River Cross Farm

[River-X]

I would like to welcome you all to River Cross Farm. This is the beginning of our land tour and habitat work journal. My wife and I both come from farming families and built our home on 45 acres that is about 5 miles from this farm. Back in December of 2012 we purchased a second piece of land the we named River Cross. The name came about due to the fact that most of our recreation on the land requires that you get across the river that runs entirely through the farm from South to North. Here is a couple pics so you can see the layout and the borders.

 

[River-X]

The general layout is 120 acres, about 42 acres of tillable land with the remaining acreage consisting of river bottom and forest. There are numerous pockets of diverse mature timber. the high ridge had mature aspen on it until about 7 months ago when we began a timber harvest. Those were the first to go and the aspen regeneration is phenomenal so far. Pockets of mature maple which need to go next because they are shading everything out. Many acres of mature Black, White, and Northern red oaks with Cherry mixed in.
the farm is the highest point on the block and is surrounded by a large marsh on the south, ag field to the east, and the north side is flat on my side but as soon as you cross the fence it leads down hill to the river and marsh all along the north edge. The road borders us on the west which is the only real drawback to this property because it makes entering with a predominant west or northwest wind a bugger.
The river comes through and cuts the property in ”half”, but there is a reinforced road through it that handles the combine and a fully loaded ( 60,000 lbs) grain cart with no issue. Water is about 8” deep at the road, but about a foot and a half to two feet deep depending on recent rains for much of the rest of the river. Here is a couple pics from when the boys were a bit younger showing the river area.

 

[River-X]

I may have to continue some of this tomorrow, our internet is really slow tonight…

 

[Bill]

Well river X is down 2 bucks :)

 

[River-X]

The first two years I owned the property I decided to just enjoy the land and have fun hunting and exploring. It was hard to put the brakes on and not start projects that I had always dreamed of. My wife was good support during those first two years. I was rambling on about things I wanted to do and she would simply ask “where are you going to do it”. As simple as that sounds, it was brilliant! I needed to learn how deer and other critters used the property before diving into things I just assumed would make it better. Of course, I look back and think “if I would have cleared out that area there and planted X, Y, or Z, they would be 6 years old and established by now”. Problem was, I know now, but had no idea back then that it was a good spot to do it.
So at the beginning of year 3, I had an idea where I wanted to clear some open maple trees and try to establish 4 food plots to help break up the large chunk of timber and create more food, but more importantly, more edge!
Time to bring in some heavy equipment and break a few eggs to get this cake started.

 

[River-X]

Nope! LOL, I save the land behind the house for the kids. That’s where the boys hunt currently, and we allow other mentored hunts for youths in the area to hunt.

 

[River-X]

My brother-in-laws made short work of clearing 4 food plot areas in the timber when they brought over their excavating equipment. i knocked the trees down, then the excavator removed the stumps and pushed tops out to the edges. Then we brought in the dozer with the root teeth and cleaned out the majority of the roots and pushed the stumps out to the edges near the tops.

 

[River-X]

I kinda posted the pictures out of order. We cut the trees out in Feb. that year and brought the heavy equipment in right after we were done planting corn/soybeans for the spring. Next, I needed to get the ground in shape following all the digging and clearing of the plots. Brought one of the collector tractors out for that, the regular tractors we use would never fit in the woods.
First, a bit of disking, second…fertilize and lime.

 

[River-X]

Our first plots that were planted struggled a bit to get going but I don’t think that it was really unexpected. Having been around the farm all my life I knew it would take some time for the lime to neutralize some of the acidic soils in the woods. They did grow, just were real slow and didn’t really put out much volume the first 2 years. Again, no surprise.

 

[River-X]

Spring is always an exciting time of year, especially for kids. We put out a trail camera hoping to get some pictures of fawns near one of the food plots. You can hardly imagine how excited Little C was when we went to check the camera and found this…

 

[River-X]

His sibling wasn’t very far away. Our turkeys also lay eggs in nests that are in some unique spots on that farm as well.

 

[River-X]

And before we get to more projects, I am going to share a couple pictures showing that it’s more fun and adventures just seeing what Mother Nature does out there than it is work.

 

[River-X]

Above pics show Will kinda skeptical that an animal ( beaver ) could use his teeth to cut down that tree.
Lil C pounding in an Earth Anchor before we set a trap for raccoon.
And no childhood would be complete without some shed hunting while carrying your trusty Red Ryder BB Gun!!

 

[Troubles Trees]

Awww great pictures RiverX, I love to see what others do with the land they have.
There's nothing I love to see more than kids in the outdoors happy and looking for the next adventure!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

This will be another fun land tour to follow!!

 

[bwoods11]

Looks nice.. what state is this?

 

[River-X]

Thanks for the nice comments and support. Bwoods, we are in south central Wisconsin, about 35 miles north of Madison.

 

[bwoods11]

Nice parcel of land you have there!!

 

[River-X]

I’m posting a few pictures to try and let you have a feel for the place. On the overhead pic of the property, to a stranger who hasn’t been there, it may look like a few farm fields with a big chunk of hardwoods. But there are so many terrain changes and it is hard to describe with words.
so… look at this first overhead. The blue dot is where I was in a stand and took the picture, the yellow lines bracket your view ( looking from east towards the west. Same scenario with the green dot, I was looking over the creek bottom from the ridge. Let me know if this makes sense after you see the pics.
chris

 

[River-X]

In 2016 I built a couple of rifle hunting shacks. I built them in the man cave with pallet fork slots under the main structure so I could move them around with the front end loader on my tractor. Then when I get it to the spot, I just level out the base and It is ready. The map will show a blue dot. One of the food plots is just east of the stand and you will see my view, both fall and with a bit of snow.