Food plots and land improvements

[Texasbuckeye]

Deer university is the bomb. Lots of great research based info that they talk about in practical methods to implement.

 

[Btaylor]

Property looks like it setup great as a natural travel zone along the river and between larger sections of timber. I agree with the comments about beans being a waste of time if not electric fenced. I also agree with the comments about enhancing cover. Warm season grass or pollinator blends will provide more travel and bedding cover. I would definitely screen the norther and eastern lines with switchgrass to block visibility and to create access/egress lanes. I would probably create one large plot in the big open area NE of center and develop travel cover to it using shrub and tree plantings to create the edges and cover breaks. I would also suggest looking at the plot system Grant Woods uses.

AGFC and Quail Forever would be worth talking to about their warm season grass or pollinator blend programs.

 

[wind gypsy]

I 100% for screening cover on edges prefer Switch Grass or even actual bushy native plantings. I can get rid of it in No time if I want to and would not be stuck with pick up sticks hanging 3-5ft off the ground. Select trees and open up the ground where desired for undergrowth development and control invasive growth.

Lots reasons why felling and hinging works better for my latest project.
1. there isn't enough space in the narrow plot to add sufficiently wide switch for screening. Completely clearing the woods and planting switch is a significant undertaking. MAYBE after a bunch of site prep to eliminate other vegetation, herbicide, and 2 years of patience, a switchgrass screen that will not direct deer travel could be possible
2. come fall, even thick regen won't provide as good of a screen as the fell/hinged screen i made, which will have it's own regen still as well.
3. Planting brushy stuff would require more cost, effort, and again probably a couple years of time before it works.

My chainsaw mess provided an instant screen for the cost of chainsaw fuel. I have come to terms with it not being pretty.

Invasives will need to be kept in check regardless of what you do when the canopy is open. I cut and stump sprayed any buckthorn and honeysuckle prior to cutting. If things are going to be thick it's gonna suck to claw through it and manage invasives no matter what.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Here is what a good buck looks like in the area. Not giants by any means.
View attachment 400675View attachment 400676View attachment 400677

Ha! He'd be welcome to ride in my truck!

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Better plan on more than a 6 foot fence to keep deer out. I used a 6 foot fence around a small plot of fruit trees once. The does thought it was great. They jumped the fence, browsed on the trees, and gave birth to their fawns inside the enclosure. I had to catch the fawns (which mostly involved untangling them from the fence) and released them outside the enclosure while the does kept making short charges at me.

Around here guys run at least one hot wire if not 2 hot wires staggered a few feet apart- one low and one higher to keep the deer out. If you have a lot of turkeys they will demolish bean plots too

 

[Fordguy]

Multiple rows of fence spaced 4-6 feet apart will usually do it (personal experience). I expect that its due to lack of depth perception since the deer could easily jump over 2 low fences spaced 4' apart.

 

[YellCoAR]

Here a few photos. Roundup field almost ready for planting. Also a photo of clover in winter plot.

 

[YellCoAR]

 

[YellCoAR]

 

[YellCoAR]

Well I went to check on the plantings this weekend. Not good news. Deer have eaten about 75% of the beans and bitten the tops off around 50% of the sunflower plants. May of the beans are still alive just eaten down or tops gone. The beans were of a browse strain. Is there any hope they might still produce some beans for fall?
Same question for the sunflower plants. Any chance the one the tops were bit off making a head?

 

[Btaylor]

Well I went to check on the plantings this weekend. Not good news. Deer have eaten about 75% of the beans and bitten the tops off around 50% of the sunflower plants. May of the beans are still alive just eaten down or tops gone. The beans were of a browse strain. Is there any hope they might still produce some beans for fall?
Same question for the sunflower plants. Any chance the one the tops were bit off making a head?

For us eagle beans would keep trying to grow even under heavy browse pressure but not a single plant ever came close to making a bean. They were kept browsed well below 8" and most were under 4". This is why folks recommend evaluating the whole neighborhood rather than just your property to better understand the big picture of what the biggest holes in the bucket are. Small plots of highly preferred food are virtually impossible to grow here without electric fence to get them to a growth standpoint where they can keep up with browse pressure and in some areas even that isnt enough depending on the plot size.

 

[Grunterr]

Looks good. Maybe add a waterhole. Its alot of fun making your land better.

 

[YellCoAR]

Just wondering why you say add waterhole? I have a river on one side of the property.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I have a river about a 1/4 mile below the ridge our farm sits on, but the neighbor owns the bottom. Adding a water catch or even adding a tank on the ridge top may keep them from having to travel to the neighbor's.

 

[Long Cut]

Managing 61 acres in Central GA.

Cover, access, deer density and food in that order.

Timber thinning, prescribed fire, TSI and deer herd management are king down here. Food plots & supplemental feeding are lowest on the totem pole of importance.

Can’t grow a healthy herd if your habitat can barely support them.

 

[YellCoAR]

It is in a drought spell currently on the place. Planting has brought in some critters and the clover continues to feed as well, but not much longer with out some rain. He are a couple update photos.