Eastern NC 35

[Corbin.clay]

Some areas are very thick and some are bare due to flooding. 45 days from avg first frost. Have a hurricane inbound on saturday.
After the storm would you....
a) reseed bare areas with cereal grains
b) reseed with original mix of brassicas and cereal grains
c) leave it alone its thick enough

 

[nchunter1989]

my thoughts would be get some WR out. that way you have another crop coming up few weeks behind the current,more young shoots to feed on. plus, bare ground is never beneficial.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Here is a 4 week progression on my brassicas plot. It is a little over a 1/3rd of an acre with a mound splitting it in half. You can see it has very dense cover on all 3 sides. Eventually it will be enlarged towards the tree line and property in the background.
Here is 1 week from planting.






Here is 2 weeks from planting. After reading up on how much brassicas love nitrogen we put some extra on there since its a small plot and wouldnt take long.


Here is 3 weeks from planting. From monday to thursday we received about 6 inches of rain. You can see some low spots flooded and I assumed had killed all the plants in those areas.



Here is the most current view at 4 weeks from planting. The low spots have filled in much more than I had expected. I can see the growth put on after the fertilizer at this point. Hopefully Hurricane matthew won't do too much damage, but I would rather he destroy my hobby than anyone's life. Be safe those of your near the coast.

 

[Eggman]

Stay safe in this storm Corbin. Wind and rain is no fun.

 

[wbpdeer]

Corbin,

I hope the weather slips past you with as little damage as possible. The storm surge in areas and potential tornadoes make the situation extremely dangerous. May your angels watch over you and family.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Hunted thursday afternoon before the storm and deer movement was good. Had a shooter buck slip across the far end of a shooting lane. Wind was blowing 20-25 out of the northeast and it was nice to finally not sweat in the stand.

Sunday was spent cleaning up around the house, thankfully no damage, just debris. Inland NC got hit much harder and flooding has major interstates closed. Fortunately, wilmington and the surrounding suffered very little damage.

Hunted Monday afternoon since school was cancelled. Coolest day of the year and deer were again moving. Had 6 does throughout the lanes and plots. I believe it was the same buck, but again he put the slip on me crossing one of my plots. Watched him pop out of the woods but he never looked up and was across the plot before I could even get the gun up.

Parents left wilmington this morning headed to Charlotte and after 3 detours they turned around and came back.

 

[Corbin.clay]

story to come later, got a long drag

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[Goldentriangle]

Nice, lookin forward to the story!


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[Corbin.clay]

Friday nights low was in the 40s for the first time all year, So I headed to the farm with my dad. Before the sun come up I had a 6,4, and 3 point buck walk through a plot or the shooting lanes, but none stopped to feed. Around 730 2 does worked their way down the road, fed for about 30 mins. Behind them way up the road I see a coyote, so I wait til they spook from the yote and then dropped the yote. I hated to shoot with the does close, but it was worth it to get rid of a yote.

Saturday night was even colder, so I went back and hunted the same stand. As soon as there was enough light to see, I notice a flash of white in the back of brassicas plot. He was walking across the back of the plot, maybe 40 yds wide, with his nose to the ground. I figured he was not going to stop and was just checking for does. He was getting close to out of sight, so I put it on him and eased the trigger. He mule kicked and turned sideways into the thick brush and sounded like he crashed. It all happened in about 7 secs. I sat there for about 30 mins waiting and wondering. Is he down? How big is he? Is he the 6 with the gimpy leg or the 8 with huge eye guards?

This is about where I shot him at. He was about 20 yards into the woods from this spot when he dropped. You can see a little bit of frost on the turnips in the foreground
This picture is back at the house. Im not sure whose smile is bigger? The 6 year old asked if the deer was eating her turnips!
This was the biggest deer I had seen in person at this farm after hunting a season and a half. Probably a 2 1/2 year old deer, but by far the most effort I have put into hunting and managing for a deer. I got to share it with my dad in the woods and my daughter while cleaning it.

 

[Eggman]

Great story Corbin! Congrats on your buck!!!

 

[Corbin.clay]

Thank you, not my biggest by far but definitely the proudest I have been of a deer.

 

[scott44]

Congrats!

 

[Corbin.clay]

Thank you, most fun I have had doing "work" in a long time!

 

[Corbin.clay]

I hunted this weekend with my father and bro in law, crowded for 35 acres but weather and wind were perfect to hunt. No one saw a deer, but 2 of the neighbors directly next door shot early.
All the plots except for white clover are struggling going on 4 weeks without rain. Clover looks great. Brassica leaves turning purple on the small plants, havent grown much in last 2 weeks, but they are still alive and green. Rye plot in the back 1/3rd (poorest soil, more sand and lower pH) has really dropped off and is starting to wilt so I reseeded 50 lbs for the 1/2 acre plot.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Back plot sprouted after the rain we finally got on monday and tuesday. Rye grain had been sitting idle for at least 3 weeks without rain.
Have a new guest visiting a trail that crossed a shooting lane. I pulled about 2 dozen turnips and threw them in the lane about 150 yds from the plot to see if they would eat em as they went by. Deer didnt stop but this guy did. There was 10 pictures of him rooting around that night, but nothing the next 5 days. First and only time with a hog around.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Hunted 2x of thanksgiving and didn't see a deer. Heard 2 close shots on both days from neighbor to the north, who I don't believe hunted last year. They built a solar farm couple hundred yards to the north and I believe he lost his crop fields that he was hunting and moved back into the woods as its a small parcel.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Congrats on the deer!

 

[Corbin.clay]

Very little daytime activity throughout december, even on the cold mornings.
Before christmas placed a small order of trees, just to see how much time and effort and money it would take before ordering 200 and getting started. purchased mats, tubes, stakes, but forgot my mulch to cover after. Had 20 "free" trees from arbor day after joining for my family and my parents.

The first 10 were a mix of white and red oaks, spaced at 30 ft. the picture is with my stand behind me and turnip plot to my right.

The next 10 were a mix of shrubs and trees for wildlife, viburnum, plum, crabapple and such. They were planted along side my turnip plot. Last year pears were planted on opposite side of the food plot and have the black corrugated pipe on them which will be removed before summer. these trees were spaced at 20 ft. Turnips leaf are gone, but lots of bulbs remain.
The back portion of the farm we havent been able to get to with tractor so not at much work done back there. But with the atv, drag and some rye it has turned out fairly well. Seeded this plot with rye on sept 20 after hurricane, great germination but no rain for 6 weeks. Reseeded without dragging or cultipack before rain and again had great germination for simply broadcasting. Due to heavy rain some areas were thick and some areas were thin, the deer definitely favored the really thick areas!
20 trees took about 2 hours to plant by myself, including clearing a spot, staking, tubing, putting down a mat and giving the tree 2 gallons of water from clorox jugs.