LessRice Land Tour

[LessRice]

On the flip side, with the most rain I can remember ever getting in June and August, it has created some other problems.

As you travel down the road, you would think that this is a food plot surrounding a pond with a nice little ambush spot...



In reality this is supposed to be a field that has been flooded and areas that have almost 2' of standing water.



In the areas that are stayed semi-dry, the chicory, red clover, rye and radishes have looked great.



Water with some surrounding food may really turn into a blessing in disguise as the rut approaches.

 

[LessRice]

Every year I try to tackle a new project and turn a chunk of and that has little to no wildlife value into something that could potentially be a game changer. I tackled an area that was filled with dead flooded out poplar and thick mats of grass. I didn't take any pictures over the summer but I left some blood sweat and tears out here...

This was taken late august. It is in an area that is very hard to access with my little 8N but managed to get back there brush hog it and disk it after I cleared the area by hand. I am trying to get chicory, birdsfoot trefoil and red clover established in there so I won't need to rely on my tractor to supply the deer with food the next few years. I have heard mixed reviews on the BFT but in an area with no agriculture within 10 miles the deer are not picky.



You can see the rain have a small portion of the new field flooded, but this was the fruit of my labor opening weekend. Just one doe but I'll be honest it felt good to see her out there.

 

[scott44]

Nice pics, good luck with your tree planting. Your pond plot looks good.

 

[LessRice]

This field has always been my pride and joy. I shot my first buck with a bow and arrow back when I was 12 years old.



Its planted in turnips, rape and radish. As all of you know the past couple years have been a horrible drought but this year is a polar opposite, and at least for me has produced WAY TOO MUCH rain. Even with this plot in sand, it hasn't been able to drain fast enough and the brassicas have definitely taken a toll. With the moisture leaching away nutrients they have really started to struggle.



The field has still managed to put on some decent bulb growth with the cool temperatures. The does have been just hammering the snot out of this plot, even with a big acorn drop.



This was last Sunday, saw 5 doe, which was a nice change of pace with our lack of deer up here.



I have the 6 apple trees around the NW side of the field and they have started to produce on their 3rd leaf.



Here is a comparison of Dolgo and Whitney. This year we had Dolgo, Whitney, Chestnut, Red Baron, and Red Prairie Spy produce apples and out of all of those the Whitney was by far the favorite of our family.

 

[LessRice]

I will be honest with you, when I think of Burnett County, I think farm ground. Just because I have a couple of customers there. Your land looks great, keep posting pictures! Thanks!

There is definitely a lot of farm country to the east of us and do our share of hunting out here but we are near the St. Croix river bottom. We are blessed with some of the best smallmouth fishing you will find anywhere but stuck with red sand.

Fall largemouth season is just kicking in! Bites been hot the last couple weeks and will only be better through out the weekend.



You guys are inspirational and have kicked by passion into overdrive!

 

[LessRice]

Recent years our buck population has taken a huge hit and throughout the entire spring and summer got 1 single picture of a small buck 1 night! Needless to say I was disappointed in the upcoming season since we are buck only.

The day before opener these guys showed up and renewed my faith! Like I said since we are bucks only this year and eat a lot of venison yearling buck may be on the table but I don't think that is such a bad thing as we try to rebuild our herd (not as bad as MN but hunting is poor by us).



Skip to last weekend, when I pulled the cards to be shocked when I saw this buck. I know exactly what buck this is, as we got a lot of pictures of him as a 2.5 year old 10 point. He put on some decent length but not much width, needless to say its the biggest buck I have gotten pictures of in a few years. He showed up on two separate occasion last week so when I go up there tomorrow we will see if he makes a few more appearances.

 

[sandbur]

Still kinda works?..........That is almost the same as when the barracuda told me she was "Sorta Pregnant" :eek:

Well, Congratulations!

When is the due date?

Sorry to steal the thread....

 

[sandbur]

Great tour.

I think you said that you have about 20 dpsm and are concerned about your deer numbers. I would be very happy with 20 dpsm, spring time population. Our DNR would probably give out at least 5 doe tags with that dpsm....

 

[sandbur]

I have some birdsfoot on my light soil that has persisted for 20 plus years. I also see it in northern Mn. on old logging trails.. I think it is a very good choice in areas with little agriculture.

Why are the popple dying out? Drought or over mature? Have you tried any cotton woods?

 

[LessRice]

Great tour.

I think you said that you have about 20 dpsm and are concerned about your deer numbers. I would be very happy with 20 dpsm, spring time population. Our DNR would probably give out at least 5 doe tags with that dpsm....

I would say 20~25 DPSM is probably pretty accurate for our area. Granted I probably won't see hunting like 10 years ago, would see 10-15 deer every single sit, but even in the 20s I feel like it is way too low. We have some prime bedding areas that you think would be loaded with sign, but are just vacant areas.

The one problem that is present is that we carry a lot of does on our property. I know most of the neighbors and in our 960 acre section this 100 acres has some of the best habitat, which sucks in the does, leaving bucks on the neighboring properties and their ultimate demise. Over the years I have passed almost all of the small bucks that the neighbors will shoot in rifle season. I don't complain, nor have any problem with it, just struggle with bringing the bucks in outside the rut.

I have some birdsfoot on my light soil that has persisted for 20 plus years. I also see it in northern Mn. on old logging trails.. I think it is a very good choice in areas with little agriculture.

Why are the popple dying out? Drought or over mature? Have you tried any cotton woods?

This property is probably 75% oak and other hardwood, 24% pine and 1% popple. The popple is confined to one small area, surrounding a pond, but has been subject to flooding. I think that over the years it has taken its toll and drowned out most of them. I'm no expert but would think that since they are flooded and dying they probably won't send up any suckers? Because regen is very slow in the area and starting to get taken over by fescue. Im thinking about trying hybrid willow, do they handle occasional flooding or is there another good option?

How hard was it to establish the BFT? I know the deer in the area very well and they eat almost anything green, except chicory (after multiple successful plantings with very limited usage). I really think it would be a huge asset to establish a couple of areas since it seems like once established it will be there almost indefinately. What times of the year do you usually see usage? Does it stay green into the fall and early winter?

 

[sandbur]

I would say 20~25 DPSM is probably pretty accurate for our area. Granted I probably won't see hunting like 10 years ago, would see 10-15 deer every single sit, but even in the 20s I feel like it is way too low. We have some prime bedding areas that you think would be loaded with sign, but are just vacant areas.

The one problem that is present is that we carry a lot of does on our property. I know most of the neighbors and in our 960 acre section this 100 acres has some of the best habitat, which sucks in the does, leaving bucks on the neighboring properties and their ultimate demise. Over the years I have passed almost all of the small bucks that the neighbors will shoot in rifle season. I don't complain, nor have any problem with it, just struggle with bringing the bucks in outside the rut.



This property is probably 75% oak and other hardwood, 24% pine and 1% popple. The popple is confined to one small area, surrounding a pond, but has been subject to flooding. I think that over the years it has taken its toll and drowned out most of them. I'm no expert but would think that since they are flooded and dying they probably won't send up any suckers? Because regen is very slow in the area and starting to get taken over by fescue. Im thinking about trying hybrid willow, do they handle occasional flooding or is there another good option?

How hard was it to establish the BFT? I know the deer in the area very well and they eat almost anything green, except chicory (after multiple successful plantings with very limited usage). I really think it would be a huge asset to establish a couple of areas since it seems like once established it will be there almost indefinately. What times of the year do you usually see usage? Does it stay green into the fall and early winter?

Deer do not use my bft where I live, but it has persisted.

Run this idea pass the experts, but I wonder if a seeding of medium red clover and bft might work. Try for some of those areas where it is a bit wetter from the looks of your habitat-jack pines and no poplar. It resembles my red cedar woods that has a few jack pines in it.

 

[LessRice]

Thats basically what I'm trying now, a mix of WR, MRC, BFT and chicory. Time will only tell to see if it works out.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

LessRice - This is my first visit to your thread. WOW! Nice property. Good looking food plots and I like the positioning of the apple trees on the NW side of the one plot. They'll get lots of sun morning to mid-afternoon. Kudos on the Norway & white spruce. Very hardy & should do well on your soil as long as they aren't in soppy ground. We have some Norways planted at my camp ( Northern Pa. ) in some sandier soil & they are champs. They've made excellent thermal & bedding cover for us. Chicory was slow to catch on w/ deer at my camp at first, but after a couple years, they took to it - especially in dry years. Chicory's long tap root keeps it green in dry years.

When your helpers see your excitement when you're working at the property, it'll rub off. Pretty soon they'll be anxious to help Dad. I raised 2 sons and much of our spruce cover at camp was planted w/ their help. ( 18 yrs. ago now ) It's pretty cool to look at those trees now and think back to when we planted them. Now my sons are reaping the benefits - one shot a nice buck in those spruce. Your boys ( and you! ) will reap the same rewards & memories.

Great pix and thanks for the tour. Nice job! Keep us posted.

 

[LessRice]

Chicory was slow to catch on w/ deer at my camp at first, but after a couple years, they took to it - especially in dry years. Chicory's long tap root keeps it green in dry years.

That's kind of what I am hoping for, so I keep trying. I have a hard time imagining that our "big woods" deer wouldn't devour anything green.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[West Branch]

Some of our hayfields have BFT and MRC mixed in with other hay grasses like timothy and brome. It is hard to tell how much browse the BFT gets because our deer population is much lower and we have an abundance of food. In the spring and early summer the BFT seems much more dominant and in the fall the clover takes over depending on when it was last cut. The BFT seems like a good plant for a heavily wooded area. We have a patch out in our woods that is 200 sq ft or so on one of our trails. I had a camera on it for a little while but got impatient and moved it back in the beginning of June. Should have left it there to see what kind of activity it would get. And now I don't remember where that camera is!