Newbie Land Tour

[Bowsnbucks]

Congrats on your new field boss!!! He'll keep you straightened out.
Fields look good. Last year's plot coming in great. If you want to speed up the Norways' growth, sprinkle some 10-10-10 around them next year once they've established their root systems a bit more. I did that at our camp from year 2 through 6 and they shot up pretty well. At year 6 in the ground, they were 7' to 8' tall. Then I topped the leaders a bit so the spruce got thicker branching. It worked well for us. Hope you have great luck with your plantings! You've made a great start.

 

[Newbie]

Norway I planted this spring (mid-March) seem to be taking okay. I'd say 95% success rate so far (2 of those were at the mercy of my wife on the lawn mower). Overall, happy with the way they're looking so far.


Despite quite a good bit of forage on the food plots I haven't seem much deer activity on any of the plots. I'm sure that's likely due to the fact that there's a ton of food options this time of year in this area. Hopefully, it grants some of the young clover and chicory the opportunity establish before getting mowed down by the deer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I'll bet once the does drop fawns, those does will fill themselves in your plots. Gotta eat well to make milk! Spruce look good - new flush of growth on 'em. That's a good sign.

 

[Newbie]

Boys being boys. Ladies look entirely unimpressed as usual.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

You got all bucks in that pic Newbie. Good to see you have deer movement!

 

[Newbie]

You got all bucks in that pic Newbie. Good to see you have deer movement!

Ha! Well that’s an embarrassing mistake I looked at the two upright on far right and didn’t even look close at the two in the foreground.

Deer movement has picked up on that plot for sure. I’ve got a few pictures of some deep neck potbelly buck in velvet. Fingers crossed that a few decent deer have made it through.

 

[Newbie]

Well I tell you what.. a crew of pipelines with a few million worth of equipment can put in a heck of a clover stand.

I have a CNG pipeline that crosses my property and they came in last fall to address some erosion issues. Apparently my neighbor (whose land borders immediate to the right and whose land they accessed through) had them plant the pipeline in clover without my knowledge. It’s objectively a beautiful clover stand but access is tough on my side due to a deep ravine and elevation changes that makes a tree stand difficult to conceal.

Now my neighbor has an envious clover stand (on my land) that makes a near perfect funnel from my property to his without lifting a finger or spending a dime. All without my knowledge. I’m either going to have to find a good tree to hunt out of here or put up a small army of scarecrows this fall

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Hey Newbie -

Just a heads-up ....... the pipeline crews planted the pipelines around - and on - our camp property with requested seed mixes, including tons of clover. The pipelines across our local mountains got planted. But they won't maintain them. Once grasses and weeds overtake the clover & other food crops - the gas companies are done with them. They seed & walk away. If you & neighbors want to keep those pipelines as food plots, it'll fall on you guys to do. Our local pipelines went to crap after the clovers faded - at least as far as prime food sources go.

My best advice, having gone through this - pick a suitable pipeline section that you can set up on with a stand. Spread lime on it every other year, and seed it yourself for your own hunting needs. Fertilize as necessary, based on what you want to seed it with. A mix of red & white clover, along with grain rye is tough to beat. Your neighbor won't have a permanent clover plot as a draw once the grass & weeds move in. Then you can custom-tailor / seed to meet your needs on your property. Just wanted to let you know what happens to those pipelines as time goes on. Good luck with that area!