I'm going to forget some screws, nails and whatever. I built the lean to so I had a place to store some outside chairs and such. All of this was a lot easier than the food plots part. It's a load of fun though. Nice spike but ya too bad it came down to you had to get it for the meat, I did that with a yearling doe one year but never again.
First thing I did was put in an outhouse (which my wife insisted on). The Amish have a business near by that builds sheds so I bought a bunkhouse and with no electricity and 25 miles from a lumber yard I went this way for about $4K, delivered. I figured I'd save time and gas/money because I know I'm going to forget some screws, nails and whatever. I built the lean to so I had a place to store some outside chairs and such. All of this was a lot easier than the food plots part. It's a load of fun though. Nice spike but ya too bad it came down to you had to get it for the meat, I did that with a yearling doe one year but never again.
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Telemark
5 year old buck +
Are you allowed to hunt them?
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Hey thanks. I just came through Iceland on Friday on my way to London. The chicks are amazing there.
I lived in Norway for three years, but didn't learn to ski. I bought some vintage CC skis and am figuring it out. I am planning to learn to Telemark so I can hunt up in the mountains. I was hunting in Hardangervidda a few years ago without skis, and it was a pain.
Not currently. There was a short-lived hunt right after they were removed from the endangered list, but it only lasted a year or two.
My advice, "Take a lesson or two". If you want to learn the telemark it'll shorten the learning curve a lot.
Well, I think I'm a little ahead of the game this year. I've already ordered seed. My only experience with them so far is ordering over the phone, but the guy at Albert Lea Seed in Minnesota was pleasant enough. I decided to just go 100% LC Grains this Fall. It's on order.
400LBS 4010 Pea - Oat Mix (50/50 ratio)
200LBS Winter Rye - (I'll plant half when I do the Oats and Peas and top dress the rest in early September
10LBS Radish
20LBS Mammoth Red Clover
The grain poundage is more than likely overkill for two acres. Maybe in future years I'll dial it back.
Does anybody have thoughts about adding some PTT to this mix? I think LC discouraged it.
400LBS 4010 Pea - Oat Mix (50/50 ratio)
200LBS Winter Rye - (I'll plant half when I do the Oats and Peas and top dress the rest in early September
10LBS Radish
20LBS Mammoth Red Clover
The grain poundage is more than likely overkill for two acres. Maybe in future years I'll dial it back.
Does anybody have thoughts about adding some PTT to this mix? I think LC discouraged it.
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Nice bunkhouse Kfab. Funny-looking wolf passing the front porch in the last pic. Good luck with the place and have fun there !!
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Kooch - Looks like you'll have plenty of greens growing for the deer this spring & summer. That's a good seed order.
@Telemark - Unless it's a coyote, it's not legal to shoot. So, we let them be. Concentrate on the things we can control. Wolves are not one of them.
@bwoods11 - The grouse population is up and down in cycles. I heard them drumming in the spring, and oddly enough even heard some drumming in the Fall. Which is odd. But, I haven't seen many, just one or two in the same place over and over again. For the time being, they are valued guests. I won't be shooting them until I see a better population. I love seeing them though and feel like they may be a good indicator species that some of the habitat work is doing what we hope. I'm looking forward to seeing more birds in general.
@bwoods11 - The grouse population is up and down in cycles. I heard them drumming in the spring, and oddly enough even heard some drumming in the Fall. Which is odd. But, I haven't seen many, just one or two in the same place over and over again. For the time being, they are valued guests. I won't be shooting them until I see a better population. I love seeing them though and feel like they may be a good indicator species that some of the habitat work is doing what we hope. I'm looking forward to seeing more birds in general.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Do you have a vent pipe in your outhouse?
Cool property. Do you have any shrub thickets in there or is it mostly aspen regrowth? If you have any struggling shrub thickets there it might be quite a draw if you thin out the canopy trees which will let the shrubs take off. Pockets like that really seem to draw in wildlife in general.
If your soil is sandy, you might have a tough time getting larger seeds to grow well without covering them with a little dirt. It's worth a shot though and if it doesn't work you can adjust in the future. Once your get your pH and nutrients where they should be it gets easier to grow food plots. It might be worth trying spraying a section of your food plot and broadcast brassica seed and some fertilizer in early July. A mixture of dwarf Essex rape and groundhog radishes seems to draw the deer in better for me than cereal grains. I've had good luck spraying and planting directly on the small brassica seeds in the dead stubble.
I wouldn't feel bad about shooting that spike. Mature bucks are rare to non-existent in a lot of areas of northern MN and WI, so being too picky doesn't make a ton of sense in those situations. It's a lot easier to be picky when you have lots of deer around, but spikes taste good too.
If your soil is sandy, you might have a tough time getting larger seeds to grow well without covering them with a little dirt. It's worth a shot though and if it doesn't work you can adjust in the future. Once your get your pH and nutrients where they should be it gets easier to grow food plots. It might be worth trying spraying a section of your food plot and broadcast brassica seed and some fertilizer in early July. A mixture of dwarf Essex rape and groundhog radishes seems to draw the deer in better for me than cereal grains. I've had good luck spraying and planting directly on the small brassica seeds in the dead stubble.
I wouldn't feel bad about shooting that spike. Mature bucks are rare to non-existent in a lot of areas of northern MN and WI, so being too picky doesn't make a ton of sense in those situations. It's a lot easier to be picky when you have lots of deer around, but spikes taste good too.
There are a couple areas that were cleared shooting lanes right in the middle of the property in the past. Access to them is horrible as a hunting location. But, I had planned to re-open them some and try to keep them mowed every couple of years. I've got Red Osier in there and I'm hoping to propagate that as best I can by getting light to them, maybe adding a little lime or fertilizer, then spreading them through cuttings.
kfab12
5 year old buck +
Ya, I put a vent pipe beneath the seat part and of course out the back. Must work because the outhouse smells like the wood it was made with and not the other thing that goes in there. No bugs, bees or mice have gone in through the pipe.
