New Hope Creek Home

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Last night I took one of our granddaughters on a tour of the property. I was pleased to see a variety of natives, including goldenrod, common and giant ragweed, bluestem, milkweed and gamagrass along with lots of forbs and native blackberry. Seven years ago this was overrun with red cedar. I am still not seeing many turkey, but they are using the property more today than in 2017 when we moved here.







This box turtle has fond a nice swimming hole in one of the water holes.

 

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This past weekend I was also able to do a little work at the cabin property (13 acres, SW Missouri Ozarks). The 1/4 acre hidey hole plot has clover from frost seeding into last year's drought-failed fall plot. As the county is not in a CWD zone, I continue to provide minerals at what has become a community scrape. Later this summer I'll be adding a new blind to the SW of the hidey hole to provide a new access to help issues of swirling winds and thermals that are caused by the topography of the property.

While I have a SpyPoint cellular on the scrape, I am still using some old Moultrie cameras circa 2014 on this property. I get 10 months out of a set of batteries on those old workhorses. In the May photo some of the fall plot that failed provided early season browse. I mainly hunt this property early season (bow) and late season (muzzleloader). Historically, the neighbors who own 5 acres next door "take over" the area for the week of firearms season. Fortunately, they are only opening week hunters and go back to fishing after opening week.

 

[Catscratch]

Great pics! You've got a lot going on. Love the mulberrys.

 

[cbw]

I am finally getting around to a project I had planned on doing during the winter--assembling some new deer blinds. This is the second five-panel "OuttaSite" blind. What is a one hour job with two people took four hours by myself, but I was working at a slow, steady pace. The next step will be building the 5' platform using 4x4's and plywood. After getting the blind assembled I gorged myself on some fresh mulberries, a delightful treat this time of year.
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The next project will be assembling the platform blind with pop-up at the cabin property. Tomorrow, my granddaughter will be joining us at the cabin and helping to identify the proper placement to ensure she gets a "big buck."
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That’s a huge mulberry!


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[356]

This is the first picture of two turkey together on the property. When we moved here in 2017, there was no sign of turkey on the farm. We began habitat work to restore turkey and quail in 2018, with the first major project in 2020. That year I had my first camera confirmation of a hen on the property. Although Clinton county (MO) ranks low in turkey harvest (109 of 114), pictures like these provide hope for the future. Our plans to convert 55 acres of row crops into NWSG & forbs CRP program next year should greatly enhance turkey habitat, as will an upcoming TSI program on 12 acres of timber. A few hours after this picture, a target bucks was checking a popular scrape made by tying down a branch. This is just one frame of the video of him

 

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I got a little better picture of Dangles, the 3 year old with an antler that grows into his face. Last year when he shed he pulled the hide off on the right side of his head. I am surprised he survived this long. This will be a target buck if he makes it through to the season. Last year he was a loner in velvet, this year he seems to have joined a young bachelor group, and is clearly the largest of the four.

 

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My project today was getting the Game Winner (Academy Sports store brand) 5’ metal stand put together. With a heat index over 100, I didn’t hurry, and despite the instructions stating the install would take four people, I was able to put the stand together in a few hours by myself. My plan is to put a pop-up on this stand near a natural funnel.

While I am not a fan of trap door stands, the location I will be placing this blind in lends itself to a trap door as access. Now it's time to prep the site for the blind. I am hoping my granddaughter (who will be eight during her third season of hunting) can get her first "big buck" with a crossbow from this blind setup.

 

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I checked the water holes and “topped ‘em off” this evening. Despite being in a drought, it only took 20 gallons each to fill them to the top. This doe was enjoying the soybeans, and stayed around until I was about 50 yards away.



This print dwarfed several that were nearby. Historically this trail was in a bedding area for does and smaller bucks.



I’ve been approved for an EQIP Timber Stand Improvement program that should take this “biological desert” (above photos) into some habitat similar to this area I thinned two years ago (below).


This was a popular community scrape before the licking tree fell over in a recent storm.

 

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July 18, 2025 Update: The farm has been approved for CRP and another EQIP program. The current corn/soy rotation will be turned into 50 acres of CRP and 5 acres of food-plots. This will be a forb heavy CP2 blend with a burn rotation and optional grazing. The project will break the 55 acres into four sections, allowing early successional vegetation to support the transition points from one field to another. This project will run from October 2025 to September 2035.

The second project is an 11.7 acre EQIP forest stand improvement project that will reduce the canopy and promote native tree growth (we have seven types of oaks on the property, four white, three red), bedding and browse. This project will require a timber burn in year one, and will allow hinge cut bedding, standing termination along with providing lots of firewood. This project will be completed by 2027.

One change recommended by Craig Harper during a recent consultation was to stop maintaining the fence row between our county road (gravel) and what will be the CRP fields. This will provide a better visual barrier and promote a new travel lane for deer and turkey. While I have worked hard to keep the fence row clean, the plan makes sense and will provide good cover during the growing season in 2026 and 2027 and all season cover by 2028. While it is hard to do this for aesthetic reasons, it will provide measurable support to our habitat goals.

Brown: TSI/FSI/Burn 11.7 acres EQIP on the 20 acres and 3 acres TSI/Burn (non-EQIP) on the 65 acres adjacent to CRP.
Green/Red/Yellow/Blue: CRP

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[Howboutthemdawgs]

Good idea on the fence row. I leave anything by the road wild as the wind…combined with planting cedars I rob from around the farm and occasionally hand tossing fertilizer. I don’t want anyone seeing in

Wild y’all are in a drought. I thought Missouri was getting soaked this summer?

 

[356]

Good idea on the fence row. I leave anything by the road wild as the wind…combined with planting cedars I rob from around the farm and occasionally hand tossing fertilizer. I don’t want anyone seeing in

Wild y’all are in a drought. I thought Missouri was getting soaked this summer?

Most of Missouri is good. We received 0.6” of rain this week. Two miles south was 3” and two miles north was over 1”. The current drought map shows about 1% of our county is in a drought, and sure ‘nuf, our farm is in that 1%. We have had several “100% chance of rain” forecasts that produced a few sprinkles or nothing whatsoever.

 

[T-Max]

Most of Missouri is good. We received 0.6” of rain this week. Two miles south was 3” and two miles north was over 1”. The current drought map shows about 1% of our county is in a drought, and sure ‘nuf, our farm is in that 1%. We have had several “100% chance of rain” forecasts that produced a few sprinkles or nothing whatsoever.

Those microclimates are a real thing. I know everyone thinks they got less than the neighbor, but after a couple years of keeping good records from a calibrated well placed digital rain gauge, we are in the same boat as you. We aren’t doing too bad, but a few miles in any direction will yield more rainfall.


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I got three jobs done before it became too hot to enjoy the work. The first task was mowing most of the trails on the property. Depending on rain, these may or may not need to be mowed one more time before mid-September’s deer season opener. The second task was spraying autumn olives. I believe I sprayed between 70 and 80% of the autumn olives, and several honeysuckles as well. The final task was spraying the food plot beans—a job that should have been done two weeks ago.

Spaying autumn olives with the JD9 spray gun and a 25 gallon Moultrie sprayer. This gun easily reaches out 30 or more feet with great accuracy.


The forage/deer plot beans don’t look nearly as nice as the commercial beans (yet). However, these will be browsed heavily after the ag beans are harvested.


This is the second mowing of our trail system this season. I generally do one more mowing around the end of September.

Upcoming projects include placing a tower blind near a transition point and planting the fall plots. I am meeting with a friend who is a deer specialist to discuss blind placement on Friday.

 

[cbw]

What mix did you use on the autumn olive?


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[356]

What mix did you use on the autumn olive?


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2.5% Glyphosate. This is the treatment recommended by Craig Harper. I was expecting some cocktail of chemicals, but for Autumn Olive, this was his recommendation for the mid-to-late summer growing season.

 

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July 24, 2025: The rains finally stopped avoiding us, and 2.7” has fallen in the past 24 hours. I had my first picture of a turkey hen with poults on the farm, which was an encouraging sign. This must have been a very late nesting bird. I’ve not seen as many coyotes and bobcats in the past two weeks, and I’d guess these poults are about 10 days old.


The deer are already hitting the Persimmon Tree. The fruit is abundant but far from being ripe. Last year the fruit started ripening in last August, which was very early for Persimmons. Dangles is a target (management) deer. He has moved from a family group to a young bachelor group this summer.

 

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July 26: Following the Deer Steward II class earlier this month in Oklahoma, a friend who just happens to be a deer biologist and land consultant helped work up a revised plan for our home property. The old adage, "Every great idea digresses to hard work" is evident in this plan, as it will require moving every tower blind, lots of forest stand improvement, annual burns and new access routes. The good news is that most of the CRP and EQIP programs will enhance, not distract, from the project.

Key goals include:
1) Utilizing large scale deer movement from off our property onto our property to support hunting opportunities. While does and younger bucks bed on our property, older age class bucks bed off the property.
2) Development of two firearm-stands with "high harvest opportunities" for grandchildren and first-time hunters.
3) Creation of multiple bow hunting stands that will allow hunting in all wind conditions with good access.
4) 12 Acres of forest stand improvement to enhance bedding for bucks and does