Prairie Valley Farm

[Ikeman]

Well, I think I may have a target buck for next year if he can make a couple more weeks. This 8 has been pretty regular on the farm this fall. Almost all night time, or very near night time activity. Hopefully I can coax him into the daylight. I can’t imagine how nice he could be next year. That is a HECK of a buck for this area!

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[T-Max]

I think you misspoke. You said that was a heck of a buck for YOUR area. Brother, that’s a heck of a buck anywhere!


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[Ikeman]

I think you misspoke. You said that was a heck of a buck for YOUR area. Brother, that’s a heck of a buck anywhere!


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Haha, well… for only having 1 single legal buck (13” inside spread) in the 5 years of running cameras before this season, and never seeing a buck on it in the 30+ years before that, this is a absolute HECK of a buck for this place!!! I never thought I’d see so many decent bucks passing through this place.


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[Ikeman]

That video I posted earlier had some footage of a hole I cut through an interior fence, and a video of a couple of the 9 or 10 cedar trees I removed to get equipment and a fire break through. The resident doe group wasted no time using it. This video is 12 hours after cutting the gap. They came through it to a ridge with white oaks, hit the feeder for about 10 minutes, and then passed back through it back to bed.

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[Ikeman]

Not a whole lot to update… this spring and early summer have been too wet to plant. The farm has already had 36” of rain this year, which is over the YEARLY average. It is looking like we may get a break in the next couple of weeks, though.

I need to get some shredding done, as the saplings are starting to get away from me. I haven’t been able to get a second burn done due to equipment limitations and weather not cooperating. I’ll settle for mowing as a setback just this once, I guess.

I swung by the place today to re-fill a protein feeder and hang a couple cameras. Our last rain was Tuesday (3 days ago) and the place is so wet I almost didn’t get the truck out. I bumped a yearling velvet buck though, so that was nice.

The wildflowers are still going crazy with all the rain.

^^ American basket flower

^^ Beebalm

^^ water primrose

^^ little leaf sensitive-briar

^^Vervain

^^ echinacea

^^^And a first for the farm in my lifetime…
Purple Leatherflower
Clematis Pitcheri

^^ and a Luna Moth


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[Bill]

man that's a lot of rain.

 

[Ikeman]

man that's a lot of rain.

It has been brutal… this was my drive out of the property yesterday. You can see the normal path is pure mud. I wanted at least some vegetation under my tires on my attempt to get out, since my entrance was so sketchy even in 4-low. The commercial beekeeper that uses the place had to remove their hives due to the inability to access the property. It has at least prompted my parents to have some dirt work done and some gravel brought in for the entrance.

The only good side of all this water is that several of the cedars in the lower lying areas are starting to show signs of drowning…

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