B&D Property

[Bucks&Ducks]

I will look into the frigid forage. I tried EW but it just seemed like there was always not enough rain or N wind. It just never held up. I will probably try something again.

The access is a little tricky. If he isn't hunting I can access however I want, it is more when he is hunting that I try not to mess his hunting up. That said there is still no easy way to access. The deer are bedded all the way along the south edge of the field.

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Here is a topo.

Been thinking of access for the last month or so. Access with SE to W winds isnt bad. Coming in from the north line then walking along top of ridge. With NW or N wind it is tough. May have to just stay on east end with N or NW wind.

Project for this winter/spring is to clear cut south side of ridge east of pipeline. I also need to edge feather and plant some temporary screens until the spruce get big enough.

Feel free to offer an suggestions for access, new projects, overall layout, anything. Love hearing ideas.

 

[tooln]

I really like your TOPO map. What did you use for it?

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

MN Fish- Kill plots are eaten down to dirt but they are essentially microplots. The bigger field is eaten down as well, the rye usually only gets a few inches tall. The clover was only a year old last summer and I think when I cut the year old rye this spring, it will get more use as the rye was thick in places. The clover where the rye died down was eaten down quite a bit. I would like to add some vertical element to the bigger field to increase daytime activity. The kill plots are so small and right next to cover that they get quite a bit of use as is. Biggest problem with the kill plots is getting something up for when the snow falls. Leaning towards soybeans on big field and apples on smaller plots.

Tooln-I am going to try to figure out where I found it. I saved it last summer and can't remember where I found it. It was the first one I found that had the detail I wanted.

 

[West Branch]

I like that topo as well. Both the quality and the layout of your land! Would it have been from your county's GIS website? Our county came out with one this past year that was developed with LIDAR. Ours shows detail up to 2 foot contours, all of the rock piles in my brothers fields show up and the piles of dirt and rocks in my gravel pit. It makes a guy nervous to dig holes!

I like the looks of your property, I don't really have any suggestions and I like the looks of what you have planned! My mom grew up in Wadena county until she was around 7 and they moved to the Iron Range. I still have some relatives up there but don't get here much. Beautiful area!

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Found it. West Branch got me thinking. I already checked the county but I saw your topo and they had to have a similiar source. Tooln, sorry but it isn't going to be any help to you.

http://arcgis.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/mntopo/

 

[West Branch]

Found it. West Branch got me thinking. I already checked the county but I saw your topo and they had to have a similiar source. Tooln, sorry but it isn't going to be any help to you.

http://arcgis.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/mntopo/

Nice, I never saw that one before. I love maps and GIS stuff. I am guessing that is the same data our county used, looks pretty similar and has it down to 2 ft contours.

 

[Satchmo]

B & D.......very similar terrain and habitat to my place which is about 15 miles straight east of yours. I like that topo tool you found.

 

[tooln]

I just checked your map source out and really wish I had it. It is a really good TOPO.

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Ya it is a great topo. Most of the ones I found before were so generic that they were hard to get a feel for.

I found somewhere that Wisconsin was doing LIDAR topo maps but only had the southern part. I would think they will eventually get to Clark Co unless they canned the project.

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Bump this to the top.

Another year in the books. So lets get to the pictures.

This year was my first with beans. We definitely need to plant more than the 3 acres.


We planted 6 apples (2 honeycrisp, 2 Sweet 16, 2 Enterprise) and plan on doing more next spring.


The hunting season had some ups and downs. I had some very exciting sits and my dad was able to fill his tag opening morning of rifle season.


Now I am looking to next year. I really want to focus on bedding areas. I am thinking of cutting the woods east of the pipeline to create bedding pockets. Eventually I want to cut down the west end but that is all mature oaks and the deer are using the area already.

For food plots. I think I am going to plant 5 acres of beans and overseed that with rye in the fall. Plant another 5 acres in a perennial clover mix. Make the kills plots into clover trails with a chunk of brassicas in the center.

Access is still an issue. I am going to try to do some willow cuttings to help as a screen as our conifer screen is lagging behind. South winds I can take the north edge to the ridge and walk down the ridge. Not great but seems to work ok. North wind are a lot more tricky. I almost have to walk the field edge which is not great for evening hunts and horrible for morning hunts.

 

[shawnv]

Congrats to your dad! Where on the maps did you have the best sits?

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

One of the sits was a firearm sit where the pipeline meets the top of the ridge. The other sits were where the swamp meets the ridge, especially on the south west side of the ridge. I also had a few of my good sits were on another nearby property that a relative owns. However I can say most of the sits had a few things in common. They were downwind of bedding areas and on fairly calm days.

 

[scott44]

Congrats to your dad!

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Well with an influx in members I can bump this thread to the top.

10 new apple trees planted last spring. Took the spring off from planting conifers. 5 acres of soybeans were a failure but will overseed with Rye. Planted kill plots in brassicas a couple weeks ago. I will be putting in 5 acres of clover at the end of summer.

Enterprise 1 year in the ground

Newly planted Haralson

Newly planted Norland (I believe)