Hello all. I am getting into bow hunting for the first time this fall. I've been shooting all summer and feel confident taking a shot at 30 yards and under. I grew up rifle hunting in northern Minnesota but haven't been hunting for quite some time. I live in west central Minnesota where we have a lot of corn and soybeans. I mean a lot. Wooded areas are small and scattered. My dad bought 40 acres this past fall, which got me back into hunting. It's about 15 acres of field. Road going along the western side. Low area off to the east. Lake to the south. House to the North. I live on 8 acres with maybe 2.5 acres of wooded area that runs along the north side of my property. It's thicker to the west and thins out to a point to the east. I am surrounded by a corn field with a gravel road to the west and another field on the other side of the road. Nobody else lives on this road. There's an old farm house that's used by family for hunting and whatnot. I put some trail cameras out in a clearing and there were deer moving through every other day. There was a nice 10 point buck I've seen a few times too. I put a small maybe .15 acre brassica plot to the south of the clearing. I also have a couple of small oak, pear, apple trees in my back yard south of the wooded area. The wooded area seems to be mostly elm and ash if I'm identifying them correctly. I'm not a trophy hunter. I just want to see some deer and get some venison in the freezer. I've been watching Jeff Sturgis' videos on youtube on his Whitetail Habitat Solutions quite a bit. So I'm trying to find out ways I am improve my odds at seeing more deer. My first question is will my hunting get better or worse once then corn is harvested? My gut tells me that the deer have no reason to visit my stupid little brassica plot because of all the corn. They are probably using my little wooded lot for bedding on occasion and that's it. Once the corn is gone will I have more or less traffic to my house? I know there's a lot of factors that go into all of this, but I'm just trying to understand deer behavior better. My gut also tells me that I'm likely to see less deer at my dads property after harvest. Last fall once the beans went the deer seemingly did as well. There's an over 2 acre wooded area right in the center of the property, but most of the deer movement went along the lake. So we put stands along the lake. There's a thicker and larger wooded area on the SE of the property that extends well into the neighbors. So we try to catch them coming in and out of there. There also seems to be a good amount of traffic to the NE where they come out of the swamp, which is where we have another stand. My dad made a deal with the farmer to leave some corn up on the east side of the center woods to try to attract deer in. I guess we will see how it goes. Also this last part doesn't really relate to ag, but I wanted to see if anybody had thoughts/suggestions on planting a wind break. The MN DNR sells seedlings and I want to plant a windbreak on the rest of my property. I figure this will give deer more cover and reason to walk through the rest of the property. I want to utilize a line of white spruce, white pine, plum, and red osier dogwood. It seems that the spruce and pine will do a good job blocking snow and the plum and red osier dogwood will be good for the wildlife. I can use excess seedlings to supplement my woods as well. I have about an acre on the NE side of my property that I'd love to stop mowing and could plant seedlings or more brassica.
I lived in west central MN for a few years, every little woodlot held deer as well as all the small swamps/sloughs. It was a blast hunting out there and the deer were very predictable. It was better once the crops were out but I also watched for the farmers that were opening up fields, also the ones that were first picked. There’s a lot of public areas out there and there wasn’t much hunting on them until pheasant hunting started, so you have that option also. I was north of Appleton but south of Morris if that helps, good luck this fall!
I’m north of Kensington. So I’m not to far away from where you were. Most of the public land around here are waterfowl oriented. My main focus right now is to do what I can to improve what I have access to, but none of that happens fast. Since I have limited space I also need to make sure what I do is deliberate and done right.
I saw more deer after the crops started coming out, but it really depends on the surrounding property’s. You are on the right track as far as planting trees and shrubs, thick cover is definitely a key factor out there with all wind. I saw lots of deer coming in and out of cattails/ tall grasses than the actual wood lots. Having a food source after all the crops are out is key also, I remember a farmer that was always behind at his harvesting and It was a guarantee that most of the deer in the area would be there to take advantage of the crops. I never planted anything when I was out there but it’s hard to beat green food source when everything else is dead or dying. If you can do both green and a grain it would be even better. Just make sure that you think about the placement of all of this before hand.
If your brassica plots is doing well, don't give up on it. AF is right, soft/green food sources can be dynomite.
It’s growing well. The soil out here is very fertile. It’s only issue is my fault and that’s weeds. Deer haven’t really touched it because they have thousands of acres of corn and soybeans in every direction. I’m thinking it’ll get mowed over once the fields are gone. I think I’ll stay with brassica as I need to focus on fall food. Deer here don’t need help in the spring and summer. They need support in fall and winter. I believe brassica plots, apple/pear, and woody browse are my best tools for that. My wooded area has a good amount of elm, which from what I understand is good for hinge cuts and hardwood regeneration. I actually have a couple that blew over and kept growing lol. So they have lots of that already. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do and there’s a balance between something that’ll help now and help in 20 years. I want to plant some oaks but I understand that I won’t likely see the results of that planting. I’m better off focusing on my wind break with plum and red osier dogwood, expanding food plots, and expanding my orchard.
