Hey guys so I have been hunting a certain property for about 4 years now and haven't done anything more than hang stands and trail cameras. This year I plan on putting in some extra work in this summer to get it to pay off come fall. So the property is pretty narrow and sits between a river and a field (Corn this year) The red circle on the map is a small clearing that sun light reaches. I'm thinking about trying to clear that area out for a small food plot as well as cut a bunch of smaller trees and branches down and position them accordingly to funnel the deer into the clearing. This particular area is used mostly as a travel corridor for the deer that really heats up during the rut. Has anyone done similar or have any suggestions?
Funnels are a great tool when trying to alter where deer go. It may take dropping big trees and beefing up the funnel to make this routine I would start with cameras to determine direction unless you are planning on going both ways and going with pinch point. Once you have it leave cams out and see if you need to add to funnel L, W, H. Good luck and let us know how it works and maybe even some progress pics of work completed and results
So I put a few hours of work in with the weed eater and ax yesterday. Didn't take many before photos and I'm not quite done yet but it's a start. I started piling all of the downed branches up around the base of my tree stand. My plan will be to continue to build it up as I leave a little tunnel entrance to my ladder. This way i can stop at the base of the tree on my way in and compose myself and dry the sweat (it's a 3/4 mile walk in every time) I also plan on mounting a few branches in the tree around my stand in order to conceal it better. After weed eating i quickly realized i'm going to need something a bit more serious than a rake break the dirt up in order to plant something...still pondering on that one as it is even difficult to get back to the spot even with a four wheeler. I do have 3 cameras set up now each with salt blocks in front of them. One is by the river on a heavy trail. One is in the middle by my stand and the other is right before the field edge so I should be able to lure everything in that goes by for the next few months.
Spray on a sunny day ( windless if possible ) with at least 4 hours of sun after. Give it a few weeks and it will be all but dirt
I like 8oz per gallon of water but I think some grasses and non broad leaf stuff dies at 4oz a gallon.
I really don't think radishes would do well there? But yes, felling trees and building brush berms can do wonders. Build the burms bigger then you envision tho. Come fall, the will become smaller then when built now.
There is lots of better choices than radishes. The only reason I said penatrators is they could grow on concrete. So you can broadcast by hand on ground without even raking. If you can test, work and maintain the earth your options are endless.
The plan right now is to head out tomorrow afternoon and spray everything and then hopefully ill have a chainsaw along and ill really put a dent in the trees.
The longer it bakes the better. Do you have rain in the forecast? I get the best results when I spray at noon when it's sunny as balls so the foliage sucks it up then the sun bakes for the rest of the day
So the weather was sunny yesterday so I snuck out with a sprayer on my back and and a chainsaw for a few hours. Got everything sprayed and a bunch more trees cut. Decided to pull a couple trail cam cards as I was there anyways. These have only been sitting for a couple of days and I've already had a bachelor group walk through. Roughly 5-6 bucks total in the group. I'm glad to see the salt block was enough to bring them in, but the food plot will be killer when i get it planted in a couple of weeks.
From those pics, it will be a total waste of your time n money!! Been there, done that. Deer are curious of new turned dirt.
