winter project on 12.5 acrea

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feutza
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winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby feutza » Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:32 am

ok beast I would really love your input of what you would do to help hold the deer on my parents 12.5 acrea woods. I have access to a chain saw and skid loader so lets just say I would beable to do anything to the property( have to pass it past my parents first :lol: )
here are two pictures of the woods. The crop fields are to the north of the woods and I can hunt the fields also. Let me no if you have any other questions about the land
copper/displayimage.php?pid=5260
copper/displayimage.php?pid=5261
copper/displayimage.php?pid=5262


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Hawthorne
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby Hawthorne » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:22 am

Go to extremedeerhabitat.com. jim Brauker is the owner and an expert on small property habitat. I would say give them food, water, and cover. Hinge cuts are great for creating bedding areas quickly maybe do some on those points of elevation. Looks like no water so a small pond might be good also.

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:55 am

If it were mine I'd want some really thick undergrowth. You don't need a food plot you have crops to cover that. Cover is what I would go for.
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby superseal » Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:38 am

I have 20 acres that I'm working on too. IMO, the 2 most important things to consider are prevailing wind direction & entry/exit to stands. I did not do this & now I'm making some changes.

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feutza
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby feutza » Thu Jan 14, 2016 12:55 pm

Hawthorne wrote:Go to extremedeerhabitat.com. jim Brauker is the owner and an expert on small property habitat. I would say give them food, water, and cover. Hinge cuts are great for creating bedding areas quickly maybe do some on those points of elevation. Looks like no water so a small pond might be good also.

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Is their a certain spot you would focus on putting a pond or hinge cut on certain points

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby SamPotter » Thu Jan 14, 2016 1:04 pm

Good advice so far. What is your access route? From the west? It looks like there is good topography there for bedding, so I'd consider going in and hinge cut on those two high knobs that are in your woods. I'd consider a pond and small clover plot in the SE corner of your woods as well, but it's really tough to make that decision sitting behind my computer.

Have you hunted here before? If not, I'd consider maybe focusing on the bedding enhancement first. Hunt it for a year or two and get a feel for what the normal deer movement is, and then consider some more dramatic things like ponds or foodplots.
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:09 pm

1) Cover
2) Water... Absolutely love my waterholes the last week of October, and first 2 weeks of November.

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Hawthorne
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby Hawthorne » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:10 pm

The best bedding might be with a southern wind on those north facing slopes or on the knobs like sam said. A good spot for a pond or food plot would be in the Northwest corner north of the house. It would be like a dead end of deer movement. They would use it and have to go back into your cover during daylight hours except if corn is standing in the field.Wind and and good screening cover will be key for getting in undetected.

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feutza
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby feutza » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:16 pm

I primarily just hunt right behind my parents house where the inside corner is( south west corner) I've been finding out that the deer seem to like to move between the two knobs

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby feutza » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:20 pm

SamPotter wrote:Good advice so far. What is your access route? From the west? It looks like there is good topography there for bedding, so I'd consider going in and hinge cut on those two high knobs that are in your woods. I'd consider a pond and small clover plot in the SE corner of your woods as well, but it's really tough to make that decision sitting behind my computer.

Have you hunted here before? If not, I'd consider maybe focusing on the bedding enhancement first. Hunt it for a year or two and get a feel for what the normal deer movement is, and then consider some more dramatic things like ponds or foodplots.

Yes my aces is mainly from the west a do have a stand in the far north east corner that I walk along the field edge to get to but rarly hunt that stand the best luck I had was behind my parents house about 100 yards from their house. I'm just looking at creating better cover and just wanted others opinions to help steer me in the right direction

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby feutza » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:22 pm

Would any of you recommend planting a screen along the south edge of the woods

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby kurt » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:26 pm

Snowfence a area in front of inside corner to keep them away from a scent stream and to neck them down more. Maybe use the fence as a access screen from the knobs.

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Hawthorne
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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby Hawthorne » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:32 pm

I would plant Norway spruce trees around the west and south sides to screen from the road also. What kind of trees are just north of the house?

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby superseal » Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:33 pm

I will tell you my experience with planting screening cover. I planted white Pines, red brush, hardwoods and tall native grasses etc. along the edges of my property and within my property to create blocks of security for the deer.


I thought if I created "4 walls" the deer would feel safe in their "room". I figured I would place stands in the walls of cover and I would have it made. Not so in my case.... The deer started using that cover heavily. It was not what I expected & created some problems with stand placement etc.

If that cover is the best cover on your property the deer will use it! Be careful what you plant & where.

The deer that frequent my SMALL property seem to know every inch of it. After a handfull of hunts they know something is up...especially the bigger bucks & mature does.

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Re: winter project on 12.5 acrea

Unread postby Twenty Up » Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:56 pm

As mentioned... Cover, Water & Food in that order. Work with that topography of your land to best cater towards your herd to maximize it's potential.

As for food, IMO the "best" food plot would be an open area with Chestnut trees, Persimmons, Pear/Apple and planted in a mixture of clover, brassicas, chicory and a winter wheat. Relatively low maintenance and cost once the areas cleared.

Best of luck to you, and I would give the QDMA forums a look. Most of their work is catered towards larger 100+ acre tracts but there have been a few guys with smaller 10-50 acre tracts that showed great improvement.
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