What have you done to lighten the load at your camp?

SD51555

5 year old buck +
Been many moons I've been working on this habitat stuff. Learned a lot of lessons, and nearly all of them the hard way. I've quit doing lots of things I used to do.

What have any of you quit doing, or found a better way to do since you started this hobby?

I can throw a few starters out there:

I quit fertilizing
Bought a four wheeler
Upgraded wheel barrow to a polar trailer for wheeler
Upgraded to a blower seeder
Upgraded to riding lawn mower
I about never spray anymore. (I did spray to kill quack in a new plot last year, and have one to do this year)
I quit buying trees
I buy mulch by the 10 yard truck load
I quit hunting from ladder stands
I built my own power plant of which Foggy is completely jealous
Started using the no-gutting/no-skinning method / Moved my butchering operation 100% indoors
Kept working on fixing my trails until they were clean, smooth, dry, and connected
 
And I've got the food plot work down to about 4 passes per year:

1. spring broadcasting
2. gypsum application
3. summer broadcasting
4. summer mowing
 
Someone torched my cabin about 20 years ago. I now just pull my fish house up there and mow grass just once a year.

Like kooch, I shoot my deer at home instead of camp.
 
I quit planting trees also with the exception of a fruit tree now and then. I've found just doing nothing works better then me planting cover trees. The birds and mother nature handle it with time.

I also quit worrying about not getting everything I think I need to done. Not worth the added stress.
 
I stopped worrying about trying to get perfect looking plots. They don't need to look pretty as my deer have never run out of food. As such I don't use fertilizer, lime, or hardly any sprays. I let broadleaf 'weeds' grow right alongside whatever I've planted, and just spray to kill grass when it's starting to outnumber my clovers.

For the fruit trees, I now have enough comfrey growing to provide all of the liquid fertilizer and mulch that I'll ever need. And the liquid comfrey provides all the nutrition the trees need to be able to fight off insects and diseases. Scab has been completely eliminated from my orchard.
 
Never messed with trees or fertilizer. Don’t think either matter in my world. Bought a property with a cabin that is liveable. That made the biggest impact. Don’t go all in on summer plots with hundreds of acres of crops in the vicinity. Just dabble some.
 
Gosh you mean you are supposed to slow down?I just don't get as much done.I realize how much my daughters helped while they were growing up.I planted 30 more fruit trees this year,bought another 80 acres,found a few places to move my ladder stands.prepared food plots and have been watering twice a week.It does help that I live 5 minutes from farm
 
As such I don't use fertilizer, lime, or hardly any sprays. I let broadleaf 'weeds' grow right alongside whatever I've planted, and just spray to kill grass when it's starting to outnumber my clovers.
Ditto. I'm happy just trying to grow perennial clover and come on, that stuff is considered a weed if growing in your yard in town and a tough customer. My only real schedule I try to do is mow off the pesky broadleaf weeds before they set seed. Here's looking at you pigweed....
 
1) After planting thousands of conifers, I stopped planting them several years ago
2) Stopped winter feeding deer (it is OK if they move over to the neighbors and winter there where they feed) This has helped my native browse immensely.
3) Still planting crabapples but I got a late start. Should have concentrated more on crabapples years ago.
4) Stopped turning dirt and went 100% No-Till and cover cropping in 2016. Ironically enough....when I don't turn the dirt, I don't have to pick rocks
5) Soil has improved to the point where I did not need any fertilizer last year. I haven't needed any lime in many years and I don't expect to ever need to fertilize again.
6) After purchasing my no-till drill I sold my 4-row planter, 12' field cultivator and 6' conventional drill. Still have a disc and 6' cultivator sitting around but haven't used them since 2016
7) Sold my 4 wheeler and bought a JD Gator side by side (what a work horse)...also bought a CanAm SXS - my wife just had to have one
8) Hunting less from hang-on stands and more from solid (Family Traditions) ladder stands in our old age. Now have 11 box blinds for firearms season hunting
9) Have dramatically reduced my planting of monocultures - corn, soybeans, sugar beets, etc. Even my brassica mix includes clovers now followed by broadcasting rye later on.
10) Tried double cropping Summer Release cover crops and Fall Release cover crops last year, but decided our growing season is too short. First planting is now July brassicas.
11) Stopped using mineral licks several years ago
12) Stopped shooting yearling bucks over 40 years ago - Stopped shooting 2 1/2 year olds over 20 years ago. If I can't find a 3 or 4 year old, does eat just as well
13) Started doing a little grafting on fruit trees a couple years ago - should have started that sooner

I guess I have slowed down some, but still keeping myself busy. Probably enjoying the habitat projects as much or more than the actual deer hunting.
 
Grid Power, electric heat, electric refrigerator, electric lights, and a Welder......for the Win. (eat your heart out SD).
 
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I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to plant any more trees for screening from the road or creating conifer thermal cover (which is completely absent from my land).

Also excited to hopefully get all the plots to the point where the growing blends don’t require more than one or 2 trips for spraying and planting a year.
 
I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to plant any more trees for screening from the road or creating conifer thermal cover (which is completely absent from my land).

Also excited to hopefully get all the plots to the point where the growing blends don’t require more than one or 2 trips for spraying and planting a year.
Right with you wind. I want to be like grant woods in next two years, but only two passes with tractor instead of three. Crimp and plant in one pass in spring. Just plant in fall.

I’m fertilizing twice a year through next spring then no more. Soil tests showed low phos. Once it’s built up (planting lots of buckwheat and rye also) I’m gonna let plants just cycle nutrients themselves.
 
Here a list of five for me:
I stopped going into the woods to check cameras, thanks to technologies for my Cuddeback and SpyPoint cell & solar cameras.
I stopped spending tons of money on scent control and started watching the wind better.
I stopped using lots of DEET to prevent chiggers and ticks and more permethrin.
I stopped buying bags of food plot seeds with big deer on them for locally sourced seeds and blends.
I stopped paying others to process my deer and started doing it at home.
 
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This year I'm done with food plots on my WI place. I found a new farmer to rent my tillable ground and he will be planting alfalfa. I'm letting him rent my former food plot acres and instead of spending time on marginal food plots, I'll be fishing instead.

Quit trailering ATV, brush hog and ATV trailer back and forth to the cabin (3 hours from home) and purchased a set for the cabin. They are all used and somewhat rough looking, so I'm not worried about them getting stolen.
 
I enjoy the work of it. But we've done several "work smarter, not harder" things in the last couple years.

1. No Till Drill
2. The big fields we get the neighbor to farm and custom harvest what we want, and leave stand what we want. We just pay him for his time.
3. More annual plots of clovers and easy to grow cereal grains, less on the labor intensive brassicas.
- we feed during the fall and winter anyways, so the plots aren't nearly as important
4. Look at things in a multi year window and realize not everything has to be done this season
5. Try to spend time and money on the things that work for the deer, not things that impress me.
 
Grid Power, electric heat, electric refrigerator, electric lights, and a Welder......for the Win. (eat your heart out SD).
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The value of my power plant has dropped quite a bit since the risk free rate of return has risen to 3.5%. Back when it was 0.7%, it had a value of $128,571. Now it's down to $25,714.
 
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