I will be moving to a new place soon, and want to manage it as a small farm/homestead, as well as a hunting area. I was wondering what spots would be good to hunt, set up small food plots, and the like. I have seen tracks in many places throughout, and spotted a buck on the SW hilltop. I am hoping to have permission to hunt adjoiner's land (particularly the 180+ acres to the north and west), but only have these 35 acres for sure. I can do what I want with the northern 3/4's, which is mostly briars and sapling white pine and maples (maples growing out of the stumps) and is fairly thick in places. The hills range from kind of steep to pulling-yourself-up steep. The areas labelled "open mature hardwood" also include some mature pine. "Open mature hardwood" inside the red lines actually had most of the larger mature trees removed 3 yrs ago but is not as dense as the cutover section to the north (where they only left trees standing in the steep gullys that run E to W). The aerial is 3 yrs old (you can see the logging trails) how would you guys manage this land to have a decent deer harvest each year? Thanks mike
Mike, what exactly are you wanting to do to manage? Are you talking about planting food sources, creating bedding areas, etc.?
Yes, and yes, etc.. There is not much tillable land in the section I really have to work with (the northern 22 ac of the property labelled "dense cutover") because of the steepness, but I should be able to work in some very small (10k sq ft or less) food plots. I also get to re-plant the forest to my design. The forest will be managed for multiple uses (lumber and firewood, as well as wildlife). I plan on planting mast trees (red and white oaks probably), but don't want to over-do it. Permanent bedding areas, good forage, but also enough to attract deer close to my working farm even when they have mountain wilderness only 2 miles to the west. BTW, this is the western edge of the foothills in North Carolina. So I have an idea about what I want to do, I just want to make sure my small place is attractive enough to get them there and keep them around. The goal isn't big bucks as much as it is a reliable source of meat. The page http://www.i-maps.com/Qdma/frame/de...=0&NID=0&cmd=map&TL=100000&GL=010100&MF=11000 reports my deer population at 15-30 dpsm, so I want to stand out in the crowd to sustain a harvest of 4-6 a year. Anyone's ideas and personal experience managing such a small area is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Check out "Mapping Trophy Whitetails" by Brad Herndon. It can be found at your local book store. Great book. If you mess with topo maps at all, this is a must read.
