Recent content by Ben.MN/WI

You will have an explosion of growth when the dormant seeds in the soil see sunlight for the first time. I don't think spreading buckwheat seed would have a significant impact on erosion. Something will fill in those openings quickly. If there are areas that you plan on keeping open...

I don't think you're supposed to pick up snakes you can't identify!

I think it is unlikely that any natural disaster will kill all of your apple trees at once. There are a lot of commercial orchards here and I've never heard of anything like that. A tornado might rip off most of the branches, but the tree likely will survive if it isn't uprooted completely...

I don't think it would be worth the hassle unless you depend on that orchard for a decent portion of your household income. Apple trees are extremely tough - I've had a tornado knock some over and uproot them, but they still lived. My plan is to keep planting 20+ apple trees per year so my...

You have solid dirt. Your pH looks good. P and K look low, I believe the Ed Spinazolla food plot book I use for a reference has a goal of 20-40 ppm for P and 150-200 ppm for K. I've had pretty good results with food plots by keeping the pH, P and K in the target ranges, so I'd say that...

The organic farmers here tend to use steel to weed their crops, which burns organic matter as well. I don't know any farmers who enjoy spraying, but when you have a mortgage payment due you need to go with a plan that pays the bills. For some that's organic farming with a lower output and...

That really sucks, but hopefully it turns out for the best in the long run.

It is definitely a balancing act, but man, I hate poachers.

Comparing flying a drone to a school shooting is a bit much, but I get your point. My point is that flying a drone or plane with a camera is currently legal so using it to catch criminals should be legal as well.

I don't see how allowing the DNR to use the same drone that many landowners already have and use on theirs and adjacent properties is giving up anything. I might have viewed things differently before my poaching neighbor moved in, but now I'd gladly allow the DNR to fly over my properties to...

I have a trespassing, baiting, poaching neighbor who pretends to be a hunter but only seems to have luck while hunting illegally. I'm all for any methods they can use to catch guys like that in the act. After watching those drone deer recovery videos, it is clear that they can detect illegal...

Some drone cameras have so much magnification that they can fly high enough that they don't spook deer. There are some really cool drone deer recovery videos out there and it is pretty crazy how far they can zoom in.

That's a cool old buck. Is that a tumor on its ribcage or just an odd angle from the picture?

I wish the DNR would drones more often to look for illegal baiting activity.

That's really cool. Where do you think they are bedding? You have several nice bucks there, you just need them to stick around until bow opener!