Habitat Progress Pictures
- Thread starter Spiider
- Start date
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Good work Spiider !! Nice growth on all the trees. You definitely got excellent growth on your Norways. I'm a huge fan of Norway and white spruce for cover, windbreaks, etc. They have been a great addition to our camp acreage. Never tried EW here ( Pa. ) - never even heard of it until I read / saw it on here. We've planted sorghum for food/screening and it has done well for us. Your EW makes a great screen !!
Spiider
5 year old buck +
Pretty sure I planted them at 3' spacing in a single row. I used a 300' x 3' roll of Lumite like stuff (from BigRockTrees). I'll go check on them soon and snap an updated pic.
Correction, they are on 4' spacings. Didn't get a pic yet, but driving by, I can tell they were 4' spaces.
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Spiider
5 year old buck +
Thank you guys for the kind and inspiring words! I appreciate it.
It's been a really busy year. We built a new home and moved in this last Spring/Summer. My wife did most of the work including the contracting, framing (with a family friends help and guidance), plumbing, electrical (with her dad and a family friend), flooring, trim, paint, etc... We didn't do the foundation, roof (time constraint) or drywall. Still have a lot of smaller projects left, but we'll get to them when we have more time and funds moving forward.
Needless to say, it put a damper on most of my normal habitat work, other than some basic upkeep. I only planted around a dozen trees this last year, which was nice and manageable.
I didn't get in as much hunting as I'd like this year either. But my kids got a lot of education working with mom, or hunting/trapping small game around the property. That's where it's at for me at this point in my life so I'll start with some of those fun moments that they've had this year, before I get to habitat updates :)
My youngest son, shot his 1st woodchuck from our bedroom window from 50 yards with a Ruger 10/22 Takedown (his oldest brother then helped him skin and tan the hide!) :
Oldest son shot his 1st crow from 75 yards with his CZ .17 HMR:
Middle son shot his 6th wild turkey (4th record book), 1.5" spurs and 11.5" beard using a Weatherby 20 gauge shotgun (assists go to our trusty sidekick jake, named Chewy and his girlfriend hidding in the picture if you can find her) :
Oldest son took his 6th (and largest) deer this year. This was his first deer taken from an open ladder stand from 20 yards. This is his 2nd buck taken with a compound bow:
It's been a really busy year. We built a new home and moved in this last Spring/Summer. My wife did most of the work including the contracting, framing (with a family friends help and guidance), plumbing, electrical (with her dad and a family friend), flooring, trim, paint, etc... We didn't do the foundation, roof (time constraint) or drywall. Still have a lot of smaller projects left, but we'll get to them when we have more time and funds moving forward.
Needless to say, it put a damper on most of my normal habitat work, other than some basic upkeep. I only planted around a dozen trees this last year, which was nice and manageable.
I didn't get in as much hunting as I'd like this year either. But my kids got a lot of education working with mom, or hunting/trapping small game around the property. That's where it's at for me at this point in my life so I'll start with some of those fun moments that they've had this year, before I get to habitat updates :)
My youngest son, shot his 1st woodchuck from our bedroom window from 50 yards with a Ruger 10/22 Takedown (his oldest brother then helped him skin and tan the hide!) :
Oldest son shot his 1st crow from 75 yards with his CZ .17 HMR:
Middle son shot his 6th wild turkey (4th record book), 1.5" spurs and 11.5" beard using a Weatherby 20 gauge shotgun (assists go to our trusty sidekick jake, named Chewy and his girlfriend hidding in the picture if you can find her) :
Oldest son took his 6th (and largest) deer this year. This was his first deer taken from an open ladder stand from 20 yards. This is his 2nd buck taken with a compound bow:
Spiider
5 year old buck +
A color rich and creepy photo from this Fall on one of the warm mornings thick with fog. The treestand in the right side of this 1st picture is the one my oldest took the 8 point from this year:
3rd year row of Miscanthus x Giganteus that conceals a food plot on the other side:
The other side of the 3rd year M x G - different time of year - a variety of perennial clovers:
2nd year row of M x G that will conceal one of the walking paths and food plots along the way to our deer blind:
One more wall of a 3rd year row of M x G that conceals a food plot:
View from our pole barn overlooking a field of Cave In Rock Switchgrass. Has a nice mature apple tree on the right side of the picture that the deer come right up to. Also a row of Hybrid Poplar in the middle right:
Walking path that separates the Switchgrass and food plots with Hybrid Poplars and M x G:
Dunstan Chestnut tree - this was the 3rd year with burrs, but the 1st that were pollinated and had chestnuts! I picked about half a dozen that we ate and left another couple dozen on the tree. They dropped late October, perfect! Same as last year :)
A 2nd year Peach tree that my youngest son and I planted, produced 1 gorgeous and delicious peach for us!
4th year Hybrid Poplar - Amazing growth! I could use these for firewood already...
View from our window:
Pre-Planting of a Brassica plot:
Brassica Plot grown:
Radish and Purple Top Turnips from the Brassica plot:
3rd year row of Miscanthus x Giganteus that conceals a food plot on the other side:
The other side of the 3rd year M x G - different time of year - a variety of perennial clovers:
2nd year row of M x G that will conceal one of the walking paths and food plots along the way to our deer blind:
One more wall of a 3rd year row of M x G that conceals a food plot:
View from our pole barn overlooking a field of Cave In Rock Switchgrass. Has a nice mature apple tree on the right side of the picture that the deer come right up to. Also a row of Hybrid Poplar in the middle right:
Walking path that separates the Switchgrass and food plots with Hybrid Poplars and M x G:
Dunstan Chestnut tree - this was the 3rd year with burrs, but the 1st that were pollinated and had chestnuts! I picked about half a dozen that we ate and left another couple dozen on the tree. They dropped late October, perfect! Same as last year :)
A 2nd year Peach tree that my youngest son and I planted, produced 1 gorgeous and delicious peach for us!
4th year Hybrid Poplar - Amazing growth! I could use these for firewood already...
View from our window:
Pre-Planting of a Brassica plot:
Brassica Plot grown:
Radish and Purple Top Turnips from the Brassica plot:
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Horrible property. It's horrible because I don't own it !!!!!! :D
Really great view out the window Spiider. Plots all look great and the screens, rows of trees make access in and out easy. Boys seem to have a set of roots put down already !! Paradise for 3 young boys. Have lots of fun and take / keep many pix.
Really great view out the window Spiider. Plots all look great and the screens, rows of trees make access in and out easy. Boys seem to have a set of roots put down already !! Paradise for 3 young boys. Have lots of fun and take / keep many pix.
Merle Hawggard
5 year old buck +
Great looking place Spider! Love to see the dunstans growing, it gives me hope I'll get a chestnut someday!
Spiider
5 year old buck +
A couple weeks ago my oldest helped me plant 50 Speckled Alders in a wet area along a property line. Tough to see but he's standing next to a 3-4' whip. They grow really fast (both the kids and the SA's...)
Last weekend my middle son helped me plant a row of Hybrid Poplar and a staggered row of Hybrid Willow behind it. This is in part of our yard and will be a living privacy screen for the road. I'm still amazed at how fast these grow! Not pictured but we went back and put plastic squares around each cutting and used 6" staples in each corner. We will also spray them down with Deer Stopper concentrate every month until winter this 1st year.
We are working on a long, narrow micro food plot in the small section of woods that we have. This is about half of the plot that I worked on clearing by hand last year. This will be planted with perennial clover and chicory to hopefully draw these swamp turkeys and deer for a quick pit stop on their way to neighbors large destination ag fields.
And here is the new expanded section we are working on to make the plot longer.
Last weekend my middle son helped me plant a row of Hybrid Poplar and a staggered row of Hybrid Willow behind it. This is in part of our yard and will be a living privacy screen for the road. I'm still amazed at how fast these grow! Not pictured but we went back and put plastic squares around each cutting and used 6" staples in each corner. We will also spray them down with Deer Stopper concentrate every month until winter this 1st year.
We are working on a long, narrow micro food plot in the small section of woods that we have. This is about half of the plot that I worked on clearing by hand last year. This will be planted with perennial clover and chicory to hopefully draw these swamp turkeys and deer for a quick pit stop on their way to neighbors large destination ag fields.
And here is the new expanded section we are working on to make the plot longer.
Spiider
5 year old buck +
Thank you! It is a small parcel, but I'm trying to make use of all of it. Those are my favorite pictures to post, I'm still surprised that I enjoy seeing them get the chances more than myself :)
