Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Time to get ready for the hunt!

Well this Saturday I will be going out to plant a nice little food plot next to my nice little ground blind I built. I have my tiller and going to try some Tecomate seed this year and see how it does. My plot will only be like 12x100 feet but I also have a corn feeder as well near by so they will have a little bit of everything to choose from, but make no bones about it if there are white oak acorns on the ground I WILL be hunting over them first!!!! They love them acorns!

RC

Looks good! It's been so dry here that stuff planted lately still hasn't germinated.

Yeah mine either! I put it out a little early for sure! We hadn't got any rain sence I put that plot in on the 16th of August. I read the same thing though as long as it dont get any rain it will stay dormant until the rain comes. So I hope it all works out.

I one thing I heard is you don't want it to rain on it once and then not get anymore rain for a week or 2 as that can cause burn out. So hopefully once it starts to rain some here it will continue on and off for a while. We sure could use it now!

RC

I lost an acre of soybeans last year like that. They got to about 3" tall and burned down to the ground.

I lost 8 acres of rye and clover mix last year due to army worms. From what I have been told this is very unusual for my part of VA. I thought everything was disappearing due to lack of rain, but when the mulched areas in partial shade disappeared I looked closer and saw the pests. Had a record acorn crop last year, and zero deer on my place once they atarted fallling. Replanted, and looking pretty good this year. Deer and turkeys galore. Also planted some buck forage oats and turnip plots (3 plots about 1 acre total) three weeks ago; they have come up nicely but don't seem to be an attractant yet.

I am in a pretty arid area. I have found that it does no good to plant until I have about 6+ inches of moisture. Less than that, the seeds germinate and die unless I get continuous rains.

RC, I'm liking the lattice. Nice job.

I tried the WI No Plow mix last year, and it was fantastic. We had forage everywhere in March when the rains finally hit.

With all the acorns we have, it can be tough to get the deer out of the brush for anything other than the rut.

How would y'all suggest I look for somebody to disk a few plots on my property. I have 25 acres and do not have a tractor to do the disking. I want to put in feed plots for deer and turkey. I also would like to plant wild flower and native grasses.

Thanks, Rob C

Rob:

I'd go to the local feed mill and start asking around for a local farmer that might want to make some $$ on the side. Cash does a lot of talking.

I have seen a number of adds on my local craigslist for people with tractors for hire.

Thanks, good idea.

Rob C

Thanks I know alot of folks that just leave the whole thing open but I thought it would work great to break things up. I also have it on the left side of the ground blind in case I have a shot to my left. The gun and scope fit perfect in the larger holes! Once I saw they made lattice in plastic I was like I gotta try this. If you have a black facemask on in that blind you are all but invisible!

RC

I just set my stands and a ground blind up in the last couple of weeks. We've been so dry here that I haven't even bothered to break any ground for food plots. We've had about 1/2 inch of rain in the last 8 weeks, and not much showing in the 10 day forecast either.

Ready to hunt by the water?

Was right there with you until Sunday morning. We got a nice thunderstorm that dropped just under 2" of rain on us. Hopefully that will get the food plots jump started. Stands are ready except for one that needs to be moved due to the tree dying. But my hunting season starts with a trip to Saskatchewan to chase geese and ducks. Leave for that trip the end of the month.

This cold front coming through should make the end of the early goose season good this weekend for my hunting buddies in the Chitown area. Wish I could be there with them but I have to get the new deck on the house sealed and then back to NYC Monday morning to meet with a customer most of the week.

When the power company finished the rebuild of the 750,000 line on our property this summer, they seeded two areas with what they called deer and turkey mix. I'm not sure what all is in it, but for sure it included oats, buckwheat, white and red clover, and I don't know what else. They also left me about 25 lbs to do touch up.

Today I'll be putting about 25 lbs., of buckwheat in my one acre garden plot, mostly as green manure. But, the critters will enjoy it too.

Lastly, I was away for the last several days and got to stop by the really big Cabelas in Hamburg, PA. I've got a 1969 Winchester 30-30 model 94. Mechanically it is great, but it spent much of its life in a scabbard on a horse. As some may know, the receivers for model 94s made from 1964 to 1971 used a special coating and alloy that usually wouldn't take bluing. My receiver was worn pretty bad from being slipped in and out of a leather scabbard every day for about 20 years. The barrel and tube touched up real well with regular Birchwood-Casey cold bluing, but it wouldn't do a thing for the receiver. Then I found Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. It works. I've been putting the metal in my smoker at 100 degrees for about 30 minutes, then coating. I've put five applications on so far. Two or three more and it should look almost factory done.

My only regret is that I didn't take any photos before I started.

Darn skippy! This is going to be one of those early fall seasons by the looks of it that absolutely requires some water access. Luckily most of the ground I hunt either has creeks with good deep holes that retain water or ponds. We've got stands on both.

Now if it'll just get down somewhere below 100 degrees it might be easier to get in the hunting frame of mind.

Ken, Brownells is who I use for most of my gunsmithing supplies.