Brute 'N Bottoms

Looks like a good day's work, the frost wasn't too bad either. I have one of those big ol oaks also, great tree for windy days.
 
bwoods11 said:
Seeing some deer while doing habitat work?
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There's a decent amount of sign, coyote sign too. Don't expect much to be on there right now, no food, not a lot of browse. Loggers started on Thursday, I'm sure some will be cruising through to munch on the downed tops.
 
I see the valley in post #16 as an awesome feature to the property - it may be difficult to hunt and thus you may have to stick to the higher elevations. I also see that many of your plots seem to be near the property line. I would screen these from prying eyes. The property has great potential from what I can see. Also try to locate your south facing slope - the deer love those in the winter time and these may be great places to further encourage bedding. Just observations. Good luck with the new place.
 
What did the machine cost for the weekend?
 
John-W-WI said:
What did the machine cost for the weekend?
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1000 bucks, they delivered it Friday at noon, they will pick it up Monday morning when I call them. It will be more than 1000 because I will have more than 8 hours on it, but it's like 75 dollars an hour over 8 hours. The work i have been able to get done is well worth it, and I'll be out there for 4 hours tomorrow.
 
The place looks awesome. I would make an X between the four tillable areas. Hinge cut a deer trail between them and have a stand at the intersection.
 
j-bird said:
I see the valley in post #16 as an awesome feature to the property - it may be difficult to hunt and thus you may have to stick to the higher elevations.
Click to expand...

The valley you are talking about is being logged right now. There are some awesome spots in there for bedding because of the rolling topography, just need to get the cover in there now. They are taking the big stuff, and I'll be going back to hinge the smaller stuff in a few weeks.
 
Had a blast today working with the excavator again.

I started by making two trails leading to one of our main food plots. It will be great to have these for access. Aerial below shows the trail I made(white), food plot (green), Water Hole (blue), box blind is the thumb tack.







Here is the waterhole I dug for this spot.

 
I did some work just to the east of the above aerial. I dug a waterhole(blue), and cleared 1 acres of box elders on top of the ridge(orange). Planning on having a box blind located in the center of the pinch point, with the field to the west planted in soybeans, and the waterhole 20 yards away.



Here's the 1 acre area I cleared on top of the ridge. What would you guys do with this? My plan is to doze it and clear all the brush, creating a barrier with the brush along side where we have an access trail to create a screen & funnel the deer. Not sure if I want pines/spruce, or food, or maybe 1/2 in pines, 1/2 food.

 
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Use the brush to guide the deer. Either use it to narrow down the access to plots or to create other pinch points or to keep the deer from getting where you don't want them. It's a pain and a lot of work, but it really helps forcing the deer to stick to a pattern to your advantage. FYI if you have not figured it out boxelder love water so the area where you removed them is going to have wet soils - keep that in mind when it comes to plantings in that area.
 
What tree is this? They make an awesome screen. I'd like to take some cuttings and plant some more where I want a screen if that would work.





 
 
 
We hang 2 in a tree, so its not for as many spots as you might think. Some we will have a ladderstand, and a hang on beside it in the same tree. We do 90% of our hunting with 2 people in the tree.
 
I haven't been spending as much time in Brute 'N Bottoms as I would like, but the next month or so there will be a lot of work done! I spent the afternoon at the farm yesterday and learned a lot. It was the first time I had seen the farm without snow on the ground.

A water hole that I dug this winter is full, hopefully it stays that way all Summer and Fall, time will tell!



Is this a coyote den? I came across it on a pretty steep side hill. No fresh tracks.



Here's a picture of a little backwater on the property.

 
I made a discovery yesterday that I am absolutely thrilled about. We bought this property not ever seeing it without snow, so we couldn't tell exactly how swampy things were because the swamp was frozen. There were some open locations that I would loved to get food plots in, but without seeing it in the summer I wasn't sure how wet it actually was. I also didn't think I would be able to access the north side of the property with equipment to do food plots, so there was a lot of uncertainty of what we would be able to do, all depending on how wet the swamp was.
It turns out we will be able to drive a Ranger, ATV, etc on the entire north side of the property. I walked it yesterday and it was completely dry! I wore hiking boots, and my feet never once got wet! I couldn't believe it, especially that all the snow just melted. Not only can we drive back there, all of the locations we wanted food plots are plenty dry and will be planted this year! Below is an aerial. The white line is the trails we will use, and the green are the food plots in the swamp. The fact we can drive back there is going to be a huge advantage! I'm still going to come in from the river on canoe to hunt those northern spots, but for planting the plots, hanging stands, etc, it will be a huge help being able to drive!

Before the snow melted I thought we wouldn't be able to cross the creek in the center of the property that the white line crosses, because I thought it was going to be too wet on the otherside, but I was wrong. Thank god!

 
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The list of work that will be done this spring is as follows:

A dozer will be coming in and clearing trees and level trails that I put in with the excavator
Planting 1,000 spruce trees with strips of switchgrass between the rows to provide cover while the spruce grow
Hang all stands & groundlinds/boxblinds.
Plant all spring food plots
Spray the trails in the swamp

All of this will be done by the time the baby gets here in June, then all I have to do is check cams, and plant fall food plots. Hurry up November!!
 
Looks like a nice property and a good plan, I bet you're having fun.
 
You will be seeing big bucks on that farm this fall!!
 
If you don't mind me asking, what outfit did you rent the excavator from?
 
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