A few habitat pics I thought you might enjoy

[Native Hunter]

Had a few random pics over the last few days to post:

I though this one was cool. Doe and fawn standing underneath my tower blind. Looks like she is looking up in it.



Illinois Everbearing Mulberry ripening up nicely. Tree is finally so big, I can get all I want without worrying about the birds getting them all.



We should have a heck of a chestnut crop this year. I have 20+ trees that are looking this good.



Small clover spot in a shady place. I mowed a path through it to walk to trail cameras.





Comparison of tame red raspberries and wild black ones - both ripening at the same time. The wild black ones taste best to me.



My paw paws are growing well.





Red clover plot is being eaten hard right now. Deer won't touch the white as long as they have this. It grows back so fast they can't put a dent in it.



Red coming back from the seed bank up though dead grass recently killed with cleth.



That's all for now. Today I finished opening up all my shooting lanes in the timber areas. Got it done early and won't have to worry about that now. Only other lanes to open will be some mowing in the grasses later on in the fall when they grow back up.

 

[bueller]

Excellent looking clover and chicory!

 

[wiscwhip]

Momma is teaching that fawn that Native Hunter will be up there in the fall, so watch your step!:eek:;)

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I was thinking the same thing as Whip. ^^^^^ Mom KNOWS where trouble lurks !! Those mulberries look delicious, and so do the raspberries !! Think I'll have to plant some mulberry trees. Red clover looks like a blue-ribbon plot. Any certain variety ??

I don't know what your neighbors' land looks like, but with all you have growing at your place, no critter large or small should want to leave your property !! You have a LOAD of variety - and it's all good. Enjoy !!

 

[Native Hunter]

Momma is teaching that fawn that Native Hunter will be up there in the fall, so watch your step!:eek:;)

LOL, lets hope his memory doesn't last 4 years.:D

 

[Native Hunter]

I was thinking the same thing as Whip. ^^^^^ Mom KNOWS where trouble lurks !! Those mulberries look delicious, and so do the raspberries !! Think I'll have to plant some mulberry trees. Red clover looks like a blue-ribbon plot. Any certain variety ??

I don't know what your neighbors' land looks like, but with all you have growing at your place, no critter large or small should want to leave your property !! You have a LOAD of variety - and it's all good. Enjoy !!

Thanks Bowsnbucks. That variety of Red Clover is Barduro. I wanted to put in some more last fall and couldn't find it. Still can't find it, but someone gave me a lead the other day and he is checking for me. Common red might do just as well, but when something works good, I like to stick with it. This is starting the third year with it, so it does seem to be persistent.

If Illinois Everbearing is hardy in your area, you should put one of those in for yourself and just plant some other ones for the deer. IE is just the best tasting to me.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks for the info on the IE, Stu & Native. With fruit like Native posted pic of - I gotta do it !!

I just had some Persist 2 red clover shipped for fall planting, Native. It's supposed to hang on for 5 years or so, maybe more with proper care. It'll be interesting to see how it does for us at camp. I think we're gonna plant it with WR for food and let the rye stand for fawn cover next spring. Is that what you had going on in your pic of the baby fawn ??

 

[wiscwhip]

I think you will like the Persist clover, keep the grasses at bay and you will get a good 4 years out of that clover without much other maintenance. Do a soil test in that plot after the second season, you may have to add a little P & K as a maintenance fertilizer application to keep it thriving. A lot of our dairy farmers have switched to Persist and other longer lived varieties of red clover in there permanent pasture areas with good results.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks for the info on the IE, Stu & Native. With fruit like Native posted pic of - I gotta do it !!

I just had some Persist 2 red clover shipped for fall planting, Native. It's supposed to hang on for 5 years or so, maybe more with proper care. It'll be interesting to see how it does for us at camp. I think we're gonna plant it with WR for food and let the rye stand for fawn cover next spring. Is that what you had going on in your pic of the baby fawn ??

Yes, the only difference is that I had triticale instead of rye and I had chicory mixed in with my red clover too. After seeing how they eat it, I would never plant red clover without chicory. And the nitrogen from the clover makes the chicory take off like a rocket.

And, if you get a plot good and thick like the one you mentioned with the fawn - it will choke out the weeds pretty darn well if you get a good kill before planting. There was no need to be mowing any in my plot. And the deer just kept eating no matter how high it got.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks, Whip. The P & K maintenance fertilization is what we're doing to our existing clover plots. Since clover fixes N, that's good to go. Like you said, the grass is the target.

Some of the gas pipeline companies must have used some kind of long-lived red clover to seed the pipelines. It's been growing real well for 3 - 4 yrs. with NO maintenance at all !! No fert. - no mowing. And it's still growing like mad. Deer LOVE it !!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We have 2 lbs. of chicory to plant with it as well. I forgot to mention the chicory !! We got " Forage Feast " chicory to put in with the Persist clover & rye. Thanks for the info, Native !!

These forums have turned me into a MANIAC planter ......... Just like the rest of you !!!:D

 

[wiscwhip]

Thanks, Whip. The P & K maintenance fertilization is what we're doing to our existing clover plots. Since clover fixes N, that's good to go. Like you said, the grass is the target.

Some of the gas pipeline companies must have used some kind of long-lived red clover to seed the pipelines. It's been growing real well for 3 - 4 yrs. with NO maintenance at all !! No fert. - no mowing. And it's still growing like mad. Deer LOVE it !!

We have an area up in an old abandon gravel pit and on the top rim and in some areas that were reclaimed they have a horse/human trail surrounding it. This area was reclaimed many (20+) years ago and planted with native plants and red clover. When we go up there to walk the dog in the summer, along the trails and out in the open areas the red clover is so thick and deep, it is like you have to wade through it, and it has never been replanted since they did the initial work up there, completely reseeds itself and is taking over in some areas with no help at all.

 

[Native Hunter]

We have an area up in an old abandon gravel pit and on the top rim and in some areas that were reclaimed they have a horse/human trail surrounding it. This area was reclaimed many (20+) years ago and planted with native plants and red clover. When we go up there to walk the dog in the summer, along the trails and out in the open areas the red clover is so thick and deep, it is like you have to wade through it, and it has never been replanted since they did the initial work up there, completely reseeds itself and is taking over in some areas with no help at all.

wiscwhip, in this area there are acres and acres of fescue fields that people cut for hay. The only plant I've ever seen that could carve out a place in the fescue is red clover. Everything else they mix with it just disappears over time, but the red persists really well in some places.

 

[Native Hunter]

Guys, I have one more pic I have to post. Forgive me for getting a little giddy, but this is the first set of twins I have ever had since starting habitat management. I think nutrition might have played a little role in this.

PS: This is where I recently nuked the grass with cleth and mowed it close to the ground a few days later.

 

[dipper]

That and predator control, I was gonna tell you this in your predator thread but I didn't get a chance. We kill 50 yotes in about a 60 square mile chunk every year. I'd bet the orange army, bow hunters, and your common country folk get at least 40 more in that area. There is also a handful off semi serious trappers that kill at least 40 more.
After 5 years of hunting yotes, I've noticed they have huge home ranges and they like to really gravitate to the same areas. We killed 20 one square mile last year.
I can't tell you if your property sits in one of these core areas, but it appears you might be. with as many that are killed, we still have a ton of yotes. I wish our trapping season was longer up here. It's near impossible to do it in the ice/snow. If we could trap more, I know we could really impact the population.

 

[Native Hunter]

That and predator control, I was gonna tell you this in your predator thread but I didn't get a chance. We kill 50 yotes in about a 60 square mile chunk every year. I'd bet the orange army, bow hunters, and your common country folk get at least 40 more in that area. There is also a handful off semi serious trappers that kill at least 40 more.
After 5 years of hunting yotes, I've noticed they have huge home ranges and they like to really gravitate to the same areas. We killed 20 one square mile last year.
I can't tell you if your property sits in one of these core areas, but it appears you might be. with as many that are killed, we still have a ton of yotes. I wish our trapping season was longer up here. It's near impossible to do it in the ice/snow. If we could trap more, I know we could really impact the population.

Dipper, if I have any yotes left at all after gun season is over this year, I'm going to turn that trapper loose on my place. I'm getting fed up with those SO$%^^$R$D......

 

[dipper]

What's your trapping season? Put a few #3 leg holds and some scent posts in easy to access funnels. You will get them yourself. I'm still learning, it's fun, but our season is basically is the rut, and I'm usually preoccupied.

 

[Native Hunter]

What's your trapping season? Put a few #3 leg holds and some scent posts in easy to access funnels. You will get them yourself. I'm still learning, it's fun, but our season is basically is the rut, and I'm usually preoccupied.

I can't recall the season right off hand but it runs late I know.

I would do it myself, but I have to be gone a lot with my job and can't run a trap line every day like you have to do.

 

[SD51555]

Guys, I have one more pic I have to post. Forgive me for getting a little giddy, but this is the first set of twins I have ever had since starting habitat management. I think nutrition might have played a little role in this.

PS: This is where I recently nuked the grass with cleth and mowed it close to the ground a few days later.

That right there is a full circle success.

Doe - check
Twin fawns - check
Perfect plot - check
Picture - check
Crack beer and celebrate - check

 

[Native Hunter]

That right there is a full circle success.

Doe - check
Twin fawns - check
Perfect plot - check
Picture - check
Crack beer and celebrate - check

LOL, only thing you left out was 4 dead yotes in the last few days!!!:D