Last minute Panhandle food plot

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treefarmer
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Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:19 pm

I've posted before that gettin' old ain't a lot of fun. This year my health has declined because of old injuries and osteoarthritis destroying these joints. This is the time in 40 years that I was unable to plant a normal garden, it was too wet to start, then the total knee replacement finished it off. I thank God for providing a competent surgeon to do my knee and will probably be looking for a new hip in the future and probably a shoulder operation or two :rolleyes .

In the meantime I have been able to mow the yard and do a little tractor work in the last few months. Today I went and bought 10 gallons of diesel fuel and fired up the old MF175 and the off-set harrow. I have decided to plant a small narrow Rye patch inside of last year's Corn/clover patch that is over grown with dog fennel weeds and other weeds. There is a small amount of Ladino Clover that has managed to survive. The patch will be a strip in the middle of the weeds running southeast with a narrower leg running southwest to the SW corner of the plot.

Here are a few pictures from today's work, an old kitchen stool/ladder to get up on the tractor, a view of the area to be planted and a shot from the feeder in the planted pines looking across the food plot to the shooting house. As this project progresses, I'll try to keep it posted.

I haven't tried to climb the ladder to the shooting house with my new knee, so that will be an interesting event if I can sneak away from Miss Joy. She's encouraging me to put some camo curtains on the golf cart and used it as a ground blind. Probably not a bad idea, considering how easy it would be to work the wind.
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Iluv2hunt
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by Iluv2hunt » Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:24 pm

Glad to see you back in the saddle
:crip :toast :rock_on :rockon
I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt them because I have to. ~Colonel Tom Kelly

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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by Bossman » Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:01 pm

Farmer glad to see that you're out and about. I hope that you haven't drove Mrs Joy crazy. I know what you mean bout not planting. I didn't plant a plot this year and the only excuse that I have is that I'm fat and lazy. And that isn't an excuse it is just plan sorry. Well just be sure to keep the pictures flowing.
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Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by Cr0ck1 » Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:03 pm

Glad your back out and about!


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom.

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sam03
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by sam03 » Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:52 pm

Glad to see you back at it! I have really missed your thread this year! The golf cart blind sounds like a pretty good idea. It wouldn't take much camo burlap from Wally World and some zip ties and you would be ready to roll!
I like animals, they are tasty!

9dawgs

Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by 9dawgs » Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:47 am

Good to see you up and active brother. I know it's hard to sit still. I really am glad you're able to do what you're doing because your threads always make me smile. Stay strong brother!

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treefarmer
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Tue Oct 14, 2014 12:25 pm

Thanks for the kind words, fellers!
Got the plot within a plot prepared to plant Saturday and ran into a problem finding Wren's Abruzzi Rye seed in Washington County. Monday, had to travel up to Campbellton to get a bag of seed, then it started raining in the afternoon and it rained all night, 3 1/2" in the gauges. Will be a few days till dry enough to plant. Should have a sufficient stand of green by Thanksgiving morning.
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:08 pm

The dirt finally got right after the 3.5" Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Seems like we are runnin' a little late, but according to a the regional biologist's words and publication, optimum planting dates for Rye is Oct. 15-Nov.15 in the panhandle. Remember, we're still huntin' at the end of February in this part of Florida.
Planted the plot this morning. This is the smallest deer plot I have planted in years, hope it does what it's supposed to do.
Here are some pictures showin' how it went..
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Wed Oct 22, 2014 3:39 pm

Update: Planted 5 days ago, the Wren's Abruzzi Rye is shining from end to end! When it 1st sprouts it has an unusual color, it almost looks red/brown/yellow for a few days before it turns green. Got a couple of pictures of the Rye this mornin' and there were a couple of pictures on the game camera of some other little fellers that have just recently sprouted.
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by Iluv2hunt » Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:44 pm

Hope to see pics of one floppin in that plot come Thanksgiving morning
I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt them because I have to. ~Colonel Tom Kelly

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treefarmer
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:18 pm

Yes Sir, it's always nice to kill one on opening day. It will have to be a hungry buck as our rut is in Jan. and Feb.
I put new batteries in my game camera and put 2013 for the year. Had a time finding them after they were down loaded. :help The computer put them in chronological order and it took me a while to figure where I screwed up :oops . Just another day in the life of an ol' man that is computer illiterate :rolleyes . Then I had to figure out how to change the date on the camera :hammer.
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:30 pm

12 days after planting, the Rye has turned green compared to the red color when it first sprouted.

About a month from today is Thanksgiving Day, opening day for gun season in zone D, hope it will be drawing some interest that day.

There is a rain coming as I type this, it is northwest of us up in Holmes County, and on up into Alabama. If it gets here it will be the 1st rain on this plot since planting.

No bucks on the game camera, does, yearlin's and fawns. Saw a very tall racked buck in the front yard last Saturday morning at 10am. He and a doe were working on the last of the sand pears.
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PS: Miss Joy just got in from her walk and said she could hear thunder!
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by sam03 » Wed Oct 29, 2014 4:17 pm

It's looking good as always! Can't wait to see one loaded up in the golf cart!
I like animals, they are tasty!

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treefarmer
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Wed Nov 05, 2014 5:51 pm

Another week has passed, the deer are cleaning up the corn at the feeder each time it goes off.

The Rye is growing, it needs a shot of fertilizer and needs a little more water. The rain that looked so promising last week was no more than a little shower, it slid off to the northeast of our part of the world. Supposed to be another 30% chance tomorrow, cold front coming from the northwest. The fertilizer will come when I get my smaller tractor back from the shop, supposed to be here Friday afternoon.

Last Saturday we had very cool temperatures, clear skies and wind gusting up to 30mph. I noticed how much the camera angle changed as the wind was in the pines. The camera is on an 8 inch pine, about 36 inches off the ground. It was interesting that the higher winds didn't seem to bother the deer. Nothing interesting showing up, lots of mommas and babies. There is a spike and a 4 point showing up now and then. According to the new rules the 4 point will be a legal deer in Zone D, Deer Management Unit-D1 :eek . Now ain't that a mouth full :rolleyes .
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Re: Last minute Panhandle food plot

Post by treefarmer » Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:21 pm

26 days after planting, the rye is being worked on. Haven't been able to fertilize it yet as my spreader is locked up with rust. My fault for leaving it on the tractor and not pouring some oil on the spinner plate as I have usually done in the past. Layin' around with my new knee is my excuse but it is probably a lost cause, these spreaders are cheaply made and are not known for long lives if you don't take very good care of them. I'll have to borrow one to do the job.

I don't know if it's the same old doe and 2 fawns each time, but I have spooked a doe and 2 fawns out of the main part of the rye patch several times last week, at different times of the day. It's always interesting to watch deer react to a tractor. Last Saturday I decided to mow a few pine middles and a few intermittent runs to be able to see a little better in the pines. A deer stood and watched me make several passes with the mower finally just trotted off. There are pictures on the trail camera of deer at the feeder an hour before I made the rounds with the tractor and there are pictures about an hour later of deer at the feeder.

The shooting house by this plot has been there for quite a few years. It is supported by 4 power poles and 2 pines had grown up on either side of it creating great natural cover for several years. Last year one of the pines got to rubbing the west side of the house and caused one of the roof panels to actually come off the house. Here again bein' old and workin' with a new knee, I had let this slide till yesterday. My chainsaw wouldn't start, so being a good Marine, I improvised. Loaded the generator on the cart, took a sawzall and a package of new pruning blades to the pine tree and started in on the job. A job that would have taken less than 5 minutes with the chainsaw, took about 20 minutes. I had to do multiple cuts to create the face cut, then I cut the back cut and to make it easy pushed it over with the tractor. Now I've got to engineer a way to reinstall a new roof panel without having Miss Joy call 911. I'll say it again, it ain't easy gettin' old and not being able to do what you used to do!

2 weeks till rifle season, the only legal buck to show up on camera is the little 4 point that is hanging around. We don't get to see much rut activity till the middle of January, then the bucks show up where the girls are feeding.

Pictures for this week are captioned.
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