What habitat plans you got for 2011

UGUIDE

UGUIDE

Active member
I got 3 controlled burns, 40 acres of CP37 duck nesting, 22 acres CP5a trees and 16 acres of CP33 quail buffers. In 2012 I hope to get 1 shelterbelt and a few more tree strips in and my grand habitat plan will be complete at Pheasant Camp Lodge. I also dormant seeded 60 acres of CP37 Ducking this Nov. so I am hoping for some killer pheasant nesting come spring and summer.

What's everyone else going on in 2011?
 
I'm sure I'll miss something, but: I have a native mix ordered to plant in the area we removed understory cedars from on about 60 acres, I will continue my patch burn/patch graze program on pastures 2,3,and 4. I have about 1000 acres of burns to pull off. The QUWF president from Wichita called and wants to do a project. I can do more disturbance disking or maybe more tree removal. I also ordered switch grass seed to plant on the canal project's disturbed ground. I need to look at the new 93 acres to decide if it needs grazed or can stand another year. I will continue with the understory cedar removal if money is still available. I do have some roller chopping to do. Rough-leafed dogwood is invading on some of my NWSG and it's time to knock it back.
 
Troy, you be the habitat king on this board. I just saw one of thsoe rollers choppers on MN forestry website. Is it a big honkin thing that smashes and chops small trees? Tell me more about what you like to see happen on disturbance disked ground say the first 3 years.
 
SD better enjoy it's last year of being the pheasant king. I've got 20 acres of prime pheasant habitat going in. Would of had it planted this fall but pheasant forever guy went on vacation and they never mailed the seed to me:mad: I think I'll call it Coot acres:) Don't worry Uguide I'll let you hunt it after SD becomes a barun waste land for pheasant:D
 
I got my dirt patch to get green again yet as you know. And I am also going to plant a long row of arborvitae next to the lilac and spruce for a fast snow fence for the grass planting. I planted some 10"ers 7 years ago and they are 12' tall already. They came out with a faster growing one now that can grow as much as 5' per year after a year or two. I have also decided to do more switch of the super tall thick variety outside my hedge rows, as a property border cover. That will be 20' wide and 1200 feet long on one side and 50' wide and 400' long on another. I figured it would be nice for the outer edge by the food for quick escape into dense stuff, help hold snow and this way the hedge and inner cover won't get plugged with snow. This is on the Nth wst side for the MN winter. I guess it is a living snow fence. A few more spruce, lilac,apple trees and red twig and I will be done. Then just some food plot maintenance, and gopher killing. Then I can get back to raising and releasing.:thumbsup: Can we hit fast forward some how.:D
 
Chris, I want a strong forb response the first year dominated by western ragweed, wooly croton, toothed spurge, and prairie trefoil (deer vetch). By the third or fourth year, I want it to be back to grass. We'll move over and make more. I'm hoping the patch grazing system makes the disturbance disking obsolete.
 
UGUIDE said:
Cootie, I'm not worried a bit after seeing the next new UGUIDE camp last week. Got sick of watching pheasants flying over the hood of the truck after an hour or 2.:D
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Why weren't you shooting them:) I'd advise you not to go back there until I get there to see whats going on. Could be a matter of national sercurity pheasants my be grouping up to take over the world:D
 
Lots of trees and shrubs this spring. That means about two miles of water line extension and several miles of new four or five strand barbed wire fencing. Purchased a trencher to put in the water lines. Need to find a dozer and scraper for some dirt work. I would like to do some timber stand improvement, but time will tell if I have the time.

Will have 40 acres or more of food plots. Will plant more Egyptian wheat this year.
 
Really dry. I got enough rain to get a little growth out of my dryland wheat. Moisture goes down about 8-12 inches, then bone dry. Watered up my irrigated wheat. Some good wet snow, lots of it on the level, would be good.

I am looking at a tractor and tiller to work my tree planting rows. I need to do some dirt work around the farmstead before I lay out my shelterbelt there. A few trees to remove. The new to me backhoe will help there.

Drop by sometime and I will show you what I am up to. Unlike yours, mine can't be seen from the road. ;)
 
Would love to make the tour some time. I slipped out today and accosted the wee burdies. Cost a poor buck his life when he tried to sneak between the pickup and dog trailer just before dawn. Did a little damage, but nothing non-functional, just cosmetic. Cosmetics wouldn't fix the buck though. Hey, eyeball my new website sometime and give comment. Would like your impressions. It's in my signature.
 
Troy,

Awesome website.

My neighbor lost Sandy to snake bite. He will hunt the ranch later this season with Reba.

Reba in Jan 2009.

stick31Jan09012.jpg
 
My 2011 plans are going to be reading and bugging you guys with questions - this is great! :)

UGUIDE I don't know what CP30-40 duck holes are, but we have 25 TA (totally awesome) duck holes. About half are in a natural, absolutely gorgeous, cypress swamp that I'm not going to tinker much with, but the rest are field ponds we flood. Our different hunting properties are on both sides of the Arkansas River. We're in the process of putting together an organized plan to actually manage the habitat. There just doesn't seem to be enough time between hunting seasons to get everything done. Anyway we have tractors, disks, sprayers, seeders, a bull dozer, a skidster, and etc, ready to go after the last duck hunt :)

In the past my partner has seeded rice & millet around some of the ponds for ducks, basically experimenting. But now, I'm on board, and we're going to get after it.

Dove Field - First I'm going to plant strips of Buckwheat, Millet, & Sunflowers, on a 5 acre patch next to one pond, in April. I want it to come up mid summer and reseed itself. There's a levy on one side which I'll plant as well, so the seeds can wash down to the pond.

Duck Ponds (flooded fields) - July is when I'm thinking I need to drain the ponds down and plant Buckwheat and Rice. On some I might plant some Milo and Dwarf Corn earlier. I'll flood those ponds in October, so the seeds will be at or just below water level.

Deer & Turkey Food Plots - Guess I'll plant Buckwheat (July), Winter Rye, & Oates (aug), in long narrow food plots next to the woods and on a gas line. Our hunting property was cut out of huge sow bean and corn fields. We have planted pine plantations and even hardwoods too. The planted saw tooth oaks put a bunch of acorns out this year.

I've never planted more than the typical deer plot, so please advize! Thanks!

Oh and does anyone have recommendations of fruit trees I might plant in the foot plots? I know our deer like persimmons.
 
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IF I had all that ARDave I would of thought I died and went to heaven:) If you need help hunting it let me know:D I"m not for sure if apple trees are the number one fruit tree for deer but I got 3 apple trees in the yard and deer go crazy for them in the fall around here.
 
Sounds like you got it figured out AR, I wouldn't change a thing.

CP37 is duck nesting CRP available to landowners mainly in the prairie coteau in SD/ND. See we raise all the ducks and then send then down there for you to shoot.:D
 
Not much sense in planting oats in August. They'll be dead when you want them succulent. Wheat, rye, or a mix of either with Austrian Winter Peas would be better. On the ducks, if you have the capability to manipulate water levels, a July/August drawdown with Japanese millet (10 lbs/ac) planted on the exposed mud flats would give you the forage pounds needed to hold ducks. If you can dry them out enough to grow milo, that's another option. Deer can be hard on that if you have good deer habitat adjacent though. Other options for the deer would include alfalfa, any of the various clovers, and cowpeas. I frequently use cowpeas for early season and plant a mix of 60# wheat and 30# Austrian Winter Peas for the post-frost time period. If you can work out plots that are half of each, you won't be moving the deer and changing their patterns just before the season.
 
Yes I can drain some of the ponds down all the way (especially this year) and I've seen other locals using Japanese millet. The Buckwheat is a new ideal, someone must've mentioned it to my partner because he's told me to research it several times. The research got me excited because it looks ideal. My partner has owned 600 acres of the cypress swamp for a long time, but only started aquiring the fields in the last few years. The swamps needed no management to harvest those ducks UGUIDE has been nesting and sending to us. That's why we are on such a learning curve.

Guess I need to research what will grow best with each condition, some ponds hold water all year, some dry up, and some can be manipulated (they have water wells). The Japanese millet (10 lbs/acre) July/Aug, might be a better choice. One pond he had planted with rice seemed to be eaten up, pretty quick, didn't hold ducks later on. I'll set some ponds up with Japanese millet and try some milo as well.

I've been dissapointed with some of the deer plot packages that are premixed because they didn't stand up to hard rain and deer traffic. That's why I started liking oates and rye grass. I planted some kind of peas once, a vine that beat down easily, but I do remember a farmer / deer hunting friend telling me that peas are the only thing he plants for deer. Our bow season is Oct 1st - Feb 28th… It's really kind of hard for me to mess up these plots, they're not really needed, although pulling that monster out at dusk would be nice. But my main intention is to try to encourage the deer from leaving our property along certain borders. We have a couple of places where hunters have put up stands, on the tree our border fence is nailed too, above worn out deer trails. But our new bulldozer might help with that!

I'll try Wheat, Rye, and maybe some Alfalfa, then for early season and the 60# wheat & 30# Austrian Winter Peas for winter.
And of course I've got to get that Buckwheat in there!
 
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