Today we closed on Maple Hill Farm! Habitat Projects

[Gravel Road]

Lookin good. Come build one for me next!

 

[T-Max]

A while back you posted about scarified or stratified red cedar seeds. How did those turn out? Any success?


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[Turkey Creek]

A while back you posted about scarified or stratified red cedar seeds. How did those turn out? Any success?


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The few that I put in tree pots grew ok. The ones I direct sewed never made it as far as I can tell. I haven't checked on them lately, the drought might have done them in.

 

[Turkey Creek]

We have been doing a little trapping. I love to trap, I did it professionally for about 12 years. I have trapped since I was 10. I have seen good fur prices, I have seen dismal fur prices. Nonetheless critter populations are either regulated by Mother Nature or us. I believe we do it in a more humane way. Anyhow we have a few dog proof coon traps out and I put in 4 coyote/ bobcat sets yesterday. Dang its fun to roll up on a bobcat! The youngest says the luck all lies in wearing pajama pants! LOL Whatever it takes to get him off the video games for a few minutes.






I will put in a set or 2 to target bobcats more the coyotes if I think they are in a prime location. Generally speaking bobcats tend to have more fur value than coyotes so sometimes it is nice to try and cause them to shy a way from a set trap. Coyotes don't typically work traps set back in tight cover and while bobcats will hone in on a visual flag, coyotes will often shy away. Unfortunately coons, possums and skunks like bobcat sets just as well as bobcats. Keep in mind that bobcats are big visual hunters. Traps sets that stand out are more likely to catch a bobcats attention.



I hung a few snares more specifically for bobcats as well. Smaller loop guarding a lower opening. Bobcats will slip through a coyote size loop more times than not, I have seen the proof of that by tracks in the snow on more than 1 occasion. Deer trails are ok as long as you give the deer something to step or hop over. Mose cats will duck and go through. I do have break away stops on my snares though. Any leg caught deer can pop the end of the cable off and escape.

 

[Bill]

Nice!
I need to learn how to set a foot hold trap. As a kid we only trapped muskrats in the meadow with conibear traps.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Trapping has been slow. The footholds are buried in the snow and I haven't really wanted to mess with digging them out as I figured the snow will maybe melt at some point soon LOL. I have limited amounts of waxed dirt this year to rebed traps. I have kept the snares operational for the most part, they are far easier to work with in poor weather. I like to brush in the snares pretty heavy, bobcats don't shy away from them. However, with the brush over the snare every snow typically crushes things down a bit often blocking the snare loop until I readjust things. Setting them with loops big enough for coyotes typically results in missed bobcats, so I have them all targeting bobcats right now. It sure puts a smile on your face when you cut a set of bobcat tracks in the snow and they are headed towards a snare up ahead. You can kind of see the type of location that makes a great snaring location for bobcats. I think of flowing water, typically that is where the best brushy travel lanes are anyways. This is a dry gully on our place. I should have another snare or two set in it, but I don't currently. During warmer weather coons can fill up a lot of snares quickly. Since we are coming into the main breeding season now, the Toms will be on the prowl looking for females. Season lasts until mid February so I feel like the odds of picking up another cat or 2 are pretty decent.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Haven't had much time for anything habitat related lately. I did have a borrowed GP drill here a couple of weeks ago to drill 5 acres into a forb mix. Trying to kill off a cool season grass hay pasture, which has zero wildlife value. While I had the drill I drilled my Spring Oats and some Austrian Winter Peas that I had wanted to plant last Fall. It was so dry though last Fall I figured it would be an absolute waste of time and seed. Unfortunately I had been planting for awhile when I noticed a few of the main seed box tubes were clogged. The main seed box never typically gets used only the Native Grass seed box and the small seed box. I made the mistake of not testing the seed drop before I started planting. So I expect there will be empty rows and big skips..... live and learn. Curious to see if the deer and turkeys will utilize it much before I plant it into my warm season stuff in a couple of months.

Austrian Winter Peas



Oats

 

[buckdeer1]

They are cool critters,I can remember when they were 200-300 each.I only shot 1 this year with my bow but a friend that traps alot usually catches around 45 a year.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Finally getting my shrubs in the ground. I have been using a dibble bar. It is faster than digging the holes. Someday I would like to get one of the big auger attachments for one of the heavy duty, Dewalt, cordless hammer drills. Just enough sand in the soil that it doesn't stick too bad to the bar. I think I punched in 250 today (probably 6 hours of work time) have 600 to plant in total. These are a combination of American Plum, Fragrant Sumac, Chokecherry and Golden Currant. Planting them in blocks (thickets) for quail and turkey habitat. Quite a bit of elevation change in the planting area so mixing up the location on some of the varieties to see if they grow better in one area or another. A blog post coming hopefully sooner than later than the whole process, I have been so insanely busy there hasn't been time to write a blog.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Got a 2nd water tank set today. Should be a good spot. Man the deer love the one I put in last year, they use it constantly. This one is located at a bottle neck between the north and south plots, 20 yard shot from the box blind that we built. Clover that got planted last Spring is looking good and from the looks of it looks like it is getting used.

 

[cbw]

Nice! How many gallons is the tank? What are your thoughts on not digging them into the ground?

We buried three of them 4 years ago. Only had to fill them up last year during the drought for the first time. Deer frequent them often.


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[Turkey Creek]

Nice! How many gallons is the tank? What are your thoughts on not digging them into the ground?

We buried three of them 4 years ago. Only had to fill them up last year during the drought for the first time. Deer frequent them often.


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The 1st tank I put in holds 300 gallons, but on average it probably has 200 gallons in it. This tank will hold 115 gallons. I can fill it easy enough where it sets so I am not worried about it being smaller. I use whatever tank I can get for cheap! I feel like digging them into the ground very far has no real benefit. Jeff Sturgis claims they have to be dug into the ground for deer to use them, maybe that is location dependent. I feel like a deer would be far more vulnerable to a predator if it has to get down on its knees to drink. I dig them down enough so that even the smaller deer can drink, but not so far that they can't reach the water no matter the water level while they are standing. Livestock tanks are pretty common around here, so no reason for deer to shy away from them.

 

[goatman]

How do you keep the water from going stagnant? I've been toying with adding water closer to the fields.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Stagnant water doesn't bother deer at all that I have noticed. I have seen them drink out of some nasty looking ponds, mud holes, etc....

 

[willy]

Looking good TC, I agree that the stagnant water sources are the go to's for deer. I have no idea why but it seems the pooled water sources are used heavily.

I prefer to dig mine in so runoff can fill them if I am blessed with rain. I also like the idea that the tanks will be better insulated from freezing sooner so it will keep open longer as a source for deer and other critters. I dug 4' holes under each tank I put in this spring to help keep them open longer, In theory this should help keep them warmer.(a thread on this is somewhere on this forum}

Last year because of drought I had to keep filling mine up as mother nature didn't help much but years prior that worked well. The more I can stay out of the areas I hunt and areas of the tanks, the better I think the deer use the areas more during light. Sitting in the stand this past year where water tanks were visible was like videos I've seen of African safari hunts over water sources. Every critter in the area went to drink and deer had no issues with getting on knees to drink. It was very entertaining to watch. Deer would get in a line and one would drink as the others stood watch/waiting their turn.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Looking good TC, I agree that the stagnant water sources are the go to's for deer. I have no idea why but it seems the pooled water sources are used heavily.

I prefer to dig mine in so runoff can fill them if I am blessed with rain. I also like the idea that the tanks will be better insulated from freezing sooner so it will keep open longer as a source for deer and other critters. I dug 4' holes under each tank I put in this spring to help keep them open longer, In theory this should help keep them warmer.(a thread on this is somewhere on this forum}

Last year because of drought I had to keep filling mine up as mother nature didn't help much but years prior that worked well. The more I can stay out of the areas I hunt and areas of the tanks, the better I think the deer use the areas more during light. Sitting in the stand this past year where water tanks were visible was like videos I've seen of African safari hunts over water sources. Every critter in the area went to drink and deer had no issues with getting on knees to drink. It was very entertaining to watch. Deer would get in a line and one would drink as the others stood watch/waiting their turn.

I have had photos of up to 5 deer around the big tank at one time. Tons of squirrels use the water tank as well as a pretty significant number of song birds. It would be neat at some point to put a live action camera in place on that tank. I am surprised that I don't recall having a single picture of a coon or a coyote getting water from the tank. The deer do only seem to drink one at a time though. I agree that if you had a good set up where you could catch enough run off that would be a good idea especially if you were trying to limit your presence. Even with the extreme heat and drought at the end of last summer though I only added 130 gallons to the 300 gallon tank 1x and at that time it still had 6" in the bottom of it. I can drive into the big tank if I have to, prefer not to. That tank is in the shade as well so that probably helps with evaporation some. We will see how the smaller tank holds up. I drive in there probably once a week in the summer anyhow. The tank I put in place yesterday will be visible from my office window once the new house is done. It would be nice to have there be open water in the tank year round as well, but right now its not a priority. I have pictures of deer breaking the ice when it is thin enough with a hoof to get to the water.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Things are green here, almost too green, probably should have planted rice in my food plots this year. They are a weedy mostly Foxtail dominated mess right now. It has been too wet and when it hasn't been I have not had enough time to get to them. My cool season grass renovation project has its positives and its negatives. A more in depth look at that in the future. The forbs are getting browsed pretty well which is nice to see, the shrub plantings are taking a little bit of a beating. If anyone can put a positive i.d on these forbs I would appreciate it. I know a lot of plants, but not all of them.

This is the goal ... wish it all looked like this.



Shrubs are taking some hits.



I.d ?



I.d ?



Rough Head Poppy Mallow?



I.d?

 

[omicron1792]

 

[Turkey Creek]

Well I have never heard of Arrowleaf Sida... that is a new one for me. We do have a lot of Fleabane in our area, I guess I have never paid attention to what it looks like prior to it blooming. As long as things arent invasive and the deer want to browse it so be it!

 

[Turkey Creek]

Finally got some more seed in the ground tonight, finished up by tractor headlights. Just have flat out not had time when conditions were favorable. I killed off the Foxtail in the some of the plots a couple of weeks ago. Supposed to be a decent chance of rain over the next few days. Have decent soil moisture right now, so if we can get a rain I think things should germinate well and get some good growth yet before a killing frost. It was a hodge pod of seed. Mostly soybean ( personally I think green soybeans up until they get frosted out are a BIG draw) the plants have a lot of moisture if it is dry and while the deer begin to shift towards carbohydrates and away from high protein as we roll into September they still seem to like the green soybeans. I had a lot of nice looking Winter Wheat and Oats that germinated from when I tilled the plots to kill off the Foxtail. Hated to till them under, but had to broadcast and lightly till in the seed tonight. I would think there should still be some wheat and oat germination from the terminated mature plants. I am shocked at how well the native warm season grass that I planted in the Spring of 23' has done, probably doing too well! I will likely implement some strip disking at some point to make some travel ways and be more useful to the turkeys and quail. I have had a decent number of turkeys on the cameras lately and it has been awesome to hear a quail or 2 calling when I have been working on the new house. Hopefully have enough seed stock birds to start to make a covey or two in the next couple of years. Some of the Big Bluestem is over 7' tall! It is thick in spots as well.





Winter Wheat and Oats germination from terminated mature plants.