Buckeye's "new to land management / improvement" thread.

I have always been a "I hunt what the property gives me and have no interest in any sort of property management / manipulation"...

With that said, I am still that way. However, I was approached by a man who wants me to "manage" his land better for him. He lives over an hour away from this property and is a Vice President of some company so time is not on his side to get to this property very often. (He also owns 1200 acres a couple hours south of here)

He hunts maybe a half dozen times per season between bow and gun. He has a tractor and walk behind brush hog in the barn. I have yet to see the equipment so the tractor could be a heavy duty lawn mower for all I know. I will see the equipment and property on Monday evening. The property isn't anything like what he owns South of here, this piece is 87 acres with 12 being crop fields and the rest wooded.

He wants me to put a couple small food plots on this property etc etc... I know nothing about food plots , what to plant and when to do so. I am not a fan of food plots, sorry to say in this habitat forum.

I am not interested in summer forage more late fall and winter when the deer actually could use the food.

Although this isn't my style, I cannot say no as 1. I am just about out of local places to hunt from timber harvest converted the woods to ag fields on most all of my spots and 2. This property is a big buck area.

Here in this tread I will ask for advice and update any progress I make on this land.

Feel free to chime in with advice, thoughts, call me a sell out, or whatever.

 

No need to call names, there's nothing wrong with folks not being a fan of food plotting/management or is there any crime in changing one's mind. There's also nothing wrong with taking advantage of a fortuitous situation when one presents itself. Who knows, if you do a good job and the guy likes working with you, it may open the door to the larger property a couple hours away in the future. You may see what you've been missing and decide you like it.

I'd talk to the guy and get a feel for exactly what he likes, if he knows, and try to customize the management to him specifically. I'm sure everyone here will be glad to offer their POV when you get some specific goals in mind, I know I will.

 

i'd make sure to mention that a secure sanctuary is #1.

 

He told me to "treat it like it's my own".

If he truly means that my chainsaw will get to eat and Mr. Hinge Cut and I will become close friends.

 

Cool! Well, you know what it takes to make good deer hunting so start with that in mind and transform the property to match your ideal property. I'd still double check with the guy before I made permanent changes to the property like hinge cutting and see how far his word carries through. Also, I don't know what the arrangement is for your services but I'd be careful about donating time and resources in exchange for hunting rights.

 

Plant said food plots that he likes to sit on top of. As I would not plant them if it were not in the agreement. Also, to mow the frontage and police for trespassers.

 

is it not too late to hinge cut in Ohio??.

 

The maple syrup people just put their collection equipment out in the last week or two. It is still snowing here, high of 25 today.

 

No, I meant...I don't know if he's paying you for management or if you're just trading hunting privileges for your work. I don't care...it's none of my business...I'm just saying that if you're supposed to manage in return for hunting privileges to be careful how much you do because if he revokes them after you put in a lot of work then you're screwed. If he's paying an agreed upon amount then you're golden.

I just mention it because it's not uncommon for deals like the trade out one to be made and then the guy that puts in all the work gets shafted by the owner right before season by saying he decided to not allow you to hunt. There you have all that work in and get the rug pulled out from under you. If you get paid and he's covering expenses then at least you're not out a lot of money if he backs out before season opens (or after). Tyni had a similar deal some time back if I recall correctly. I just hate to see stuff like that happen. If people are going to trade out management labor for hunting rights, they should never get more effort in it than what a decent lease for that property would run.

 

Coveys right.
i could see this whole thing blow up in your face.
hope it all works out for you though.

 

I would get a written contract. I manage several properties full time and wouldn't do it without one.

 

When you start getting trailcam pictures of deer eating and enjoying what you planted you might get a different feeling. But then maybe not.

 

Definitely discuss with the landowner what his goals are. What does he want the "management" to accomplish? After you know that, then you can formulate a game plan. Once you have a game plan, then you can determine how much effort hunting privileges are worth. If the effort exceeds that, then talk to him again. Once you both agree on what is to be done, there are plenty that can help on here.

 

looks like to me you might be the only one with ag fields near by. for 87 acres i would guess 12 acres of food would be enough. and it seems fairly close to houses so they may only eat out in the open at night. if thats the case maybe just go back in the woods 100 yards or so and find there staging area. just my opinion im by no means a professional. good luck tho.

 

I have nothing against food plots or those who hunt over them. I just feel sitting over a field day after day does nothing to make someone a better hunter, I believe it has the opposite effect. To me that is waiting around hoping one shows up, rather than going after them.

Basically, his requests are keeping his property posted and patrolling for trespassers, have a couple lock ons setup for him for when he makes it to town, plant two areas within the woods that are clearings into food plots and mow the frontage and around the barns.

I will find out more this evening when I run my ideas past him. I would like to create some more bedding within the property. As you can see from the aerial, his timber is not as mature as all of the neighbors. That lends me to believe (having not seen this place yet) that the deer do indeed bed on his property already as the neighbors will not have much ground cover on their land for bedding from the mature woods on their properties.

You are correct, it is a pretty good ways to get to more crop fields, but once you reach that area, there is a good amount of ag fields. This property just started being tilled and planted by a local farmer 2 years ago. It is on a beans and corn rotation. The land owner couldn't recall what was planted there last year when we spoke a couple days ago.

 

That is why I said trailcam pictures. I'm not a fan of hunting over them that often either. I'd rather be in the timber but keeping the plot in mind on how those deer will be traveling through the timber.

 

Sounds pretty straightforward. Are the openings where he wants plots natural or were they cleared? If they are natural, chances are the ph is less than ideal...otherwise they wouldn't be open. Do a soil test...$10 will save you a lot of headache. Know what condition the soil is in before you even think of putting any seeds in it.

 

They were cleared, however excellent advice. There was a poor attempt to plant plots in these two areas in the past I was told. I was able to locate them on birds eye view. I changed the North orientation to have a better view of the two areas.

 

Judging by the pic, those areas look like they are on the hilltops? If so, erosion could have washed nutrients away, or the previous plot simply could have been the wrong type of forage for that spot. A soil test will tell you which plants will do the best in the soil

 

Booner already added what I was going to. As for exactly what to plant...given the parameters of expected time for food sources I'd consider a rotation between brassica type in one plot and a winter rye/oats/wheat in the other.