Trouble's Land Tour

Troubles Trees

5 year old buck +
I began my Habitat obsession at an early age, while my buddies were out day-drinking, my gears were grinding for new ways to become a more successful Deer Hunter. In my early 20's I heard about this thing called grafting and instantly had visions of making pears fall from wild apple trees around my treestands. I didn't own much back then but I knew what direction I wanted to go and knew that enough hard work would get me there. That fire still burns today almost 30 years later. Today I am mortgage free of a beautiful house in the country but only because I bought a fixer-upper that was in terrible shape so I gutted and remodeled it as a fresh start for my family. The house itself only sits on 8 acres so I didn't have much room (or money) to stretch my wings, I started small with transplanting and grafting with small monetary purchases going into my passion until 4 years ago when I finally bought the 30 Acres next door to my house and my dream came to fruition.


In the last 4 years I have planted over 1,000 fruit and nut trees, woody browse shrubs and berry bushes on the new 30 acres that was not long ago a barren cow pasture with a small woodlot. It was a literal blank slate that Deer never hung around on because it had no cover and little food to hold deer. Most of the land for miles around me looks the same, all the Oak trees have been harvested for the almighty $$ stripping the land of that food source. Most of what stands today is mostly Maple, Ironwood, Ash and Poplar stands that are dense enough to produce a barren forest floor. The only Deer food I have around me is native browse, wild apples and farmers fields that alternate from clover to corn for the most part, which are good food sources but one thing I understand is that deer like diversity of food sources and bedding/security.


Armed with this knowledge, I shoot for diversity but my overall goal is to feed my food, particularly Whitetails and Turkey that will in turn feed my 15-year-old daughter and I for many years to come. I do plant some for my rabbits and game birds, and a bit for my honeybee hives. I also try and incorporate things we humans can eat in case someday the crap hits the fan (like Covid) and I need a grocery store in the back yard. My goal when I retire in roughly 10 years is to have a diverse but particularly unique year-round food source for my area that nobody else has.

In these last 4 years I've planted soft mass like Pears, Pawpaw and Persimmon. I have also dug in and tubed hard mass trees like several different Chestnuts (including the never mentioned enough Allegheny Chinquapin), Butternut, 5 different Oaks, Heartnut, Pecan, Hazelnut etc. down to the smaller berry and woody browse things like Dogwood, 9 Bark, Highbush Cranberry, Serviceberry, Winterberry etc. Roughly half of what I have planted came from our Department of Environmental Conservation or the Soil and Water Conservation, both have a yearly seedling sale that offer some very good seedlings at very reasonable prices.

This is my property in Central NY, the smaller piece with the C shaped driveway is what I started with and the bigger piece at the bottom is the 30 acres I bought recently.
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This is the bigger picture, and in part why I don't implement food plots yet. I do think at some point I will do a small 1/2 acre plot of anything besides corn or clover given all the farm land surrounding me that does mainly corn and clover.
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I wish there was a fancier way but this is how I recorded what I planted where, I didn't record anything I planted for the first 2 years but I really didn't plant heavily until 2018 when I more of a solid direction on what to plant and where to put it. Some things are unmarked and just randomly planted where I felt was a good place to put them. Surprisingly out of everything I planted I had roughly 90% survival but much of that I can directly attribute to having good rains in the spring. Carrying water isn't an option, I have 2 four-wheelers but they are both fix-r-uppers and the only one with a hitch needs a rear end.
I am learning as I go.

2018 plantings
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2019 plantings
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This is the view out of my bedroom window, everything planted on this side of the hill is pointing towards my window for unobstructed view. I love my wildlife!! People ask me how I could love wildlife and yet kill and eat it, I always reply "if they are moving I just lead them a little".
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I have awesome neighbors for the most part, the guy below me gave me this camper last weekend. He paid $4,000 for it 2 years ago, last winter someone slid off the road and hit the electric panel, he told me the insurance payout broke even on the whole thing. Said he didn’t want to fix it so I could have it (he already bought another camper).
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Unlike Native I don’t know much about my native flowers and vegetation, honestly I can only readily identify trees but this is how I learn.
I know this is one of the Dogwoods.
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Most of these I can’t identify without an app so I’ll just number them and one of the wisemen can help me out I’m hoping.
#1 -I think is American Pokeweed? 0ECDCD5E-966B-4ED7-A103-A80722233684.jpeg
#2 This has VERY yellow wood when cut into.
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#3 I always thought was MF Wetland Rose until I planted some in another spot. The berries are much larger than WLR unless it is just a different MFR?344CBB35-4264-4F32-B163-173D9AC43088.jpeg
 
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Very nice property!
 
Not the best at identifying plants but #1 is definitely pokeweed. Got the purple berry juice all over me weed whacking my entrance paths last weekend.
 
I could be wrong but I believe #2 to be Japanese Honeysuckle.
 
I could be wrong but I believe #2 to be Japanese Honeysuckle.

I googled it and I think you are right!!! I will cut that crap down, it is listed as an invasive for NY.
 
I had 2 wild apples holding fruit through the winter, not sure if it was a freak thing but definitely will be monitoring these 2 trees in the future and grafting scions to young wild apples I have marked out just for the occasion.
Picture was taken on April 4th 2020.
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This was my 2018 opening day of gun buck. 57C6E0C2-9F01-4D19-9249-4146BC7730A0.jpeg
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This is my 2018 Bow buck taken with the crossbow.
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I hunt alone so I never get pics of me with my deer. I’m hoping that changes with my daughter but I’m not sure she will pull the trigger when the time comes. She hunts with me but at 15 years old she is very much a fair weather hunter lol
 
Nice tour so far. Love the property. You've done a lot on it. I'm always envious of the people who live on their recreational ground. Definitely a dream. That's an awesome corn maze. Keep the buck pics coming!
 
Nice tour so far. Love the property. You've done a lot on it. I'm always envious of the people who live on their recreational ground. Definitely a dream. That's an awesome corn maze. Keep the buck pics coming!
Thank you Mort! I'll be the first one to admit I have no idea what I am doing other than planting things and hoping they grow then learn as I go. My soil is my enemy, it is anything but fertile, not quite sand infertile but close. I am learning so much from this site, you guys are the bomb!
 
Looks great. I look forward in seeing more updates as the season gets underway!
 
Just adding things so I can reference later if I forget.

My plant app says this is Wild Clematis (Clamatis Virginian) AKA Devil’s Darning Needles or Virgin’s Bower.
Digging through the interweb it appears to be accurate, but the pictures are in different stages than what is in the picture so I’m not convinced yet. This is the first time I’ve seen it on my property so it stood out enough to take note.
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I think Bill called this on my other comment in another section.
Joe-Pie Weeds is very popular with my honeybees.
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Just adding things so I can reference later if I forget.

My plant app says this is Wild Clematis (Clamatis Virginian) AKA Devil’s Darning Needles or Virgin’s Bower.
Digging through the interweb it appears to be accurate, but the pictures are in different stages than what is in the picture so I’m not convinced yet. This is the first time I’ve seen it on my property so it stood out enough to take note.
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I think Bill called this on my other comment in another section.
Joe-Pie Weeds is very popular with my honeybees.
View attachment 31585
I found a few patches of wild clematis at my property, as well. I thought it was poison ivy for sure until further analysis. I had declared war on it for a while but now I am okay with it after confirming what it is. I do have ivy on my property and it takes on so many forms that it's easy to mistake.
 
I love that hidden opening on the south end. Screams daytime movement.
 
My daughter has been shooting all summer in anticipation of her very first hunt this Saturday when Crossbow season opens. I’m both excited and nervous! She is solid shooting out to 40 yards with a rest and I couldn’t be happier with her enthusiasm for her first hunt.
I bought my first doe decoy yesterday hoping it helps because I haven’t seen a single doe in 2 weeks lol
Any tips on using a decoy?

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