J-birds place

[j-bird]

Took some more pics while I was pout on my place over the weekend.
MG on the back porch is doing well. I'll move these to the screen location in a month or so.


Went out to water my chestnut trees and there was not a lot of breeze, yet I noticed some corn stalks moving. At first I thought it was the dog...but he was up laying in the shade of an apple tree.... So I went to investigate.....slowly..... I was able to get about 20 feet or so away. There was a pair of fawns plying in my corn plot!


My one apple in the SW and my chestnut crabs seem to be doing ok as well.



This is one of the areas where I throw and spray some turnips last weekend. I do this at the end of my plots where things don't grow well. If they do well fine....if not ...fine. Only a week so I didn't expect to see anything yet. Happy with the kill however!

 

[j-bird]

Well I didn't get much done this weekend, but I did pull my cam cards and found a bit of a surprise. Sorry the pics are so fuzzy, I have my cam set on video and it was a little further away than I thought as well.....zooming in doesn't seem to help much either. If I can find some place/way to support a video I will add a link later.

The buck on the left is a young 10 pointer.....I'm guessing 2 maybe 3 at best. The buck on the right is a solid 8 pointer and I am guessing to be 3 or 4. It's so hard to tell in the summer months. The buck on the right is "legal" per my own rules for being as wide as his ears. Either will get shot if my daughter is hunting...as it would be her first buck. I would really like to see the one on the right and see if he does it for me or not. He sure seems wide enough.......




I also have a doe (no fawn) and another doe with twins that seem to be frequenting this spot as well. They seem to be traveling together so I assume the doe without a fawn may be a younger offspring of the doe with twins. In any case we have confirmation that we do have fawns that have made it thus far.

Lets see if this works or not......fawn chasing a squirrel I thought was funny.

My spray and throw brassica are germinating also. And I cut/mowed my deer path as well......sorry no pics.....dang phone wasn't charged.

 

[Mortenson]

That's a really nice looking 8. Handsome rack and tine length looks sufficient.

 

[j-bird]

That's a really nice looking 8. Handsome rack and tine length looks sufficient.

He reminds me of a buck I took 2 years ago, but I want to see the deer in person to see for myself. The velvet also makes them look bigger as well. I have to get him to show up during a hunt first. I'll post a video next week if I don;t have something else to show. My video host only allows me to post one a week because I'm too cheap to pay for more!

 

[Bill]

That 8 has nice height and you gotta love a deer that doesn't cheat you on the brow tines.

 

[j-bird]

That 8 has nice height and you gotta love a deer that doesn't cheat you on the brow tines.

That is why I want to see him in person.....if he makes my heart go "pitter-patter" then I'll smoke him.....but until I have the choice.....it's tough to say. There are angles in the video where he looks like a real good deer and then there are others that make me think he may not be as big as I think. None of it matters until I see him during the season!

 

[j-bird]

Well I didn't get much actually done habitat wise, but did take some update pics.

My one chestnut tree has burrs growing well.....


My turnip planting/broadcasting a few weekends ago are sprouting.....


My sawtooths are doing OK as well.....need even bigger cages....in my clover/smartweed plot.


The deer attacked my jewel weed.......


They also attacked what-ever this is!

 

[j-bird]

Update of the chicory plot.....lots of nipped clover and chicory there......makes me happy inside!

Update on the road screen..... We will be making additions to the string of MG here soon.

Got a dose of some unwanted weather.....this is a small piece some where nearly baseball size!!!! Beat up my truck, but no broken windows.....

Curious as to what these are as well? All over this milkweed plant!

 

[Bill]

Chicory looks good!

Red milkweed beetles. I don't think there a problem.

 

[j-bird]

Chicory looks good!

Red milkweed beetles. I don't think there a problem.

Well "red milkweed beetle" sure seems a fitting enough name for them!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

That plot looks pretty good J-Bird. Clover & chicory = good combo for us here too. Deer magnet for sure.

 

[j-bird]

That plot looks pretty good J-Bird. Clover & chicory = good combo for us here too. Deer magnet for sure.

It's heavy on the chicory, real heavy, as the deer here seem to seek it out during the cool temps of october and early november (our archery season) and they will eat every piece they can find. Not sure I will hunt this plot this year or not, but I have a stand close so I can keep an eye on it. I need to remove a few trees to get a little more light in there as there are bare spots, but nothing a chainsaw can't fix. I also have a small water hole just to the left of that picture and the dark at the far end is a thicker area of deer bedding....so, fingers crossed it works out. The whole thing is less than 100 yards inside an inside ag field corner currently in soybeans.

 

[j-bird]

Cam video

 

[j-bird]

So I was out and got some work done and took some update pics.

Last year I transplanted my MG to their final home and I did the same with this years cuttings. The left pic is this years transplants that I was growing from cuttings on the back deck (roughly 24" tall). The pic on the right is MG that went thru the same process last year.....its roughly 48" tall now. The weed barrier and direct placement of the cutting failed.....I specifically didn't water and only depended on rain (1 of roughly a dozen actually are still alive).

Also took some update pics of my spray and throw and pray turnip planting. This is in my south bottom. First pic is between areas planted in corn, Second pic is at the end of the rows. These are just purple top turnips that was broadcast Aug 6th roughly, so less than a month. I doubt my deer actually eat them (as they tend not to) but I figure it's good for the soil and good insurance. I will be adding in some winter wheat soon as well.



Apple update.... This is my best tree this year. I don;t remember the variety - I wasn't smart enough to tag it, all I can tell you is that its a "people" variety. It has a couple dozen apples on it this year so it is really progressing as it had less than a dozen last year.


I also took some pics of my "deer path" that was mowed last weekend. This is between a wooded bank and a field buffer. I have a stand set up to hopefully take advantage as well. this "path of least resistance" follows a current path and leads to my food plot/apples. I have an earlier post on my plans to do this. I need to maintain this "path" and maybe even seed it in clover or the like to help keep it established.

 

[j-bird]

Well, like almost every weekend - even with the rain, I couldn't stay in the house!

Made an unexpected purchase.....unexpected simply because I had not seen them for sale before. I was at my local Rural King store and I noticed they had gotten some more chestnuts in. As I walked over I noticed mixed in with them was some grafted persimmons trees (females). So I HAD to buy some. I limited myself to just 2, but planted in in area where I know the neighbor has some males.....


I also collected some swamp white oak acorns during my trip to Rural King.....I have a spot. I placed several acorns in pots on the back porch. This was friday.....I went out to check them sunday.....and the #$%& squirrels cleaned me out! I have since replaced those acorns with some white oak I collected and those pots are not inside a wire dog crate.....some time the cage is to keep things in.....sometimes it's to keep things out! I'll get some more swamp white oaks..... I only lost the battle, not the war!

While I was out checking on other things I also checked on my Chinkapin oaks (which are doing well) and I found some of the biggest pawpaw's I have seen in a while....


The turnips are also coming along..... As you can see I had some additional inspectors! I figure these should grow some decent bulbs yet this fall.


Also found an opportunity. With the weather we have had I found where a small yellow/tulip poplar had been uprooted and decided to take advantage and placed my trail cam over it just to see how the deer react. Time will tell.....


I also freshened the drip vine with a new one (sorry pic was blurry) but the sap began to run as soon as it was hung so I look for it to get some attention.....I'll move a cam to it soon to capture any activity.

I pulled both cam cards and nothing really to report. We did get a video of a young curious buck (a forkhorn), but other than that just a couple does and their fawns. Fawns are just starting to loose their spots here.

 

[mikmaze]

those paw paw are neat, I gotta get some of them going at my places, them and persimon, this time I will cage as I fed the deer with my persimon trees last year, ate em dead.

 

[j-bird]

Well I just got a text from my son who is at home......the little bandit was back.....Hahahahaha......no dice this time little guy! Go find your own acorns!!!!

 

[j-bird]

those paw paw are neat, I gotta get some of them going at my places, them and persimon, this time I will cage as I fed the deer with my persimon trees last year, ate em dead.

If you need some seeds say so......I collected these pawpaw to support a seed swap thread. I have plenty naturally so I won't be planting these.

 

[j-bird]

No pics this time just some general updates.

The down tulip poplar I put a cam on......a doe family group has visited it everyday that I had a cam on it. The video and the evidence on the tree clearly show they are eating the leaves......the leaves are still green.

I spread some winter wheat as well into my turnips and some other places just as some additional green food. The wheat will survive our winters here.

Apples are still holding on my trees, gave the 2 new persimmons trees and some struggling chestnut trees a drink as well.

My oaks are starting to become ready my chinkapin are just starting while my white oak and a few burrs are still holding tight. I was able to pot up some more SWO I collected as well.

I put cams back out and tried to mount them higher (roughly 7' to 8' - comfortable for me to reach) and tried to get them to angle down to see if that helps with triggers and deer staring and investigation or fearing the cams. We will see.

The MG that I had potted seems to be doing pretty well as well as they are still green.

I also put bigger cages (full size) on the sawtooths in my north corner plot as well. Some are reaching beyond their previous cage and I didn't want the deer browsing the tops of them. not sure they would, but I didn't want to chance it. I got 3 full size cages left over.....guess I need to buy 3 more trees!

 

[j-bird]

DNR finally released the 2017 deer harvest report......it's 287 pages! Just in case any fellow Hoosiers are interested. I will scrub the numbers and the like to see how things are looking in my area.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-DeerSummaryReport_2017.pdf