Wanna say Thanks in advance, I've been doing some reading and just haven't quite found what I'm looking for. I have about an 8 acre woods in northern IL. What I am looking to do is try to create a habitat that deer will actually want to stay in. It has a creek running through, and a small pond within the woods. I'm interested in planting a couple small plots. Is there a mix of seed I can plant in the spring for year round food? Thanks again!
Food is not going to make deer want to stay on your property alone. It can help but doesn't accomplish it. A small spot like your's you will want to create a spot that deer can stay the day but don't plan on actually holding deer 100% of their time, but give them a safe refuge with browse food sources and may a micro plot or two and you could easily see an uptick in deer movement. We have roughly about 9 or so acres we can do habitat work on at my parents place and the biggest thing you can do is fire up a chainsaw and grip a handsaw and get hinge cutting strategically. Hinging is gonna accomplish everything you need to, it provides cover/bedding/sight blocking and food. You have an awesome thing in that you have a water source already, work with that. Everything can always be re-done but don't rush into anything, have a plan and a reason for everything you cut and do because it takes a lot more work to re-do a bedding area that location wise doesn't work with the flow of the property or your entrance/exits. Year round food sources simply don't exist. Clover will cover the longest time frame of food, but high browse count in the woods is the #1 way in my opinion to provide food year round....plots are a supplement and give the deer a mix up in what they consume. Light is gonna be key and soil prep. Depending on your situation....a 3 plot set up on the property may be a good idea...one being the largest (we ain't talking huge though remember you want the brunt of the property to not be food) a good clover/alfalfa plot that will be the first green food plot source for you each year and give a source of food through the beginning of winter. Then a rotation between your other two plots could be a good thing. Spring plantings in these plots could involve buckwheat/peas/crimson clover and a slew of other things...don't expect full lush growth but a soybean plot will definitely get hit hard as well in the spring/summer. Then in the fall provide two different things one in a brassica mix and the other in a oat/winter rye mix type set up. The small diversity factor is always a good thing. Just some quick thoughts....lot of ways you can go. Just know there is ABSOLUTELY no magic seed mix, or food plot blend to accomplish what a good habitat plan and implementation can accomplish.
What is the neighboring land like? If there are farm fields close you might have a hard time competing with them with a food plot. If you have good oaks those will probably be your best option. I would try to maximize the bedding area for deer, by using the pond area as your food plot. It should already have a natural hole in the canopy, and with some very selective cutting you should be able to get good light for growing. Be very cautious when cutting your big trees because those take a lifetime to replace.
^^^what they said! Every property is very unique. It's key that you have water on your place. With the acreage mentioned to work with Id definitely focus the majority of my efforts on improving bedding habitat. Food plots would be secondary. It's also important to consider what the surrounding properties offer to deer. For example...if a neighboring hunter plants 5 acres of clover alfalfa, you may try something different for late season like turnips or wheat. I think deer enjoy variety. I've gotten together with my adjoining neighbors (who are probably the best neighbors I could ask for btw), we all establish in March what we're planting that year, what we're doing to improve cover, and water sources, and what we'll be supplementing the deer with in terms of mineral. We formulate a hitlist in early September, and continually update each other through the season as new bucks enter and whatnot. Sometimes having adequate knowledge about what the neighbors are doing can help you formulate success on your own property regardless of size.
It my haste to post I did neglect what was touched on. The very first thing I look at on any new property of my own or if anyone wants my advise or habitat consultation on their place is all the neighboring properties. That is one of the biggest if not the biggest factor into everything I'll recommend or do.
Would a google images picture help out a little? I have no idea on where to hinge cut in the woods or what to do entirely about that.. I have a few areas that I believe would be really good bedding areas. The property itself has about 10 acres of hay (clover alfalfa grass mix.. mainly grass).. As for neighboring areas, to the north is farm field, and alot of it. To the west is a road, then fields and a woods. To the east is a pond.. which they made a very public thing and there are often people down there... and to the south, across a road is a state forest preserve.
The forest preserve to the south...does it see hunting pressure from public land hunters? If so, making your honey hole into a place with great bedding, adequate food, water, cover, and LOW PRESSURE, could be a gem to hold deer once there's boots on the ground in the preserve. I watched an episode on a drury outdoors dvd where two guys in Wisconsin bought a small piece of acreage, 15-20 acres tops. But they planted a few kill plots, established water, and made thick nasty bedding cover. It happened to border some state ground across the road. Those guys optimized the property over a couple years, then stayed out of it until public land hunters drove deer onto their sanctuary. They both killed very nice deer employing that strategy.
AMEN!!. even 300 GREAT ACRES may not be that great long term if the nieghbors are a brown it down crowd.
The state land is a hunter free spot, it is essentially a "sanctuary"... HOWEVER.. The past 5 years or more there has been an issue.. with a certain group of shotgun hunters, who would get 10 or so deer on opening morning.. I've been trying my hardest to get them busted, but it hasn't played out for me yet. I've also got a neighbor problem.. not to shock you, but it is also during shotgun season. I have sat down there and watched the neighbors drive down the road in there polaris ranger, then turn into the "private" (public) pond and make a complete lap right around my property, getting out to walk the fenceline in spots they can't see... First time I saw them get out and check really irked me.
Dude 300 acres....give me 300 acres in a brown is down area and I'm in freaking heaven. The sanctuary you could make is crazy good.
Like mentioned before we have a large farm 300 acres or so and we don't really hold that many deer. All out tree planting season are young yet we don't have many mature trees for hinge cutting. What we did is hinge what we could and built some bedding and funnels and the deer already bedded in the dry sloughs so we planted the rest of the farm into about 3 acres of food plots and the rest NWSG big blue, Indian grass, ect. That tall grass really allows the deer to move freely and feel safe. I almost forgot 90 acres is in Ag. The biggest difference is when we took half the farm and made it a sanctuary when people start hunting pheasants, ducks, and deer they start to pile in there and they know they are safe. There is no human travel in there except habitat work in the spring and to recover deer. The last day of MN gun season we had 28 deer come out during daylight to feed on our small plots and then after dark they may travel to bigger fields. In west central MN it's very flat and open so usually the last day of gun season there isn't a deer traveling in daylight anywhere in the area. No matter how much land your talking about you have to have part of it into asanctuary Hope this helps
So how do you go about hinge cutting? Where do you cut? I'm 100% clueless about It.. Do you cut around bedding areas so the have cover? Thanks again.
Great advice so far, like above with such a small acreage your neighbors are huge, their is no one seed that will cover it all but clover, winter rye and a brassica blend in strips will do wonders for attracting deer, with only 8 or 9 acres I would make at least a third of it a sanctuary by hinge cutting, hinge cutting is cutting through a tree so the top tips over onto the ground but stays intact so it creates cover, food for browsing and by taking the tree down allows sun to hit the floor for more growth. I usually cut about chin high for bedding areas. Thicken it up and make your 9 acres more attractive to the deer is about the best advice I can give.
Do you pick existing bedding areas, or do you try to create a new spot that is more preferable for you?
It depends on your land set up, which way you can access it and exit is is huge in determing bedding areas, also the winds have affect also, for example on mine I access my land from the east and my bedding sanctuaries are on my west ridge, very rarely is their an east wind so my scent is blowing from them to me as I am entering my stands if their is a west wind, seems like their is a lot. My food plot is in the middle of my 40 and I get them as they come from bedding to my one acre plot and then they head out to the main fields.
Okay I have got a couple spots that I had in my head, and with when I enter the woods and what direction the wind blows kinda leaves me with only one spot that would work out that well.. it is in a low spot the is pretty secluded. I wanna get this started this spring, getting excited
I know it's way late, but it is expected to be warm in northern IL and I have decided I want a food plot.. Well I found a blend I want, has a winter rye, peas, and vetch. The rye should grow really fast.. The blend I want isn't an actual food plot blend it a cover crop, well, how can I tell if it has or doesn't have innoculent? I am slightly concerned about erosion as I am going to till about 1.5 inches deep.. but I think the rye will grow fast enough with a little fertilizer when I plant. Any idea on the seed? Im new to this, it doesn't list lb/acre.. any ideas? Here is the seed http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ADEIWJYA32SGG Thanks again
