Plowing Food Plot with Box Blade

[3RRL]

Thanks for the good wishes Scotty,
The wife and I are headed up this weekend and I have decided to take Homebrew's advice and get some poly pipe and sprinklers etc. I'll need to do that anyway before trying to grow my Summer plot and now would be a good time to do it. I'll be tying into some 1" pipe and get some advice from FGS guys. The weather is really nice and I have some cousins coming to visit from Holland. They are always kidding about their American cousin who has this big ranch hahaha ... I will put them to work on it.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Great activity from a cell or 2 last night ... 0.62" according to my weather station. Sure makes the dirt work good, see attached (sorry for the blurryness ... hard to balance a beer, camera and keep Baby pointed in the right direction

 

[3RRL]

Well,
I haven't given up on the food plot yet. We had a small amount of rain a week ago and things are starting to sprout finally.



This weekend it rained 3" and soaked everything. Temperatures are still pretty warm here.... 65°F days and 40°F lows, so there's still a chance for some growing here. Maybe I'm wrong about that? I am a crummy farmer and don't know for sure???
Anyway, if it does grow, it will attract the deer for sure. The neighbors see the deer trying to feed on their lawn and flowers so they are hungry.

Here is a deer photo taken at night by the game camera, but it was too far away. This one I tried to enhance. Maybe you can see it in there?

 

[3RRL]

The game camera got quite a few shots of animals moving around near the edge of the food plot. Maybe they know something I don't know because they are more active now in this area?

On Saturday morning, Wes called me over to watch 2 Bobcats walking through the meadow together. A big one and a slightly smaller one. It was around 6:30 am and we watched from them from camp for about 10 minutes before they moved out of sight.
Here is one caught on the game camera in the afternoon.

 

[3RRL]

There are tons of Coyotes that roam the property too. We hear them howling in chorus every evening. These were also caught on the game camera.

 

[3RRL]

We have yet to get pictures of the resident Black Bears that live around the property. Our neighbors have pictures of them walking through their front lawn but they live there year 'round. We seem to miss them but have seen evidence of them visiting our camp. We see lots of foot prints and one time the bear rummaged through our camp stuff. Our Solar contractor did see it once very early in the morning as it was passing through.

When my cousins from Holland visited last weekend, they saw the Mountain Lion that's been hanging around the ravine on the property. We don't have any photos of him either (yet). He has been spotted several times by two neighbors in the same area, near our ravine. I took a photo of the ravine where he's been spotted a couple of times. There is a little cave in one area and I though he might be using it? It showed some tracks around but no sign of the Lion.
Here's a photo of that area.

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Very cool pictures!!!

What type of game cam do you have? Where'd you get it and why did you choose that particular one?

I'm thinking about getting a digital one, but haven't made a choice yet. Prices are droping and it's getting harder to tell the good from the bad.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Hi Eddie,
I got a cheaper model that is digital and I bought mine at Sportsman's Guide. It has the same features as the more expensive "name brands" but was a little cheaper. It is water proof and I've had it for about 2 years now. runs on 4 "C" size batteries. Several settings and a video mode too.
Check it out here:
Game Camera
I bought the one for $139.95 and it works real good. There are several choices he carries and many on the internet to choose from, but this one was all I needed. I'm thinking of getting another one to monitor where that Mountain Lion is hanging out.

 

[john_bud]

In 3R it's still in the low 50's highs of 80°. You guys in Oregon and Washington, is it normal to be dipping that low already this time of year?

I see Stumpfield got rain in Mariposa already. Weather report shows high in 3R is going to be around 72° this weekend with rain. Exactly what I need to get the plot going. I'm going up Thursday to fertilize.

Another thing is with all that area open, there are tons of ground squirrels out there!! I tried getting them with my m-1 jungle carbine but I missed several 100 yard shots with it. Open peep sights and I am a crappy shot anymore. I'm bringing up my .240 Weatherby with 4 x 16 Tasco scope to do some plinking this time.. If I miss with that, I'll quit!

240 weatherby for squirrels???? What do you use for deer, 50 BMG?

jb

 

[Bill Barrett]

Very good thread. I followed your customizing the box blade thread. Did you run into any unforseen problems doing that much ground work with it?

 

[3RRL]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for asking...
That boxblade is beefed up so much that it is very, very strong. I have had zero failures of any kind with it. If you read my other thread here
Pushing in Roads and Trails, you will see that I damaged my tractor lower arms but not the boxblade. My 55hp Kama has to weigh between 7,500 to 8,000lbs with FEL, Grapple, boxblade and loaded tires. That was some grueling work from a big machine to expose it to.

The only problem I had is when I got a rock caught between the gear and rack which locked up the system until I cleaned it out. It was that easy to do, but it did happen. I have to enclose the system yet to keep that from happening again. But as I said, it only happened when a rock got between the gears and no damage at all. Adding the re-enforcement behind the scarifiers has really helped because I have not broken another scarifier since doing that. If anything was going to break them, the giant boulders I popped out while doing the trails would have done it.

 

[Bill Barrett]

Thanks for the thread Rob, Pushing in Roads and Trails, I hadn't seen that one yet. Thats good to hear you've had zero problems. I'm in the market for a box blade and tring to get all the ideas I can.
Also I love the wild life pics you posted, we got on the camera web site last nite. We have talked about a camera for some time. I didn't think they would be that reasonable.
Bill

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

How did the food plot turn out? Anything new? Did you get any deer feeding in it?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Rob,

How did the food plot turn out? Anything new? Did you get any deer feeding in it?

Thanks,
Eddie

Hi Eddie,
The food plot is growing little tiny plants real SLOWLY. After my post a month ago, we had some rain but then the weather turned cold too. So it is growing but really struggling. Here's what we saw over New Year's weekend.





I haven't give up yet though. There has been a lot of animal activity around there. I think they are looking for food. Maybe they've started eating some of the sprouts already? You can also see the watering guzzlers out there. It holds about 30 gallons with several trays in it and the other one is a tin wash tub filled up. It's not needed now, but in the Summer I'm sure will be of interest to the local wildlife. Anyway, we're going up this coming weekend and take another shot of the plot. I hope to see some improvement.

 

[Captinjack]

Hey Rob

Put a wire fence made into a 3 ft. circle or so on your food plot so you will know how much the animals are eating your food. You may be supprised to see that what grows inside the wire is much higher thatn outside the wire.

At my place, the critters have the capability of eating the food plot faster than it grows erroneously making me think that it wasn't growing worth a darn.

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Thanks for the update. Yours did allot better than mine!!! I just did a little one, but the hogs trampled it up so bad in the mud, that there's nothing left.

Are you going to try to do it differently next year?

What about this spring? I've read that spring food plots do more for antler growth than any other time of the year. They also help fawns get fat and healthy!!! Fall food plots are mostly for hunting and getting animals concentrated in one location.

I realy want to try lab-lab next.

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Captain Jack,
That is a good idea. I never thought them eating the sprouts would make it seem like nothing is happening. Like I said, there's been a lot of activity around so maybe you're right. Now, If I can only remember to bring some wire fence up to the property.
Thanks for the idea.

Eddie,
I think you are correct about antler growth and the Spring food plot giving them nutrition for that. I think the food plot will have met it's end in the Spring. It gets so hot after that everything fries and turns brown. One of my goals is to run water down to the food plot so I can grow a Spring or Summer food plot. I would like it to still be around (healthy) for August, September and October. Those are the deer and bird months I hunt here in my zone.

I will try to grow a Spring/Summer food plot in the same place as this one. I think I'm going to stick with the peas and some fescue as the undergrowth and the wheat and oats ... see how that does in the heat? I was hoping if they like it they'd get used to it and hang around for the hunting season. Not only hunting season, but for observation more than anything. I was thinking of growing a small patch of corn too, and maybe some sunflowers? This will all depend if I can get water down there or not, of course. Otherwise, nothing will grow during those hot months.

 

[3RRL]

Finally!!!
When Larry visited, Loretta and I checked out the food plot and guess what? The peas had sprouted and were growing like crazy.



I am sooo happy that they are growing. Only thing is, neither of us knew what Oats or Wheat looks like, so we will just have to wait until they get bigger. Anyway, I'm glad to see the food plot growing finally. Having pulled 1" poly pipe down to the plot, I'll be able to grow something during the hot Summer too. Get it ready for dove and quail season. I just need to get some rain birds (sprinklers) that will work off a battery operated timer.
That will be cool.

 

[EddieWalker]

Very nice.

Now you need to get your Game Cam set up on it so you can see who's eating it. Pretty soon the deer should be having fawns. That would be an amzing picture if you can get it.

Eddie