Well Ive had a lot of plans and all of them are very time consuming and unrealistic. So now Im coming to you guys for some help. Ive been hunting this land for about 5 years and by just making a food plot and shooting does the hunting has been improving every year. What I would like to know is what else can I do to manage the land and what areas to put a stand. Like to improve it with as little money as possible. So here is the land. The red is all off limits due to houses and a lot of activity. Right at the red line it drops down and there is a little pond at the bottom. After the pond it starts to go back up. The green is a clover plot I have planted and yellow is corn. Some is planted on my property and right on other side of tree line the neighbor has corn planted.
What we did on are farm.... Go into the timber and make little 1/2 acre clearings. Cut down all the trees and mow it down and burn it. Then go in there and plant clover. We made 2 of them and have seen so many more deer.
The best return on your investment is a chainsaw, gas, and work. I don't know if its possible but hinge cutting can improve a property greatly. Think of a whitetails world as everything 6ft or less off the ground, outside of mast trees everything above this is useless to the whitetail.
make sure if you are going to doze trees to make a plot you test the soil before and pick a tree before you cut all the good ones down then plant a plot around that tree. this site has a great article on shaping food plots. Id say also make sure you have old and new growth throughout the property, deer don't stay in old hardwoods long cause the are so open. get a forester in there for a selective cut. this will make you some money and increase your property diversity.
Along with the food plots you can set up a couple mineral sites with Monster Raxx minerals to improve the quality of deer and there antlers
i did the same thing on my property as hunter97 is talking about. attracted a lot of does and small bucks during the early bow season and started to see big bucks as the rut came around on those little plots. i dont hunt those plots if i am after a good buck but for some meat you will find me there to kill a doe and during the rut.
Hunter97 is right on. I got a Game and Fish Biologist to come out a couple years ago. He toured the property and sent a detailed report back with suggestions ie: food plot make up, timber cut, etc. we also got on the DMAP program and are seeing nice results. This cost is nothing to get him to come out.
There are many different ways to manage your land when it comes to whitetails. You need to set goals on what your are trying to accomplish first off. I'm going to go under the assumption you want your property to hold as many mature bucks as possible. Really all mature bucks need are food water and shelter. (sounds easy right!?). Starting with food, you want to provide a solid food source for these deer all year round. This requires you to plant foods that satisfy the deers needs in spring, summer, fall, and winter(they do change with the time of year). Their needs change and it depends on the area you live in as well as whats around you. Study the area around you, take note of what surrounding feilds have, whats forbs are around, what the deer seem to be eating certian times of the year. What's missing that you may be able to provide? I could go in 1000 different directions with this topic, but I'm not going to. Be creative, try and think about as many viarables as possible. Some new idea will pop up every year and you'll learn what works best for your property. As far as shelter goes it's pretty self explanatory you need a place for deer to feel safe and comfortable when they aren't out feeding. Ultimately you need sanctuaries. Most guys including myself love to hunt deep in the woods. I admit it's so much more enjoyable to be surrrounded by trees then staring over and an empty boring cornfield, but everytime you go into that deep woods stand all your doing is reaking havoc. Your property has some larger tracts of woods which will serve you good to leave as sanctuary. Designate areas prefeably 5-10 acres (but any area is better than none) to just safe havens for the deer. Stay out of these areas as much as posssible. (I only enter these areas maybe once or twice a year during shed season or to improve the bedding and always as far away from hunting season as possible) This provides those mature bucks a safe place to call home. If "he" doesnt feel safe he won't stick around. And unless big bucks are out cruising for does their core area is usually quite small so you want to have the buck living on your property. There are things that can be done to improve bedding like hinge cutting or crop tree harvest that will overtime thicken up these sancturies understory. Again I'm only scratching the surface on this topic as well but it's a start. Lastly is water. Here in Illinois this year has been ridiculously dry. By providing water for the deer your giving that monster one less reason to step out onto your neighbors property. Make one or two water holes maybe 2-3 feet deep and around 20' in diameter. Preferably in a shaded area (to reduce evaporation). These are great places to hunt as well, as deer will always need water, especially on years like this one. Again I've only scratched the surface on all of these subjects. Study you area everytime your out. Take as much info as possible when you are out there. What's missing? what can be improved? Provide as much of the missing variables as possible. And most importantly, make that monster feel safe when he's on your property and he will stick around till his teeth fall out. If you have any other questions about specifics feel free to pm me.
