Planning to clear out and make my food plot a bit bigger. While im at it i want to clear a little extra to make a sanctuary. Im think if i plant pines scattered within crp around deer would bed in it Does any one have suggestion for other Types of vegation or should i scatter some tree tops in there from clearing Any suggestions would be great help
maybe ask local game warden? hard to say what would grow in your specific soil, topography, climate, etc. seems like pines would take a long time to grow to something useful? i like the treetops idea...drag them in there...keep it nice and thick and no need to maintain to keep it growing.
If you have a lot of trees already in your area might not hurt to just do some bedding in a bag to give them some diversity. And of course it depends on the above said soil types and so on to whether it would work Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Don't usually "Clear" and area to make a sanctuary. Deer like pines, I like to look at pines but they are hard on soil and are picky. I'd try to go with a planting that also serves as food for deer and other animals. I don't know where you're at but I always try to incorporate habitat for quail here. Berry producing brush and bushes are good and help with some thermal cover also. My home state is MO, the MDC nursery has a good selection of good plants that are cheap with nice graphs that show uses. It's more practical to just give a link. Whatever state you're in probably has something similar. https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/SeedlingOrderForm.pdf
You need to be selective with what you cut. We’ve over done some areas and learned as we went along. 5-10” trees that deer will browse on work best. Maples, ash,oaks box elder. Pines won’t sustain a hinge cut. Definitely do your homework. There’s a lot of info out there but I’ll say one thing the little bit we’ve done has been used almost immediately. Like with a lot of things there really is an art to it. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Some of the best cover I've seen or hunted is thickets that were previously cut and then left to grow for 5, 10, 15 years. It really won't start to thin out until the saplings grow into trees with enough canopy to shade out undergrowth. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
check out https://www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/switchgrass-plantings-for-deer-bedding the article itself is interesting but the site has a lot of other good info as well. I'm sure you'll find it helpful
