Property progress and a buck visits the mineral lick.

Had an encouraging weekend of work on my hunting property. Just to give the backstory, I bought an 80 acre property in Pine County last September. I didn’t have much time to make improvements, etc last year, so this is the first “full season” of improving the property.

First, we had to get a new gate put in so that we had access to the property in the right place. Since the fence is not mine, I had to be careful that everything was done right or we’ll end up with the neighbors cattle in my property, which would be bad.

First thing I did this spring was establishing a mineral lick. I’ve long felt that the deer in this areas are mineral deficient and could use the extra boost. I pulled the chip this weekend and we have at least one buck visiting the mineral lick! If you look at the picture, the actual mineral lick is marked by the a fence post just to right of the left hand tree trunk in the picture.

As you can see, with the wet weather this year, we have fern growth that makes the forest seem like a scene from Jurassic Park. I’m getting lots of pictures of deer butts sticking out through the ferns, but this is the first confirmed buck picture since I put the camera on the mineral lick about 2 weeks ago.

For this mineral lick, I put out a mineral block and poured 2 bags of different mineral product on the ground. With all the rain this spring and hopefully the deer use, all the original mineral I put out, including the block, was completely gone! So this weekend I put out another block and 2 more bags of mineral. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to find any place that has 2 bags of the same mineral in stock at the same time, so thus far I’ve used 4 different brands.

With the fine weather yesterday–cool and breezy–I decided to fire up the brush cutter and clear a small food plot. Next year I will be bringing in a dozer to clear large plots, but for this year we’re going to make due with about half an acre. So I cleared off a good portion of what I wanted yesterday and then used the ATV sprayer to spray glyphosate. Of course, I forgot to take pictures after I was done! Hopefully, I’ll be able to disc up this area and get a fall food plot planted sometime soon.

So far, so good!

Grouse

OK, let’s try the pictures one more time.

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That’s a decent buck!!

It’s nice just to see deer on the camera and the buck is a bonus. Just great to know that at least one with horns has found the mineral lick. Hopefully there are more where he came from.

I’ve got a whole series of other deer on that spot, but a lot are hidden by the ferns as they use the lick. Apparently, nothing eats ferns.

I wish I had more time to expand the food plot areas. This year the focus has been on improving access to the property with gates and trails and in getting a shed in there so I have some storage and don’t have to haul everything out there every day.

Next year will be all about clearing land for food plots.

Grouse

careful Grouse, the food plot thing is VERY addicting!! It will be fun to watch you improve the property through your pictures. Take lots of them as you go.

Looks like a good time! I’m excited to get down to my land, and do some of the same stuff. The only problem is, it’s right on the MN River and has been underwater for nearly the last month…..O well, it should be dry soon enough…I think

What are you thinking about planting for the food plot?

Ben Brettingen wrote:

What are you thinking about planting for the food plot?

I’m going to try an Antler King fall/winter plot mix that has radish, peas, buckwheat, turnips, and other cool weather producers in the mix.

I’m not sure how this will work in a newly created plot, but I’m in a bit of a tough spot as far as planting old standbys like clover. I felt like I had to plant something that stands out and gives the chance of some late season forage. There’s a 40 acre alfalfa field with clover mixed in about 200 yards from my property line, so I feel like a clover plot won’t stand out that much, especially a marginally established one.

As with everything else on a new property, it’s try something and see if it works. All a grand experiment at this point. Plus, the food plot is not very big, I measured it at just over a quarter acre, so nothing to lose at this point.

The plan is to open several larger plots next year. Right now, I’m thinking about 2 plots, probably 2-3 acres each. I’m trying to use areas that have decent openings and are reasonably flat to begin with. We’ll see how it goes.

Grouse

Grouse, just a heads up. I see the mix you are going to plant has buckwheat in it. That stuff is good for the soil and grows on any ground very well, but it is very cold sensitive. If the weatherman even says frost it will kill it. Now if you get it in fairly quickly you will get good growth out of it by frost time, but if you are planning on planting in September it won’t last long at all. The other parts are the mix should do well.