2012 Checklist

With deer season behind us and 9 months until we can hunt deer again, I'm curious to hear what people are going to be doing to get ready for the season next year.  I'm sure we'll all be doing a lot of work in September, but what about January through April. 

I know that NEO will be hard at it getting things together over the next few months:  
1.  Tune up the Ford 8N and ready to roll (In the meantime we're hoping to be able to use a friend's).
2.  Continue to run trail cameras until the deer shed their horns so take inventory on what bucks will be around next year.
3.  Timber Management is probably going to take up most of our time
4.  Soil prep.  soil samples, liming, fertilizing, etc.
5.  Tree stand relocating and clearing shooting lanes
6.  Blaze new trails
7.  Target practice

For the next couple months, we are going to be meeting with  the DEC Forestry Department and County Agriculture Center to set up some Stewardship Plans.  We will try and keep you updated with our progress and even do some video taping to give you some info in case you are looking to do some property management yourself. 

Let us know what you're up to.  

Eslerman 

number one on our list is taking down stands in mendon before we upset landowners and/or they get stolen

^ agreed

... among other things

Its been a while since we've put up any updates on the property management.  Its been a slow winter for work as its been hard to get back on the property without rutting up our roads that aren’t frozen. We’re also waiting until we have had our property looking at by professionals so we don’t make any mistakes that might set us back in the long run.

Two weeks ago we met with a couple county representatives who are in charge of evaluating properties and giving advice on wildlife habitat management. They are primarily concerned with brush land and soft mast producing trees. Their feedback to us was to clear cut the trees out of some parts of our land that was on the verge of changing over from brushy undergrowth to becoming more dominated by timber. In cutting the trees, it
would also provide new sprouts from the cuts we make while also providing existing undergrowth the sunlight it needs to continue to grow. They also advised us to release our apple orchard as soon as possible as we have many trees that are on the edge of dying from lack of sunlight. There are over twenty apple trees that have recently died in the area from that very cause. 

This past weekend we went down and started releasing apple tree that have been neglected for about 30 years. We will not be managing for timber on this part of the property. These 20 or so acres will be cleared of trees
except for a select few that will remain for tree stand locations. We are painting all the stumps with herbicides to slow down the regeneration of timber throughout the area as well.  The only trees remaining after that should be apple and hawthorn. Once we’ve taken down all those trees, the apples and hawthorn should produce about 4-5x more mast than they were when they were shaded out while continuing to grow hence providing even more food in the future. Add to that more briar patches and blackberry/raspberry bushes, and you’re looking at some prime whitetail habitat. We’ll be keeping some
roads and trails open so we can get around in there, but I’m guessing there will be lots of deer pics (harvest and trailcam) on this site over the next few years from this spot. 

This week we are meeting with the forestry rep from the county so he can look at our timber stands and give us advice on how to care for it. We will give you an update afterwards. 

I can't wait,

Eslerman