site renewal

[mrbb]

any thing you planty is better than not planting it LOL
in the woods is very hard, for several reason, once green up, leaves prevent a TON of light to alloow things to grow, then all them leaves both on the ground NOW and come fall, they make a lot of acid to the soil, making a bunch of lime needed to make things grow
they do hjave some seed blends that will work better in shady spots, but most ate HYPE on a bag LOL all seeds need sunlight tyo grow and strive, just as a good soil with food in it for them
as for finding a spring harrow, My best advice is drive about farm areas with cash in the pocket, and look for rusty lawn items LOL
odds are you will find several faster than youi think, and hey, 20-50 bucks in gas will more likely save you money than going to an auction, folks at auctions know deer hunters are suckers for smaller food plot things, look at tractor prices, they more than double in the past 10-12 yrs doe to how popular foot plots and hunters have become
so, looking on farms will save you money IF you have the time, as we all know time is money in a way!

like I said, IF you were closer, I have 3 of them now two singles for atv's and a big one for behind the tractor, and I know here about 25 opf them are on farms in my area! LOL
BUT what you would spend in gas to get here you'd loose money! HAHA!

don't forget, many places rent out equipment, and some times thats a better rioute too than buying and storing
and up keeping
from a walk behind tiller, or a 4x4 tractor/tiller/front end loader!

in wooded area's I think creating good mineral sites might be a better idea than food plots, as that sunlight gets loweer as the yr goes on and most die out before hunting season LOL
where a good mineral lick might get action all yr!
good luck

[YouthHunter]

It's got some openings and get pretty good sun light actually, I just wanted to give it a shot to see. I've been running the mineral and good luck, they just don't have much for food except for natural browse. Surprisingly not much the farmers do in this area.

[mrbb]

Things to try maybe are IF there are mast crop tree's, start adding some lime and fertilizer to trees near your sets, it will make them make sweeter fruits, nuts and such, making deer want to feed more near your set. Doesn't work the first yr, but second and third yrs it does!
Rye grass can have some attraction to deer, and will growmaybe best too about trees LOL
seeds tend to be cheaper too Lolt

[Wolfe]

Hey everyone!!! Hope all is well. I know I haven't been very consistent on posting since deer season ended. The end of Feb I had my first kid so she has consumed a WHOLE lot of my time lately. It was really nice of her to wait until after deer season to arrive though lol. I definitely love this site. I have learned a ton and gotten great advice since joining this past fall. I am really looking forward to the weather breaking. Last year I bought my house and 10 acres mid-summer and spent the rest of the summer getting the house in shape. I am now looking forward to putting in some time with the property. I have about a 120ft x 60ft pond that I want to spruce up. It has unbelievable bass and bluegill in it now. Wouldn't mind getting a few catfish in there and a small dock built. Then reading all of the talk about food plots on here has me thinking about doing a small acre plot to see what happens. My land is interesting. I have 10 acres but only about an acre of woods so I am looking for all kinds of ways to maximize my opportunities on it. To my west it backups to 75+ acres of woods where deer bed like crazy (which I am going to try my best to get some permission to hunt on this year). North is a 40 acre corn field. East 10 acres of woods. South is 3 houses on 10 acre plots a piece. So I have good cover and food all around me. I have been lucky this season and got two does on that acre of woods I own because I have a feeder set up just outside of my tree line and they pass under my stand from the 75+ acres to go to my feeder to eat. Only issue with it has been one ran back into the 75+ acres that I didn't own and had to go knocking on a door to get permission to retrieve the deer which was awkward. Again, going to definitely try to build relationships with those neighbors so I can at least get permission to retrieve any deer I shoot. Early in the season I had a few giant bucks drinking out of my pond. So my goal is to put that food plot near the pond so they have food and water near each other. My hopes are to draw out a big buck again. I figure doing some things here and there I can maximize my opportunities even with just one acre of woods.

My dilemma I have right now is what to buy to help maintain my property. I was sold on a 4 wheeler but I am now leaning towards a side by side or gator. I like the idea of the bed and more CC to push snow off of my 200 yard driveway. Only down fall is the price of the side by side compared to the 4 wheeler. I am on the lookout for a side by side with some hours on it to cut the cost back. I figure my property is completely flat so the wear and tear should be less then something hilly and having the higher hours might not be bad if I can get it at the right price.

Anyway, as you can see I have a lot on my mind with my land. I am sure I will be on here more in the future to get some advice. My only problem is I have more ideas then money lol.

[YouthHunter]

Congrats on the little one. My buddies having a kid that's due in late September. Asked him if he was nuts to wait until the season starts. My buddy just got a side by side and those things are amazing.

[nomad_archer]

Wolfe congrats on the little one!! That is great news.

[mrbb]

congrats Wolfe on the new addition to the family
as for what to buy for the property, if you wanted my siuggestion, I suggest a honda Foreman ATv, in a manual shift, there work horse's, no belts to wear out,(yes folks will debate this till the world ends)
there geared lower than most all other atv's, so thats why they work so well for work!

the advantage of an ATV as you know is cost, BUT you can get in smaller places they have more HP per LB than many side by sides
and you can just get a trailer to tow behind the atv when you need to haul things
way too many ATV's today are made for folks that want sporty atv;s even the big cc'd one's
they actually IMO don't work as well, as they were designed more for trail riding at a brisk rate, and need that extra air to cool them
the 700-800's we have at hunting camp will pover heat doing same jobs as our smaller one's in less time!
YES they have the hp , but they don't work well when driven slow for a long time, thus poor working atv's in my eye's


IF you wanted something better than an ATV, get a small tractor, before buying a SXS(side by side) for work
NOW if you want a sxs to take the kids and family trail riding, thats another story, BUT for workimg on a property, an atv or a tractor is money better spent
MY older 400 honda foreman, has maintained a drive way that is about a 1/2 mile long for 15+ yrs now plowing snow, never been a problem, and I get a LOT of snow
actually got 8 inches today,
I have build many many foods pl;ots with it up to 3 acres in size(LOTS of hrs needed and don't recommend doing this big a plot on an atv LOL)
and its maintained 16 acres of food plots for 15+ yrs too, spread 80 tons of gravel with it last summer alone too!
foremans in manual shift are hard to be for a work atv seen many models come and go at hunting camp and what friends have had
and none have ever out worked a honda foreman! and we went thru many many atv;s over the past 25+ yrs