Woodland weeds and browse vs food plot

[mheichelbech]

Yea the fertilizer part is fine it's the lime part I was concerned about.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Bucky]

Pellet lime is easy to spread... cost a little more

BigHunt... the location of your plot in relation to the farmers field is a SLAM dunk for killing a good buck early. Just make sure you hit your plot with plenty of fert to get it out of the ground.

Micro plots like you are planting take time and sweat equity, but they pay huge dividends for yrs to come. I have been working on my main piece for 5yrs. Currently adding another 1/3 acre strip this year.

In regards to the original post, if you have the wood lot between ag, I would just try to direct the movement of the deer you are trying to hunt. That is done by hinge cutting and brush hogging. Make a defined path of travel from A (bedding) to B (food) and deer will follow it. Plus, by creating a path you create a "new" edge in your cover = more bedding opportunity

[BigHunt]

Yea the fertilizer part is fine it's the lime part I was concerned about.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Lime is the ph.....like said before all u need is a wheel barrel to haul it back there

[BassBoysLLP]

I'd focus on getting your pH moving in the right direction as soon as possible. You can relatively fast with a fine mesh pelletized lime like SuperCal 98g. Its a little more $ than regular pelletized lime, but worth it for microplots in year one. After you get the fine mesh stuff on the ground, follow up with conventional ag lime to give you years of pH buffering. For the deep micro plots, I'm using an atv trailer or wheel barrel of ag lime and a leaf blower to mobilize.

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[phade]

If you really want to minimize effort, time, and impact, and you have decided to put in a plot, the throw and mow approach probably would be best.

Buy some brassica seed (rape, turnip, daikon radish) and a cheap backpack sprayer from Harbor Freight or similar store. Spray the plot well with glyphosate and give it two-three weeks for a die-off. Seed the brassica and then mow (or weedwhack) the dead grass and weeds down to create a thatch. After about 30 days come in and spread some heavy N based fertilizer or even 10-10-10 if you can't find other N-based fertilizer easily.

That should give you a decent shot at a plot for late season. Now, this obviously isn't a guarantee if you are not soil testing, liming, and adding what you need, and getting good seed to soil contact. But, brassica is a pretty resilient food plot option. There's probably little harm in adding a bit of pellet lime, too.

Native browse can be a great food source, however. If you have alot of native browse and ag that comes into play at the same time though, a late season plot might be a good idea.

Edit, I see that talk about lime. pH can range widely, but if you have a narrow strip of timber in between ag fields, that soil's probably not TOO bad. Great, no...but the history of amendments going on around it and the fact it is ag land, probably leaves one thinking that pH might not be off the charts bad.

[stash59]

Check out the wiredtohunt podcast with Erich Long from two weeks ago. Sheds a ton of light on this and the listen will do far more this my attempt to describe it.

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http://wiredtohunt.com/2015/06/11/the-wired-to-hunt-podcast-episode-59-summer-habitat-projects-werich-long-of-drumming-log-wildlife-management/Here's the link. Don't be too fast on tearing up a possible good thing.

[mheichelbech]

Check out the wiredtohunt podcast with Erich Long from two weeks ago. Sheds a ton of light on this and the listen will do far more this my attempt to describe it.

[ Post made via iPad ]

http://wiredtohunt.com/2015/06/11/the-wired-to-hunt-podcast-episode-59-summer-habitat-projects-werich-long-of-drumming-log-wildlife-management/Here's the link. Don't be too fast on tearing up a possible good thing.

Good point and that is kind of what I was concerned about if all the activity, scent, etc. could cause the buck to relocate. There is a fair amount of farm activity around there.

I don't think it would but never know. Another option would be to sow seeds in the soybeans. They actually are spread out and would get good sunlight. Doesn't answer my woodland question but does get me a late winter food source.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[WiredToHunt]

Thanks for sharing the podcast! Glad you found it helpful. Erich had some great advice