New Hope Creek Home

[356]

I used 200 yards of the cedars cut last week for a cover barrier for the north blind. Originally I was planning to plant a switchgrass barrier this spring, but needed someplace for the cedars, and decided this might be a good “one year” plan. This pretty much allows a south or east wind access without being seen.

 

[Catscratch]

Absolutely love this thread (and the old truck)! So many deer guys don't see cedars as invasive. Love that you're attacking them.
Sorry about the cancer. Preying for you.
I may have missed it, are you close to KC (I know you said you bought the place to get out of town)?

 

[356]

Absolutely love this thread (and the old truck)! So many deer guys don't see cedars as invasive. Love that you're attacking them.
Sorry about the cancer. Preying for you.
I may have missed it, are you close to KC (I know you said you bought the place to get out of town)?

Thanks! The cancer is in remission for which I am grateful. We are about 35 miles north of KC and just east of I-35.

I see red cedar as highly invasive for this part of the state. In the seven years we have lived here, we have removed hundreds of cedars. Those remaining grow about 2’ per year, so it is important to manage them according to our land use priorities. While I am not removing all cedars, the goal is to reduce them to 10-15%, with 20-25% in hardwood (oak, walnut and hickory) and 10-15% mid-succession trees and woody plants.

I have doe groups that bed in the cedars, and I trim some of the lower branches on those that I am keeping to promote bedding. Without cedar removal, this property would never have the bio-diversity needed to attract deer and other wildlife. I have neighbors who never see turkey, deer, bobcats or fox, whereas our small property has all of these critters.

While I have much that remains to be done, I hope our New Hope Creek Home is an inspiration to others that management does not need to be perfect, and does not take decades to produce solid results.

 

[Catscratch]

Very much an inspiration! You're on a great path!

I lived next to Bannister Mall for a while. Heard gun shots every weekend and was always dodging drug dealers while I was on runs. Didn't take long for me to decide the city wasn't for me.

 

[356]

Very much an inspiration! You're on a great path!

I lived next to Bannister Mall for a while. Heard gun shots every weekend and was always dodging drug dealers while I was on runs. Didn't take long for me to decide the city wasn't for me.

When we first moved to KC (2000’ish) my teenage daughters wanted to go “to the Mall.” My one and only Bannister Mall experience was as you described. A few years later I went to the one (and only) “Gun Show” at one of the abandoned mall stores. That was a rough part of town, and a far cry from what it had been in the 70s.

This morning I am checking the traps for the last time this season. The disruption of the doe beds (by removing some of the cedars) resulted in does showing up on the south side of the property last night. It will be interesting to see how many days it will take for them to return to their routine.

 

[356]

While we missed the brunt of this week's tornados, our neighbors barn doors both blew in, and we had several trees fall on the fencerow. Four miles from us, several barns were destroyed, but nothing like the devastation near the Omaha area.


Neighbors barn doors both blew in from the storm.







Time to start cutting firewood!

 

[Catscratch]

Glad you didn't get major damage! My kid played against a team out of Omaha today. The lady working the table with me said they had to pull over and take shelter last night on their trip here. These powerful storms are scary.

 

[buckdeer1]

At my farm I got 4 inches and no wind damage that I saw,5 miles north of my at my daughters farm they got 2.5

 

[cbw]

So glad no major damage on your building. My sons in Lincoln got some amazing video footage of the tornado that went through Waverly. Thankfully, they were both south and north of our farm, so no damage.


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[cbw]

Great thread! Your description sounds very much like our farm, just a couple hours north of you. Are you doing any of the cedar removal and burns with any cost-share through NRCS/EQIP?


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[356]

Great thread! Your description sounds very much like our farm, just a couple hours north of you. Are you doing any of the cedar removal and burns with any cost-share through NRCS/EQIP?


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The current cedar removed is on my own dime. The original cedar removal was part of the EQIP program. That project was covered in this tread: https://habitat-talk.com/threads/im-tired-eqip-cost-share-reflections.14729/

 

[Bill]

I think that cedar screen will be there much longer than a year. Great idea.

 

[356]

We have a couple of velvet bucks I'll be watching....so far I've not seen the 6 year old with deformed antlers. Our Buck/Doe ratio so far is much improved over previous years, with a 2 Doe for every 1 buck based on May photos. In the past it was over 4 does to each buck. I am seeing more Turkey on the property as well.



Here are a couple of bucks that hold promise for the future.


Glad to see Turkey on the property.

 

[356]

June 29, 2024: Today I did some summer mowing around some camera locations and made some mock scraps. Three Cuddeback LL-3A cameras on solar were added to the Cuddelink system.

While I have some fawn twins at the 13 acre cabin property, all of the fawns on the farm homestead are individual fawns. We had a lot of coyotes on camera around the time fawns dropped and I also have seen several does without fawns. Compared to the previous 7 seasons on the farm I am seeing more bucks than in previous year, and am pleased by the improvements in age structure.


Adjusting one of the existing cameras after some severe weather.



Adding a mock scrap and vine between a bedding area and bean field.



Time will tell if they use this scrap….lots of sign in the area, including a heritage scrap and several beds.

 

[356]

A nice buck checking out one of the new mock scrape just 9 hours after making it.

 

[356]

July 2, 2024: All three properties are showing some promise. At the 13 acre cabin property, which is essentially an island of trees surrounded by pasture and forest, does and bucks are visiting the heritage scape. The tree that fell over the scape last week does not seem to be impacting use.



This buck is frequenting the remote 40 acres deep in the Ozark's. He has been on camera several times. In this picture he is crossing over to National Forest lands.


At the home farm, a few that I recognize from last year are back. This one is not named, but was around the property before and after the rut.


This guy we named 11 for the G2/G3 on the right. He is on camera a lot, but only at night. He loves the beans, and beds on the neighbors place.

 

[cbw]

Nice pics! You have some great potential!


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[356]

July 22: Taking a short lunch break now to post some updates. On Saturday I mowed three food plots followed by herbicide and cut paths and a couple of shooting lanes. After church and a nice breakfast, I spent the afternoon adding the legs/braces to the new hunting blind. More to follow on the Maverick Blind thread.


Mowing what will be virgin food plots for 2024.


Nuking the future food plots.

 

[356]

The persimmons are nowhere near ripe, but the deer are already standing in line for one to drop! This is the only female persimmon tree on the property, so it gets hit hard by deer, raccoons, opossums and birds. If there are still fruit on the tree in early bow season, there is a blind 33 yards from the tree.

 

[Catscratch]

I have a couple of persimmons that I'm hopeful the deer like. Yours looks good!

How many acres of plots are up to?