Recent content by Ben.MN/WI

I've found a bunch of pheasant carcasses that look just like that over the years in open fields. I've watched hawks zig zag over those fields pheasant hunting and the pheasants are too large to fly away with so they eat them where they land. They pick off all the meat and leave all the legs...

Do you guys see much deer bedding in your native grasses? I have some CRP that includes switchgrass and it looks great, but the deer don't bed in it.

Chemicals and deep tillage

Your soil likely has more organic matter, which increased your worm population and the moles that like to eat them. I wouldn't be concerned about moles.

I think this is correct and neither of the shrubs pictured are red osier dogwood. I'd recommend driving around some areas with wetlands and look for ROD on the edges. I also find a bunch in wet road ditches and those are great for using as cuttings since they are typically cut every few...

I think you could probably burn out most of the contaminants with a small fire inside and outside the drum and discard that wood if there was a contamination concern. It would be interesting to see if some biochar tonnage could make a noticeable difference in plant growth in an area. Are you...

What will you be using the charcoal for? I watched a few youtube videos that used old 55 gallon drums for charcoal production. I thought it would be a good way to improve sandy soil, but I haven't found the time to do that yet.

It looks like SW injury to me. Do you paint white interior latex on any of your trees? I lost a ton of apple trees when I first started planting them 20 years ago. They all looked like yours and those issues stopped when I started painting 50/50 interior latex white paint/water on the trunks...

Here's an article from Wisconsin's CWD mortality study. If you scroll down to the story of deer # 5006, they documented that doe dropping 74 pounds in 49 days...

That really stinks. What is currently in your fields now?

Is there a lot of ice fishing pressure there on crappies? I know they hit them pretty hard in MN and WI during the winter when they are easier to find over the deeper basins. I'm assuming forward facing sonar could also allow guys to target those suspended crappies a lot easier than they did...

How big is your lake? There are some smaller 100 acre or less lakes in areas we fish that have lowered their panfish limits in an attempt to increase the overall size. I'm fine with lower limits, but I don't think eliminating all harvest is a good plan.

I collected some scion last night in SE MN and I'm sure it will be fine for grafting in a month or two. I'll just keep the scion in a ziploc bag in my garage fridge and it will be good to go.

You should find a way to buy that rooster a few hens!

Quail are cooler than doves, so I'd manage for quail. It sounds like that field might need a reset though if undesired grasses are taking over.