Any upcoming projects planned for this coming year? Many here have experience and most likely, would be willing to pass it along. So in listing some of my, seem to be, never ending projects at the farm, here are a few. Surface and subsurface aeration in a 3.5 acre pond with no elec power close by. Nothing that money won't solve . Grow out forage pond, SLOWLY!! being built Pecan tree orchard 2nd attempt(drought killed the first plantings). Grow out indoor TP farm, A maybe try this project? And the continuation of year round wildlife food plots, hoping to increase the numbers of deer and Turkey to the property. A learning process for sure. So lots to do. Anyone else out there have these types of projects planned for the new year?

Tracy

Got two wood duck boxes for Christmas. Was going to put them up today... But grateful to find info online that, like most things I do without research, I was going to do it wrong. Can't put them in trees with nothing to keep the raccoon and squirrels out. Unless you like feeding eggs and wood ducks to raccoons and squirrels. Will post mount them with guards in place once the guards I ordered come in. I put in two apple orchards this past spring. One with 43 trees, one with eight. Five varieties, ten trees each. I planted clover and chicory for ground cover and rigged up a pump system from the upper pond to water everything. Have an excavator coming to expand two of the ponds and clear more around both orchard areas to make room for the 25 pear and 15 plum trees that are coming this spring. I have 240 Chinese chestnuts in cold storage to begin growing once they germinate, probably by the beginning of February. I did 150 last winter from which about 90 seedlings are growing. I had about 20 Dunstan chestnut growing that I put in when I got the place. They're doing so well I decided to give them plenty of company. I cleared the two orchards by myself over two years using my limited equipment. After seeing the excavator clear for the ponds I quickly decided that manual clearing days are over! Shaping things on the property has turned into my favorite way to spend free time. Seeing the response of the wildlife has been very encouraging. If you build it... They will come!

Tracy...my 2016 wishlist is to finally get a dock/pier after talking about it for a couple of years. Still debating floating vs fixed. I'll know which way to go when I walk on the floating pier I am considering. Might put a feeder on my "catfish only" pond. I'd like to get some accent lighting up in some trees. I guess all of us would like an additional storage building. And if I win the lottery I'll blacktop most of my road.

Ditch in some more watershed for the pond, if possible. I have a transit/level on order. Finish clearing that fence row, and keep it mowed/sprouts killed until it turns into more hay field. Get more grass established around the pond area. Hopefully it will "settle in" and quit losing most of the water gained by rains. Fish more, work less.

Hollywood this was my Wood Duck project about 4 years ago. You can see the critter trap made from stove pipe. The fence post surrounding the post are wired to it for lots of support when the wind blows hard with this big heavy wood duck house on top. The reason this pvc post doesn't break is because I have a 2x2 inch treated wood core inside the pvc pipe and then another pvc pipe slid over the first pvc pipe. Cheap but strong. I assembled this in about 3 feet of water because I wanted the ducklings to jump into the water when they entered their new life. But Wood Ducks don't use this house, Tree Swallows do. Where my Wood Ducks come from I don't know. My water fluxuates about 3 feet and this is at low water levels.

See what I mean. Tree Swallows
Don't do this. Embarrassing.

This is what I built.

Well.... I would like swallows too. But... They don't need a McMansion! The pond I expanded last July started getting wood ducks in to roost every evening shortly after. Not sure why they didn't use it before. Either it was too small for them to feel comfortable there, or there were too many trees to negotiate around getting in and out. I had up to about 50 coming in every evening until about the third week of September... Then... Gone. The increase in bird traffic at the expanded pond is incredible. Cedar waxwings by the dozens feeding on bug hatches over the ponds every evening. Kingfishers taking fatheads. Turkeys feeding in the clover around it. Great blue herons. (Grrrrrr) 4 mature bald eagles. Red tail hawks patrolling the new edges. It's quite a show, and I love watching it.

John M, that's funny upside down lol. I used 4" pvc to keep the snakes and coons out of the boxes. Last year was the first spring for the 2 wood duck boxes and I watched a couple of pairs look these places over for several days, but I never saw them use the boxes. They would swim up to the boxes and around the boxes. Built mine from cuts from Cypress trees, the outside cut of these trees looks pretty natural.

Tracy

I have many things I need to do. Hard to prioritize them.
I'd like to do wood duck houses, but that's been moved down the list.
I need to get some leak stopping polymers from TJ, and treat two suspected leak areas.
I need to get a disc, or something for my small tractor to expand my food plots. I need to get them in earlier, with year long attractors.
I need to add to the dock. So far I have two 10' X 4' sections going out into the water. I'd like to add a 8' X 20' section, but that's pretty expensive.
I'd like to run electric down to the pond. It's about 300 yards from the barn. Have lots to learn before this happens.
I need to start some plantings. At least I've settled on what to plant. (At waters edge, and in two area where the bank isn't as steep.)
I need to get two more deer stands, and get them in place.
Other than that, I just don't have that much to do.

I didn't mention that for the last several years I have had wood duck babies with their mother swimming in the pond. Where they are being born, raised and walked to the pond with mother I don't know. It's got to be a dangerous walk for the ducklings to the pond and that is the reason I built the wood duck house over water.

Years ago I built a dozen Blue Bird houses and got Tree Swallows which I really like. They are very exciting to watch doing their acrobatic flying.

Hollywood your pond sounds perfect. What great entertainment.

All of our ponds are perfect! It's our expectations that get twisted at times...
I have a couple bluebird boxes a friend gave me that I haven't had time to put up yet. Good to know the swallows take to them. I had swallows working the pond area a few times last summer and wondered if I could get them nesting there. I may try putting the boxes there instead of in the orchard. Are yours in the open on posts?

2016 plans: We are hoping to find a contractor to build twin ponds in two swales that are in a woods. I will be trying to construct a walleye spawning area down from a large field tile that will feed one of the ponds. My hope is to excavate a trench where the water runs in and fill it with stone/rock, but I am unsure if the wallaye will spawn in it. Not sure how deep the water should be over the rock, or what size rock to use either. We will also be continuing to cut and treat invasive honeysuckle in the woods, and have a few hundred more seedling trees to plant this spring. Our land is primarily being developed as wildlife habitat, and I do enjoy shaping it with lots of help from my wife and kids! Also will be installing a water control box on the exit tube for the newest pond and begin the multi-year process of raising the water level over the next few years (12" total over 3 years). Our experience with doing this on our first pond was that it really helped establish the marginal plants and bald cypress. Still a few days left on the late doe season, so I may take a walk if the rain takes a break.

2016 is retirement time! Feb to be exact. Still looking for our final farm for purchase as we speak. Seen many, missed out on a few, but hope to be in something by late spring/early summer. Not in a hurry, God will tell us when we find it!

Wood ducks sometimes won't use boxes if there are not trees on the pond around the box. Finicky they can be. On a hunting property lease a couple years ago, we put out or cleaned out around 35 boxes. We had @70% usage of the boxes. Put game cameras on a few on video setting and got several duckling drops! Cool to see that. Woodie hunting that fall was spectacular!

Happy New Year,
God Bless
Doug

I am going to re focus on koi removal, I have removed 16 so far but need to remove more. I am also am going to refocus on the two CG that need removal and work on getting some artificial grass beds established. I think the GSH need more recruitment.,

New Dock for me. Fixed dock with a 8x12 on the end of it. Floating docks are not what there cracked up to be IMO.

We just finished a new fishing shed for all the goodies.

And of course we are still working on the cabin starting to come along good though now. I need to post a few pics again.

RC

I would like to add additional rip-rap,add more sand below water level , expand my beach area,and install geotextile cloth and stone under the shelter house.
As far as wildlife management I would like to install bat boxes,martin houses and plant some Dunstan Chestnut trees,white pine trees,and some bamboo.

Congrats on your upcoming retirement and good luck with your property search! In your experience... Does this setup look like one the woodies would use? Box is on the far shore, to the left. Trees are about 15' behind it. It will get a guard on it before spring gets here.

[img:center]http://photobucket.com/user/tomhollywood/media/image_zpsb5sck5xk.jpeg.html][/URL][/img]

We put an 8x12 fishing shed this last summer to house fishing gear, fish traps, kayak, etc. next to the dock.

What I would like to add for 2016 is a fish cleaning station next to this shed. Maybe something like sprkplug did, with a roof, table, sink, concrete floor and a frost proof water hydrant to hook up to the sink.

Another pond has been in the "maybe" stage. Crops were on the proposed site this year and my foreman ask "could we at least get the crops off before you do?". So I held off this summer. That and the dozer stayed pretty busy and wife and I did a lot of motorcycle traveling. So no extra pond in 2015. Maybe 2016. I have mixed feelings about it. Have no problem at all building it as I enjoy running the equipment and have a 12 yard scraper and D6NXL dozer. My hesitation is that with the ponds we already have, geese and waterfowl are already a problem at times. I can just see that problem increase by putting another pond basically between our 3 acre pond and our old refurbished one acre pond. That is my biggest hesitation. One more pond to run off birds. It may get done anyway. Will see. If I see the dozer and scraper sitting there not doing anything and I have time on my hands, the temptation to move some dirt may be more than I can resist. Likely will be between 2/3 and 1 acre in size.

Most of the available coins this year have to go to asphalt the driveway but I am planning on doing some simple projects to improve forage in the pond and work on the food plots for the deer, turkey and other critters. Interesting to me is this winter the deer prefer browsing the old prairie areas I mowed and don't really want the new grass planted last fall (fescue, rye and bluegrass).

Bill, it is my observation that deer prefer natural browse over cereal grains.

For example, we got overly abundant rainfall for the 2nd year in a row. Thus, the acorn crop was again heavy and wild rye is everywhere. They don't have to move very far to eat and so didn't move around much. Thus, hunting has been lousy and even seeing a deer is unusual.

This Spring I'm probably getting with Joshua Flowers and using SoilFloc on my dam. I should have done it last Spring when I was dang near out of water. However, I just didn't believe the weather forecasts of El Nino.

Guys, I can only tell you of the food plots on my place and how the deer relate to these plots. The deer are in the food plots every day. The cereal grains like winter wheat, Elbon rye and Winter oats are what I plant each fall, along with reseeding some clover plots. These food plots are hit every day 365. If I knew how to post wild game camera pics to this site, I could show pics of some real nice bucks and does along with 5 to 7 month old fawns. After planting for several yr's now, I have learned what they like best at my place, and that reduces the time and cost of planting. The deer also hit the old growth clovers now but the primary feeding in the clover is early spring, Late Feb through May and June. My spring and summer food plots are of Eagle brand soybeans, iron clay peas mixed in with Sunn Hemp. all of this is put behind efenceing till It grows to 2 feet and then opened to the deer. Usually opened in June. This feeds through October. And then it all starts over again. I think snrub has more knowledge of growing than I will ever know of. but I really love the food plotting.
PS, I think Dave is right, the deer prefer browse, its there primary food stuff.
Tracy

Before I got half way through your post I was thinking to myself "he ought to try soybeans" and about then I read where you do.

We have thousands of acres of deer plots, but we wish the deer would stick with native forage. We actually try to harvest the deer plots for profit. We have what sometimes from a distance looks like a cattle herd grazing on soybeans.

You might also try just a small amount of corn seed mixed in your plot seed mix. Not a lot, just a little. It will give fall grazing. The deer really like the corn as it hardens up just beyond roasting ear stage all the way to harvest stage. They eat the tops off the ears and will eat some shucks when the corn is younger and the shucks are still green. The corn stalks standing up will also give some cover. You might find a farmer that has old seed to get rid of. Corn seed runs anywhere from 200-300 dollars for a bag of 80,000 kernals. With a 40' planter it is nearly impossible to end up with less than a bag or two wasted at the end of the year trying to make the last field planted "come out just right". Unfortunately lots of times it is more like 5 or 6 bags. We will save that seed and use it to finish up the next year, but we never save it over a single year so we nearly always have some bags of 2 year old seed siting around. Then we have to bury it to properly dispose because of the seed treatment involved (can't be used for feed). If you find a farmer with some seed like that, he likely will be glad to give it to you. The germination might be anywhere from perfect to as low as 25%, but enough will grow for your purposes. I would try to shoot for a stalk every 3-5'. Not so thick it shades out your other planting. Just an idea. I've never done it specifically to feed the deer, but they sure like the edges of our fields or any opening within such as a wash where they can walk in a ways.

I'm hoping the new job will allow me a little more free time this year. If so, I would like a forage pond. Not in the traditional sense mind you, but rather a place for me to forage. I want a food pond..one where I can go and catch a dozen fish for a meal, with relative ease.

My plan is to use pond #4 in that capacity, and the targeted species will be YP, HBG, WE, and HSB. The pond currently has BG, RES, and small LMB. I intend to leave them be, and add the new species. Esshup has already provided me with the YP, and I will add the HBG in the spring. Probably wait until next fall for the WE and HSB, unless a few become available early this spring.

Right now I do not intend to aerate, but will feed Optimal. The goal is not trophies, just solid numbers of 10-12" perch, and 1 pound plus HBG. Dinner.

Reading this post has made me realize that I'm not crazy! Or maybe more accurately I'm not the only crazy one!

New dock on the big pond, do some work on the old dock, plant grass seed in several places around both the big pond and the new forage pond, restock the new forage pond (with what I don't know yet), aeration on both the large and small ponds, food plot on the north end of the property here, hopefully buy a piece of property nearby to further expand the madness.

Of course I'll have to work 3 jobs to PAY for all that so not sure where the free time comes in to actually DO them...

I love it! My kind of pond!

snrub, Thousands of acres of corn and soybeans is why Kansas is known for have some of the best Whitetail deer in the USA. Big racks are ALL about what they eat. When I was a young man I the 70's and 80's. I lived and hunted in West Texas where deer and Turkey were like rabbits. They were everywhere. I burned out on deer shooting and did not deer hunt for 20 yr's until my son introduced me to Bowhunting. I sat in a bowstand yesterday afternoon and will again today. My funny story with corn is I planted a couple of acres of corn and waited for it to ripen and ready for picken, looking forward to a few ears for eating. I then traveled out of town for 9 or 10 days and when I returned the deer had eaten every kernel. they knew exactly when it was time to pick. So, in growing small food plots of different sizes I have learned corn takes up a lot of space for little deer forage and so now I do the Eagle brand soybeans and leave the corn farming to the ones that have thousands of acres
Tracy

If my back can hold out (probably not, but I'll deal)
1. Polymer my seeping pond with TJ's help and some neighbors.
2. Get a cabin-style screen porch built for mosquito-free dining in nice weather. Should have been started a year ago, but last winter ate into my choice contractor's available time. I am hoping to help him to learn a little more about construction in apprentice style.
3. Clear about 4 acres of grape-vine and sumac-infested land.

I really wish I had a tractor when we moved here, but a push mower cannot keep up with it all and it got away from me. That is all I had when we move here with mo money and too much wishful thinking. It is now a huge undertaking that a smaller tractor and a zero-turn cannot handle. It was great for wildlife and beautiful when it was coming in, but now it is a knotted mess. Sumac, when it dies is like a bunch of enormous deer antlers. It doesn't stack well, refuses to pull though other brush, and ties like sailor knots with grapevine. It is like working on fence hedgerows. A nightmare.

I don't want to bulldoze it, but to weed it lake a garden in a sense. I want to leave desirable saplings behind like maple and oak so I can get shade, yet occasionally mow between them to promote wildlife without chopping it all up.

At least it burns well! So I stack up the dead stuff into especially knotted areas and let it rip. When sumac burns, it pops and banks like firecrackers, and burns fast and hot. Kind of fun, but a lot of work. Especially since my little guy is unwilling to help. Stupid video games...

Brush piles make excellent wildlife habitat. I stopped burning them years ago.

Going to try and produce crappie this year in one of my small 1/10th acre hatchery ponds. And then feed train them and plant one of the sexes in my trophy male bluegill and female yellow perch pond.

Just need to decide if I want to produce just black crappie or hybridize blacks and whites.

Go for it Cecil, hope it works black crappie are beautiful fish

Cecil, can u please explain the difference in the hybred crappie over the Blk or White? Advantages of one over the other? My plans are for a trophy LMB pond and to do so they lmb have to have plenty to eat. I would think the lmb would keep the crappie in control, even though they compete for the minnows? I have read over and over where you do not want to add WC or BC but when reading where someone like Pat has lmb that seem to take over his BC pond? Anybody? Why would the lmb not feast on the crappie?

Tracy

TGW1, I think anything that takes food away from the LMB is detrimental to your goals. How much forage fish that the crappie eat could grow up to be LMB food? An 8 oz crappie will eat around 5 pounds of minnows to get to that size, would you rather have those minnows going to LMB or Crappie?

I do leave some within reason, though the area I am working on would result in a brush pile as big as the house. The whole area pretty much is a brush pile. Mostly I need to knock it back some so it is a mixed habitat again.

Some of my piles are that big too, although more smaller piles are supposed to be better. Sounds like you have quite a job ahead of you. Hope you are successful getting things like you want them.

Plant a patch of sunflowers within viewing distance so we can (hopefully) see all sorts of winged visitors. But, to be successful, I've got to get to groundbreaking and liming the soil NOW.

djst, Deer love sunflower sprouts, one of their favorite things to eat. you may want to put up an efence to keep them out for a while.

Tracy

Just wanted to let you know that at Away With Geese we offer a solar powered and maintenance free light that flashes at night and is guaranteed to deter geese. It is great for ponds and we have tons of testimonials from people with ponds and lakefront properties.

Hollywood, you may get some usage there, but the woodie like it woody best. Another lease we had, had a 1 acre marsh with small pond in it. You could watch hundreds of wood ducks dump in there as it got dark. Totally encompassed in timber. Don't hesitate to put a mallard hoop on the other side of the pond. Good Luck!

I planted 3 acres of sunflower by broadcasting seed. Power went out one night, so while I was at the meter/distribution box replacing a bad breaker, the wife said the deer were liking my sunflower patch. The next morning, it looked like someone had mowed the entire 3 acres of sunflower to a one foot height. Not a single sunflower plant escaped being topped!

Tracy, here is the scoop on Hybrid Crappie .

The problem I see is that the Crappie will reduce the total available forage in the water that you want going toward YOUR goal of growing "big bass".

Tracy, Assume caloric intake and growth would be identical, regardless of forage sizes eaten...if a Crappie or LMB has to eat 10 pounds of minnows to grow to 1 pound, and gets eaten by a "big bass". That Bass would have to eat 10 Crappie to gain one pound, or, in essence, the bass ate 50 pounds of minnows to gain 1 pound. In theory, adding Crappie would cause your LMB to consume 5 times the food to gain that one pound.

In reality, the theory is wrong, but illustrates why I think Crappie would reduce LMB growth. Both Crappie and LMB need forage in the optimum size to reach the 10 pound forage to 1 pound growth potential. Finding a forage fish that grows to an optimal size for your LMB, and does NOT compete with the LMB is best. Threadfin and Gizzard shad fill that space, but those fish pose other risks also.

LMB foraging on pellet fed BG or CNBG along with Tilapia and trout will get a far better food to flesh conversion....maybe as good as a 3:1 conversion rate.

Tilapia convert quality pellet feed at a 1.2:1 rate, BG/CNBG at a 4:1 rate and trout at a 3:1 rate, while feed trained bass at a little over a 4:1 rate.

The benefit with Tilapia, trout and BG/CNBG, all readily take pellets, and are easily managed posing little risk along with growing quickly, and in large quantities to an optimal size for LMB to forage on efficiently...the only real downside is the wallet thickness.....

If I could make blackberry bushes and honeysuckle taste like sunflowers, I would have it made with brush control. Deer ate our sunflowers too.

Rainman-
I had been thinking seriously about stocking some tilapia in my Iowa pond this next summer (when the water was warm enough, and knowing the cold would kill them this fall), to help control my massive FA problems, and also provide some forage. However, a swapped an email with the Iowa DNR, and tilapia are a no go for private pond owners in Iowa. Only if you raise them in a closed tank system I guess. So I was bummed about that. Just sharing, since I think you had suggested last summer I contact the DNR to see if it would be possible.
best regards,
Luke

Luke, Did the IA DNR folks have a reason why tilapia were a no go? were they afraid they would multiply, or get out of control? Carry disease? cause too many people to take a renewed interest in their ponds? prevent the sale of other algaecides and thus produce loss of commercial profit?

I'm just curious what the logic is behind it since I can't see the downside to tilapia.

Canyoncreek-
Here is the exact email contents I received:

"
Webmaster [DNR] <Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov>
2:30 PM (21 hours ago)

to me
Dear Luke,



Thank you for using the Iowa DNR website. Iowa code prohibits any person to bring into the state of Iowa for the purpose of propagating or introducing, or to place or introduce into any of the inland or boundary waters of the state, any fish that are not native to such water, unless an application is first made in writing to the commission for a permit therefor and such permit granted. The DNR has issued permits to import Tilapia for aquaculture purposes and only in closed system which they could not escape from. Never has the DNR issued a permit to introduce Tilapia into the wild. Your pond would not be considered a closed system. If you have additional questions, you can contact your Fisheries biologist (Paul Sleeper) at 319-350-8399.


Please let me know if you have further questions or concerns."

I guess they must worry about tilapia becoming 'invasive', which is hokum (as I have learned from you all here) due to numerous issues, not withstanding the sub zero temps, et al. I was trying to avoid some chemical use, control the FA and provide some forage, all in one fell swoop. (That may have been a little pipe dreaming, but hey). Plus, my pond's outflow runs to a large field (not a creek/stream/body of water) and I've often lamented seeing fish and YOY fry washed into the grass. It's on my list to construct a 'catch basin' of some sort, to capture them and return them to the pond, vs just feeding the crows and eagles.

That photo is from last summer, after a seven inch rain! Just a long, grassy field between two corn/bean fields...

Dr Luke, Iowa, Like Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, and many other states have biologists that look at what is on paper only when it comes to what a fish consumes. they either refuse to accept, or never care enough to find out what many empirical examples prove. I recently had to get a "special permit" to stock Hybrid Crappie in Iowa. The first request was denied, since the "Approved Aquatic Species List" in Iowa had White Crappie and Black Crappie listed as approved, but did NOT include, "or their hybrids" as it did for Bluegill, white bass, or striped bass.

After the applicant called and argued that both white and black crappie exist together in the same waters in Iowa, there MUST be natural Hybridization occurring. He further argued he wanted Hybrid Crappie because studies show recruitment is poor and that is why the state had not KNOWINGLY discovered Hybrid Crappie as an indigenous species. After arguing his points, the application was granted.

Further, the state liked the idea of a Crappie that had less, or no fear of overpopulating smaller waters, they asked the person stocking the HBCP to keep records on reproduction so they could encourage HBCP stocking to Iowan's in the future.

Rainman, I've never assigned an excess of brilliance to the Iowa DNR. I generally steer clear of state and federal agencies if at all possible, just to avoid drawing the attention of the slobbering beast...

Trust me when I say....I sure wish I hadn't caught some attention!!!!

Dang... I guess I shouldn't be surprised the deer will eat the sunflower sprouts as they're favorite foods seem to be the things I'm trying to "farm." I'll setup a fence if get the seeds in the ground. This was the weekend when I planned to break ground and lime but it's too cold and windy for an old guy to ride the tractor! hehe

I had a single woodchuck clear 1/2 acre on me 2 years ago. This year I have a solar electric fence charger, posts and wire ready to put up once the seeds are in the ground. I figure a wire at 4", 10", 24" and 48" will keep everything out that can't or won't jump over the fence. Maybe if the deer bump their nose on it they won't jump over it.

Get Jodie to do it! lol

Rainman, Dr. Luke
Thanks for the additional info and the letter. I agree, that IF you had the desire to get to know the people at the DNR, .. and if they were willing to understand how tilapia can not become invasive in IA and certainly how tilapia would have a hard time surviving in that corn field in a high water event.... Maybe they would relent.