2007-2008 WINTER

Hunting Season is over - and we had a successful season overall with 8 bucks taken and 2 Does. Normally we'd like to take a few more does, to do our part in keeping the buck:doe ratio in check - however, we know our neighbors to the south took 4 does, 1 spike and 1 fawn buck - so its not as skewed as it seems.

We had more older (2.5yr+) bucks around this fall, and we harvested 3 of them. All three had broken antlers points - seems like a lot of fighting is going on.

The Soybeans were a big draw this fall - and 2 acres was NOT enough - we are hoping to go 4-6 acres next year.

The Corn held up real good - and has been getting alot of attention from December 1 through now. 4-5 acres of corn split into 3 plots worked well for us.

The Brassicas (turnips/rapseed) are just now getting alot of attention - the deer are pawing through snow, and have shredded the leaves on much of the plots now.

The Clover always gets attention as long as the snows less than 1 ft. The open field areas are even bare right now, and the deer are manicuring the ground on these plots.

Here's some pictures - Happy New Year!

The Deer and Turkeys both are spending A LOT of time in the Old Orchards - pawing for whats left before going to the corn/clover

Hunting Season!

Its been a great growing year. Our deer herd really seemed to have benefited from the plots we've planted - as well as other animals. Its neat to see the variety and diversity of animals around. Hunting season is upon us and we've done well so far. All the deer have been healthy and heavier than the past coupoe years for their age classes.

Fall Plots Ready for Hunting Season

Its Early October - and there isn't much left that can be done on the food plots. The clovers have all had their last cutting and are filling in nicely -The Brassica are ankle to knee high - the turnips are apple sized. The corn is starting Yellow, and dent and the leaves are falling from the soybeans. Time to sit back and see how the deer relate to this fall's

Some things we could have done different, but overall I like this years plots and results. To do it again, I'd probably have put in a 2 acre Rye plot on Sept 1 - Maybe next year?

Here's a recent look:

Late Summer Update (9-2-07)

Hello all. The summer in Central NY has been warm & relatively Dry. Great corn weather - and really decent growing weather overall. I had last posted July Updates - so these are the PEAK PLOT pictures from 9-2 - and updates. Above I posted a bunch of Pictures - and then some Cam pictures of the better bucks we've been seeing.

We've got growing CLOVER, CORN, SOYBEANS, SUNFLOWERS, and BRASSICAS currently. I can say that this year we do not have a plot fail, maybe a first! Some are doing better than others - but overall - every plot planted or maintained has been positive. The Apple crop this year is "better than average" - with more than 1/2 the trees producing good amounts of apples.

This year the 2.5 year old Batchelor groups have been using our property as "home base". Its been a definite change from 5-10 years ago wen we started our food plot program. Sure we saw the occaisional 8 point or bigger back then - this year, it feels like we've turned a corner in our managment plan.

I'll post some Fall Pictures soon.

Thanks for checking in.

FH

Summer - 2007

A Mid-Summer update of the plots and their progress.

Our plots were fairly traditional for us this spring - consisting of Corn(4-5 acres), Clover (3 acres) & Soybeans (2-3 acres). The plots supplemented our existing 3 acres of clover.

So this year -our plots are heavier in clover than in the past few years - and less corn & soybeans. We did this because our two farming neighbors are VERY heavy on corn this summer and dowm on green feilds compared to past years.

Here are some mid July pictures:

New Clover Plot - Before 7-15 1st mowing

5-12-07 - Spring Preparation

The "new" plows are a 3 bottom - and they seem a little too large for this tractor on sod ground - but they do a great job where beans or corn were last year. Just
about all the fields to be planted with
beans or corn are plowed - and next
weekend we plan to disk & plant.


Its been busy with the Kid's baseball & softball.
Its gets harder every year to find time do do plots right.

We are also putting in about 3-4 acres of clover this year- and theses plots will be ready to plant next weekend too.

But it hasn't been all work this spring. The beavers have been busy
- and have expanded their pond to epic propotions.

Also - I had time to do a little Shed hunting. No "big" sheds were found - but I did find a couple - including this little 5 point shed.

Also - Last year in hunting season - we had trouble
with wet wood. Tops on the priority list this spring was a good sized wood shed at the Cabin.

2-19-07 - The Dead of Winter

The Real winter of Central NY finally showed itself starting in Mid-January - until today, when we now have on the ground an honest 3-4 ft of snow.

You can see from the picture to the left from 2-18, that the deer have abandoned the corn plots now - they have switched to woody browse.

Any corn that is left, will be used up when the snows melt back in 3-4 weeks. Then the deer will go back and paw for clover & rye in the other plots too.

My Cuddeback has taken some pictures of several bucks coming to the corn before the snows got real deep. The 10 Point on the left was never seen during hunting season, and I never had a cam picture of him. He should be a nice buck next fall!

Below is a nice Coyote on the same trail. There was a dead doe nearby the corn field, that the coyotes were feeding on. I only got a couple pictures of them coming and going though.

Another look at the 10 point - leaving the corn field at the end of January - Still before the heavy snows fell. The Corn was getting some serious use until the 3-4 ft of snow fell between 2-10 and 2-17.

A few other bucks showed up - some with only one antler. Some of the other does & fawns that came to feed every night are pictured below.

This fawn found the camera!