Late winter is great for scouting and doing stand maintenance. You can walk your property without worrying about affecting your hunting this fall. Once fall comes around, you need to already have figured out what going on and how the deer move…fall is not the time to be bumbling around scouting.
When I cut in my archery shooting lanes I like to make them a little longer and wider than it seems you might need. Remember, they will grow back in and nothing is more frustrating than having a shooter in ranger without an open shot.
One of the last plots of the day. Soybeans last year….soybeans again this year. This is one of the plots fenced to keep deer out until fall. Once the seeds and fertilizer are spread it only takes one pass with the disc. Fast and easy.
Again this year, we planned out a couple more small spots to create pockets of cover for bedding and security cover. This is my son Forest cutting down a shagbark hickory. Small thickets or pockets of cover are great way to improve habitat. This area is a small end of a ridge facing east. Deer love bedding on east or southeast facing ridges as they can soak up the morning sun on cool mornings during the fall.
We like to broadcast in disc in brassicas on the edges of our soybean plots. Here, we have a soybean plot next to an alfalfa plot. We are planting the brassicas right down the middle between the two.
I got my cameras out this year around late May. We’ll see if I can change my luck with early season cameras. I don’t worry though….each year things get better as the season approaches.
We planted many of our soybeans in last years winter rye. The winter rye is a great green manure, and acts as a cover crop for the beans as they get growing…helping to keep the deer off while they are young. Spraying with glysophate at this stage is perfect.
Soybeans on winter rye, just got sprayed with glysophate.
Same beans as picture before several weeks later. The rye has been killed off with the glysophate and the beans look great.
I just liked this picture!
I find it hard to get pictures throughout summer because the deer are so dispersed. This guy looks pretty good for early June! I might know this deer??? Stay tuned!
Nice buck on early beans.
Bachelor group of young bucks.
Decent buck. I can’t quite see who he is?
Clearing out an exit route to the mid-funnel stand.
Interior plot The Boot. This will get replanted in winter rye and brassicas this fall.
Purple top turnips and groundhog radish…bought bulk from Welter Seed and Honey.
Some nice beans already putting on pods.
Nice 9 point in a mock scrape
Bachelor group of young bucks
Young bucks on interior plot
A mature deer with small head gear. Perfect example of why you should never manage based on antler score.
This good buck is headed toward a scrape on the interior plot “cage fight” (mislabeled candy cane”
4 year old “Hershey” at the interior plot “cage fight” (mislabeled as candy cane)
Nice buck in “the boot”
“Hershey”
“Hershey”
“Hershey” in a mock scrape.
“Hershey” working over a mock scrape.
So I’m starting to get pictures of this brute. I had him all over the farm last year as what I thought was a 4 year old at the time. He is now 5. I need to come up with a name for this guy!
Nice buck feeding in soybeans and winter rye.
“Hershey” during daylight in the interior plot “culdesak”.
“Hershey” daylight movement on the North Line.
Good daylight buck movement on the North Line.
Good to see this big nine pointer is back again this year. Had many pictures of him last year.
I think this big cat is so cool looking.
“Hershey”
Interior plot daylight big buck movement
Interior plots like this clover interior plot “cage fight” will draw deer during daylight hours. Bring in some does…and you’ll also have the bucks come rut.
Good buck in the “boot”. Who is he?
A mature 5 year old I have nicknamed “Feingold” showing up in the daylight on the “boot” interior plot.
Captain Jack. It’s just not every day that you get to hunt and pattern a 6 year old deer in late December but this year it all came together. Forest’s hunt lasted only an hour…but really his hunt started 3 years ago with many hundred hours invested before we ever stepped into the blind tonight. Great buck Forest!
“Captain Jack”
Barkley. Yes, Barkley is back and bigger than ever. I kept this buck on the low down but he’s been on the farm once again this fall. He grew quite a bit this year and is now 5 years old. Like every other year, he shows up in early fall…stays until about early November…then we don’t see him again until later in the year. I’m sure he’s been there the whole time just doesn’t make it past a camera. He is a very nice deer and my son is hoping to get a look at him.
“Captain Jack”
One thought on “2014 Photos”
Tom it certainly shows a great outcome of your food plots, and choice of seed beds. Your interior plots are such a wonderful ideas. One of our problems is pressure in the surrounding area, as well as trespassing. Last January we had two Cuddie Back cameras stolen on January 18th. Put a few cameras out to see if anything survived the pressure.
Tom it certainly shows a great outcome of your food plots, and choice of seed beds. Your interior plots are such a wonderful ideas. One of our problems is pressure in the surrounding area, as well as trespassing. Last January we had two Cuddie Back cameras stolen on January 18th. Put a few cameras out to see if anything survived the pressure.