I'm a bit behind on blog posts so I'm going to roll my last 2 trips down into this post.
I made a trip down on July 5th to get some mowing done and food plots sprayed off. Thankfully, the grass was not nearly as tall as the previous trip which made mowing a little more pleasant.
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| It was a very nice day to spend outside |
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| Shorter grass but still making hay |
The clover on the ridge food plot was looking great and I could tell by the number of stems that had been nipped off that the deer were using that plot often.
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| Clover is growing well on the ridge food plot |
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| Plot screen growing well on both fields |
In preparation for planting later in the month, I hooked up the sprayer and got half of the small field sprayed off. It almost pained me to do it because the rye and clover plot that had been planted last fall looked great and was the only active food plot, other than the ridge clover plot, remaining on the property.
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| Beautiful looking rye and clover plot |
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| Broadcast sprayer filling up |
Overall, it was an uneventful and fast trip down, which is my favorite kind this time of year.
On July 21, I picked up my friends Megan and Dan and we headed to the cabin early. After a week of extreme heat, we lucked out with cloud cover and cooler temperatures. Megan hoped on the riding lawn mower while Dan and I started prepping and planting 2 food plots. It is so nice to have help on trips like specifically because of how long it takes to get the mowing done.
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| Megan getting done all of the mowing |
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| Dan using the brush mower to knock down the weeds on the big field |
I've been working my way towards a more no-till style of planting with my food plots and had some success with it last year. It is more of a mental challenge for me than anything because the plots don't look as pretty as a freshly tilled and planted field. The advantages, however, are leaving the dead plant matter on the surface helps to hold in moisture and not tilling helps to keep new weed seed from surfacing and taking over my plots.
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| 1/2 of the big field food plot planted to turnips, radishes, and rape |
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| Half of the small field food plot planted to brassicas as well |
My process involves either burning down with herbicide, or mowing off the existing plot (depending on the amount of soil showing), broadcasting the seed, and running the drag harrow over the plot to lightly settle and cover the seed. In an ideal world, a rain following planting will help the seed to settle and germinate quickly.
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| Plot screen is still doing great |
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| Ridge food plot is handling the browsing pressure well |
We made quick work of everything and managed to return home before lunch time. My next trip down will be in a couple of weeks. I will be working on food plot prep for planting Labor Day weekend.
