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Post by sd51555 on Aug 13, 2019 15:49:04 GMT -6
Amen to less work. SD and I live hours and hours away from our respective dumps. I want to get away from spraying and rolling and dragging..... Maybe that Dipper dude was on to something. Just let it all go, spread some annuals into it every year, sit back and watch what happens. I'm only a couple years into it, but is the juice really worth the squeeze? I admit, it was fun watching deer eat turnips out of the ground from my blind. I don’t think it has to be an either or. I do think it takes a very savvy understanding of plants to pull it off though. I have been pleasantly surprised with what I was able to punch up through my clover this year. And that shit was tall and thick. It’s not perfect by any means, but I’ve got all kinds of ideas to try to improve it next year. The only thing I haven’t found from what I planted was sunflower. Odds are it grew fine and just got eaten right away. The jury is still out in my rape seeding into standing clover. There are lots of neat pics out there of people having grown soybeans underneath wheat, clover inside of field corn, oats inside of field corn, squash and pumpkins under sunflowers, and more.
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Post by smsmith on Aug 13, 2019 16:04:18 GMT -6
All of the older bucks we've killed during gun season on my MN place were standing in my fields or plots. Most of them were killed while they were looking for a doe that was feeding there. The thick cover adjacent to the soybeans or food plots is probably more important than the food though. Normally by gun season I have the only standing crops left and the thickest cover in the immediate area. My place in WI is the opposite - every rifle season buck was killed in the thick cover and we've never seen one move in daylight in the field. The deer numbers there are much lower and the deer are pressured year round by predators, hunters and likely poachers and they are super spooky.Your WI place sounds about like here.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:04:49 GMT -6
Post by kooch on Aug 13, 2019 16:04:49 GMT -6
I broadcast about a pound of DER into my thick MR/Alsike plot back in July, then mowed it sort with my DR. It's a shady spot, stays wet. Last I was up I didn't see a single plant sprouting when I went up a month later, but maybe there was some and I just didn't see it. I didn't spray. More than anything it was a small scale experiment. The clovers and some sort of grass were strong in the plot.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:07:18 GMT -6
Post by smsmith on Aug 13, 2019 16:07:18 GMT -6
Amen to less work. SD and I live hours and hours away from our respective dumps. I want to get away from spraying and rolling and dragging..... Maybe that Dipper dude was on to something. Just let it all go, spread some annuals into it every year, sit back and watch what happens. I'm only a couple years into it, but is the juice really worth the squeeze? I admit, it was fun watching deer eat turnips out of the ground from my blind. I don’t think it has to be an either or. I do think it takes a very savvy understanding of plants to pull it off though. I have been pleasantly surprised with what I was able to punch up through my clover this year. And that shit was tall and thick. It’s not perfect by any means, but I’ve got all kinds of ideas to try to improve it next year. The only thing I haven’t found from what I planted was sunflower. Odds are it grew fine and just got eaten right away. The jury is still out in my rape seeding into standing clover. There are lots of neat pics out there of people having grown soybeans underneath wheat, clover inside of field corn, oats inside of field corn, squash and pumpkins under sunflowers, and more. I have never been able to get anything, including winter rye, to punch through a thick clover plot. That is without suppressing it via spraying or disking anyway.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:23:44 GMT -6
Post by Foggy on Aug 13, 2019 16:23:44 GMT -6
Clover is just great as a food plot around here.....until late October and the Rifle season......then it sucks.
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Post by Sandbur on Aug 13, 2019 16:33:28 GMT -6
Clover is just great as a food plot around here.....until late October and the Rifle season......then it sucks. Could you run about a four year rotation, three of clover, and then turnips for one year.?
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Post by Sandbur on Aug 13, 2019 16:36:55 GMT -6
Corn and beans help during rifle season? Seems to me food is about the last thing I'm worried about during firearm season. I want the thickest, nastiest cover with available food right near by for firearm season. I could see corn and beans being a big deal during muzzleloader season though. Standing corn is great feed and cover. I remember a winter when lots of standing corn was left due to weather. Lots of bucks survived another year and seven over 200 pounds were killed in my area the following fall including my wife’s heaviest deer. That winter we had many hundreds of acres of standing corn. Deer were in the corn during rifle season.
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Post by Freeborn on Aug 13, 2019 16:37:04 GMT -6
All of the older bucks we've killed during gun season on my MN place were standing in my fields or plots. Most of them were killed while they were looking for a doe that was feeding there. The thick cover adjacent to the soybeans or food plots is probably more important than the food though. Normally by gun season I have the only standing crops left and the thickest cover in the immediate area. My place in WI is the opposite - every rifle season buck was killed in the thick cover and we've never seen one move in daylight in the field. The deer numbers there are much lower and the deer are pressured year round by predators, hunters and likely poachers and they are super spooky. Yep my Place is the same, most of the quality deer have been shot transitioning from cover to a food plot. Does are in the plot and the best Bucks show up mostly right before dusk. This is for resident bucks staying in their typical pattern. When the rut is active we see more morning activity away from plots. I typically don't hunt plots in the morning as my deer are in them early and the risk of getting busted is high.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:42:07 GMT -6
Post by Freeborn on Aug 13, 2019 16:42:07 GMT -6
Corn and beans help during rifle season? Seems to me food is about the last thing I'm worried about during firearm season. I want the thickest, nastiest cover with available food right near by for firearm season. I could see corn and beans being a big deal during muzzleloader season though. Standing corn is great feed and cover. I remember a winter when lots of standing corn was left due to weather. Lots of bucks survived another year and seven over 200 pounds were killed in my area the following fall including my wife’s heaviest deer. That winter we had many hundreds of acres of standing corn. Deer were in the corn during rifle season. I see the same thing here. I have seen my neighbors in their stands or trucks when they combine large corn fields. Bucks have their travel corridors and if hunters cover those near these fields they have an opportunity at good bucks.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:42:58 GMT -6
Post by Foggy on Aug 13, 2019 16:42:58 GMT -6
Clover is just great as a food plot around here.....until late October and the Rifle season......then it sucks. Could you run about a four year rotation, three of clover, and then turnips for one year.? I fear I am getting too old to think four years out. I need instant gratification. Grin. .
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:44:14 GMT -6
Post by smsmith on Aug 13, 2019 16:44:14 GMT -6
Corn and beans help during rifle season? Seems to me food is about the last thing I'm worried about during firearm season. I want the thickest, nastiest cover with available food right near by for firearm season. I could see corn and beans being a big deal during muzzleloader season though. Standing corn is great feed and cover. I remember a winter when lots of standing corn was left due to weather. Lots of bucks survived another year and seven over 200 pounds were killed in my area the following fall including my wife’s heaviest deer. That winter we had many hundreds of acres of standing corn. Deer were in the corn during rifle season. Ya, I can understand large corn fields holding some mature bucks. If mature bucks are heading to 1-5 acre corn plots, there must not be a whole lot of cover in an area I'd think.
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 16:47:45 GMT -6
Post by Foggy on Aug 13, 2019 16:47:45 GMT -6
Standing corn is great feed and cover. I remember a winter when lots of standing corn was left due to weather. Lots of bucks survived another year and seven over 200 pounds were killed in my area the following fall including my wife’s heaviest deer. That winter we had many hundreds of acres of standing corn. Deer were in the corn during rifle season. Ya, I can understand large corn fields holding some mature bucks. If mature bucks are heading to 1-5 acre corn plots, there must not be a whole lot of cover in an area I'd think. In southern MN.....the bowhunters walk crossways through the corn rows....peering down the rows for bucks bedded in the corn. Then back off a few rows.....and put the sneak on closer for the shot. Takes some real stealth....but this is the way some big bucks are harvested in corn county.
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Post by smsmith on Aug 13, 2019 16:47:52 GMT -6
Could you run about a four year rotation, three of clover, and then turnips for one year.? I fear I am getting too old to think four years out. I need instant gratification. Grin. . I bet if you sat down with MO and bought him some Mickie Light's he could easily put together an herbicide schedule including some pre-emergents for you. If you want instant gratification, herbicides are the way to get you there.
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Post by Foggy on Aug 13, 2019 16:53:00 GMT -6
I fear I am getting too old to think four years out. I need instant gratification. Grin. . I bet if you sat down with MO and bought him some Mickie Light's he could easily put together an herbicide schedule including some pre-emergents for you. If you want instant gratification, herbicides are the way to get you there. I propose THIS is the next HABITAT DISCUSSION / FORUM / GET-TOGETHER that we need to have. Put MO on the spot (or someone with knowledge on chemicals) and lets figure out ways to grow beans and brasica. . We could also get SD to give a discussion on solar powered shitters. .
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Pigweed
Aug 13, 2019 17:02:11 GMT -6
Post by smsmith on Aug 13, 2019 17:02:11 GMT -6
I bet if you sat down with MO and bought him some Mickie Light's he could easily put together an herbicide schedule including some pre-emergents for you. If you want instant gratification, herbicides are the way to get you there. I propose THIS is the next HABITAT DISCUSSION / FORUM / GET-TOGETHER that we need to have. Put MO on the spot (or someone with knowledge on chemicals) and lets figure out ways to grow beans and brasica. . We could also get SD to give a discussion on solar powered shitters. . That would have value for many/most. I'm not going to get into growing beans and corn, and believe I've figured out how to grow some brassicas without too many problems.
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