Food plots and land improvements

[YellCoAR]

Just wondering what some of you guys that own small tracts of land are doing to improve your hunting. I own a small place of about 30 acre in Arkansas. It is a pretty good location. Borders county road, a wildlife management area, and the Petit Jean River. I have planted some pine to block the road and create travel corridors. I have a corn feeder, but don't really hunt it. The main stand is about 190 yards from the feeder. I have about 1/4 acre food plot. I have been increasing it in size each year. This spring I have 3 1/2 acres ready to plant no till in soybean and a grain or sunflower.

 

[YellCoAR]

Everything you see in the photo past the current plot and up to the brush pile in front of the box stand is ready to plant. Just waiting on the low temps to get a little higher.

 

[YellCoAR]

Here is what a good buck looks like in the area. Not giants by any means.

 

[gjs4]

Zoom out on an aerial of your ground so it takes up 10-20% of the total area observed. Trend what it is around you (timber, cover, ag, etc). Make your 30 have as much edge as possible, whether subtle or dramatic….

The biggest improvement a fella can make to deer ground is stealth access and egress. Give ‘em food, cover, lots of edge but don’t let them cross your tracks, hear or see you and definitely not get down wind. Then get into the details of what/where


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[Pancake]

We have ~8 acres (3 of which is water), so we're on a super small tract of land. We know that we can't be "better" than neighboring properties, so we have to be different. There's big ag in the area, so we plant clover and brassicas. There's lot of timber around, so we plant sumac, dogwoods, and other bushes. We want to give them something different so that they have a reason to spend time on our land.

There's always the general whitetail things that you can improve upon like cover, access, food, mock scrapes, etc., too, but we're finding the being unique is really helping.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Without knowing the lay of the land or vegetation it’s hard to say, but some general things to consider would be prescribed burns, hinge cutting, selective timber harvest (leaving the tops), mineral site establishment, and trails for you and/or deer to access certain areas more easily and quietly.

 

[huntngolf]

I agree with what Pancake said. Do something different than what is around you, whether that be cover or food. Chances are deer will be attracted to it at some point in the year, will just have to learn the time frame they use it most.

 

[YellCoAR]

Here are a couple maps of the place.

 

[WCB]

#1 issue I see with small tracts of land guys hunt is thinking food plots are king...IMO cover for deer to hide (saftey) is #1. Also, stand access and general land use is #2. Improve your movements on the land and how you access it. Here in MN lots of small parcels and especially during gun season 4-wheelers and UTVs are everywhere. Sorry but unless you have a physical reason you can't get around your land or are retrieving a downed animal on 100acres or less ZERO reason to use and ATV/UTV (minus planting food plots or doing offseason work on your land).

Trees are ok but on small parcel stuff and in larger openings I am planting Switch Grass or similar for quick cover and do some forestry management if possible. NOT hinge cutting like a moron.

 

[YellCoAR]

The parking area and boat ramp are no longer there. Also the bridge is out due to big truck fell through a couple years ago.

 

[pjh360]

You might be surprised how quickly a herd of deer can eat 3 acres of beans! We tried it once (Virginia). Plants were gone by the time they got 2 leaves on them. We've had much better luck with cool season plots - oats/wheat/rye + brassicas.

 

[YellCoAR]

A guy that sells seed is telling me to go with a forage soybean. The forage variety does not produce any beans, but it will continue to grow after they bite it off. I was hoping to have beans for the fall. I plan to broadcast rye grain over it in the fall. I guess I could buy some of the 6 foot plastic web fence and fence them out while it grows. That shouldn't cast much(lol).

 

[Rich M]

I'd plant something other than beans or maybe some kind of mix where the beans and other stuff protects each other. Have had deer wipe out entire plots in a day before.

You may find the need to plan summer and fall plots.

 

[Fordguy]

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.

 

[wind gypsy]

#1 issue I see with small tracts of land guys hunt is thinking food plots are king...IMO cover for deer to hide (saftey) is #1. Also, stand access and general land use is #2. Improve your movements on the land and how you access it. Here in MN lots of small parcels and especially during gun season 4-wheelers and UTVs are everywhere. Sorry but unless you have a physical reason you can't get around your land or are retrieving a downed animal on 100acres or less ZERO reason to use and ATV/UTV (minus planting food plots or doing offseason work on your land).

Trees are ok but on small parcel stuff and in larger openings I am planting Switch Grass or similar for quick cover and do some forestry management if possible. NOT hinge cutting like a moron.

This, except why the hinge cut hate? I'm not a hinge everything kind of guy but it makes sense for certain applications.

 

[WCB]

This, except why the hinge cut hate? I'm not a hinge everything kind of guy but it makes sense for certain applications.

#1 IMO stupid to cut a tree partially and push or pull it over (saftey)
#2 Some proper Forestry practices can achieve the same goal and many times do it better and maybe even deliver a monetary gain.
#3 looks like complete ass....and unsustainable.

If you want under growth and just general cover etc...it may achieve that but I would want my property to be healthy and sustainable.
oh and #4 It is many times pushed by the same guys writing articles and making videos on making "buck beds"

 

[wind gypsy]

#1 IMO stupid to cut a tree partially and push or pull it over (saftey)
#2 Some proper Forestry practices can achieve the same goal and many times do it better and maybe even deliver a monetary gain.
#3 looks like complete ass....and unsustainable.

If you want under growth and just general cover etc...it may achieve that but I would want my property to be healthy and sustainable.
oh and #4 It is many times pushed by the same guys writing articles and making videos on making "buck beds"

On my small parcel there isn't enough $ in loggers to make it worth it so most trees i fell are gonna stay where they lay unless they are used to feed the wood stove. I just cut the edge of a food plot to screen it off from the previously open mature forest, impact where deer enter/exit, and reduce competition for the oaks. It made sense for some of the cuts to be hinged to make it harder for deer to cross in spots and provide better visual burier at deer eye level.

I disagree that it's significantly more hazardous in all applications but i'll agree there is plenty of opportunity to make things unsafe in some applications.

Can't argue on looking like ass but so does a bunch of trees laying on the ground.

What is unsustainable? Just the fact that eventually you'll have a dead hinged tree there?

 

[WCB]

MOST guys do not know how to properly drop a tree to start out with...now you have them partially cutting a tree and pulling on it towards them. For guys that really know what they are doing I agree it isn't a lot more dangerous than just using a chainsaw in general. But in general MOST 95+% of people shouldn't even look at a saw.

I would never really just let trees lay an the ground anyways but still would prefer trees laying flat looks wise than hinge cut.

Unsustainable in the means that unless a guy concentrates on what is actually going to now grow on the new exposed ground it can create more issues. Most guys do not do this and get over run with undesirable plant growth/invasives. Also, potential for spread of disease and potential to negatively effect certain stands or trees Poplar...or destroy value of Oaks etc goes up. Depending on where you are at also what happens in a few years when all your hinge cuts are dead just hanging around and you want to do more improvement? Now I have to navigate all the hanging trees, essentially deadfall, and we all know how fun dead fall is to navigate.

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.

If it works for you great but again like chain saws 95% of guys shouldn't do it because #1 the don't have the proper understanding of what they are even doing. Again, someone wants undergrowth for the sake of it hinge away.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Forage spy beans will get eaten to the ground and get killed off unless you double layer electric fence and keep deer off it until it can establish at least knee high.
A decent rule of thumb is if you dont plan to use exclusion methods for soybeans, then you need to plant at least 5-10 acres based on density. And based on that pic of the does in that plot, those girls will mow down 3 acres quickly to death.

 

[LostArra]

Worth a listen

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