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Always a difficult decision on when to plant. I'm in the Bassattackr camp. Plant by date and hope for rain and good weather. Sometimes the worst scenario is an immediate rain on previously dry soil that allows the seed to germinate followed by hot and dry conditions. I typically follow the...

I frost seeded a blend of Renovation, Stamina, Aberlasting, Jumbo Ladino, and Alice White this spring. I'm very happy thus far.

I bought a 25 gallon from sprayer specialties, still going strong and I am hard on it. I highly recommend them. I think I bought mine for less than $500.00 a few years back but that was without shipping, I believe they have locations in Illinois and Iowa and possibly Kansas. I have a three...

Mowing Wondering when you alfalfa growers mow your alfalfa plots? I was hoping to let mine flower for pollinator purposes but maybe I shouldn't let it get that tall since I'm using a "regular type" of mower. The weevils seem to be doing quite a bit of the mowing for me currently.

I like to spray my perennial plots this time of year for grasses. I hit them with clethodim, 8-16 ounces per acre with non-ionic surfactant and AMS. There is some information out there that suggests AMS and regular crop oil might be hard on clover, so I use about 60% rate on AMS, probably not...

Need some details on that 150' bridge. I have a 60 foot span I would love to cross on foot. The creek it spans often jumps its banks and would destroy anything to close to surface.

Herbicides and Spraying I spent an entire day spraying fescue and reed canary grass. Besides a flat tire and a surprise raccoon in a trap I didn't "unset," the day went well, here is my set up and strategy: I use a 250 gallon water tank and a 25 gallon ATV sprayer (my 80 gallon sprayer came in...

I actually deal with this issue professionally in a different state but I would assume many of the same strategies could be employed. (Disclaimer - This is not legal advice.) The only way to determine what the ground is really worth is to accept bids. I advertised in a local newspapers and bids...

Food Plot Attraction Thought I would share a quick thought about relative attractiveness. I broadcasted Frosty Berseem and feed Oats into a 1/3 acre brassica plot(that I installed last fall), I did this in early March in what would normally be the "frost-seeding window." The Berseem appears to...

I have learned a few things over the last year and thought I should update this thread. Shrub Protection: When I initially planted shrubs last year I used 7 foot vinyl deer fence, it was cheap and I thought it would be sturdy enough. After a year of observation, I would still endorse this...

Hawk 32 basically answered your question exactly how I would of. Get some Avian X decoys, the newer HDR's look great. I have a full strut, jake, feeding hen, and breeding hen. My son shot a bird off the full strut decoy last weekend. Ipad was key in keeping him in blind until 10:15am. Turkey...

Not to be the voice of pessimism, but the Reed Canary grass will be looking to invade and establish a monoculture. I will be sharing a post soon describing what I am doing to combat it.

SB3, I found a post in which you shared a picture of a clover plot, I believe May of 2020, it was from an area you cleared of pines and there was a dog in the picture (Lab I believe.) I was wondering what variety of clover was in that plot, seemed to be very upright and large leafed.

I agree with Skip and others in that the condition of your native browse (or food plot) is the best indicator of your need to harvest deer. I haven't been on many farms in my region that appear to be suffering from deer damage. Quite frankly, I think some people use "herd balancing" as an excuse...

Happened to me last night and I actually got down and left my farm. Supposed to be a SW wind, got the milkweed out, and sure enough, a lot of east in that wind. Its along a North-South creek travel corridor, so I would have winded every passing deer. Not going to do that on November 4th, maybe...

Question for the oak experts. I have gathered up quite a few white oak acorns that had just started to push out a taproot and planted them in containers containing moist potting soil. The roots are continuing to grow but none of them have sent up a sprout yet. I'm wondering what might be my best...

Quite a few mature deer were taken this past weekend in my corner of west central Illinois. Social media and easy distribution of harvest photos makes it seems like everyone is killing their target bucks while I tended to other obligations. Looking forward to some stand time these next 12 days.

Silky seems to be the gold standard, I've been using a folding Corona for about 4 years, very impressed.

Glad I'm not the only one. I had numerous shooters and hit listers established by this time last year. I have not had a pic of a buck older than 3.5 yet. Last year was my first year owning my farm which is about 190 acres. I made major habitat improvements in off season and added food plots...

I wash my gear in July/August with a garden hose and let it air dry in the hot sun for couple days. I just don't trust the washing machine with my outer garments given that my wife uses scented detergent with regular laundry. Outer layers are put on at the stand or at least in the field, which I...