I'm starting early this year on next season's deer farming.
I'm preparing a new food plot in my favorite hunting spot before weeds, sweetgums, greenbriers and other things I hate start sprouting.
I have another plot in a lesser spot, but that was a slipshod affair done years ago on a shoestring budget at the end of summer. I'm surprised it did so well, and three years later it still has a healthy carpet of clover and greens.
I'll do this one on a shoestring budget, too, of course, but I've learned a few things. One is that I have to start earlier than Labor Day.
First, I'm going to have the county extension service test a soil sample so I'll have a better idea about how to sweeten my soil.
Chris Eubanks, a Subiaco native living in Edmond, Okla., is owner and communications manager of Thomas Ag Services, based in Crabtree, Ore. He was the former communications manager for the Whitetail Institute, and he was also an agronomist for Land O'Lakes. He said that most soils in Arkansas are acidic, in the lower 5 range, with 7 being neutral, so I'll have to add lime to my plot.
Cory Gray, the deer biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said preparing the soil with lime and fertilizer will squeeze maximum production out of my forage.
Eubanks said it's best to lime the soil four months before planting to give it time to neutralize the soil, so I'll do that in May, but right now I'm going to have to put in a little sweat equity. The area I'm going to plant is a long lane in the middle of a big pine plantation where the landowner removed a row of trees.
The row is full of stumps, which will destroy a disc harrow. They must come out, and I'll have to do it with a shovel and ax.
That's better cardio exercise than I can get on a treadmill or stationary bike, and it's a full body workout. It's like going to the gym a couple of days a week in a place that I dearly love.
While the lanes are sunny now, they'll grow shadier as the pines age and spread their crowns. I have to envision how the place will look in 3-5 years to know what to plant now.
"One of the best plot options for shady areas is a white clover product because it's very shade tolerant, it lasts for many years, and deer find it very attractive," Eubanks said.
Eubanks also recommends mixing in turnips, rape and kale, as well as cereal grains and annual clovers. Those species provide nutrition in fall and winter when other food sources may disappear.
Maintenance is important after the plot sprouts. Our landowner prohibits herbicides, but we can use pruners and chain saws to remove thin-diameter brush and nonpine saplings. A gas-powered trimmer takes care of weeds.
It sounds like a lot of work, and it is. On the other hand, all that extra time in the woods allows me to observe deer and note their movements in the area during nonhunting months.
With all the logging that occurs in these woods, they are accustomed to a heavy human presence. My food plot activities don't bother them a bit.
Besides, all this extra time in the woods will allow me to listen for gobblers and keep track of which areas turkeys are using on my club.
Bird watch
Despite the mild winter, songbirds are consuming black oil sunflower seeds voraciously on my little corner of Hot Spring County. They've eaten 20 pounds in less than a month from only two feeders.
Goldfinches are the most prominent species by far. A large flock inhabits the woods around the house, and no fewer than 30 swarm the feeder each morning. Second in number, barely, are mourning doves. I lost count at 40 Monday, but usually there are less than 10.
We also have dark-eyed juncos, house finches, white-throated sparrows, song sparrows, tufted titmice, northern flickers, cardinals and black-capped chickadees. There are at least two bluebirds on the property, but they don't get around the feeders much.
A kestrel occasionally terrorizes the songbirds, but he has yet to catch one.
All of the birds prefer to eat on the ground, so they mostly get on the feeder to kick out the seeds. The male goldfinches seem to gain color by the day. Soon, they'll be luminous.
Sports on 02/04/2016