Recent content by yoderjac

A lot depends on your neighbors when you are under 1,000 or so.

There is no scientific evidence that mineral supplements benefit free ranging deer. Most of a deer's diet consists of native plants. Each plant has a different capacity to mine different minerals from different depths from the soil. We just don't see mineral deficiencies in free ranging deer...

Are you saying that the 215, which is a multiprocess welder (Mig, Stick, Tig), is too powerful for sheet metal? The specs say it will go down to 24 gauge for Mig and Tig and 16 gauge for stick. What kind of projects would you envision that would use thinner sheet metal? Thanks, Jack

Sorry, my eyes are failing. That should read SD5 deep hole method referring to post #2.

The welder is just sitting waiting for me to head to the farm next week, but I think I found a gem. I've been cleaning out the garage and taking stuff to the new barn. I came across this: it is my old drafting table from Jr. High School. A few years after I hit high school, the got rid of...

will do!

I agree with over fertilizing and lack of lime as potential problems, but remember that link is for farmers, not deer managers. They are focused on yield. Pokeweed is a great example of a weed to a farmer that is a deer manager's delight. My biggest short-coming in this arena is the ability...

Great post! A "weed" is just a plant growing some place you don't want it. For a guy reclaiming a compressed logging deck in heavy clay where noting grows, plants farmers call weeds are the first indication of success! Weed tolerance is something that took time for me to grow into. There...

It is a cool project for sure, but I have evolved toward a different philosophy, sustainability. I've begun to ask myself this question. If I'm constantly putting energy into my QDM efforts, what happens when I stop? Have I made deer come to depend on the energy I'm putting in on an annual...

Completely agree, your local weather patterns have a great impact on how well different techniques work. Timely rain can cover a lot of sins. Timing the fall plant is never easy. Too early and drought can be an issue; too late and things like turnips and radish don't reach their potential...

Success with T&M requires healthy soil. I damaged my soil by using a 2-bottom plow and tiller in the early days. One of the soil science guys sent me a link to a formula for building a solid road. It was pretty much the same prescription I had been following for food plots. Yikes! It took...

20 dsm and no summer food is the similarity.

There are lots of grafting techniques and finding the right one for the job can be difficult. It is going to depend on what you are grafting too and, of course, the skill of the grafter. For example, Chestnuts tend respond to the injury of grafting by putting up new shoots from the ground. It...

I would broadcast your fall plant into the standing buckwheat with rain in the forecast and then mow it. Microbes from contact with the soil surface helps the buckwheat decompose releasing the nutrients it scavenged for you fall crop. You don't need heavy thatch. The mowed crop is acting like...

My deer use it, but don't abuse it. If deer are not using it, it is because they have found something they like better.