The Orion Syndicate (#12) - 2020 & 2021 Champions

Good luck Chief. You may only get time to kill 30 or 40 deer this year. Speedy revovery!

 

Well finally got time to get my bow set up with the new sight and got my arrows fletched. Late to the game, but ready to start dialing it in for this season.

 

TN Velvet weekend is 27-29Aug, I will actually be in TN for it this year, but the weather is going to be 85/64. There will be a 3% chance you'll see me sweating it out in the woods. If I do go, it'll be strictly for inventory/scouting.
Last year I didn't hunt a morning until late October, it worked out quite well, early morning heat/humidity is annoying. It will probably be the same unless we get a weird cold snap, I still need to get a few spots setup, but it's too dang humid, and I'm too dang busy with family/sports/work/etc.. It's fast approaching though and this has been the least prepared I've ever been. I'll still make it work though.

 

I believe so, but I go to a memorial golf scramble in Michigan every year and it just happens to be the same weekend.

 

http://www.semperk9.org/memorial/remembering-the-fallen-cpl-nyle-yates-iii/

This is who we do it for and where the money goes. Yates mom puts it on every year, she's a hell of a tough women and loves when we all come up for a mini reunion every year. Yates was a hell of a guy, funny as hell and a pain in ass sometimes, but overall, hell of a kid. I've been meaning to put this out but always feel weird about asking for donations etc.. But, now you know and it's open to anyone that wants to play. I'll post the actual flyer for the event sometime.

 

I spent the evening mowing in some clover fields. Next I need to get them fertilized and sprayed for grass that is starting to work its way in. One of my trail cams got a pic of me mowing with the new tractor. I am loving the cab with AC and stereo! I have about 7 acres of Fall plots to get worked up and planted now. I hope to get one of them in this evening after work. I am having the new 40 limed today and it will be seeded to alfalfa in the next couple of weeks. That should be a good draw from the neighboring timbers if we can get some rains to get it up and going good. I am putting a Fall plot in there also with a water tank in the middle of it.

 

Thanks very much! I am certainly blessed to have been raised in Whitetail heaven and equally lucky to have made a few good financial decisions along the way so that I can own a few pieces of ground to play with. Southern Iowa has some beautiful country. I think most folks think of Iowa as flat prairie and my area is anything but that.

I almost bought a green tractor! lol But, my very first new tractor was a New Holland TT60A that I bought in 2006. It was a great tractor for me and I never had a single issue with it. I sold it 4 years ago when I sold the first farm I had ever bought. The guy wanted nearly all the equipment in the shed on that farm and I got great money for it, so I let it go. I am looking for a bigger batwing mower and a snow-blower for this one and maybe a hydraulic blade. Then, I should be good to go.

 

https://forums.bowhunting.com/threads/my-thoughts-and-experiences-with-mock-scrapes.22204/

I am dropping this link here from our very own member, Shed. Troy is probably one of the best whitetail hunters in the country. He very consistently kills the top end bucks in some of the hardest country to hunt there is. And, he does it nearly exclusively over scrapes. He got me started on this technique and the use of Buck Fever Synthetics several years ago. We had several phone conversations and he is a standup guy to be sure. I have had fantastic success with making mock scrapes. If you put it in the right location, you WILL get shot opportunities on the best bucks in your area if you hunt smart. I would encourage everyone on this team to at least read his article and consider giving it a try. I will soon be opening new scrapes for this season on a couple new pieces of ground and look forward to hanging cameras on them. I love the synthetic scents because they don't go bad over time and they flat out work. I have had target bucks hit a new scrape within hours of making it. Try it, it could be your secret weapon.

 

If you get moisture, it's early enough for sure. I have planted cereal plots as late as the first weekend in October when the season was already open and still killed deer out of them in November. They love the tender new stuff. Throw some dry fertilizer down also to give it the best opportunity. Winter rye and turnips will grow well almost anywhere and take very little prep. That makes for a decent mix, just go fairly light on the poundage of turnips or they will choke the rye out.

 

Our local Co-op carries these seeds. They are cheap, but make for a good plot. I have used them for years. The turkeys will like it in the spring as the rye greens up again. Purple Top turnips are used as a cover crop on ag fields after harvest and so is the winter rye. Good luck!

 

Gees fletch you have a better tractor than me lol. Nice plots!

I 've been getting more nice bear pics than of big bucks. Another thing that's strange deer haven't been in my soybeans like other years. Deer seem to be living and eating in the corn, maybe it's the hot weather.

 

They taste better then deer!
Go kill one