Fawn size

Regular fawn:



Compare to this one-I'm hoping this is a buck. Look at how big he is compared to the other one.


Check out the antlers on this guy-a bit odd.

Bucks - FINALLY!

You can see the deer really like the clover.




Nice 8 pointer...



So, we almost fell off the chair when this bad boy showed...



He's got a broken off left tip. Looks like he may be 14 this fall. Our gene pool is tall here, not wide. He's impressive. Have to let him walk and continue breeding.

Summer update - Deer

Fawn with mother - pretty neat.



I have to say, he's no trophy. So far, only seen one or 2 bucks, all on the small side.

Summer Update - Alfalfa and Clover !

Here's a shot of my middle acre - it's Grazer alfalfa from Welter Seed. Coming in nicely albeit slower than annuals and a bit more sparse. Next year, it'll be thick. Alfalfa has an allelopathic characteristic-choking out other plants. I prepped this in early May with Roundup and then broadcast early June and rolled right before rain.




This is my front acre-Extreme from the Whitetail Institute-white clover, chicory and small burnett - all hearty perennials. I'm seeing deer in it regularly.




Here's a shot of my southern acre-generic white clover from Lowell Feed Store-now this is some great food. Sprayed Roundup on it a few times in the summer, then broadcast and rolled it early last fall. Now it's just so great and lush-had to mow it-it was 8" tall! I am seeing deer in it nightly.



All in all, I may not even do rape/turnips this year-with this much solid food, we'll see deer in here until we've got heavy snows. By then, the freezer should be full of venison.

Tree Swallows

What is it about these sleek, fast, darting swallows, dressed in dark green tuxedos. They let me get within 6'.



Then there's this tall pole in the garden. He loves the high perch:

Deer Blinds

Got one done...

Ford 8N Snow Blade Trick

Found this trick on YesterdaysTractor site...Take a 4" piece of PVC and slit it lengthwise using a table saw. Then slit it again, about 1/2" or 3/4" (put a little piece of wood in the notch so it doesn't close up behind your saw). Then drill 4 holes along each side of the notch, 1 at either end and space out 2 more wherever you want. Then simply use bungee cords over the top, or rope, and secure it to the blade. Slides real nice on tar and even over grass so you never have to worry about damage. This happened to be a 5' piece for < $10 at Lowes.



Now I can push snow way back on my grass, and, stop any scraping damage to my tar driveway. I have a lot of cracking on mine and over the years have put down crack filler liquid and the blade was hard on that...

Fruits of my labor

That's what happens when you get an acre of rape/oats in and good growth. Looks like she's enjoying a good salad! She's looks like she's been eating well.

This bad boy is heading into the swamp behind me probably cruising for the ladies. Check out his flat back and huge neck. He's probably 3 1/2 yrs old. A solid buck.

Rape & Oats - update

This is what happens when you have proper PH, good rain, and mix together oats and rape. The deer are in this nightly.



You can really see the oats here. They do die off after frost, but are a great fall attracter.

Rape for the fall hunting season

Well I'm really happy with the rape so far. I put this down July 28 and added 50# of oats as a cereal grain first. I put down 100# of 19-19-19 and we had 3 days of rain after. I was concerned about too much rain, but my soil is somewhat light, and drains well. It looks great.




Here's another shot.

Extreme - small burnett and chicory

After fertilizing the Extreme plot, I'm shocked. It is very thick and much taller than last year. The 19-19-19 really has helped. (100#/acre).



That's a size 13 I'll have you know...

Berseem Clover

One last look at the rye before I disk it under. I put that in last fall and it's almost 5' now! It's beautiful. I noticed very little weed growth in it. Kind of a nice benefit. I'll turn it under for the nutrients and put in 25# of Berseem Clover. It's a hearty annual and will grow thick until frost.




You can see I prepped my middle acre by disking it and then rolling the seedbed firm with the cultipacker. It was too windy to seed today, so Monday I'll spread 25# of Berseem Clover and re-roll it with the cultipacker. It's a bit late but I'm going to let it grow until late July, and then turn it under along with the horse manure and put in rape/turnips.



The rye looks so nice I hate to cut it down.

8N Tractor Rebuild results

Well, it was a fun time, lots of work, but I finally got the 1948 Ford 8N rebuild done. New sleeves, rings, pistons, main and connecting rod bearings. The old rings were shot and installed improperly with huge end gaps. Plus, they were chattering all over, no wonder I had 70psi vs 120. New plug wires, and all new wiring, and we're good to go.

Here's a pic before of the motor...



Here she is after...


And a full side shot...



Started er up last night and it ran great. Have a few minor issues, but all in all a great success, thanks to Travis and Frank down the road. I figure I'll hand it down before it dies...Can you believe it, 60 years old?

Spring progress report

WOW-check this out- Extreme from Whitetail Institute is a combo of chicory and small burnett. After good rains and fertilizing with 100# of 19-19-19, check out the serious deer chow.



Here's a location that gets afternoon shade. It seems to relish the cooler spot.




Last fall, in the acre at the rear of my property, I put in rye. The deer came to it during hunting season. Check it out now; we're talking harvest here. That's about 4' tall.



Here's a good shot of the chicory. My soil isn't that great, but it really takes off. As a hearty perennial, it keeps coming back year after year.



So here's the plan for my middle acre. I have 5 piles of horse manure going to compost. Mid summer, I'll turn that manure under and plant rape and turnips. They are heavy nitrogen users and need that boost. That'll be my fall hunting plot. I'm putting it in earlier than normal, probably mid July. Here in MI, I have put it in mid-aug, and it was ok, but I'd like to see it produce more and the extra 30 days should take care of that. They aren't tasty till frost, I'm told, but I've seen the deer hit it hard prior.

Fall season preparation. Rye/rape/turnips/scrapes

The excitement builds as all 3 acres are ramping up their production. Check out the healthy sign here in the Extreme plot. Big sign = big deer. Here's a closeup of the small burnett and chicory. It's the Extreme mix from the WhiteTail Institute; a good perennial crop for bad soil and dry conditions. After a solid 2 days of rain, it's back strong after being beaten down by the heat and dry conditions here in Michigan lately. This hardy perennial mix will keep producing year after year.
I'm thinking this may be the first scrape of the season, complete with the overhanging branch they love to use to rub on their pre-orbital gland. We'll watch it and put the cam here if it shows more use.Here's a look at the plot where I put in rape and turnips on August 11. The rape is coming up around 3" or so, and will be prime for hunting season. It goes sweet after a frost as the sugars come into the leaves. The deer really hit it when that happens.
This appears to be almost all 'volunteer' seeding from the buckwheat I had in prior. After mowing it and disking it under, I get a free round of crop from the seed. NICE!
Here's a look at the rye I put in on the 6th(150 #/acre). 9 days later it's already 4-6". Rye is a good cover crop, to be turned under in the spring as a green manure to help build my soil.Another spike checking out the minerals. Watch out!

Buckwheat success and minerals...

Can't tell you how happy I am at what is happening. The buckwheat is huge, and attracting does and bucks. Adding to that attraction, I put out 10# of 30-06 Minerals from the Whitetail Institute, and within 2 days, these pics occurred.

The combination of high protein in the buckwheat, and the added minerals should help grow larger deer and bigger racks.




Even the does are checking out the minerals...

Buckwheat - Unbelievable growth. You need to try this...

Here are pics of my 2 acres of buckwheat. Planted it at #25/acre, in light soil, with no fertilizer. I am impressed.


Here's another shot. Man I am happy about this crop. It obviously stays ahead of the deer, grows very well in poor soil, and is highly palatible, with high protein to boot. What a great crop.



I'm laughing at how easy this stuff is to get to grow...It's just rampant.



In a month or so, I'll turn it under with the disk, and put in my winter crop of austrian winter peas, oats, and some rape. The deer will have a lot to eat all through the end of the year, and even into the snow.

Summer Disking-weed control

Just read in WhiteTail News from the WhiteTail Institute (www.whitetailinstitute.com) that if you repeatedly disk a plot in 2-week intervals all through the year, you will reduce total weed seeds by 80%. This process brings seeds to germination, they grow, then are disked under, and the process repeats. Each disk cycle kills thousands of plants, never to regerminate. Over a year, that top layer is depleted. It makes sense if you think about it. And it works better overall than using herbicides because they only work on the plants they touch.

I'm figuring an acre of land has literally billions of weed seeds in the upper 8" of soil. Amazing.

On another note, the buckwheat is 12-15" in places, and the deer are finally taking to it, mowing portions here and there. I'm glad about that, and that means good nutrition and better deer. Slowly my 3 acre goal is coming into focus.

Lessons learned-Buckwheat / Iron-Clay Cowpeas / Chicory

Disked up 2 acres Mid-April, spread #25 of buckwheat on this plot. Lesson: Wait till the weeds come in, then hit it with Roundup, wait 10 days, then plant. I also think #50/acre would have been better. They seem a bit thin but the growth is great, so, I note it for the future. I put down no fertilizer, by the way, just as a test. The soil isn't all that great, but so far, they look good. Buckwheat is a great annual, smothering out some weeds, growing rapidly, handling heavy grazing pressure, and tolerating most any soil. Additionally, they bring up potassium and phosporus so that future crops do better.
I broadcast seeded them over disked soil, then ran the cultipacker to press them under. They are best planted 1" down, but I have no planter, so this worked pretty good, but some areas are somewhat thin. You can see the weeds there also...




Chicory-This hearty perennial has a long tap root and tolerates drought very well. I have some plants that are a foot tall! I now have to mow this field because I made the same mistake I mentioned prior: planting immediately after disking. RULE-anytime you disturb the soil, you will get weeds. Hopefully the repeated mowing will keep the annuals out in the future, as I cut the tops off before they go to seed. I have hardly any grass weeds, but a lot of broadleaf. We'll see how the mowing does next year specifically. Here's a shot showing the very nice growth. My soil is very average, and this stuff germinated easily, and grows very strong.



The best way to have a perfectly clean perennial plot for planting is to think in terms of 2 years. Start in April of the year.
Pick a plot and spray Roundup on it until most of the weeds are dead (You cannot easily disk a heavily weed-infested plot, unless you have a big tractor. If so, skip that first step).
Put down the proper amount of agricultural lime to per a soil test, and incorporate it down 4-6" into the soil by disking, and then roll it smooth.
Wait for weeds and spray Roundup in May, June, and then again in Sept, never disturbing the soil.
Then, in the next year, put in a early 'frost seeding' of a good clover mix like the one from the WhiteTail Institute right after the snow is gone the NEXT spring. Overseed, fertilize, roll it like mad, and let the spring rains do the work. You'll have virtually no weeds, and the lime will have had time to activate. The results should be stunning.

I'm playing around with buckwheat because I need to improve my soil. Plus, it's just fun.

Spring plot preparation

2 projects ongoing. 1) The acre of turnips/rape I put in last fall is now fully limed with 3200 lbs, and I'm spraying Roundup May 8. Will disk it under and put in #50 buckwheat and #100 19-19-19. 2) My middle acre is under a kill of Roundup as we speak to remove all grasses, so I can disk it, after which I will spray Roundup again as the broadleaf weeds will show up. Plans are to put in Durana Clover from Penningtonseed.com in late summer.