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!

 

[Newbie]

I’m no expert (hence the username) but I don’t think this fella was born yesterday.

Ladies were hitting the food plot pretty hard last few days. I need the weather to cooperate (and to find some free time) to expand this plot an extra 2-3 acres.

 

[Newbie]

My right hand man around the property has gotten his third raccoon this spring (not by intent he just hates them with a passion). I also found him tussling with a 2 snapping turtles (separate occasions), innumerable snakes including about a 5ft black rat snake, and a porcupine (less fun for both he and I). He’s chased off 2-3 bears out of the back yard too & always comes out of the woods with some fresh deer bones (my back porch looks like a boneyard). Couple weeks ago I had to drag him out the back of the FedEx truck because he hopped into the back & was ready to go to work for the day.

He’s only a year old, weighs 100lbs, can out run my quad & can jump into the bed of my pickup when the tailgate is up. He’s a wild man but hell of a partner around the property.

Also if anyone has a raccoon problem I know a guy…

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Gotta be a tough guy if he hammers coons - which can fight pretty nasty themselves. Bear chaser = great! Gooood pup ........

 

[T-Max]

View attachment 78187
My right hand man around the property has gotten his third raccoon this spring (not by intent he just hates them with a passion). I also found him tussling with a 2 snapping turtles (separate occasions), innumerable snakes including about a 5ft black rat snake, and a porcupine (less fun for both he and I). He’s chased off 2-3 bears out of the back yard too & always comes out of the woods with some fresh deer bones (my back porch looks like a boneyard). Couple weeks ago I had to drag him out the back of the FedEx truck because he hopped into the back & was ready to go to work for the day.

He’s only a year old, weighs 100lbs, can out run my quad & can jump into the bed of my pickup when the tailgate is up. He’s a wild man but hell of a partner around the property.

Also if anyone has a raccoon problem I know a guy…

Maybe I missed it earlier, but what breed is he?


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[Newbie]

Maybe I missed it earlier, but what breed is he?


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Purebred mutt. My wife adopted him from the shelter last year.

We actually did one of the DNA tests on him, according to that he's: Australian Cattle Dog, German Shepard, Husky, Bernese Mountain dog.

 

[T-Max]

Purebred mutt. My wife adopted him from the shelter last year.

We actually did one of the DNA tests on him, according to that he's: Australian Cattle Dog, German Shepard, Husky, Bernese Mountain dog.

Nice! Fortunate to get those traits. We have always owned mutts. Some are good at a lot of stuff, and some are only good at eating food…


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[Newbie]

Thank god for alsike because I’m growing clover in a pond this spring.

This food plot is actually looking pretty decent in large. It won’t be making any magazine covers but it’s got a ton of clover and chicory coming in strong. I just threw a few lbs of leftover alsike to top off some light spots. We’ve been absolutely hammered with rain all spring long & my clay soil is turning darn near everything into a mud pit.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^ ^ ^ Alsike is good for tough conditions. We've used it in crappy soil, shade, wet ground ...... and it did the job.

 

[Newbie]

Momma hanging with 3 little ones behind my house tonight. Also saw a hen sitting on a brood of poults in the middle of my yard today right behind my garage. They must’ve just hatched today because they couldn’t walk yet. I spooked mom by accident coming up the driveway but I’m hoping she came back to sit with them.

 

[Newbie]

Spent a good portion of Friday doing some timber management. I hinge cut a few screens along some major travel corridors, dropped a few trees around my stands for visual cover, and thickened up some bedding areas with some selective cuts. I forgot to take pictures but it turned out really nice, it’s incredible the difference you can make in a couple hours with a chainsaw & a little bit of planning.

While I was out I saw what appeared at first glance to be a vine. Upon further inspection, that vine was very much alive and moving. Caught a glimpse of a huge black rat snake climbing a tree in search of baby birds. This guy was every bit as long as I am tall (6ft) maybe even longer. I took a video but he climbed straight up the truck of that tree with ease. It was incredible to watch especially due to his size, I’ve never seen one do that.

 

[Newbie]

Was walking the woods moving some cameras and scouting a little behind the house this weekend. My property (and the entire surrounding region) is struggling with invasives currently, particularly autumn olive, barberry, and Japanese stilt grass. Before I purchased the land, a portion of it was enrolled in a DCNR invasives control project which kicked off this year. I verbally granted them permission to continue on with the project on my property after the sale.

This spring, they basal sprayed the autumn olive and barberry and the intent is to come back in July to treat the stilt grass. Last I was told, they intend to some in and use gly to spray the mats of stilt grass before it seeds out with intent to begin to get it under control. However, I am 100% certain (due to my own experience) that it is a very short term solution, it will be back in months. I have concerns that spraying essentially the entire understory of my property with presumably hundreds of gallons of nonspecific herbicide will do as much (maybe more) damage than leaving it untreated. The property is quite hilly & I’m already fighting erosion issues with the increasingly wet summers we’ve been having in recent years. Tons of washout and flooding which is already taking a significant toll on the property. Plus, the gly is going to knock back whatever native species are attempting to push through the stilt grasses now.

I’ve attached some photos below that I took. You can see the dead autumn olive and barberry. My concern is 1.) loss of cover and habitat – the woods is already looking much more “sterile” as we lost a good portion of understory (I know, they’re invasive but it did provide lots of cover in bedding areas), and 2.) It is opening up a huge opportunity for the stilt grass to continue to spread & I have severe doubts on the likelihood of success on the stilt grass management as proposed. The conservation officer I spoke with said there is allegedly 7+ year seed bank under the stilt grass, a one time spraying of generic herbicide isn’t going to do anything other than a temporary setback and potentially killing off native species and opening the door for the more aggressive stilt grass to advance. Below I have a couple pictures documenting this:



And here are two pictures of areas just downhill on the same patch of woods that isn't enrolled, hasn't been treated.




There are areas that are better and worse, but these photos give a general sense of the average state of affairs in these areas. I've actually been losing mature hardwoods due to erosion, flooding, etc from some of the changes going on. I'm trying to consider changes I can make myself to help push this section of woods the right direction. Perhaps a big hinge cutting project next spring or consult with a forester on a select cut logging. I'm doubtful that fire will be in the future for various reasons, but I would be interested in it if possible. My one concern with altering the timber stand is that nearly ANY open canopy gets gobbled up by stilt grass far faster than the natives can set foot. Hinge cutting may help with that by keeping some shade on the ground.

Sorry for the long winded post but if anyone has any recommendations or thoughts I'd love to hear them.

 

[Telemark]

Stilt grass will take you years to get rid of it. You can use herbicide, or mow it right before it goes to seed. A lot of people use pre-emergent as well.

If you apply pre-emergent in Spring, then spray gly or mow in Summer, you should be able to slowly eradicate it, or at least keep it under control. It is sensitive to certain herbicides, so lighter dosage can knock it out without overly harming other plants like perennials and clovers.