New Hope Creek Home

[356]

Here is a tour of our 85 acre home.


Our desire was to move out of Kansas City onto a small property. We purchased this 20 acre homestead in January 2017. At the time the property had been abandoned for 10 years due to litigation. The log home was in poor condition (see photos) and 10 years of non-management had allowed invasive to overtake the property. As we worked on the property, I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, which slowed the project significantly. The first step was surviving the cancer, then getting the house livable. Although the home and I were not in good condition, we moved into the home in September 2017. By 2018 the house was essentially done, and work began on the property.

In 2020 we removed 8 acres of red cedar in preparation for developing nesting habitat. In Nov. 2021 access to the “other side” of the creek finally made through the placement of a 30 ton capacity bridge. This allowed for the development of a small trail system. Around this time we acquired the 65 acres adjacent to our property that had been left fallow that year, but previously was in a corn-soy rotation. This radical purchase was made to prevent a subdivision of twelve McMansions being proposed for the property. It was truly “we can’t afford it, but we can’t afford not to” decision. I'm truly blessed to have a great wife who supported this step of faith!

Our goals for the property include: 1) Habitat management for quail, deer and turkey; 2) Opportunities for limited hunting for myself, children & grandchildren; 3) A robust garden and mini-orchard to enjoy.

Over time I'll post a few more pictures, along with some of the other properties (40 acres and 13 acres) we manage.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Looks like a great place and I’m glad cancer didn’t take you away from it!

Looking forward to hearing more about that bridge as we have a little river bisecting our property and would like to get a bridge made some day.

 

[buckdeer1]

Looks great,hope your doing better

 

[356]

The cancer is in remission, and I am feeling well, but about half of the endurance pre-cancer. Thus, all projects seem to take much longer than usual. Yesterday we did a little more TSI on the place. Now I need more long weekends or to retire :-)

 

[356]

The original owner’s wife was a veternarian, so the home had a dog house with AC, ceiling fans, water and Italian tiles. This is now the chicken coop and garden room. Since the picture was taken, the trees around the coop have been trimmed.

 

[H20fwler]

Nice start on the land tour...love the old truck!

 

[356]

Nice start on the land tour...love the old truck!

Thanks...it's runs like a champ, although it truly makes me thankful for the modern amenities and improvements found in my Ram 1500!

 

[SWIFFY]

Beautiful looking place! Im glad the cancer didnt take the wind out of your sails. I bet everything you want will be very possible there and your kids and grandkids will have many wonderful memories!

 

[356]

June 2022 Update: The NRCS fields are coming along great. These were nuked, burned, then nuked again before being drilled this spring. Based on the browse and pictures, are providing great food and cover. I have enjoyed seeing and hearing quail in the fields.


This 8 acre quail/wildlife plot is providing browse and cover. The deer used to use the tree line by the north fence, but now they cross the field. I am also getting more daytime photos of the deer.


2 acre pollinator plot. My wife was commenting on how many more bees and butterflies were in the garden. This is a side benefit of the pollinator field.


We have 55 acres in soybeans. Last year this field was fallow. We are putting it back into a corn-soy rotation. Sadly, the first planting was washed out by an 8" rain in 12 hours. The second planting is starting to look better. We left some additional edge for wildlife.

 

[356]

This evening we launched the New Hope Creek Wildlife Coop in partnership with the NDA and MDC. It was great getting together with many neighbors I had seen, but did not know--and some I had never met. At this point in time, we are preparing for the first harvest of soybeans on the ag portion of the property. The improvements have really brought in the deer, and we have seen turkey and quail, which were absent the first several years we were on the property.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

This evening we launched the New Hope Creek Wildlife Coop in partnership with the NDA and MDC. It was great getting together with many neighbors I had seen, but did not know--and some I had never met. At this point in time, we are preparing for the first harvest of soybeans on the ag portion of the property. The improvements have really brought in the deer, and we have seen turkey and quail, which were absent the first several years we were on the property.

View attachment 46605View attachment 46608

Interested to hear about how the coop originated.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I really hope to establish a quail population on our place, it will be a consideration as we begin habitat work in earnest next Spring. We have a few turkeys as well so hope to enhance their use of the farm. Turkeys make great 1st "big game" opportunities for kids. Quail have been part of my life since before I was allowed to actually carry a gun when hunting with my Grandpa and Uncles. If I can get the quail established I will be thrilled.

 

[356]

Interested to hear about how the coop originated.

I reached out to the NDA back in January about starting a coop, and we help a meeting in April at a nearby church. However, the invitation were late due to poor mail service, and they arrived three days after the event. For this event, the mailed invites (done by the NDA specialist in our area) came before the event, which was held at outside at our neighbors place. My neighbor and I also visited neighbors and called those we knew. We had 10 landowners attend out of about 40 in the target area. The invitation went to all of the landowners in our section, plus the immediate landowners on the “other side of the road.” This target area as a total of about 1000 acres and we had 658 acres represented.

In addition to the NDA, the land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation attended and talked about the improvements we have been doing on our property.

I was very impressed by the presentation, as it was not overly hyped or sales like, and emphasized land owner autonomy while articulating the benefits of cooperation. To get a coop started, contact your conservation department or the NDA or connect with me off-line.

 

[356]

As I wrap up 2022, here is a quick summary:
* This was the first year we saw adult Turkey on the property (no poults). With serious predator trapping this year, hopefully we see some poult recruitment.
* I saw shotable deer on two of my four hunts on the property...a true improvement from none during the first four years. While I only harvested one doe from the property, I let pass several 2 year olds and one 3 year old.
* Since late season hunting is my favorite, next year I will put in a late season plot of standing corn or soy.
* The 5 panel Booner Blind is really nice…I had opportunity to hunt from some other name ground elevated blinds on different properties, and the Booner—while not the same quality, is much lighter, has held up well for 5 years, and has great windows. It has plenty of room for two adult hunters.
* The 4 panel Booner elevated blind added this year is too small. One hunter and it still feels small. Yeah, it works, but not like I had hoped.
* This is the first full year I have had the Cuddelink system up and running. I really like it, and look forward to expanding it a little more. I am also using five SpyLink cameras, which have given good service on locations that are served by the free "100 pictures per month" plan.
* TSI work begins soon, along with frost seeding.

Successes:
Finally installed bridge over the creek to allow easy access to the back part of the property.
Mentoring several first time deer hunters, including Fred (91 years old), Betsy (93), Nathan (40) and my son Joshua (38).
Establishing a Deer Coop for our community. So far we have 12 land owners participating at some level.
Having 90% of the USDA/MDC 5 year habitat plan completed. I still have some trees to plan this season, but the project has been a success
Completed the Deer Steward I course, which I found very beneficial.
First prescribed burn was a success.

Misses:
Lost 80% (120 of 150) of my bare root plantings due to drought and poor management.
Restocking of the pond was mitigated by the return of a river otter and a muskrat.
Only got a fraction of the work done that the property needs :-)

 

[356]

Did a little TSI today--removed a few large red cedars--with many more to go. With my time limitations I am doing about 1/4 acre at a time, so it is slow, but progress is being made and better habitat is being created along the edges of the 2 acre wildlife plot. I also moved a camera path seems to be getting lots of use. I was rewarded with this Sunset.

 

[356]

With my schedule, I have to jump on the opportunities as they arrive, so today I frost-seeded about 1/4 acre of native grasses in an area that was "too soft" to drill last season, and did some frost seeding of clover along some trails.

 

[356]

The native forbs are starting to green up, and the deer are hitting them hard. Two years ago this was solid red cedar. Deer sightings were few and far between on this property. I am taking some of the advice from this forum and putting in four small (1/4-1/2 acre) food plots around the south oak groves.

I will be moving a tower stand, ladder stand and adding another ladder in preparation for next season. While I am still forty-two months away from retirement, being able to work on these projects is rewarding. In two months I'll be posting pictures of our production corn and (hopefully) evidence of a successful burn on the south property.

 

[Blessed]

356, this is awesome! I love all these Land Tours, but there's just something special about this one--great job. You are a blessed man.

 

[356]

This weekend I planted 125 trees on our riparian barrier. The planting included 50 Scarlet Oak, 25 False Indigo and 50 cottonwood. I still have some mixed oaks to plant, but the EQIP project is just about done.

Only 30% survived the deer invasion from late winter. I also treated about 1 acre of invasive with a triclopyr 8%, 2 4-d 16%, dicamba 1% mixed with diesel and a gallon sprayer. It took 3 gallons to treat this area of autumn olive, bush honeysuckle and multiflora rose. I have a lot left to treat, but as others have recommended, taking bite size (or weekend task) size chunks is my goal.

 

[356]

More riparian barrier planting today...the rains forecast last week never materialized, so I am hoping those planting survive and the mid-week inch of rains will come. I've not had great luck with the bare root trees, but I am planting them per the EQIP plan, so am hoping they will take this year.

I also tilled up the plots mentioned in my previous post and will spray, then broadcast later this spring for a summer/fall plot.








While I was working on the coming year's food plots, our fields are being prepared for this year's corn rotation.


This is a slight modification of what I originally planned for the farm property (65 acres). My goal is to provide summer supplements for the wildlife (deer, quail, turkey) and a hidey hole size area for archery season, which is usually south wind. 2023 will be corn on the crop rotation. While there are other plots in the area, I'll monitor with exclusion cages to see what adjustments will be needed in coming years.