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

As it turns out, the bedding on this property is very poor. Tons of tracks and trails. I located one single bed. The property is at the stage after logging where it offers next to nothing to the daily needs of deer. It seems to only be traversed by the deer going to and from their destinations. Luckily though, the ag field is one of those destinations. The trees are well past browsing height and there is next to no ground cover. Next to no green brier.

The only oaks I could locate on this land were Shingle oaks which is a red oak. They drop every other year. Even worse news on those is that they are all located around the ag field. None were located within the timber.

I know where I want to add bedding cover (East of the ravine on the Southern section of the property). The area has some hog back ridges that deer like to bed on. Adding bedding cover to these should produce a decent bedding location. Plus, this would still be huntable with our SWerly winds. This location would also allow the deer to wind anyone hunting the South / South West bordering properties.

I know how to half cut trees. I do not know how large of an area I should plan to hinge cut though. I am not interested in creating bedding for doe groups, however I know I have no control of what uses it.

So I am currently looking for advice on hinge cutting this SE area of the property.

 

The oaks along the ag fields isn't terrible truly. The larger food sources will be away from the bedding (excluding brows of course) and this will make hunting the routes between better. As for the size, that could all depend on what you suspect the holding ability of the property would be....I spaced it (and guess too lazy) how many total acres we talking again here?

 

On the first post I have maps with the property outlined. Topo and aerial. I thought it was 87, turns out it is 88. 76 timber, 12 ag field.

To me the oak situation could not be any worse. The only positive is that they are present. The three negatives are 1. red oak, 2. this oak sub species drops every other season, 3. they are field edge oaks.

I have killed some really good bucks capitalizing on oak trees within the timber located near their beds. There will be none of this here. Sure, for the good of the animals an every other year red oak is better than no oaks, but for killing big bucks these trees will produce near zero benefit as the ag field will have more drawing power for the deer than the small acidic acorns these trees produce.

 

The first two things about the oaks I agree are negatives...the 3rd is in one sense but can be a positive in another sense. I too hunt an area with oaks along the edges and it really is a love hate relationship with that kind of set up.

 

The area I have calculated to want to hinge first is about 2.25 acres.

This is a rough edit of a previously posted birds eye view. The yellow outlined area is where these hog back ridges are located.

 

One thing a lot of guys forget is the effect neighboring properties have. Since you know you have less desirable oaks on the edges....do you know if there are more desirable oaks located on the neighboring property? If so, then you may have to take appropriate counter measures, but if the neighbors have the same type of oaks you do, you will be fine, as deer will eat the best available forage. If red oaks are the only ones available, they will hit them pretty hard.

 

However I have also had the thought to leave the hogback ridges "as is" as the deer are heavily traveling the top of each.

The area circled in orange is the thickest area on the property. My other thought is to make this into a larger hinge cut area and capitalize on the deer exiting this bedding area and traveling atop the hogbacks toward the ag fields.

This seems to make more and more sense to me the more I think about it.

Opinions?

 

I have a couple ideas....I'm going to modify your pic...give me a bit

 

I walked the property border scanning all of the neighbors land. I located a lot of regular red oaks. I did not see any white oak. The only other nut trees I noticed was a decent amount of hickory.

The view across the power line was not that great. They have nice mature trees over there and I did not have my binos. I will next time and will have a better look.

 

Feel free to request more photos.

 

The way the property sits would allow you to take advantage of natural movement. Personally I would improve the existing thick area, but leave the hog back ridge alone. This area would probably be a good stand location. If both openings become food plots. I would use a chainsaw to cut travel corridors (green) connecting them to each other and the bedding area. This will encourage deer to take the route you want them to. Corridors will look something like this

Deer WILL use them. The trick is putting them where the deer want to be anyway. The one between the 2 plots should be 1/3 of the way down from the top of the ridge. Bucks especially like that because they can see and take advantage of thermals at the same time. A stand along that trail closer to the top would allow you to hunt with a west wind that blows out over the valley. As far as what to plant....I won't recommend anything until I know what type of soil it is. Ph is only one factor, organic matter, mineral content etc. are also important.

 

Can I use the soil tests that are sold at like Lowe's and TSC? Or do I need to do a state tested send away sample?

As far as the plots, I nixed the odd shaped one by the powerline. It was poorly planned and designed.

However, I decided to use the area around the oaks by the ag field that is not planted to add a plot. Looks like it is over an acre in area. Not sure if I will get to it this spring as it is a mess now.

I plan to test both the circular plot and this around the field. I don't really expect good results from the round one as I can see where they used a dozer or something to clear it and there are piles of dirt that they pushed off. Appears the scalped the top soil right off.

 

Here is what I am thinking. Thoughts?

 

The generic soil tests at tsc will only tell you ph. Use a soil test from a reputable lab that you have to send in for testing. Purdue university, A&L labs are two really good ones. The whitetail institute also sells a good one....you can actually select which forage you want to plant and they will give you lime& fertilizer recommendations for that specific crop.

 

The very wet portion could do well with hybrid willows...creating a small staging area near the pond and large food source.

 

"Each testing kit contains enough tablets for 10 tests each of pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium"

Curious what all values are important for testing?

 

Ph shows the level of acidity, N, P, &K are the 3 components of fertilizer. Those tests will tell you what the current level of those are...but it is up to you to figure out what to do with that information. A lab soil test will show that, along with organic matter level (important for determining nutrient and water retention), soil type (loam, clay, etc) which will help determine what type of plants will grow best, and it will provide specific recommendations (lbs per acre) of lime & fertilizer to make the specific crop you want to grow perform the best. A good soil test eliminates any guess work.

 

For a new food plotter....The ones from whitetail institute are hard to beat. You can call them for a consult to discuss the results for free.

 

I would concur to this, but would also say Pastor Andrew here from the boards or Tom (Monsterraxx) also has good stuff/options depending on your thoughts.

 

I didn't know they did soil tests. Do u know what lab they use?