I think it looks great and think comes the spring a little sun 🌞 and rain ⛈️ it will look good from Northern Ontario 🇨🇦 .

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. All the best to you Rack Man!

Great video

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Jerry, all the best to you.

People don’t like ugly timber either but the deer sure do! Keep up the good work Mark

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Sean! All the best to you.

Good to see you post an update Mark. I think you are on the right path.....just wait and see. No hurry to rush to a decision on what comes next. I find myself in a similar place. I got great clover and few weeds tho. What plagues me is that my clover is so strong.....it did not allow my brassica to grow last fall. It simply crowds it out. I need to change a bit to knock my clover back via some tillage or round-up in a few areas.....and then let that brassica thrive. My winter rye has been a savior for me....just as your wheat has been for you. The deer love it in fall and it's there the first thing come spring and early summer.....along with my substantial clovers. Not to mention it's ability to prevent weed growth (allopathic properites)......which is huge to me. Glad you did an update. My advice to you?....."Keep planting the good things and keep the weeds crowed out." Maybe Winter Rye instead of Wheat?.....or perhaps Triticale....which is where I am heading. Your on the right path. It will work. Believe. Best....Tom

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Tom, good to hear from you again. And thanks for the encouragement, this is moving me in the direction to stay the course without any chemicals or fertilizer. Maybe a season of heavy rye/clover to finish crowding out the weeds will move things along faster? I'll be watching a pile of videos this winter to come up with a plan. All the best to you Tom.

@tompeterson3296

Жыл бұрын

@@theback40 I think I got steered in (mostly) the right direction by binging on some video's two years ago after I was somewhat "homebound" as my wife recovered from a rough surgery. Watched and read all I could on "regenerative ag".....as preached by Grant Woods.....but moreso by videos by Gabe Brown and a few others. The principles are much the same by most of these guys. Gabe Browns book "Dirt to Soil".....was a huge eye opener to me. I will send it to you if you want to read it. (addy Please?). Green Cover Seeds also follows these principles and has some good books and video content comparing such stuff. What I got "wrong" was planting too many perennial clovers which are very aggressive growers and are fantastic deer food through most of the year......but will most often diminish to near nothing at deer season. Thus leaving my plots somewhat food free. I tied to plant brasica into this clover by just cutting it to the nubs.....and drilling into that. No dice. The clover came back in spades and mostly crowded out the brasica. Next year I will nuke some center areas of a large clover plot leaving the perimeter. Then after it's crispy brown I will plant brasica into these areas. In late august or early September I will drill Triticale into the good clover areas......and broadcast triticale into the brasica.....hopefully ahead of a good rain.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

@@tompeterson3296 Gabe Brown and Ray Archuletta are who got me started on this 3-4 years ago, and I am thankful that I somehow stumbled into their videos on KZread. Thank you for offering the book, but I already have it, read it, and loaned it to a few buddies, too. It is a GREAT read. And thank you for the clover feedback, I was considering planting it as a cover crop to squeeze out the weeds and drilling all the blends into it each season, but if it is blocking out the annuals, I think I'll just keep with my plan A and see how it goes for a bit longer. All the best to you, keep us updated on your foodplots please.

I appreciated your review. We live in Southern Iowa where the soil is not sandy but has a clay bias. I have tried grain drilling for a no till approach. Not happiest with the results. Not done trying. Going to make some adjustments. Btw our drill is a McCormick M series. Appreciated your approach.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. Maybe you get away with a drill when the frost is coming out and it's pretty soft. But as soon as that clay even thinks about drying out, it probably won't work? But look at the bright side, clay holds water, the number one fertilizer for foodplots! Let us know what you come up with as you try various adjustments. All the best to you guys.

@midwesthuntingoutdoors

Жыл бұрын

@@theback40 You know it. Looks like we have a lot in common. We subscribe. You do it the right way.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

@@midwesthuntingoutdoors Thanks!

Appreciate the update Mark. Thanks for continually sharing your food plotting progress!

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Brett, I just hope I am helping our hunting community in some small way. Thanks for the encouragement. All the best to you.

I would think to make this work to its best ability, would be to really crimp it that mat of thatch would really help keep the weeds down and kill the mares tail I would think not to mention now the seeds would not compete for for moisture and plant food. and I know I am cheap and made most of my equipment when I can. Was wondering through all these last 5 years what you think the cost savings on spray and on fertilizer , lime fuel ect,ect For what I can see a decent amount of savings you should have for what I see good results at least from the deer hunting side of it.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

For sure the crimping would be the best way to do this. I'm just trying to find a way to accompish close to the same results without spending $5k on a roller crimper, and utilizing equipment I already own from back in the tillage days. I'm at the point now where I think spraying (I already owned the sprayer) and drilling in (bought the drill with the money I got selling the spreader and rototiller, so a net zero cost to me) is the combo. I'm not a fan of spraying, but if I must on occassion, I will. I don't have a concrete number that I can give you for savings, but I know it is significant. Super rough idea....I was around $500/planting, twice a year for a total of $1000 for fertilizer, and probably save another $100+ on fuel, so a very rough estimate would be over $1000/year in savings, not to mention my personal time, nor wear and tear on the tractor. All the best to you.

Thanks for the update.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Craig, my pleasure. Hope you are having a great season!

might a cool experiment to cage off a small section of the plot to measure grazing pressure.... ?

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

I keep thinking about doing that exact thing, but still haven't done it yet. Thank you for reminding me! All the best to you.

@Williams-Homestead

Жыл бұрын

@@theback40 yes sir! I appreciate the content. 👍🏻👍🏻

Maybe buy that crimper for spring use?

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Trying to figure out a way to avoid the expense of a crimper first. If I must, I'll do it, but gonna keep trying for a few more years without. All the best to you.

Looks good. I say you are doing it the buffalo way. 👍

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Gotta keep at it... Hope you are having a great season.

Look great! I think you are correct about going forward with no chemicals or burning. If you had any neighbors with cows that you could mob graze over small paddocks and on top of hay, you'd build your soil up even better and faster.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. I WISH I had access to cattle around me, but I don't. This property was a cattle pasture 50+ years ago, but no more. I've watched regenerative farmer videos on KZread with the cattle rotations on their fields and it is amazing how fast it helps the soil build. All the best to you.

Mark...congrats to you on a successful season, I wish we had been as successful with no till. As you know after fighting the weeds etc with the no till system for a numerous years, we went back to conventional tilling, spraying, and planting. We had our best food plots in year, since we first tried no till years back. I actually harvested my targeted buck, a 5.5 year old 11 pt buck. We killed all our Mares Tail and weeds off and then tilled and planted, although we did not fertilize. We will again go with our conventional planting system, but will probably incorporate a minimum amount of fertilizer during planting. I guess it just goes to show that not all systems work the same for all food plots. Possibly your success may be you to your sandy soil, our soil gets hard as a rock prior to our fall planting, and physically working it up before planting seems to work well for us. Congrats again on your success. Bob

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Bob, thanks. Congrats on your great buck! Your hard work and patience paying off. All the best to you.

Hello Mark. Thank you for sharing the information about no till food plots. Is there a guideline that you followed to get started with no till?

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Mike, not really. I watched a few video from Gabe Brown, Dave Brandt, Ray Archuletta, Grant Woods, and just kinda got started. There is more info available now, I think Grant Woods has some good videos from a year or so ago explaining how to get going if you have equipment, or Jeff Sturgis if you don't have equipment and can just spray and broadcast seed. Maybe I should do something to review this? All the best to you.

I would stay the course, the first years are always hardest in the transition. Without tillage and herbicides your microbe population will flourish and the weeds will continue to decline.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

I'm leaning that way right now. Got a chance to go look at the plots post hunting season and they still are providing food and attraction, which is really what its all about. So although they don't look great, they still perform. Thanks for the encouragement, all the best to you.

Deer don't have OCD. ;)

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Mark, that's just damn funny!

Looks like it did great! Proof is in deer so to speak!

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Agreed! Thanks for watching, all the best to you.

I was sitting in my ladder stand last evening and wondering about you and how your hunting has been this fall. Always interested in your thoughts.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey David, that is certainly humbling, thank you for thinking of me. We had a great season, but challenging one for getting things on video. I'll get something out soon. Hope you're having a great season!

Looks great. Being in the U.P. how would you plant this if you didn't have the drill? Was this from a package? Who? There was a segment of this video that showed deer in the food plot but there was also stick hanging above what I assume to be a scrape, what kind of stick is that. Another channel I watch they said to use a vine. We don't have vines like what he has in the southern states. Can't wait to see your food plot come spring early summer and how much the deer eat it up.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Melvin, yes, seed was from Green Cover Seed, their Fall Foodplot blend. If I didn't have a drill, I would lightly scrape just the top of the soil with a disc and broadcast and pack. The "stick" is actually a grape vine, we have wild grapes growing all over the trees I hinge cut 5 years ago. But, I think an oak branch would work too, or cedar, whatever you have their in the UP. Thanks for watching, all the best to you.

Just think how much time and money you have saved with your current method and the wild life seem to like it as well.

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Douglas, 100% agree! Save soooo much time on the tractor, plus the fuel, and wear/tear. Also save on the glyphosate and fertilizer, which really adds up. And, most important, the deer and wildlife still love it just the same! All the best to you.

Hunting videos?

@theback40

Жыл бұрын

Hey Joseph, I'm working on it, but it was a rough year for getting video footage. I'll explain in the video. Hope you had a great season!