I've been waiting for summer to end and the soil to dry enough to seed. With the next front arriving, I think I've held off long enough. My goal with fall/winter plots is for them to go the distance later in the winter. I don't care if they are not up for the opening day as that is not their primary purpose.

I sprayed the plots with Roundup on Saturday as I had grass coming up. I wanted to plant yesterday, but I needed to take my wife to Austin for some followup medical stuff and end up spending most of the day there. We didn't get home until late, so by the time I was ready to plant, it was 8 pm. I didn't want to take a chance of rain fouling my plan today, so I started and finished up just shy of midnight. Both tractor and seeder are lit up well so it is not an issue. I do keep meaning to put some turn lights on the Kubota, my Zetor had them so that you see ahead of the turn better. Just a second set of overhead lights turned 45º off centerline.

Everything went well, my Landpride no-till seeder worked very well running two seed boxes at the same time. I ran the tractor at 5 to 6 mph. I actually don't think it will matter if it rains or not as the soil was very moist. The seed was from Pogue Ag in Kenedy, just west of me; Their Fall Buck Buffet Legume and Triple Pea blends.

Your plots should come out good ,hopefully we'll get some more rain with this front!! I'm up also get last things done at the jnj ranch and get ready for my opening day which is next wed, man I love being off during the week no weekened warriors!! Ohh and less honey doo's

Fixed the last picture, it was posted as the same as the middle.

Not sure what kind of opener I will have. With the October rut, my deer tend to hit this creek system that surrounds me, the creeks are identified by mileage from Cuero, XX Mile Creek. A TPWD Biologist that hunted here for years got interested in what the deer were doing after a couple of years of experiencing the migration; He figured that a mature buck's home range increased to about six square miles at the end of October, encompassing the creek system I sit on. I just see them leave and know that the mature deer I kill late in the season is one that I probably have never seen, physically or on camera.

Ten days ago, I had identified 27 different bucks (120 acres), but not a single deer on camera since! I see very few does throughout the summer. A bit to do with all the acorns, but in that the disappearance is an annual thing, probably more geographical because of the creeks they like to travel.

The good news is that my fall plots always do well from lack of pressure and are ready for the hammering they will get in late December. Spring food plots are another matter. Too many hungry boys here.

Ranch Dog, how many acres did you plant? Are you doing the pure attraction again this year as well or are you trying these blends instead this year?

I would have loved to have one of those seeders, but parts of my place were still too muddy to do anything other than spread some seed, so that's what I did. I hope it takes off and gives a good stand. time will tell.

As you said, I am in it for the long haul, not worried about making a kill plot for opening day (my opening day was oct 1 as we almost exclusively bow hunt at my place) so I am just trying to create some nutrition for the deer once the mast and green stuff dies back.

I planted seven acres. I used the two Pogue Fall Blends pictured above. Pogue is a local seed outfit that I like to support, I decided to go with these blends as they are easy to work with and I've had good success with them over the years (since 1991).

After 18 days of nothing, I threw in the towel and replanted six of the seven acres. I think the 1.9" of rain I received immediately after planting, washed all my seed downhill. The only plot that survived is a very flat, old drill site pad. It had standing water on it for several days, but the Triple Pea Blend did come up although it seems rather stagnant in growth. The seeding yesterday was with TAM oats at 50 lbs an acre. At this point, I didn't want to spend any more money on it with the blends.

The soil was just right, the no-till spiked rollers weren't collecting mud, and the packer was providing a firm bed.









Rain forecast for the next several days, I spent more time than last contouring the seeding to help fight the runoff. With the confines of the plots that consumes a lot of tractor time so hopefully, it will work.

What is interesting is how fast can pull the Landpride NTS2507. This is the fifth time the 2800 lb. the implement has been over my plots and each time they get flatter and smoother. The owner's manual said to pull it as fast as field conditions would allow and I see why they said that. It can handle more moisture in the field as the spiked rollers and packer are literally slinging any stuck soil off.

Check this out. I'm decelerating at the end of a row and passing down through 8.4 mph! You come off the accelerator and it's all dead weight, no problem slowing down!



The speed sure helps to get it done!

Did the rains get you this time?

Only .7", but I was a bit worried as it all fell in about 20 minutes! All the soil held. Up in the Concrete area, they saw 1.9" in the same time period.

I finally have oats up and even the peas & legumes I planted earlier.

Any pics of the progress?

I am seriously hoping for a good rain tonight. My plants came up but they haven’t had rain since. They need a drink badly. I think some good dew and frost has allowed them to be where they are now, but a good soaking rain would be beneficial for a decent crop.

How much rain the last couple of days? I ended up with 3.85" on top of my fertilizer I put out on Wed. Tanks and creeks are full again!

3.0" for a period ending at 7 am yesterday morning. My friends at Weesatch received 4.0", Mustang Mott 3.1", and another about 6 miles NNE of Yorktown 5.0'!

The majority of it did come in a very short period, my cattle guard up on the highway went under, about 3" above. There was a lot of flowing water. Any of my food plots without a slope went under by the 3" for several hours.