Someday Isle - Property tour

[Someday isle]

So after a little over a year of owning our own property and having a working plan I thought maybe it was time to start my own property tour. I've posted different things on random threads, and will still continue to do that, but I thought having all my projects in one place would be a good way to journal what we do moving forward. The property is 36 acres.

I have one of those fitness/smart watches that links to the GPS on my phone. Yesterday I took a detailed walk around the property lines, all of my access trails (which we've worked really hard at developing), and my food plots.



The first picture is a google earth shot of the property. The second one is from the map my walk capability of the smart watch/phone. I then took the picture on my IPad and marked it up.

Black lines are property lines - I can walk the entire perimeter of the property but the whole east side is where the easy access is. The north boundary is a little tougher to access but I'm working on that. We avoid the west side as much as possible so as to avoid scent going through the whole property. Prevailing winds are out of the southwest, west, and northwest in that order. Occasional South and East winds but those are rare. This was a factor in purchasing this piece of property.

Purple areas are the access trails we've created.

Green are the food plot trails we created on existing logging roads. Green areas 4 and 5 are 1/4 and 1/3 acre food plots that were newly cleared this summer. They still need some more work but that will have to wait until after the season. Green area 3 is where I tried a brassica plot this year. Results are yet to be determined on that one. Green areas 1,2,4 and 5 were all seeded in an LC mix last weekend. At the time we had lots of rain in the forecast. None was to be had however. We have had morning dew every day and cooler than normal weather. There was also apparently enough moisture in the soil to at least get some of the rye germinated already. I guess that could be good or bad depending on moisture the next couple weeks. I'm hopeful.

Orange is our driveway and campground. The easement road runs the entire east side of the property but only one other landowner has access to that section of the road and they are not hunters. They own the 80 acres behind me.

Black dots are our five stand locations. We'll probably keep it limited to those five for now. Too many stands on 36 acres might take away from our low impact hunting approach.

Blue dots are the two water holes I put in this year.

Yellow circles are areas where we want to continue to create bedding areas. Circle number 1 is where I tried my first hand at hinge cutting this year. It turned out great but I was probably too conservative with it. Circle number 2 is an area that the previous owner clearcut four years ago in a failed effort to create a lake site. I was going to clear it this year and put in a food plot but it was getting so thick that I thought I'd leave it for bedding. That was a good choice. It's being used already. Circles 3 and 4 will be my main hinge cutting projects for next year. I really want to thicken those areas up. They have lots of four and five inch trees growing too close together. Circle number 5 may not be the best location for a bedding area but it will at least get some hinge cut screening done to blockade the view into the campground and alongside the road.

The red lines are the paths I actually walked yesterday.

When they created the road they put all the downed trees and tops along the edges. It's all grown up with brush and black berries. While the road runs the whole length of the east side the two of us that border each other on that side are completely screened from each other. His access to his property is a quarter mile before mine.

I'll add to this thread as I continue to work on things. The property is only a little over an hour away from my home so I get out there just about every week at least once. I'm headed out again tomorrow just to check on food plot progress and to check out my 3 existing stands. We'll be putting the other 2 up on Sunday.

 

[Someday isle]

I wasn't able to get my stands up this weekend due to some schedule changes with my helpers. One of them had a date. I went out today though and got some more work done. Our archery season starts September 15th so maybe it's not the best to still be working but we have so many projects to do that I could work every weekend and never hunt. Hopefully we'll get those last two stands up next weekend and then stay out for a couple weeks and then focus on hunting. It's going to be hard to not go out opening day though. I may still do a morning hunt on the 15th anyway. We'll see

 

[Someday isle]

First on the list today was clearing shooting lanes for the two new stands and finish checking straps on the ones we put up last year. I got most of that done with the exception of the top straps on two of the stands. What I learned this week is that the cowbell on the the hunter safety system lifeline is a great place for wasp nests. All three of them had wasp nests in them. So they got sprayed today and all the lower straps got checked. I didn't want to lock into the two with the big nests though and then have mad wasps show up while I was up in the tree attached to what used to be their home.

The purple areas on the map in post #1 are where I have created access trails over the last year. I used my DR mower and mowed trails to all three stands this year and today I cut reflective rope and tied it to trees along those paths and the two new stand locations so the boys can find their way in the dark. I put the ropes about flashlight high for a walking hunter. I can pretty much find my way around the place in the dark by now but the boys are still new woodsmen so this will help them out a lot.

 

[Someday isle]

Next I checked out my waterholes for one last time before the season starts. One of them is in a pretty rocky spot so there's no sign of tracks in that area as dry as it's been. The second one though finally has a few deer tracks around it and they both have plenty of water in them. These aren't new pics but this is what they look like. The first one is about 30 yards from the stand we call widow maker. It's adjacent to one of my food plot trails. The second one is about 25 yards from where one of our new stands will go. It's also about 60 or 70 yards from one of my newly cleared food plots (the old feeder plot) and is adjacent to a bedding area. This is the one that had a few tracks around it today.

 

[Someday isle]

And finally, I checked out my food plots and food plot trails. It's been a funny summer. I attempted a brassica plot in green area 3 on the map in Post #1 the first weekend in August. It seemed the rain was timed perfectly and I got good germination right away. Things stayed pretty wet for the first week. It's been dry as a bone ever since and the plot looks pretty dried up. We keep getting rain forecast and then it doesn't happen. Today we had an 80 percent chance of rain tonight and 60 percent tomorrow. So I thought I'd take a chance and throw down some urea and hope I can save the plot. As of this afternoon we now have almost no chance of rain the next two weeks. I did overseed some rye last week so if when do get some rain eventually then maybe it's salvageable.

Everywhere else got an LC Mix of rye, oats, peas, and clover with a little radish thrown in last weekend. We were supposed to get rain but it missed us again. A little bit of the rye germinated right away and as of today it looks like some of the oats now have too. Hopefully the morning dew is enough to keep things alive and growing a little until we get some rain. I was out there Friday and it was only rye growing, today there were noticeable oats coming up. If we don't get rain soon though I wonder about the new shoots surviving.

I told my wife I could never be a farmer. I'm worried about a few pounds of oats, rye and peas surviving so I can sit in a tree and maybe see some deer. If I farmed for a living I'd be stressed out every day checking the weather.

 

[Someday isle]

Here's a few pictures from today. Plots are 10 days old. We call this Austin's corner. I left some clover from last year. Everything left of the clover is newly cleared ground.

 

[Someday isle]

These are two of my trails that will be converted to year round clover plots next year. I left a little clover in one of them from last year. The first two are from what we call the dog leg and the other two are from the button buck trail. They are seeded in the LC mix and the clover seeded on these two trails is an equal mix of ladino and Kopu 2. They're pretty shaded but the medium red from last year did okay. We've opened the button buck trail up to a little more light this year but the dog leg we pretty much left alone. There were several rubs and scrapes along this trail last year and I didn't want to mess with it too much

 

[Someday isle]

We call this the hidey hole. I left it mostly clover from last year but overerseeded some rye in there too. The little circle is attached to the straighter area in the picture and it feeds into the old feeder plot that was newly cleared this year. The little circle would be a nice place for a stand if we could get into it easily but there's lots of down timber that kind of prevents quiet access. That might be a future project.

 

[Someday isle]

This is our other newly cleared area (green area #5 on the map) We didn't get it done but we just decided we ran out of time for this year. After the season is over we're going to take out the rest of the trees. It's 1/3 of an acre and we call it the old feeder plot. There's an old rotted out feeder at the bottom of the plot as well as an old deer stand in a dead tree. Both of those will be torn out next year too. I put down about 800 lbs of lime and a couple hundred pounds of fertilizer in the two new spots this year and am surprised that we're getting some germination with no rain since seeding. Hopefully this will be a great little plot in a couple years. We don't have a stand on the plot but one of my waterholes is about 60 or 70 yards to the east. There's a stand slated for there. The area below the plot (north) is about a four year old clearcut where the previous owner failed at making a lake site. To the left (west) is an area that I want to do some hinge cutting and make it a sanctuary area. Actually most of our property will be designated as sanctuary from here on out expect for going in for the purpose of turning it into thick cover.

 

[Someday isle]

I made it out for two morning hunts this week. I didn't see any deer but to my surprise there was a green tint to my plots and trails. Our weather has been so hot and dry that everything had appeared to pretty much be dead. What had germinated had turned to dust. We got a little surprise shower last week and in just two days there seems to be some new germination. My brassicas are dead. The cereal grains seems to have at least had some survival. My guess is the seeds that were cultipacked under the surface that hadn't germinated before were just sitting there waiting for rain. The peas don't seem to have made it and I'm hoping that the clover seed was hard enough that it didn't germinate before and maybe will start to pop up this weekend. SO...New plan. I'm going to replace my dead brassicas (1/3 acre) with a rye and wheat mix tomorrow. I'll disc lightly, seed and cultipack and wait for rain. We have cooler temps now and rain in the forecast all week. All of the other plots will get a light overseed of a rye/wheat mix. It's not the plotting that I had hoped for five weeks ago but it's nice to know I'll have something. Right now the acorns are as thick as I've seen in years so they wouldn't be using my plots much now anyway.

 

[Someday isle]

This is Austins corner. A week ago it was nothing but dust. The green strip on the right is all that's left of last year's clover. It looked so good in July but it's gone completely dormant. I'm sure it will bounce back a little now. As the sun came up it was exciting to see a hint of green in the plot. This looks to be a little bit of oats and a little bit of rye. There's even a pea plant in there. It's thin but there's something growing here at least Acorns in the plot.

 

[Someday isle]

I'm pretty sure these purple shoots are rye that has just popped through the soil. This was on Friday so I'm interested to see what it all looks like tomorrow.

I guess the moral of the story is plant your seed, cultipack or cover it and don't stress about it. I had convinced myself that all of my plots were a total failure this year and I'd be starting over from scratch. All is not lost at all. Worst case scenario is we'll still have something for the deer to eat.

 

[Bill]

Not sure down your way but right now up north looks good for some rain later this week.
80% Wed., 90% Thurs., 60% Fri., 60% Sat. One of those has to stick! I hope.

 

[Someday isle]

I'm with you on that Bill. I learned a huge lesson though. I'm out overseeding and redoing the failed brassica plot today. I'm amazed at how much actually still germinated after all the heat and no rain. I credit both the hardiness of cereal grains seed and the cuktipacking. The oats and rye both have just sat there and waited to some degree. It's even thicker today than it was on Friday. I'm actually concerned now that I'm putting down too much seed. I'm liable to have a huge mess next spring - but I'm okay with that.

 

[Bill]

I'm with you on that Bill. I learned a huge lesson though. I'm outboverseeding and redoing the failed brassica plot today. I'm amazed at how much actually still germinated after all the heat and no rain. I credit both the heartiness of cereal grains seed and the cuktipacking. The oats and rye both have just sat there and waited to some degree. It's even thicker today than it was on Friday. I'm actually concerned now that I'm putting down too much seed. I'm liable to have a huge mess next spring - but I'm okay with that.

Planting late like this I'd rather be heavy on the seed than light. Not much growing season left unless it gets real warm. I rather have a bunch of small plants then less plants scattered out.

 

[Someday isle]

Weather radar shows that we had a good two hour rain event today. We've also got temps in the 70s more or less forecast for the next two weeks with a little more off and on rain thrown in too over that same time period. While it's a shortened growing season as Bill says I'm feeling like it's a plan coming together. I just redid my failed brassica plot with rye and wheat yesterday (1/3 acre) and overseeded the rest (about an acre total). My schedule will keep me away from the Island until Friday, the 13. I'll do a morning hunt that day and hopefully have some pictures of a nice green cereal grain carpet to share with you guys. I also noticed a bunch of spilled seed in my truck bed today that's getting rained on. I think I'll leave it there and do a little truck bed germination experiment that everyone talks about to see if it's really a thing

 

[Bill]

I also noticed a bunch of spilled seed in my truck bed today that's getting rained on. I think I'll leave it there and do a little truck bed germination experiment that everyone talks about to see if it's really a thing

It will sprout....

 

[Someday isle]

We finally got some rain and better temps. I’m not seeing any deer in my morning hunts but I blame the acorns. We’ve got a massive acorn crop this year.

My food plots and food plot trails look awesome. I have peas, oats and winter rye growing like crazy and there’s lots of baby clover underneath. Looks like after the acorns get used up a little we’ll maybe have some good late season hunting. Amazing what a little rain will do. I think use of the cultipacker saved my seed through the hot and dry spell.

 

[Someday isle]

 

[scott44]

Looks good! Up until last night here in MI it's been pretty dry.