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Post by esshup on Feb 3, 2024 23:09:16 GMT -5
I got 3# of Big Rock Switchgrass planted today. Hopefully it's enough to make a good screen from the road. All I did to the area that I prepped for it last year was back drag the area with teeth on the tractor bucket to get a lot of the organic material off of it for seed/dirt contact.
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Post by huntnandplumbn on Feb 4, 2024 15:08:30 GMT -5
Old livestock pond I had cleaned out this past summer. Was an EHD pit, now holds 8' water and a good water source for wildlife. will the pond as we go through drought periods and it dries and cracks not hold the midge flies regardless of depth? I’m genuinely asking because I have 4 such areas on my place that I’ve thought about filling in. All can hold around 5-6’ of water. I did think that maybe a less gradual shelf to the bottom may help as well. Thoughts?
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Post by boonechaser on Feb 4, 2024 15:31:50 GMT -5
This was basically a mud pit. About 1' deep, that was all muck. Dug out to 8' deep in middle , with slopping sides to banks. Need to finish grade around dam and reseed this spring. Don't think it will dry up, has small spring in it.
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Post by huntnandplumbn on Feb 4, 2024 15:54:23 GMT -5
The four ponds on my property are back in the woods so they get shaded pretty good. Maybe a little slower evaporation rate 🤔. Seems like they hold water pretty well just from the almost one year I’ve had the place. Did notice they lost a little bit though..
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Post by esshup on Feb 4, 2024 20:20:14 GMT -5
The four ponds on my property are back in the woods so they get shaded pretty good. Maybe a little slower evaporation rate 🤔. Seems like they hold water pretty well just from the almost one year I’ve had the place. Did notice they lost a little bit though.. Go to your local bait shop and buy a dozen fathead minnows for each pond. Put them in there and they will feed on the midge larvae. They should survive the winter as long as there's water in the pond and it doesn't get too much snow cover on the ice if it freezes 100%. You could put them in there now. Ideally you want to make sure the water temp is within 5°F of each other. i.e. minnow transport water and pond water. If it's not, you can change water temp by a max of 5°F every 30 minutes. A simple swimming pool thermometer or a corded indoor/outdoor thermometer works great.
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Post by esshup on Feb 4, 2024 20:25:07 GMT -5
I spent about 3 hours over at a buddies place cutting trees down that were in the area that he's putting switchgrass and native wildflowers. He had good deer hunting there 15 years ago but life got in the way and he didn't touch the place back there and Mother Nature started to reclaim it. His 16" battery powered saw wasn't up to the task. I brought all 3 saws, but just used the 20" bar, 50 cc saw.
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Post by huntnandplumbn on Feb 5, 2024 7:37:08 GMT -5
The four ponds on my property are back in the woods so they get shaded pretty good. Maybe a little slower evaporation rate 🤔. Seems like they hold water pretty well just from the almost one year I’ve had the place. Did notice they lost a little bit though.. Go to your local bait shop and buy a dozen fathead minnows for each pond. Put them in there and they will feed on the midge larvae. They should survive the winter as long as there's water in the pond and it doesn't get too much snow cover on the ice if it freezes 100%. You could put them in there now. Ideally you want to make sure the water temp is within 5°F of each other. i.e. minnow transport water and pond water. If it's not, you can change water temp by a max of 5°F every 30 minutes. A simple swimming pool thermometer or a corded indoor/outdoor thermometer works great. Sounds like it’s definitely worth trying. Maybe they’ll eat up some of the mosquitoes too?
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Post by esshup on Feb 5, 2024 16:16:20 GMT -5
Go to your local bait shop and buy a dozen fathead minnows for each pond. Put them in there and they will feed on the midge larvae. They should survive the winter as long as there's water in the pond and it doesn't get too much snow cover on the ice if it freezes 100%. You could put them in there now. Ideally you want to make sure the water temp is within 5°F of each other. i.e. minnow transport water and pond water. If it's not, you can change water temp by a max of 5°F every 30 minutes. A simple swimming pool thermometer or a corded indoor/outdoor thermometer works great. Sounds like it’s definitely worth trying. Maybe they’ll eat up some of the mosquitoes too? Absolutely correct. Not as many mosquito larvae as gambusia will, but a bunch anyway.
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Post by esshup on Feb 6, 2024 18:47:06 GMT -5
On Monday I spread 6-7 handfulls of Showy Goldenrod among the Big Rock Switchgrass. Fingers crossed and praying for rain now.
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Post by greghopper on Feb 13, 2024 20:05:58 GMT -5
No Deer but the birds are eating…
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Post by boonechaser on Feb 13, 2024 20:26:55 GMT -5
Turkeys sensing spring.
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Post by boonechaser on Feb 23, 2024 19:45:19 GMT -5
Supplemently feeding has begun. 2 of 4 feeders up and running.
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Post by boonechaser on Feb 23, 2024 19:57:27 GMT -5
Our local school offers the Hunter Education Course through Physical Ed class. Granddaughter passed with a near perfect score. Proud grandpa.
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Post by esshup on Feb 24, 2024 0:18:41 GMT -5
boonchaser, I'm seeing deer being VERY skittish of the protein feeder I have out. It's a 55 gal barrel style, drop tube with 4 openings. The bottom of the opening is roughly 40" from the ground.
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Post by boonechaser on Feb 24, 2024 9:09:01 GMT -5
boonchaser, I'm seeing deer being VERY skittish of the protein feeder I have out. It's a 55 gal barrel style, drop tube with 4 openings. The bottom of the opening is roughly 40" from the ground. I have never had any issues and have been supplemental feeding for years. I place mine near water and other food sources in open areas where deer can see predators.
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 24, 2024 9:47:18 GMT -5
Took my new (to me) 4Runner up to my hunting spot. Food plot is green, but I’m not sure if what is there is edible for deer. I put out 5# of a clover seed mixture. Two big ash trees had fallen almost taking out our ladder stand. I’m glad that they fell now instead of when we are there hunting. We used to have the stand in those trees! 😳
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Post by titanium700 on Feb 24, 2024 14:47:38 GMT -5
Been there done that woody. Use to be a nice straight tall ash here on my property I used to hunt out of, I liked it because it was real close to a beech tree and in the fall I was pretty much hidden. One day last spring I was driving my four wheeler by it when I noticed it was down on the ground. Fortunately I used a climber on that particular tree but I never knew it was that weak in the center of it. To think I could’ve been in it when it decided to let go. Would not have been pretty.
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Post by boonechaser on Mar 16, 2024 21:12:10 GMT -5
Some may recall the old livestock pond I had dug out last summer. Was an EHD pit, only about a foot deep. Now has 7' -8' water and no muck. Will take skidsteer and level out dam ouch dries out.
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Post by esshup on Mar 17, 2024 9:41:49 GMT -5
Some may recall the old livestock pond I had dug out last summer. Was an EHD pit, only about a foot deep. Now has 7' -8' water and no muck. Will take skidsteer and level out dam ouch dries out. Get a bag of aluminum sulfate. Take a 5 gal bucket. Mix 10#-15# of it in the water in the bucket, throw it back into the pond all around the edges. Use rubber gloves, that stuff will be very acidic. Next time you are there, measure the pH of the water. If it's 6.5 or higher, then the next time you are there, stop by a bait store and throw in 1-2 dozen fathead minnows. They will reproduce and eat any midge larvae. That is providing you don't have any green sunfish in there. They will eat the fatheads. Typically the FHM reproduce on the underside of things, and I tell people to throw a few stacks of pallets in <24" water to help reproduction. But if they are the only thing in there they will find stuff to spawn under.
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Post by huntnandplumbn on Mar 18, 2024 19:16:39 GMT -5
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