Another quick update. John, I think your early deer on your plot jinxed me. They are plowing through everything at my place right now except the Full Draw.....they haven't started on that quite yet. There is enough there that there will be some left for the season opener, but they are really putting a dent into it. I think my smaller 2 plots will make it through most of October and maybe early November, but the big plot is really thick still.......enough there that it's not showing a browse line (except for the clover strip). The big plot should last well into the new year again. Usually they don't start on any of my brassicas for another couple of weeks......you would think with the bumper crop of apples (hundreds of apple trees on and around the property) and hardwood mast that they wouldn't be on the plots quite so early. My clover looks like cows have been on it, it's browsed that low. A few pics below to share. Tecomate Ultra Forage and Maximum: Full Draw - struggling a bit but should continue to grow well after frost: Tecomate Monster Mix - They are really mowing this down: Biologic Maximum: More Full Draw in another plot: Tecomate Chicory:
Matt, fantastic and this is the first time I saw the picture of our nanny whacking plot...LOL the deer are swarming it. Is the blind still there? Looks better and better. Makes me miss not working on my plot his year. Next year I promise myself it'll be better.
Rob: The portable blind has been pulled, instead we built a permanent blind there for Lisa to hunt this year later in the season. Since it's her first year hunting, I'm trying to save that spot for her. No worries though, lots of other activity this year in other spots. Yesterday after my work was done I was sitting in front of camp with my dad enjoying a beer and 11 longbeards (one group) came into the plot picking bugs right where your doe was standing last fall.
Yep. Night temps are where they should be, soil is moist, and now the brassicas that were slow have been top dressed with 46-0-0 urea. I bet in the next 2-3 weeks they will probably go nuts growing. The actual turnips will probably start to break ground in the next few weeks.
Plots look grteat Matt. At least my deer aren't the only ones that didn't read the instructions as far eating the food plots goes. I applied my nitrogen on Thursday ahead of 0.75 inches of rain Friday and 5or so inches today. I think it got rained in pretty good.:d I wish I would have put up a few seclusion fences. I am not sure what happened to a lot of my clover. It was there one week and gone the next. It was only an inch or 2 tall. I have a lot of turkey pics in my plots. I am thinking they might be the culprets.
plots look great Matt. is that a Kabota tractor?? My Dad has the 3410 and just had a bucket installed. I put it to the test last week
Thanks guys, 4 years into this project it is definitely paying off. I wish we had more land to work with and help protect those younger bucks, but in all honesty our 130 acres is about as good as it gets in PA right now. We will have a blast hunting this place this year. Yes Blood. I actually posted bad info before in this thread, it's a 2710bt. It's actually a 27hp 4wd model that has the 4 cylinder diesel motor (not the 3 cylinder). It's a great little tractor, but I do miss the larger models we used to have.
Matt, looks awesome. I am in year two of my projects. We have 186 acres, but it is all wooded, so we have to clear what we want planted. I am taking it an acre at a time. Love what you are doing bud.
