My "SmallChunk"

[wiscwhip]

One thing that stands out with the three plots is how do you hunt the stands to the North and get in and out without bumping the deer. Can you mark what is state land on another image and does it have usage like from hiking trails or anything? If left alone it might be all the sanctuary you need. A spring scouting trip should reveal how much bedding occurs there too.

I was wondering about this myself? Could you mark your access on the map, I think that could be a place to concentrate some improvements possibly?

 

[SmallChunk]

Don't ever feel bad about dumping too many pics. Us habitat loonies enjoy sifting through them. Very cool update. I have to ask, did you eat that giant chicken of the woods mushroom (your ID seems correct to me. Hard to mis-ID a chicken)? I haven't found one yet, and that was on my list for last year.

It was also neat to see the cover cropping you get to do. I got all of my base knowledge and ideas from no-till cover cropping books.

Well done.

Thanks SD. I didn't try it, I was thinking about looking up how to cook and and try it this summer. It's really big so I might be able to cook it a few different ways!

Do you have any idea what variety those old apples are?

Which graft grew the best?

Are you talking about the old trees I have? I believe one variety is Paula Reds. My grandma always said that there were Macintosh and Paula Reds out there but she didn't know much about the apples. maya and I think that the one variety is Paula Red. Not sure on the other variety. It is a very good eating apple. In total I have 7 mature Paula Reds and 2 of the other variety.

The Connel Red or NW greening probably grew the best for me. How about yours?

 

[SmallChunk]

One thing that stands out with the three plots is how do you hunt the stands to the North and get in and out without bumping the deer. Can you mark what is state land on another image and does it have usage like from hiking trails or anything? If left alone it might be all the sanctuary you need. A spring scouting trip should reveal how much bedding occurs there too.

That's the one thing I struggle with... I'll do up a map here soon and post. I hunt the plots early season and stay out of the back until the bucks start showing signs of moving into the rut. Once that happens, I won't see a deer unless I go back in after them. It sucks because 1/2 the time I wlk in from back there I bump deer from the woods or the plot :(. I know it's wrong to do, but I feel like I wouldn't see a deer if I don't go back in there

 

[SmallChunk]

In my personal opinion, I think I might even be better off in planting these little fields in native grasses than trying to grow plots that I struggle to grow.....but I'm just so addicted to plotting and watching the does/fawns chow in my plots that it's going to be tough for me to stop :oops:

 

[shawnv]

I think your West plot is perfectly fine and would let you access from the East. Is there anything that would prevent you from putting a plot further North on this 22 acres?

 

[SmallChunk]

Access to getting to them is the only limiting factor and I would have to cut down a bunch of trees to make it happen. Not out of the question though. I think food back in there might really see a lot of daylight use. Here is my best drawing I could come up with. The walking path doesn't get much use during the week, but weekends there will be people using it during the summer. Very little use come fall/colder weather. The yellow bedding areas are general, but the property i hunt and the one to the east dip down into these bedding areas. The area is full of cattails, ROD and willows, nice and thick stuff with islands and points scattered all over. Wish I could hinge back in there! lol

 

[shawnv]

The public ground should be a nice sanctuary that isn't getting pushed through by everyone and their brother. I think you could/should still hinge some doe bedding areas on your 22. This will pull some does closer to the food and you can set up nicely for a NW/SW wind catching bucks scent checking these areas and the plots. The creek appears to make a nice bend so I would expect to see a nice crossing there and a plot south of that would enhance that crossing. I would also keep the two west plots and make a small connecting strip where you could have a nice low impact stand esp for early season. A small water hole could be put here too. The small red dots would be where you can continue to add apple trees and the green line is new access trail connecting in that take you away from any deer that might be on the plots. Lastly, I just covered up the east plot and you could put a bedding area there as long as the NW wind on those other stand location won't drift in and you can screen that bedding from your access trail but I would be cautious about that spot.

 

[SmallChunk]

I really like that set up Shawn, thanks for taking the time on it! If I was to own it/the only one in the family that hunted it, I would surely implement this approach or one like it! Unfortunately I have a cousin that likes to hunt a weekend and an uncle that likes to tell me what I can and can't do and then he usually doesn't hunt....kind of a big talker/has no idea what he is doing. I have to kind of do things below the radar out there and try to think outside the box when hunting it/finding set ups.

 

[SmallChunk]

Made it down to the farm for a couple of hours tonight. Got a trophy rock out and cleared a little brush in a semi opening area that has been over run by what i believe was all buckthorn(I know there were 5-6 large female plants with berries in there). Included are a couple of pictures of the brush. Not sure what my objective for this area is yet, the deer never have really used it, just passed through. My options are either to make it a plot (screened the area and made an entrance and two exit points by a potential stand site) or to plant it in pines or a grass of some sort. I have also attached a picture of the location of the little area that was cleared. It is that little yellowish circle on the northern side..


The brush

 

[SmallChunk]

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

The walls around the area I cleared to maybe direct the deer to my stand

My tool that i used to hack away at the brush


I didn't quite finish as I ran out of gas and I am going to need the chainsaw to remove the rest of the stuff. I plan to let the area grow a bit and then hit it with a mixture of different chemicals we use at the farm as a brush killer. I might try food here this year and see how it goes because I think secluded food back in here could be just the ticket. If I don't get my desired outcome I will probably end up planting some spruce in here due to my lack of thermal cover.

 

[sandbur]

Maybe consider a string of spruce to direct deer movement after leaf fall?

 

[SmallChunk]

Art, I definitely need to get some spruce going on north side of the property!

I made it down to the SmallChunk tonight for a bit after work to check my apple/pear trees and see how they are doing. I was going to dig up and plant my grafts that are sunk in the ground in their root trappers but opted to wait. Question for you veteran Apple experts: do young trees (2nd-3rd leaf) take longer for buds to swell than old mature trees? Anybody else notice this? It was very apparent to me tonight!

I managed to transplant some pine/spruce trees tonight as well. My ground is sand and the frost seems to go out quick there. I was digging the trees up in the woods and I would hit frost about 4 inches down but the shovel would just slice through it. Hopefully I got enough roots with these bad boys. I was working on screening my foodplot on the west side of the property. Hopefully in a couple of years you can no longer see the neighbors house and the cars drive by on the road! I am going to try and get some hybrid poplar going in another row beside the conifers here this spring! Here are some photos from tonight...

Sunscald got my Wolf River last year. Really unsure how to protect a tree up 3-4 ft with side branches? This will be its 3rd leaf. I lost it's central leader last winter and am trying to get another one to go up!



Here was the first pine I dug up. Decent looking tree about 1 1/2-2 ft tall. This is a white pine, correct?


Planting...


I had started this screen last spring and just ran out of time. Here is the ones planted prior, not even sure what type of conifer these are. A little different looking to me! Art, I tried your HP cuttings on that black plastic last spring, just didn't get any to take! Never had any success....must be doing something wrong!


The six trees I transplanted tonight!


I tried to take a picture of the neighbors house(mid picture) and the road(middle/left side of picture) from the foodplot but i guess it got a bit dark. Turned out to be a decent photo tho!

 

[tooln]

Lookin good. Sure looks like a white pine to me.

 

[sandbur]

I have plenty more HP. Brush said the plastic should be pinned down tight at the edges and one pin by the tree.

When I used to start HP, I would collect the cutting earlier than this time and plant later. Still more limbs to reach if you want to try again.

Sunscauld higher upon a young tree.I have added window screen above a branch or even wrapped tin foil around the tree. Maybe add a bit of string over the tinfoil if it is a windy location. This year, I pained parts of the trunk white, even above limbs.

I have not had real good luck moving conifers when the ground is partially frozen. Perhaps I do not get the dirt backed around the roots well enough.

Let us know whatt you learn at the grafting class in Wis. if you go.

 

[scott44]

Looking good!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Great pics Small Chunk! Lots of hard work there. I enjoyed the tour.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

SC - White pine has it's needles in clumps of 5. Needles are not stiff, but soft and very flexible. Easy to ID.

 

[SmallChunk]

Did you get the cuttings planted right side up? Your setup looks good. It's tough to get it perfect over that thick grass. I had the same conditions for my screen 4 years ago. Those are 20'+ now.

I did indeed. I just don't think I got them stuck into the ground enough. I am just going to get 25 bare root trees from my county extension later this month and give that a shot! Should add a little height to the screen by the end of the year, and I'm sure I will lose half of the to bucks that will rub them!

 

[sandbur]

I have only started a few HP cuttings, but I put at least 80% under ground in most cases.

Exception is the 8 footer that I just tried. I doubt it will work, but the deer are using it all ready.

 

[SmallChunk]

I have been slacking all week on an update.

I was down at the farm last Saturday/Sunday morning getting a few things done. I wanted to dig up my trees that were in the root trappers and get them planted and I needed to transplant 2 Apple trees that I had planted too close to other trees last spring(always learning). Everything went great and I got them all caged. Just need to get lumite down on a couple and throw the rock on top. While I was working on Easter morning, a Tom turkey as gobbling his head off and my season starts on Monday, hope he sticks around!

What I use for back filling my hole, all menards specials


This is how I buried my grafts from last spring for the winter. It seems to have worked as all three had bud swell (chestnut crab, Cortland and centennial crab)
http://s584.photobucket.com/user/go...5-4637-96BB-EA3B2C2181B8_zpstgmaly2v.jpg.html

Cortland roots after one year in a root trapper (B118)

Chestnut roots after one year (B118)

Centennial after one year (B118)