dogdoc

congrats on your new land. No doubt you will enjoy having your own place, todd

interesting. Does look like it could have been claws but probably a buck. Look forward to seeing trail cam pics.

Nope--I have had some tough meat from a very old buck but still tasted the same. However, I have never shot a buck after the first of December. Most of my kills have been November bucks. todd

Hey Stranger. Been a while.

yep, now it's really getting nostalgic. I got to know a lot of neat people and made some good friends out this place.

yes, very sad. This used to be the place to be!

wow--what a honor! Very cool project. todd

Oh man - getting a little nostalgic in here!

Kind of late to the party but still plenty of time before spring plantings. The only thing I plant now in the spring is Eagle soybeans. Discing in the spring just brings up more weeds. Even if you disc early and them early spring spray before discing you will still be struggling with weeds all summer long. Two options is plant and roundup ready forage such as eagle beans so you can spray glyphosate to kill all the competing weeds and still have a great stand of beans. The only downside is you have to have a plot large enough to support browsing pressure on the beans. The other option is to plant something that will out compete the weeds---buckwheat is the best plant to accomplish this. I have changed my process the last couple of years and it has worked out perfect. I plant my spring plots in the fall! Discing in the fall will still pop up some weeds but these will be warm season weeds and they will die with your first freeze. In the fall I plant a mix of rye, wheat, oats, daikon radishes, sunflowers, and red clover. The young tender sunflowers are my early attraction and will die with your first freeze. The cereal grains and radishes will get me through the winter. Very late winter/early spring the red clover will start taking off and by the time the rye and wheat become unpalatable the red clover will be there to provide forage all spring and summer. Not only are you providing a high protein forage for your deer but you will also be improving your soil. You can mow the plot when the cereal grains start to head out to release the clover or you can leave it standing to provide awesome fawning cover. I have found red clover to be highly palatable to the deer while it is fixing Nitrogen back in the soil. The clippings of the cereal grains will be adding organic matter back into your soil. If you get weeds then most of them will be annual or perennial grasses and they can be controlled with a spraying of clethodim and not harm your red clover. The following fall you just mow short and disc the clover back into the soil---again adding some great green manure back into the soil. I have been doing this for 3 years now and I don't even have to fertilize anymore. Just repeat this procedure every fall and you have a 12 month plot with less work and money saved! Trust me--it works!!! Less herbicide used, less fertilize used, healthier soil, and healthier deer! 75# of wheat and rye (can just use one or the other but I like to mix) 25# oats (will probably die after a few good hard freezes) 15# of sunflower (I just get the cheap sunflower seeds at walmart for feeding the birds) 5# of daikon radishes 12# of medium red clover (I use kenland) Mix all seeds together except the clover. After discing spread the larger seeds and lightly clover. After covering the large seeds then broadcast your clover and then drag or cultipack. Do not disc under the clover. Seeds too small and don't want them deeper than a 1/4" All rates are at pounds per acre. good luck todd

Happy New Years RT family! Hope all has a great '17. I'm glad to have '16 behind me. Struggles with my daughter's crohns disease and my shoulder replacement surgery. I'm really excited for January 20th to get here! todd

too cold for me. We are dipping below 10 this weekend. High in the 60's tomorrow and high of 20 on Saturday!

Is very gray in the face. Lots of bucks have loss a lot of weight during the rut. He may be doing a lot of traveling looking for one more doe since you have never had him on camera before. I'm going with an old deer.

That's great. They are the future of hunting! Good luck getting her out. Hope she likes it! todd

congrats William. Glad you were able to close the deal on this buck! I'm sure you got a lot of relief knowing that buck was still around and you were able to get him today! good job buddy todd

Way to go Carlee! Beautiful young lady behind an awesome buck. After my 16 year old daughter shot her buck we go back to get the truck and take some pics. Took her 10 minutes to get her hair all fixed for the pic! congrats todd