bszweda's hunting land

[Bszweda]

Purchased 20 acres in Northern Missouri in January of 2015. I attempted to plant seedlings that spring. (Poplar, Plums, Bur English oaks). I also attempted a food plot that failed horribly. I only have access to hand tools so my options are limited. I wanted to post some pictures of my place and start tracking my progress of my trees. The failure rate/ growth rate hasn't been the best due to weeds, some have managed to make decent progress.

 

[Bszweda]

I got lucky this year and too my surprise my neighbor planted what I believe is soybeans.

 

[Tree Spud]

Congrats on being a new land owner ... your obession will begin.

We have all been there. Weeds and invasive grasses can destroy a lot of hard work.

Your 1st investment is yo go buy a backpack sprayer and a 2.5 gallon of glyshophate (41%). Do waste your money on round-up.

You can create a pretty decent foodplot without any big tools or equipment. Spray everything in your foodplot 3 times every 3 weeks. Do not till the soil as you will open up a fresh seed bed that is latent in the ground. Then go to your local feed mill and buy some clover, turnip, & brassica seed. Hand ground spread them before a rain.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[yoderjac]

Just a couple notes. On the trees, studies show that seedling will grow measureable faster if competition is removed in a 5 foot circle around the seedling. Some landscaping material may be a fit for that.

As for the food plots without tools, look for Crimson N Camo threads on this site. Ray the soil guy is an NRCS guy focused on sustainable soil health for farming. Here is a great video to watch: https://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy/23850878 It shows some of the negative impacts traditional tillage can have. While most of his videos are focused on farmers with large equipment, but Crimson N Camo has taken those underlying principles and applied them to food plotters with small equipment.

Welcome to land ownership and the forum!

 

[bueller]

In order to keep your land tour thread with the others I moved it to the native habitat forum where the rest of them reside.

I also edited your posts so that your photos all show up in the post vs having to click on each to view. You can do this when posting by clicking "Insert Every Image as Full Image".

Please keep the photos coming and don't be afraid to ask for advise/input from others that have been there done that.

 

[hesseu]

With only 20 acres, and neighboring property(ies) having crops, I don't know if I would personally spend too much time trying to create a "food plot". Here at our house, we've got a clover field that I guess could be considered a food plot, but it does amazing! Spray, seed clover, and mow (or weed eat) a week or 2 later. It may not look beautiful, but we have deer every night in our little 1 acre clover field. Also, use the crops to your advantage if you property is a staging area to the crops :)

 

[LuckyIL]

Might be helpful to post a picture of how your property lays out, and solicit some others advice on future projects.

See you soon Brad!

 

[H20fwler]

Looks like you have good bedding cover and a water source, you might look into starting out late fall or early spring with a small fruit orchard where you will be able to water and in a good location if your wanting to hunt.

 

[Bszweda]

With only 20 acres, and neighboring property(ies) having crops, I don't know if I would personally spend too much time trying to create a "food plot". Here at our house, we've got a clover field that I guess could be considered a food plot, but it does amazing! Spray, seed clover, and mow (or weed eat) a week or 2 later. It may not look beautiful, but we have deer every night in our little 1 acre clover field. Also, use the crops to your advantage if you property is a staging area to the crops :)

I was thinking the same thing... Once my 3 acre fallow field grows in I want to make a kill plot in the back corner. My strategy pretty much consists of shooting them when they are crossing the creek to the crops.

 

[Bszweda]

Might be helpful to post a picture of how your property lays out, and solicit some others advice on future projects.

See you soon Brad!

Hey Matt can't wait till November! Here is how my property lays out. My plan is to bushwhack them when they head out to the food plots. My property is kinda hard to hunt because of the wind direction / swirling wind. The day before opening season I think I am going to glass the crop field and try and determine best trail then setup down wind of it. I am thinking about buying waders and using them to access my spots.( is worth wading through the creek as its kinda a pain) I have a primos blind downwind of the point, where the deer bed. This is probably my most aggressive stand. Any input would be much appreciated. Plan on hunting the property the first 3 days of the season then part of the rut.

 

[bueller]

Don't understand estimate a food plot on small acreage with farm fields on neighboring properties. My place is very similar. I have a centrally located plot of about a 1/2 acre. Saw deer on it nearly everytime I sat in the stand covering it. They hit it all times of the day but mainly on their way to the crop fields in the afternoon and on their way back to bedding in the morning. And the bucks cruise it during the rut in search of a doe.

With that said I have no plans of creating acres of plots on this piece. You probably shouldn't either. But an acre or less can still be a big attractant even with farm fields nearby. Think of your plot as a staging plot and the neighbors fields as destination feeding areas.

 

[yoderjac]

Don't understand estimate a food plot on small acreage with farm fields on neighboring properties. My place is very similar. I have a centrally located plot of about a 1/2 acre. Saw deer on it nearly everytime I sat in the stand covering it. They hit it all times of the day but mainly on their way to the crop fields in the afternoon and on their way back to bedding in the morning. And the bucks cruise it during the rut in search of a doe.

With that said I have no plans of creating acres of plots on this piece. You probably shouldn't either. But an acre or less can still be a big attractant even with farm fields nearby. Think of your plot as a staging plot and the neighbors fields as destination feeding areas.

I agree and I like even smaller plots on the way to a destination plot. I shoot for 1/4 to 1/3 acre for these. I find that deer are much more comfortable using these tiny plots during daylight hours when they are only a few jumps from cover. With a smart stand location, you can pretty much cover an entire 1/4 acre plot with a bow even if you limit yourself to 20 yards. Deer usually move enough when feeding that the odd of them coming within 20 yards of a well placed stand are excellent.

By combining smart habitat manipulation for travel routes a small property can be a hotspot. Without influence on a significant amount of surrounding acreage, you can't really plant to improve herd health, but it doesn't take a lot of land to improve the hunting depending on the surrounding area. While small plots are just one tool you can use, they can be effective in some situations.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[hesseu]

Where the former owner had a treestand at the northeast part of the property...where that V shaped small field is, that's where I would put a plot. That is a killer spot along the creek and it an ideal location for them to feel safe as they use the creek for travel. That stand location is also ideal.
I am very familiar with that area of Missouri...hunted the west side of 63 for years. PRIME :)

 

[LuckyIL]

I always make note of where someone built a stand... usually they had a good reason.
waders are no fun but sometimes worth its weight lugging them around.. they aren't that uncomfortable
Congrats, looks killer Brad

 

[yoderjac]

I always make note of where someone built a stand... usually they had a good reason.
waders are no fun but sometimes worth its weight lugging them around.. they aren't that uncomfortable
Congrats, looks killer Brad

That's kinda funny to me. We have a variety of experience with the folks that hunt our place. There is one other very experienced hunter. He and I will often be chatting and realize they we both intended to put a stand in the exact same tree. We look at where some of the other guys put stands and we just scratch our heads. So, it really depends on who put the stand in.

When I was intermediate in my bow hunting career, a benefited from a tragedy that occurred with a very experienced bowhunting friend of mine. He was working on his house and went up one too many steps on a step ladder. He fell and broke his hip. He could use nothing but a ladder stand for several years while the hip was replaced and healing occurred. He was walking with a cane and I volunteered to set stands for him. Wow did I learn a lot. He could look at a setup and say. "The stand goes in that tree facing this way. Deer will come from that direction cross here, and I'll have an opening for a shot right there." Sure enough, about 90% of the time he was exactly right. I asked him how he did it and he couldn't explain it. After setting enough stands for him, I eventually caught on. Like him, I can't really explain it step by step to someone, but you just get a feel for the balance between cover, visibility, height, sun, wind, and probably factors I don't even know I consider. Whatever it is, other experienced hunters have it as well. When two guys independently pick the exact same tree, it says something.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Needmorebrush82]

Not trying to be rude but please turn your tubes over where the vented side is at the top. You will kill your tree if you spray around the tubes with the vent at the bottom.

 

[Bszweda]

Not trying to be rude but please turn your tubes over where the vented side is at the top. You will kill your tree if you spray around the tubes with the vent at the bottom.

Thanks... I didn't realize/know I had them upside down. I did spray around them this year and used a cardboard box around the tube for protection. Flipping the tube would be much easier.

 

[Needmorebrush82]

Your trees will also grow faster once you get the vents up top. It will preserve what moisture you have and eliminate the chimney effect from the heat rising and stealing moisture from your trees. Good luck, glad to see another tree planter!