My Land Tour...The Big Woods

[H20fwler]

Had a chance to run over to this farm yesterday and take a walk around. Work has been non stop this year and the projects are never ending over at the other farm.

Most of the pears are doing pretty well, the apples are hit and miss some of them are just ugly but there are apples there. Had a little bit of FB this year and a touch of CAR on a few having some random orange spots on leaves. It was a wet cool spring followed by a long hot dry spell then good rain the last few weeks.
This year my big Gloden Hornet aborted all it's fruit and that is strange for that tree.


Some of the fruit sets;

A few pasture shots showing the wildflowers and the grasses right now. I missed pics of the big wildflower bloom out there by a couple weeks;

It looked like the jap beetles had hit the new persimon trees but the leaves are growing back. The nine new apple trees this year are all doing OK with zero love this year.

Jumped a fawn that was the same size as Darcy right between the hazelnut grove and back pond.
Hazelnuts;

Button Brush by the front pond;

Chestnuts;

One of two five inch bass that were cruising the edge of front pond as I went by. Must have had a succesful spawn last year, two pics of same fish from a little vid I took of them (that's why pics so blurry).

 

[H20fwler]

Finally got the chance over the weekend to do some habitat projects out at the farm, work has been very busy and I have been distracted all summer with everything going on at the other farm when I have free time.
So I loaded up the fourwheeler with it's little dump bed cart onto the trailer and put it to work filling feeders and trimming shooting lanes up.

I absolutley love the native grasses in the pasture this time of year, the Indian grass is my favorite. I don't know the exact varieties but one gets a brown seed head and the other type a dark reddish head, mixed in with a bunch of bluestem and switch it ends up being a seven foot tall jungle.

Mowed some shooting lane/deer highways over the weekend, one around inside of pasture along shrub strips to try and keep deer traveling out of sight from neighbors and a nice double wide one leading to shooting house and favorite stand.

Spotted some very fresh Hen of the Woods along the edge of woods.

The pear trees did great this year, lots of fruit;

They actually did too great, heavy fruit load and stong winds on young trees is not good.
Looked like bears had tried to climb them...I will never let this happen again.

I pruned fruit off branches that were bent but hadn't broken yet.

The star of the orchard this fall was the young Korean Giant...fantastic tasting pears! Whole family loved them, wife had me bring out a ladder to pick them all.

Apples were thin this year, late frost. But there are some but not many. Was more of a tree growing year for most of them.

What my MG screen would look like if the old farts that mow for the county would leave it alone....this is the only spot they dont mow it, the other fifty yards gets scalped twice every year even though I post it with signs not to mow or spray.

Chestnuts are also popping right now, none make it on the ground long!

 

[buckdeer1]

Is the MG that keeps getting mowed on your property?

 

[Bill]

What my MG screen would look like if the old farts that mow for the county would leave it alone....this is the only spot they dont mow it, the other fifty yards gets scalped twice every year even though I post it with signs not to mow or spray.

You need to drive in a bunch of T posts in front of that. They’re messing with you. Time to play their games

 

[H20fwler]

You need to drive in a bunch of T posts in front of that. They’re messing with you. Time to play their games

I have given that some thought! Those clowns would try and mow around the posts...they mow around back side of telephone poles and cut 5' of corn or beans that farmers plant up next to them.
I've got plenty of room I'm just going to order some more rizomes and plant them another 10' back where those Mensa giants can't reach with their mowing arm.
I do like the look of MG and it would serve a great purpose screening along the road and I'm sure the pheasants and bunnies would like it too. Does it tolerate a little bit of wet feet in spring at all?

 

[H20fwler]

Is the MG that keeps getting mowed on your property?

Yes!

 

[Bill]

Does it tolerate a little bit of wet feet in spring at all?

I have a spot that holds water quite a bit in the spring. MG did not take there.

 

[H20fwler]

Is the MG that keeps getting mowed on your property?

You can kind of see the row of MG from bottom of pic running behind pole sticking up above the regular grass for fifty yards or so. The county mowed it a month or so ago and will again this month.
It keeps trying to thrive.

 

[buckdeer1]

I would mark your line with T posts and call them and tell them to keep their ass off and I would call the sheriff and file a report and make them pay for the MG to replace.Whats the difference between them and some bozo trespassing?Looks great,My asian pears are the best also

 

[H20fwler]

I would mark your line with T posts and call them and tell them to keep their ass off and I would call the sheriff and file a report and make them pay for the MG to replace.Whats the difference between them and some bozo trespassing?Looks great,My asian pears are the best also

I have called the county office a couple times and talked with the supervisor that is in charge of the mowing crews. The second time I called I was very agitated.
He pretty much said that they are old retired guys that kind of do their own thing mowing and that the county has right of way like thirty feet or something from center of road?

I would sure rather have the cover on my side of road ditch, mowed grass has zero value for what I am trying to do for habitat and wildlife.
Next spring I’m going to just plant more rhizomes ten feet further back, I want the nice tall screen to block view of front pond and to discourage road hunters. I’ve got some willows planted in the wetter area along road and there are some survivor white pines we planted growing good now since I caged them.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Gosh that must be frustrating man! They mow pretty far into my property too, basically as far as the mower arm will reach but I don't have anything planted that close to the road.

I do have an issue with these guys spreading Knotweed though. 5-6 summers ago they mowed and I started seeing what I thought was American Bamboo in the ditch, it only took 1 year before it spread into where I mow by the road. Mowing it (I assume) got pieces of it in my deck and I inadvertently spread it to 3 spots around my house that have since grew to large patches. This summer I used Polaris AC Complete and it killed it, so I finally have a solution, but these guys still mow the patches of Knotweed and have spread it all up my road to the point that it now dominates the creek along the road. Not to mention all the pieces that they are putting into the creek and getting carried downstream creating new patches that will go unchecked.

 

[buckdeer1]

Gosh that must be frustrating man! They mow pretty far into my property too, basically as far as the mower arm will reach but I don't have anything planted that close to the road.

I do have an issue with these guys spreading Knotweed though. 5-6 summers ago they mowed and I started seeing what I thought was American Bamboo in the ditch, it only took 1 year before it spread into where I mow by the road. Mowing it (I assume) got pieces of it in my deck and I inadvertently spread it to 3 spots around my house that have since grew to large patches. This summer I used Polaris AC Complete and it killed it, so I finally have a solution, but these guys still mow the patches of Knotweed and have spread it all up my road to the point that it now dominates the creek along the road. Not to mention all the pieces that they are putting into the creek and getting carried downstream creating new patches that will go unchecked.

Usually the property pin is in the middle of the road,this may vary from state to state.With that being said roads move so it could be 5 ft off center to your favor or your neighbors.You should be able to go to your register of deeds and ask to see the road book for township or county roads whichever this is.It will tell the R/W width so you may have to find that pin and measure 1/2 that width to get outside R/W.Most of the time electric poles are fairly close but some electric companies have started getting R/W from landowners to put on backside of line.

 

[H20fwler]

Couple of the shooting lanes around and through pasture that will double as driving paths for my wife to check the bird boxes with the four wheeler. The pasture is fifteen acres of native grasses that are doing better than I ever expected , almost every square foot of this property is cover or food.


Mowed this one double wide have a great view of it from the shooting house. Will be planting clovers chicory and partridge pea heavy in it so it can double duty as a food plot.


Did some tree sitting this fall, saw a lot of deer. The improvements we have done to this property must be working. We have deer traveling through and what seems like does and fawns staying all the time. Noticed quite a few does with twins and a couple with triplets this fall.
I passed on bucks during bow that I would/will no doubt shoot during gun. Should just arrow one when it is nice and fat, they are probably thirty or forty pounds lighter by gun season. My whole mentality changes during gun season..kind of weird.






I was walking to my stand a few weeks ago and was just about to step into the woods. Wasn’t wearing a hat or face mask but did have bow kind of covering my face.
I looked to my right and a doe was standing at edge of pasture thirty yards away looking at me , I had wind in my face so I stood still…completely out in the open.
Then she starts slowly stepping to me! I just stood there when she started really getting close I slowly pulled out my phone and videod her. She got within ten yards of me bobbing her head and lightly stamping going all giraffe neck…it went on for a few minutes. When she turned to go I saw she had three fawns twenty yards behind her in tow.
It was sure different, she just didn’t recognize what I was…or did and just thinks of me as the nice landlord!



I didn’t have one sit this fall where I didn’t have deer less than thirty feet away under me at some point.

This buck was killed two weeks ago exactly 1/2 mile straight East of this property.

 

[OakSeeds]

that be a serious browtine on the left side ... looks like your efforts are going to pay some excellent dividends ... congrats

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Nice pics, H20!! Property looks great. Seems lots of deer have taken a liking to your place, along with all the ducks, bunnies, etc.

Tough one on those pear trees. We had the same kind of damage to our pear trees at camp - bears most likely. We did have some deer reach up and grab fruit, so maybe deer pull the limbs down too?? The good news is - when I pruned off the broken pear limbs, the trees pushed even more growth the next year. Good luck with your trees!! Say "HI" to Mrs. H20 - nice she gets out there with you and enjoys everything too!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

[H20fwler]

Having a good time chasing roosters at the farm. Cover is about perfect for them, the dogs really get a workout trying to root them out.
The native grasses and shrubs have filled in great, better than I ever thought they would…LOTS of deer beds everywhere in the pasture.

I bumped up a beautiful fat buck with short tines but crazy heavy mass the other day.

Nice hunt with the oldest son last week.


Oldest grandsons first exposure to pheasants, can’t wait to see him hunting them there one day. By the time he is old enough the shrub strips should be about just right.
Hopefully some day he will shoot birds there with his grandchildren….that’s the plan anyway, and he can point to old apple trees and tell them that Great Great Grandpa planted those for us.


Darcy loves spending time out there doing what she was born to do. She is really good at blocking and stopping the creepers that try not to hold for a point.

 

[TenPoint]

Good looking pups! Everything looks fantastic.

 

[H20fwler]

It's been awhile since I've updated this thread, I've been crazy busy with the barn/apartment build over at the other farm.

Put in some work out at this farm over the weekend and had a really good look around. I like it this time of year because the native grasses are low enough to see things good.

First some pics of how the orchard looks now

The apple trees are all loaded right now, the pears are OK. A little bit of leaf spot this spring but other than that they seem to be growing well.

The road screen is coming in good and blocking some of the view in...my $5 junk evergeen trees have really taken off. Caging them made all the difference.

The other end of the road screen, what was supposed to be silky dogwood and it may be but looks like some kind of willow. Started with a half dozen sticks 4-5 years ago and now it is really coming on. I've planted it in a couple different spots, willow looking thin leaves greeenish yellow smooth bark....loves wet feet and will grow great from a foot long clipping pushed into the moist dirt/mud in early spring. I should have cut and planted a bunch this past spring and filled in the gap along the road. The deer LOVE it, not a branch tip left un browsed by spring on any of them...and they just keep on growing. Deer like it even better than ROD.

 

[H20fwler]

Cont;

Last year I mowed a trail around the inside of shrub strips and across the middle, this spring I added it around the ponds and the orchard so that my wife can check her blue birds boxes and we can just easily walk around the property without disturbing it much and getting ticks on us from the tall grass and weeds. We also have a couple different local photographers that come out to take graduation/engagement/nature pics along with the local college biology class every couple of years to look at the plants/bugs/wildlife. So the trail system starts in the orchard and ends up in the orchard. I will mow the trail/trails once a month during the growing season. I walked the property a couple weeks ago with a state biologist from Columbus and he was very happy with the progress in the past eight years and with the plant life.

The shrub strips have really come on, they are finaly ahead of the deer browsing and rubbing and are growing great.

Showing the four rows along north side of pasture.

Same on west strips end and along ponds.

Trail going along woods

West side of front pond

12"+ bass on a spawning bed

The hazelnut patch , I planted 25 originally and now there are hundreds along the edge of woods, EVERYTHING eats them in fall. They hang into December with a slow drop...nothing lasts on the ground.

Some of the common milkweed growing in pasture, it is all over the place...lots of swamp milkweed along road and ponds.

Some of the spring flowers that the bees love

All the hives made it through winter and are putting the honey on.

Noticed a lot of ground nesting birds flushing

The trail going across the pasture cutting it in half north to south, planted ladino and durana clover heavy in it this past March and it is coming in thick. The shooting house is at the south end so it should give me some action in fall.

 

[H20fwler]

Cont;

Around ten pines we planted in middle of pasture for thermal bedding are almost 4' tall now, since we caged them they have blown up. Also the persimmons I planted just to the east of the pine patch made it through winter and are all leafed out.

Four pines my youngest son planted by front pond for his "living duck blind"

And what I absolutely love finding as I am looking around...volunteer chestnuts! This one is about fifteen feet from a nice chestnut tree.

The pasture is like a habitat of it's own now...and the wildlife are using every square inch of it. I would have added some pics from in the woods but we don't go in it this time of year much with the turkeys nesting and deer fawning.