Well here it goes. After reading a ton, watching videos, and just thinking up stuff on my own, I think I have solid plan for my property. This will not be a one year deal but hope to complete as much as I can the next month or so. This is by no means a perfect plan and hope that some of you that have more experience can give me some tips along the way. I'll be posting up the layout and plan, then will be updating with pictures and write ups on what I'm doing or the set backs that I have. Pink - Bedding Areas. Most already exist but will be improving them with hinge cutting and other types of cover. In the pines, I will be cutting down a big area to allow regrowth. Light Blue - Screening. A lot around the bedding will be through hinge cuts, but also plan on planting Egyptian wheat in some spots along my walk in or where there is no trees to hinge. Yellow - Trails. These are the potential trails, still haven't figured out how I'm going to push them in these directions Green - Food Plots. All plots will be planted in the spring then half of each plot will be replanted for fall plots. Haven't decided what to plant yet. Also plan to plan a few apple trees around the plots somewhere, just haven't decided on that either. Olive Green - Weed fields. Plan to just let these grow up to give the deer a sense of cover. Also help the small game out as well. Dark green dots - Spruce trees. Maybe not this year but plan to plant spruce to provide better protection from the winter. Blue dot - Water hole. Would like to make a water hole somewhere between the bedding and plot. Will try to make it off to the side a little to allow for better hunting. Red - Stand locations. Some of these may never be hunted due to wind direction but they'll be there just in case. So thoughts so far? Anything you would do differently?
Personally, I'd plant the "puke colored" fields. Give ya more food = your property would be able to support more deer.
^^^^^X2^^^^^ I also don't really see a need for the spruce trees, seems like a waste of space and potential food plot and it looks like you have plenty of brush where you placed the one food plot to be cut out. I would move that brush food plot southwest to the existing open area and leave the brush alone. Is the black line your property line? I'd consider planting an egyptian wheat screen along the east and northeast line and focus my brush cleaning saved from moving the one plot, in that east field and plant one of them in a permanent food plot, maybe clover or alfalfa. The blue line of screen that you have running northeast from the lower food plot, I'd then redo and make it run along the length of the east property line. You can use mineral sites to help guide the deer along the trails you want them to use. First clean the desired trails out like a walking path and then place mineral sites at midpoints in them to help pull the deer along where you want them to go. I'd cut down the marked trails to one trail connecting each plot, there's no need for so many trails...with about three mineral sites you should be setup pretty sweet.
Right now the fields are just that, fields. No brush has grown up yet, but the puke color is where I plan to let it grow up. The property line is the black. The plan was to make the plots smaller and have a larger destination plot. With a prevailing West wind it's tough hunting, so I'm trying to find the best way to increase huntibility while also improving the habitat.
I need to make a correction....the one food plot I referred to moving out of the brush is actually a pink bedding area that's pink...but I still think I'd do away with it and use the end of the open area to the southwest and leave that brush alone. Sounds like you're pretty set on what you want to do and have planned already. Personally I don't think it's as good as it could be and I think it's a mistake to voluntarily lose good open fields but it's yours to experiment with as you choose, I just gave an opinion. Olive green is a better label...just sayin...
Great thread! Love these land threads. Sometimes clearing out an area for a food plot, and just letting the natural brows come up can be better than a food plot - provided cover and food browsing.
That can be the case in parts of the country but I can't do that here because we have an incredibly invasive species called sirecia lespedeeza that just takes over everything and here in KS it's a noxious weed (should be everywhere). If I clear an area and leave it natural within two years you won't be able to see the ground for the sirecia and it spreads like wildfire with papery seed. It also has the effect of making soil sterile for any other species by emitting a chemical from the roots that kills competing species....yeah it's great stuff. I hope no one else has to deal with that crap.
Fixed the color for you. I'm a little confused at which bedding area you would move, and where to. The Southwest bedding area is already an area used as bedding. The middle bedding is an area with pines that the plan was to cut down an area to establish undergrowth. The Northeast bedding is getting used, but has a lot more potential due to the young trees that could be hinged. In no way am I set in my ways. I have probably changed it over 10 times and still am all ears when it comes to advice. You and several others have had great success when it comes to habitat improvement, I'd be a fool not to listen.
Well, the cool thing about working around habitat management for deer is that they aren't all the picky as long as they have food, water and bedding/cover. What you have will work or it'll work in a number of configurations. I would probably do it different (a little) if it were me but I also don't have the on-site experience with that property that you do so the things I'd do differently may look okay on paper plans but not transfer well to the actual site. Beyond that, I have some experience but certainly don't know all there is to know about it and still learn things daily...all I go by is my experience and instinct from looking at other properties that I have managed and hunted....that doesn't always apply to every situation. Also not everyone agrees with my POV on management, I'm always approaching it from a "more food is better" standpoint and that doesn't fit in with everyone's preference. That said, if you can post a clean screenshot of the property, I'll be glad to show what I would do different using your legend and colors. Maybe others will weight in on the matter as we go along. You say the bedding areas are already being used...what is in them...is it short grass, sprouts, etc or tall native grasses? Also, what kinds of trees do you have in those brushy areas? Last question is what are the brown lines? That is a great looking property by the way. How many acres is in it total and in the fields?
The current bedding area to the Northeast is thick with young trees less than 10" in diameter. The bedding area closest to the house has some down trees from a hurricane a few years back, paired with new growth - briars and grasses. The brown is just the roads that go throughout the property. Have total of about 80 acres, with 60-70 huntable. Fields on the North end of the property total about 9 acres, and the fields on the South side of the house total about 4 acres. I'm posting a clean image and another image. The red is pines that have no growth underneath, not much sunlight can get through the canopy. The yellow is younger trees, a lot that are less than 10" in diameter, with a couple larger ones throughout.
Cool, thanks...I'll work on it and post my version a bit later. What kinds of grasses do you have specifically are they cool or warm season species, tall or short?
Just my two cents, I see that some of your yellow lines make 90 degree angles or close to, and in most cases deer will not want to walk in straight lines and then take sharp turns... They want the shortest safest route most of the time, so trying to force the yellow lines may not work... Try making them more "deer-like" in the directions you'd like to have them and you might have better success Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well, I apologize, for some reason my photo editor won't let me finish the project before it shuts down...need to upgrade to a newer version I guess. I've had it half done twice and lost it both times... Well anyway I wasn't really going to change that much, you've already put a lot of thought into the plan and most of it looks good to me just looking at it from the sky. The bedding areas already there, most cool season grasses are pretty short. If you want to turn them from "meh" bedding areas to "whoa" bedding areas, I'd consider converting them into a warm season type of grass. I'd do as much of the existing bedding areas as possible rather than the small pink spots you have marked. I like switch grass as it establishes way faster than most native seed blends. There are different types, some do better on upland and some better on wetter areas. As far as the mature stands of pines, I'm not much on hinge cutting but they do need to be opened up to let sunlight to the ground and provide some fresh browse and I'd do as much of that as I could. They don't need to be clear-cut just thinned to open up the canopy. That will provide some bedding but also some extra food and more diversity. If I were going to open a large area in that center pink area I'd elongate it northwest to southeast rather than perfectly round. Screens, I'd try to completely screen off that easterly border with EW screen or something similar and maybe my main entry way into the property and my stands on both sides of the entry if possible. The existing fields, no way I'd sacrifice those to weeds because you just don't know what you'll get and anything that's not really useful is a waste of a resource. I'd prefer to plant them in portions of soybeans, milo, sunflower and a couple of areas of clover and/or alfalfa. The areas with the warm season crops I'd run through and broadcast a mix of brassica, crimson clover, wheat/rye along about the last week of August and leave the rest of the warm season stuff standing. The broadcast mix should germinate if you get any rain and provide more food through winter along with the mature beans, milo crops. If I were going to plant any trees it would only be along the east property line as a permanent screen with the exception of some fruit trees for some soft mass. You have several areas where that looks like it could be done at some point. The paths marked yellow I think are just too many...I'd cut those down to one between each feature (plots, bedding, etc...) and place a few mineral sites (like maybe three) at midpoints in the trails. The deer are likely going to try to utilize the low areas to travel from the bedding areas so I'd keep that in mind when placing stands. Looks like you have several great places for water holes. Don't let most biologists fool you, deer need and love quite a bit of water and especially through summer when wet weather sources are long gone. I'd find some way to build some nice shady pools in the low areas. Proper ponds are best but not always feasible. Other means will work, fish tubs, kiddie pools, etc... I've even dug out depressions and lined them in plastic where the soil was too sandy to hold water.
Thanks a lot for all the advice. When I get time I might put another plan together using some stuff that you suggested, then post it on here. I'd like a set plan before I do too much.
So think I have a plan on what to plant in the fields. The Eastern field will be a all year plot and have Monster Raxx- Raxx Factor which is clover, chicory, buckwheat, and rape. The Western field will be oats. Half of the big field on the Northern end of the property, which will be about 2 acres, I would like to plant in soybeans. Then in August till up half or more and put in Monster Raxx Last Heart Beet, which is purple top turnips, sugar beets, radishes, rape, kale and forage oats. Thoughts?
Man that sounds like a winner. The only thing I'm concerned with is the soybean plan...the last time I only left an acre of standing beans over winter, they were gone in less than a month in the middle of winter. I love greens but I love the fact that beans are standing there presenting those pods and beans (high energy, protein) no matter what winter throws at them...ice, snow...whatever they are up there in the open. That follow up blend is all small seeded varieties, my advice is for the first year (to experiment) and the standing half of the beans...try broadcasting the same blend in the standing beans and weigh deer usage between the two halves all winter long. I think you'll find if you broadcast before a rain that those varieties will come up and grow nearly as well just broadcast as in the tilled portion and that'll leave most of the beans too. We are increasing our food plot acreage from 80 acres last year to ~100 acres this year and I'm going to be using eagle forage beans and broadcasting a similar mix (my own mix from bulk) through the beans to save time and wear and tear on equipment which I've had good results with in the past.
The more I think about it, the more I want to expand the bean field another acre, but I'll see how the costs come out. I was just checking the Eagle Forage beans out, how do you like them? Also, which mix do you go with?
I have always avoided "specialty" plot crops and seed mixes in the past though I have used some in certain circumstances for specific reasons. I always felt they were just a value added product that I could simulate myself or replicate. So...I have never tried them but I am going to this year. I'm using the wildlife managers mix for the midwest. I'm actually pretty much right on the line between the southern mix and the midwestern so technically I could go either way but I agree with the saying that a person should probably err on the northers side choice if you're split between two zones. I'm not going to go all out on their beans this year, I'm going to plant 10 acres of them to try out. When we met with Grant Woods back in Feb. he convinced me to try them over my tendency to just use the same production beans I plant everywhere else....so we'll see how they do. I think expanding that plot is a FABULOUS decision if feasible.
I like the idea of letting fields grow up. We see the majority of our deer in overgrown fields every year. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
