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Post by wintomatic on Nov 22, 2018 1:43:10 GMT -6
This is my property. 180 acres. About 50 “tillable” acres. Grandpa bought it in the 1960’s as a hunting property from a guy who was about to loose it for back taxes. Back then the river was thick with wild rice. Ducks and geese everywhere! Not so much anymore. It was put in CRP (pines and brome grass) in the early 80’s. Later it was kicked out and my uncle had to sign a permanent reduction of acreage...I have 3 whole base acres! I have been reporting crops for 3 years now, so I am hopefully going to be eligible for CRP if the farm bill ever gets finished. I have applied for the EQIP program, but I won’t find out until March. In the meantime I have tilled in and planted 95% of the brome grass in and around the pines, taking isolated pines to maximize planted crop acres while conserving the main groups of pines as much as possible. I faked a midlife crisis and took most of the summer off this year. Anyway, here is where I’m at. Most of the high ground is colored. The rest is wetlands with tons of ROD and thick brush, and a sea of cattails. Orange is sanctuary, a long finger of birch and meadow grass (not sure what type). Purple=dbltree mix and brassicas (i will be planting the 1st phase of apple and pear trees here). The yellow area will be either switch grass or NWSG mix depending on if I get into CRP. The larger area of red is corn that will need to be rotated next year. Green=alfalfa, Blue=beans. This is the 40 acres on the other side of the river. Areas plantable are circled in red. The 3 acre patch will also need to be rotated out of corn next year. Any advice on where to go from here would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by wintomatic on Nov 22, 2018 1:50:44 GMT -6
I will post some photos from around the property tomorrow.
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Post by wintomatic on Nov 22, 2018 2:56:33 GMT -6
A local apiary put beehives here this year. Its all fun and games until you mow a little to close to them and they swarm your ass! This is about 1/3 of the raw honey I got from him. His brother has a pretty good sized apiary west of Parkers Prairie. “Craigs Superbee Honey”/Craig Weber. He says they are always looking for good places to put hives, especially if you have clover or pollinator type plots. I didn’t have clover in until I planted the mix in August this year but they did well anyway.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 22, 2018 5:45:11 GMT -6
I can’t see any green or blue. Maybe it is the one picture that wouldn’t download. Where are your access points to the property?
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 22, 2018 5:48:39 GMT -6
Dang I drive by your property all the time. Pretty area.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 22, 2018 5:58:36 GMT -6
You asking advice for firearm or bow hunting? Or both
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Post by Catscratch on Nov 22, 2018 7:00:44 GMT -6
I've got no relevant advice, but I love the look of your place and what you're doing to it. I would be very temped to plant your water back to wild rice or something to get back into duck hunting. Sounds like it was once great for that and would probably be easy to get back.
The bees are cool. The wife and I have wanted a hive or two for a long time but haven't tried it yet.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 22, 2018 9:00:04 GMT -6
I personally would try and get some bedding and sanctuaries scattered in locations you can either hunt downwind of or on trails connecting them with good access.
I saw the biggest coyote of my life about a mile to the south while traveling home from work late one night. Beautiful white pelt and huge.
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Post by mnfish on Nov 22, 2018 10:05:08 GMT -6
Beautiful place!
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 22, 2018 10:09:28 GMT -6
I can’t see any green or blue. Maybe it is the one picture that wouldn’t download. Where are your access points to the property? This time the colored photo down loaded.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 22, 2018 10:15:32 GMT -6
Is it working for you to have foodplots in the middle of that larger NW section?
Is there a way to establish two or three sanctuaries and have proper access ( considering winds) to funnels between them?
Could the river be used to access some stands and not leave a scent trail?
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Post by wintomatic on Nov 22, 2018 10:24:38 GMT -6
I am mainly interested in habitat/ cover improvement. I have very few large trees such as Oaks. Mainly birch around the edges of the The Real access is from the North along the highway. I do take my jon boat to access directly across the river to the east side of thebriver or to access the western side of the property along the river. Unfortunately there are a lot of wetland/ swampy areas and natural springs making access difficult. There are 2 spots they usually cross the river.
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Post by wintomatic on Nov 22, 2018 10:55:13 GMT -6
I've got no relevant advice, but I love the look of your place and what you're doing to it. I would be very temped to plant your water back to wild rice or something to get back into duck hunting. Sounds like it was once great for that and would probably be easy to get back. The bees are cool. The wife and I have wanted a hive or two for a long time but haven't tried it yet. The first thing I did after buying the place was to get a 3 year permit to plant wild rice. Planted 3 out of 4 years. (One year we got 12” of snow during gun season the day before I was going to pick up the rice, and the next week the river was frozen over. Unfortunately we have had periods of high water before it could get tall enough to survive. It’s always germinated and taken off growing well. One year it was so thick and reached standing grass stage..it was 2 feet high. Then the river rose 3 feet and submerged/ killed it all. I tried to renew the permit but the new guy in charge denied it saying “it could interfere with the public’ Use of the waterway”. Leslie George who initially gave me the permit was really excited about it. Funny thing about wild rice, you can plant it on your personal property in ponds. I asked why the DNR didn’t try to reestablish it in native waters like the Long Prairie and Sauk river. There are still a few spots it is still growing naturally in the Long Prairie river close to the Douglas/Todd Co. line. I was told the DNR would need to get the permission of the property owners to plant wild rice in the river along thier property. How f’d up is that??
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 22, 2018 11:35:02 GMT -6
A local apiary put beehives here this year. Its all fun and games until you mow a little to close to them and they swarm your ass! This is about 1/3 of the raw honey I got from him. His brother has a pretty good sized apiary west of Parkers Prairie. “Craigs Superbee Honey”/Craig Weber. He says they are always looking for good places to put hives, especially if you have clover or pollinator type plots. I didn’t have clover in until I planted the mix in August this year but they did well anyway. I don't have a lot to offer that the others haven't hit on. What happened to your tower stand? Do you have any areas with several oaks or are they here and there? I'd work on planting some if you don't have any. Also some spruce/fir pockets if your soils will grow them. Maybe rows of them so that deer will follow them to your stand locations. Do the deer follow established trails already? Where are your stands on those areas? Are they setup for certain winds? What do your neighbors have for habitat that draws deer to their land instead of your land or from your land to theirs? It sounds like your habitat work does hold deer on your land. Tweaking it just a little may make better results.
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Post by sd51555 on Nov 22, 2018 11:52:36 GMT -6
I've got no relevant advice, but I love the look of your place and what you're doing to it. I would be very temped to plant your water back to wild rice or something to get back into duck hunting. Sounds like it was once great for that and would probably be easy to get back. The bees are cool. The wife and I have wanted a hive or two for a long time but haven't tried it yet. The first thing I did after buying the place was to get a 3 year permit to plant wild rice. Planted 3 out of 4 years. (One year we got 12” of snow during gun season the day before I was going to pick up the rice, and the next week the river was frozen over. Unfortunately we have had periods of high water before it could get tall enough to survive. It’s always germinated and taken off growing well. One year it was so thick and reached standing grass stage..it was 2 feet high. Then the river rose 3 feet and submerged/ killed it all. I tried to renew the permit but the new guy in charge denied it saying “it could interfere with the public’ Use of the waterway”. Leslie George who initially gave me the permit was really excited about it. Funny thing about wild rice, you can plant it on your personal property in ponds. I asked why the DNR didn’t try to reestablish it in native waters like the Long Prairie and Sauk river. There are still a few spots it is still growing naturally in the Long Prairie river close to the Douglas/Todd Co. line. I was told the DNR would need to get the permission of the property owners to plant wild rice in the river along thier property. How f’d up is that?? Is it a real obvious and invasive process to plant rice? If it's not too big of a production, I'd just do it anyway and they can eat a dick if they have a problem with it. "I'm glad you're here officer. Some asshole not only planted rice on my land, they trespassed to do it."
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