Well, pulled the trigger on a great little piece only 25 minutes from my house (NW Iowa). 40 acres, bought the best tract in my mind for deer and turkey. 10 acres tillable. 20 acres ish of trees, and 10 acres of grass/bottom ground with a creek. I won't take possession until the fall, so I probably won't be able to do much other than a late plot this year. Trying to get ideas on how to set it up for management. I've been deer hunting all my life, but this is the first piece I have bought and will really be able to manage as it is so close to home. Our family ground is a long way away. First photo is the rough boundaries, 2nd is the larger area neighboring. First, if I put a small cabin close to the road, do you think it would be an issue? Not like there would be a ton of traffic. Second, I may think about putting a pond down in the bottom, would have to do some for digging into that. What would you prioritize for management? Debating CRP vs cash rent (don't care about the money as I do the hunting). Think about leaving the north trees as a sanctuary. Maybe a stand down on that T in the bottom lands and several on the field edge. Thanks in advance for the advice. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
CONGRATS! Is that field under lease now?, Do you have equipment? CPR is great but with all the farm worked around you how will it effect your fall-late season hunting? I'd find out what is being planted and for what is all around you before deciding. IE . Corn a grain or a silage crop. Very big difference in harvest. If you go with a lease be clear on what they plan on growing and when they will harvest. You don't want a "moonscape"during hunting season. I don't know your area but here road hunting is a real issue here. So first thing I did was plant road side pines. This is also a careful decision on which pine to plant. If you go to my plot tour thread you'll see two rows of pines . The short row is my planting of white spruce. The giant ones behind them are a nieghbors norway spruce. He gets very little sun. Take inventory on you fall mast tree situation. I plant mast trees yearly. I go with faster producing semi dwarfs and the faster producing Dunstan chestnuts. . Variety we have apples, mulberry, hazelnuts, grapes and kiwi, berries, pear, plum, peaches, cherry, persimmons. This has them coming in all season to check whats dropping. Go have fun and enjoy!
I like ponds? Lol, not sure if they would like a pond more? Buddy put the idea in my head.. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
Thanks! Is that field under lease now? It is for this year. Do you have equipment? I have some pull behind sxs stuff, but next summer I plan on picking up a small tractor, disc, and plot planter. CPR is great but with all the farm worked around you how will it effect your fall-late season hunting? I'd find out what is being planted and for what is all around you before deciding. IE . Corn a grain or a silage crop. Very big difference in harvest. If you go with a lease be clear on what they plan on growing and when they will harvest. You don't want a "moonscape"during hunting season. Around here pretty much just alternates between corn and soybeans every year. So depends on the year. It is mostly pasture ground to the north and south, so i do think that with several large food plots I will pull in deer regardless, but even with 2 acres of food plots I still have to figure out what I am doing with the rest. I *think* the ground to the west of me will stay in that rotation, and could probably rent him the few acres if I wanted it planted. But it might be less hassle to do CRP. I hunt mostly clean harvested field edges here in Iowa anyway, they don't seem to mind all that much. I don't know your area but here road hunting is a real issue here. So first thing I did was plant road side pines. This is also a careful decision on which pine to plant. If you go to my plot tour thread you'll see two rows of pines . The short row is my planting of white spruce. The giant ones behind them are a nieghbors norway spruce. He gets very little sun. I planned on doing some more of that, I know the south and east neighbor well, so he'll help watch it for me too. I dont think it will be that big of an issue here. Take inventory on you fall mast tree situation. I plant mast trees yearly. I go with faster producing semi dwarfs and the faster producing Dunstan chestnuts. . Variety we have apples, mulberry, hazelnuts, grapes and kiwi, berries, pear, plum, peaches, cherry, persimmons. This has them coming in all season to check whats dropping. Go have fun and enjoy! I am going to try and do that late summer, and planned on adding in some fruit trees as well next summer with my food plots. I need to brush up on my mast tree identification. Never really cared beyond acorns....
Here's what I would do. Red-cabin Green lines - pines/trees yellow paint - CRP blue lines - brassica blend gray lines - corn brown lines - soybeans Leave the rest alone. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
