Deer Farming 2018, Chapters 3, 4, and The End.

While trying to figure out how to get myself back into the business of blogging I realized I left a whopping 22 readers hanging on the edge of their seats back in June with this post I wrote about my early summer deer farming adventures.  At that time I was mowing weeds while making plans for what might happen if my dad and I ever got rid of the weeds.  Fast forward to right now and I'm happy to say the weeds are (mostly) gone, replaced by lush patches of deer treats that have thrived and, for the second year in a row, become a deer magnet in the midst of a much colder than usual October.

Again this summer we planted two big patches of turnips and radishes; last year we mixed the two, but this year we planted them separately.  In the June post I shared this picture of our Sand Flat plot with you:

Since then this same patch of land has transformed, first into this:

 And eventually this, our radish patch:

Mmmmmm, radishes.  Daikon radishes, to be exact.  An astute eye will notice as much or more weed as radish in some parts of that shot, as well as spots that still remained bare.  In time those bare spots filled in and the radishes began to drown out the weeds.  (side note: I haven't been in these patches since early September, so my knowledge of how they currently look is dependent on my dad's descriptions.)

On the hilltop to the north of the Sand Flat the same process played out - I mowed the patch of weeds that was to become our turnip patch, my dad soaked it with herbicide, we worked the soil, planted the seeds, and behold - turnips!

 With deer tracks!

We also planted some smaller plots of oats.  Three plots, two near the radishes on the Sand Flat and one near the turnips on the hill top.  This picture is of the early stages of mowing the largest of the three plots:

                             

Just like the other plots, once the mowing was done and the herbicide kicked in we could work up the soil and get all three ready for planting (same plot as above, viewed from the opposite end):

However, unlike the other plots the three oat plots needed to be planted later - last year's big mistake was planting oats too early, making them unpalatable to the deer during hunting season.  So this year we had to keep working the soil until mid-August when it was time to plant:

                                        

But once we planted it wasn't long before the former weed patch became an oat crop:

These pictures are of the same plot as above.....an arm of it that leads into a corridor of jack pines.

                                       

So that was my summer, off and on depending on how often I could travel north to work on these plots.  My dad did the bulk of the work on the turnip and radish patches; I did nearly everything on the oat plots.  As mentioned the oats were planted in mid-August...about three weeks after the turnips and radishes went in the ground.  Late summer planting is always a gamble because of moisture, or a lack of it.  The steady rains that had kept the vegetation lush all summer all but disappeared as soon as the brassicas hit the soil.  Life finds a way, however, and despite nearly two full weeks without any measurable precipitation both the young turnips and young radishes held on until a half-inch soaker in early August saved the day.

The oats were a different story - I got them in the ground ahead of a forecasted rainy stretch of days that never materialized, but there was enough moisture in the soil to germinate the seeds and keep them alive until the fall rains began.  From late August until now it's been rare to have more than two days in a row without a soaking rain, and as a result all of our plots are (according to my eye witness accounts) as productive as they've ever been.  Which is a relief - as mentioned in that June post a deer farmer does not farm with hopes of monetary income.  No, deer farming is an expenses-only venture. There are no subsidy programs or do-overs for the food plots that fall victim to drought or poor growing conditions.

I write this post now because I am (finally!) only a few days away from my first hunting opportunity of the fall.  The weekend activities of late September and early October have included everything but hunting, so all of my preparation work has been, thus far, for naught.  That changes on Thursday.  So ahead of what will surely be a memorable hunting season I needed to close the book on this year's deer farming and be ready to write about this year's deer harvesting.  I hope.