Who are you?

[Troubles Trees]

Hello, I'm glad I found this forum and hope to learn a lot from all of your experience. I have had my farm since 1987, and have been planting food plots and doing woodland management and improvements since that time. (Actually called them Deer Fields back then, and was told by Indiana DNR that food plots were bait) My farm is in Pike Co Indiana, in a mixed agriculture - big timber border area. I am currently planting 7 plots in an attempt to keep year round food for the local heard. I have 3 ponds for deer and fishing. I hunt exclusively on my own land at this point in my life. As Growing the wildlife for my harvest is more enjoyable. But like many of you I assume there is never enough time, and I don't think I can be satisfied until ever square foot of my farm is at its best.

Welcome to H-T White Oak Joe!

There are a lot of great guys here willing to share their knowledge to anyone in need of advice, really a great group here with tons of helpful information!

 

[Bill]

Hello, I'm glad I found this forum and hope to learn a lot from all of your experience. I have had my farm since 1987, and have been planting food plots and doing woodland management and improvements since that time. (Actually called them Deer Fields back then, and was told by Indiana DNR that food plots were bait) My farm is in Pike Co Indiana, in a mixed agriculture - big timber border area. I am currently planting 7 plots in an attempt to keep year round food for the local heard. I have 3 ponds for deer and fishing. I hunt exclusively on my own land at this point in my life. As Growing the wildlife for my harvest is more enjoyable. But like many of you I assume there is never enough time, and I don't think I can be satisfied until ever square foot of my farm is at its best.

Welcome to H-T.
There never is enough time but chances are you’ve already got your place 95% better then most so keep it fun..

 

[TreeDaddy]

Welcome to the group!!

are you into white oaks?

Tell us more about that

Lotta tree planting addicts here

bill

 

[WhiteoakJoe]

Welcome to the group!!

are you into white oaks?

Tell us more about that

Lotta tree planting addicts here

bill

Yes, and the little community my Farm is in is called Whiteoak Indiana. We set at the edge of the big timber and state land to the south and AG land to the north. I have a lot of Whiteoak and Redoak on my land. But I talked about Whiteoak alot when I was younger and got the Nickname Whiteoak Joe from some friends, it just became a easy name to use on the internet. I am a tree addict but mostly fruit, my father taught Horticulture, and has an orchard and greenhouse on his land. I have learned a lot on plant science from him. I keep bees, graft trees, plant foodplots, and try to manage the timber. My favorite trees right now are Persimmons and Chestnuts (Chestnut Ridge of Pike Co). I plant about 10 of each per year. Below is an older photo of a test Persimmon tree (Rosseyanka) with my daughter. We have been grafting some of these recently but nothing but this mother tree producing well yet. They are the biggest Persimmons, some approaching a tennis ball. I have seen and probably the best tasting. I have 2 groves of wild Persimmons on my land of about 6 trees in each that turned me on the the fruit in the 1980's. I have about 5 Varieties I am testing now, but the Rosseyanka is the one I am liking the most.
I'm in my 50's so mostly I am trying to get my land ready for my Daughter to take over and leave a land legacy to her.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Welcome and a lot of tree "nuts" on this site. Sure that the folks in the warmer growing regions are going to be begging for more posts on your latest addiction persimmons & chestnuts. Alas, neither do well in my area but one of these days in my travels south gonna have to find a persimmon fruit to try.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Yes, and the little community my Farm is in is called Whiteoak Indiana. We set at the edge of the big timber and state land to the south and AG land to the north. I have a lot of Whiteoak and Redoak on my land. But I talked about Whiteoak alot when I was younger and got the Nickname Whiteoak Joe from some friends, it just became a easy name to use on the internet. I am a tree addict but mostly fruit, my father taught Horticulture, and has an orchard and greenhouse on his land. I have learned a lot on plant science from him. I keep bees, graft trees, plant foodplots, and try to manage the timber. My favorite trees right now are Persimmons and Chestnuts (Chestnut Ridge of Pike Co). I plant about 10 of each per year. Below is an older photo of a test Persimmon tree (Rosseyanka) with my daughter. We have been grafting some of these recently but nothing but this mother tree producing well yet. They are the biggest Persimmons, some approaching a tennis ball. I have seen and probably the best tasting. I have 2 groves of wild Persimmons on my land of about 6 trees in each that turned me on the the fruit in the 1980's. I have about 5 Varieties I am testing now, but the Rosseyanka is the one I am liking the most.
I'm in my 50's so mostly I am trying to get my land ready for my Daughter to take over and leave a land legacy to her.

We have a honey bee thread on the forum

Bees go with habitat management like PB & J

bill

 

[Fair oak]

Hello all, new here. I’m 37 years old from far northern Wisconsin. Self-employed in home construction since 2009. Anyways, I purchased 120 acres in the western UP in 2020. I’ve done a lot of habitat work including installing 4 acres of food plots cut out of heavy aspen slashing, installed 2 ponds, 3-4 miles of access trails around perimeter and to food plots. My land is 95% cover made up mostly of young aspen, ash and maple with smaller clusters of conifer and some areas of tagalder and willow brush. I have a ton of ROD throughout the property as the heavy wet clay and young aspens make ideal habitat for it. I would say my general area is 50/50 AG to cover. All the AG is just hay fields but the fields still seem to dictate the majority of the deer movement. I’ve learned a lot along the way but I need to learn a lot more. Even though I run a ton of cameras, I’m still not positive how the deer are actually using the property. I believe my unwillingness to enter the vast majority of the property this time of year to scout is hurting more than helping. I don’t hunt food plots, just movement coming and going and I believe most of the buck activity is happening where I don’t go or the bucks are just not there which doesn’t make sense because there’s plenty of fawns. For example, The other evening I had 11 deer in a brassica plot, 4 does and 7 fawns. That was via cell camera placed high in a tree to monitor entire plot. I have not hunted yet this year, anxious to get out but waiting a couple weeks yet. Thanks and I look forward to learning more!

 

[Bill]

Welcome to H-T Fair oak.

I know a lot of people won’t hunt food plots. I’m not one of them. You just have to hunt them lightly in the right wind and be able to exit without being busted.

But from what I understand WI bucks are always on high alert. I hunt somewhat slower midwestern deer.

 

[Fair oak]

Welcome to H-T Fair oak.

I know a lot of people won’t hunt food plots. I’m not one of them. You just have to hunt them lightly in the right wind and be able to exit without being busted.

But from what I understand WI bucks are always on high alert. I hunt somewhat slower midwestern deer.

Thanks Bill!

My hunting property is in the western U.P. but yeah the deer are always on high alert from abundant predators. I get wolves on camera pretty much on a weekly basis and there for I get more blurry pictures of deer running than anything else. The wolves have been less persistent this year but It’s hard to pattern anything and I believe that’s how the deer manage to do ok. If I could do it over I would’ve saved money and bought property somewhere with less predators and less severe winters but the upside is, I live only 45 minutes from the property so I can spend more time working on the habitat which I enjoy just as much or more than hunting itself.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Welcome to HT Fair Oak! Lots of good habitat guys on here to get info from.

 

[Fair oak]

Welcome to HT Fair Oak! Lots of good habitat guys on here to get info from.

Thanks TT!
Took the day off tomorrow and I’m heading up to the property to scout. 8” of snow on the ground so I should be able to see what’s going on with bedding/ food plots, etc. Time to get more aggressive rather than rely on cameras.

 

[b116757]

Welcome to the forum. When I was a kid we owned a 115 acre farm just outside of Iron River Mi and grew up about 20 miles south of Ashland I’m very familiar with the area’s you speak of.

 

[PatinPA]

Thanks TT!
Took the day off tomorrow and I’m heading up to the property to scout. 8” of snow on the ground so I should be able to see what’s going on with bedding/ food plots, etc. Time to get more aggressive rather than rely on cameras.

Early snows are a great time to look around. We had one a few years ago in October. I learned so much from that. Even if I blew everything out of there for a while it was worth it for the info I got. Learned that all of the deer were bedding on a small hillside. Without leaves on the trees they could watch me drive in and park and then walk to my stand.

 

[dewfarm]

Bill,

Thank you for the ad. I am grateful to have found this group and the endless amount of knowledge this group contains. I am located in Charleston, South Carolina but our family farm is located in Dillon, South Carolina. We recently acquired a new family tract of land, 67 acres, that is a 10/15 year old cutdown. Although I’ve hunted for my entire life (33), this is my first time being able to design our family’s hunting land.

The hunting neighbors we have attend the church I grew up in. They have had enormous success over the years hunting this area as it is mostly soy bean corn farms adjacent. However our land is thick and nothing but bedding. Two adjacent property owners have recently harvested timber, with the larger not planting pines but letting natural regeneration.

As we try to establish our property for success for generations to come and after countless Google searches, here I am! I would like to thank everyone in advance for their time, mentorship, help and friendship. From the vast amount of posts I have read on this page, I don’t think I could find a better group.

Attached are two deer from the adjacent property this year.

 

[b116757]

Welcome to group pretty good bunch of eggs post here with regularity someone is sure to have some insight into whatever avenues you pursue in property management.

 

[Bill]

Bill,

Thank you for the ad. I am grateful to have found this group and the endless amount of knowledge this group contains. I am located in Charleston, South Carolina but our family farm is located in Dillon, South Carolina. We recently acquired a new family tract of land, 67 acres, that is a 10/15 year old cutdown. Although I’ve hunted for my entire life (33), this is my first time being able to design our family’s hunting land.

The hunting neighbors we have attend the church I grew up in. They have had enormous success over the years hunting this area as it is mostly soy bean corn farms adjacent. However our land is thick and nothing but bedding. Two adjacent property owners have recently harvested timber, with the larger not planting pines but letting natural regeneration.

As we try to establish our property for success for generations to come and after countless Google searches, here I am! I would like to thank everyone in advance for their time, mentorship, help and friendship. From the vast amount of posts I have read on this page, I don’t think I could find a better group.

Attached are two deer from the adjacent property this year.

Welcome to H-T.

 

[BIGDHunting]

Hey everyone! I’m the new guy … here and in owning land. We (myself, my brother and a nephew) purchased just under 70 acres in Central NY this past spring. As a matter a fact I think I walked the property the day after Christmas last year. We looked for over 2 years and this one seemed to fit the bill. We bought the property for hunting purposes, specifically whitetail much like alot of you I am sure. I wandered here looking for information on habitat and improving our plot to attract more deer. Hoping to learn a lot and get some nice deer based off what I learn from y’all.

 

[Tree Spud]

Hey everyone! I’m the new guy … here and in owning land. We (myself, my brother and a nephew) purchased just under 70 acres in Central NY this past spring. As a matter a fact I think I walked the property the day after Christmas last year. We looked for over 2 years and this one seemed to fit the bill. We bought the property for hunting purposes, specifically whitetail much like alot of you I am sure. I wandered here looking for information on habitat and improving our plot to attract more deer. Hoping to learn a lot and get some nice deer based off what I learn from y’all.

Congrats & welcome!

 

[Teeder]

I'm new here, joined with Cuddelink issues, looking through site found this. I'm retired Army pilot, maintenance test pilot, and logistics officer. Wish your son best of luck. Tell him to pay as much attention to the machine as the flying. Tactical flight is a rush, as intense as NASCAR, and complicated by weather, terrain, dark nights, and bad guys. Listen carefully to the old guys. Major J

Update time.
My boy is through common core and was just selected to Apaches!

 

[Bill]

Hey everyone! I’m the new guy … here and in owning land. We (myself, my brother and a nephew) purchased just under 70 acres in Central NY this past spring. As a matter a fact I think I walked the property the day after Christmas last year. We looked for over 2 years and this one seemed to fit the bill. We bought the property for hunting purposes, specifically whitetail much like alot of you I am sure. I wandered here looking for information on habitat and improving our plot to attract more deer. Hoping to learn a lot and get some nice deer based off what I learn from y’all.

missed this on Monday. Welcome to H-T