bueller's blotter
- Thread starter bueller
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- land tour sandy soil
Bill
Administrator
I've noticed that also. Maybe free isn't always good.
bueller
Moderator
This one is a little extra special for me. Last summer was the first year I owned this piece and I didn't get anything bigger than a yearling buck on camera until October or November.
bueller
Moderator
White pines are also doing well. For fear of deer browsing I planted some of these in "natural cages". This one is in a hole in a hazelnut thicket.
This one is not caged but I left the grass to protect it from drying out in the bare sand. The grass doesn't seem to be stunting them at all. If I notice that happening I'll clear the grass back after the pines are established.
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This one is not caged but I left the grass to protect it from drying out in the bare sand. The grass doesn't seem to be stunting them at all. If I notice that happening I'll clear the grass back after the pines are established.
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bueller
Moderator
Our native ones go pretty much untouched also.
bueller
Moderator
This is one of our plots in July of 2015 with maturing buckwheat.
Mid August 2015 I overseeded with rye, clover, and radish. Here is that plot this spring.
And now in July of 2016 the rye has matured and the red clover is about a foot tall.
Today I overseeded with some turnips and urea. Hopefully some of them take but if not the clover will get me too fall when I will overseed with rye again. If this isn't no-till I don't know what is.
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Mid August 2015 I overseeded with rye, clover, and radish. Here is that plot this spring.
And now in July of 2016 the rye has matured and the red clover is about a foot tall.
Today I overseeded with some turnips and urea. Hopefully some of them take but if not the clover will get me too fall when I will overseed with rye again. If this isn't no-till I don't know what is.
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bueller
Moderator
The buckwheat in this plot is struggling a bit. We haven't put down much lime on this one and the ground is really sandy, plus my dad ran a disc pretty deep on it a couple years ago. On closer examination it's not just the fertility that's at work here. This small plot is getting hammered by the deer.
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rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
Cranes - would guess you have some grains ripening or something that is attracting them. The only time I've seen them on my land was for almost two weeks in a row right after I rolled down some winter wheat to release some clover but the seed heads were easily available. In the past with winter rye had brushogged and lightly disked to get a free replant for the fall and never saw them directly on my land. For that two weeks, I kicked up the same 4 birds several times.
bueller
Moderator
I do have some winter rye that I knocked down the last week of May, seed heads were just forming. Didn't have the rye last year though. Both July's I did have buckwheat beginning to flower. No seeds yet but maybe the flowers attract them in search of seeds.
Great thread Bueller! I've bow hunted a friends 80 outside of adams for the past 10 yrs (but unfortunately he sold it this winter). He didn't have plots or anything but i can really relate to what you describe with your land. I own a few acres up in NW WI, it's all sand barrens with jackpine, redpine, scrub oak, hazel brush, etc which is very similar to what you have. I've spent the last 6 mo. reading most of the threads on this and that other website as well as Double Tree's stuff on Outreach Outdoors. Due to my sandy conditions I was planning on fall planting rye and either clover or hairy vetch and was also thinking about buckwheat but wasn't sure how to transition in summer from the rye/clover to buckwheat. This thread has really brought it all together in my head (since i've never planted a foodplot in my life). I still have some work to do before getting to the point of putting seed on the ground - probly next year. Nice to have this resource as I move forward on my journey. Keep up the great posts!
Been huntin' in the stuff for about 35 yrs and would say I feel a bond with it. So many great memories, guess it's in my blood now. I thought of that when I read your post about the doe you took still hunting on your land, you'll never forget that - not only because it was the first for you on that land but to take it by still hunting, that's as pure as it gets. We've had guys come up to bowhunt the barrens area with us and they look at it and ask how do you guys hunt this s@*t - we look at it and it looks like heaven to us. Ah the smell of the sweet fern in the fall ...
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
jackpine, if you are up near the Burnett/Douglas Co pine barrens area, winter rye will be your best friend. Never, ever, take a plow to that ground, very light discing at the most, DO NOT destroy what little organic matter you have in that sand like my dad and uncle did on our old place(we were about 8-10 miles south of bueller's place). Throw and mow/roll will be helpful in maintaining your OM. Hairy vetch and maybe red clover will be your best bet for legumes, unless you have a notion that you would like to try alfalfa, but I would only recommend that to guys with more plotting experience, a high pH, and with the equipment to handle it. I have stomped around and hunted in that type of habitat since before I could even carry a rifle with my family. Challenging to say the least, no real defined trails in most areas, "hard edges" of different vegetation types can be great travel routes in that habitat. I have experienced the same response as you with guys who are not familiar with that type of ground, "How the h#!! do you guys see deer in this?" LOL, we always did just fine until the DNR screwed it up with T-Zone and unlimited antlerless tags for far too many years. Hunters in my family have harvested a ton of nice bucks from this sand pit in past seasons. They are there, just not in the numbers one would find in ag areas, and not quite the antler quality one would find amongst the ag fields, but darn nice bucks either way. Good luck with the new plots on your place, any other questions, just ask!
Thanks Whip..your posts on this thread are really helping to set the plan in my head. Other than when I clear the brush I plan to never break the ground. Was going the mowing route but I really like how the rolled stuff looks on all the sites (not sure where you buy a roller though?). I think someone else said how the rolling breaks down much slower than when mowed, that sounds like the ticket when trying to build OM in sand. I don't have all sand but only about 4 inches of decayed matter on top of the sand. I'm taking a soil sample in a few weeks, although Im sure it will say I need to build PH and OM. I'm not thinking of alfalfa, my plots will only total 1/2 acre spread out in several plots in an old cutover, maybe after a few years I might try brassicas if the OM and PH get built up. My thoughts right now are on the equipment I will need. Do you think a Stihl handlebar trimmer and bag seeder/spreader are sufficient for 1/2 acre or do I step up to a used garden tractor and pull behind spreader?? I was thinking of just trying the trimmer and bag for the first year and see how it goes....but i'm sure i'll have to spread a lot of lime.... Thanks again
