This is 30-40 acres i have that is just open woods with a trail for my golf cart through it i want to improve this as best i can was thinking about hinge cutting half and putting food and water in the other half any opinions or tips? Thanks
I see deer everytime i hunt but most of the deer are just passing though very rarely bedded on this property.
Cool. Creating bedding sounds fantastic. Never had an opportunity to make changes to a property. Very interested to see what you do and how it works out for you.
Don't plant Red Cedar trees. Those things are very invasive. We have pastures and road ditches full of those darn things. $k's of dollars spent every year cutting them. Only good thing is once they are cut they are dead. Better conifers for your area than Red Cedar. Multi Flora Rose used to be planted by DNR for habitat. Found out it too is invasive and now being sprayed to kill it out.
I have 40 acres just like you described, except I already have a water source on it, I planted the trails with clover and chicory, and have been working on hinge cut bedding areas. Both seem to be working so far. Howd your prijpro turn out?
It looks like Ag/food sources around the woods. Maybe create smaller kill plots that would be staging areas prior to deer leaving to the Ag fields. these could be set up inside each edge to give you multiple options for wind. Hinge cut bedding in the center to hold daytime bedding and feeding on woody browse. Maintain a depth of cover in the center as to not blow deer out of the middle hinge cut area. Meaning you're not walking through this area.
Put together a detailed plan first. I recommend reading books by Jeff Sturgis - whitetailhabitatsolutions.com. Steve Bartylla also has good material, but i feel like Jeff ties ties everything together better. Also spend at least 2 years observing and taking detailed notes about deer movements, rubs, scrapes, feeding, bedding, etc. It will help greatly in creating the plan. Without a plan, you are running blind. Consider logging too! Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk