Habitat mistakes

[*Hawaii5joe*]

This is a question for anyone, but I would really like to hear from the guys who've been doing this stuff for 15-20 years. Over the years, what's one of the biggest mistakes you've made on your property that you wish you had never done? E.g. Had a 5 acre food plot cleared dead center in the middle of my property and now I have no good access to it. Or maybe it's something you planted that just didn't work out like you thought which cost you time and money. I'm guessing there's a few out there.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Biggest mistake? I can say for sure we have all made plenty.

But one thing I never used to do, was figure out what the deer were doing naturally, before I went and started to change the habitat around the deer. Hunt or view what is going on before making a plan. In my own defense, I never hung on to any properties, just did a lot of different habitat work and sold them. Now I seem to be a holder of property, rather than a seller, so I see what is going on with the deer first, create habitat second.

 

[Satchmo]

There are no mistakes, only learning opportunities :p

It's called learning the hard way.:) But what else would I do with my money?

Tried to put in one of those infamous Clover/Chicory plots in my sand the first year I bought the place. hahahahahahaha

 

[MoLandOwner]

I think one huge mistake guys do is buying in an area with no deer, then trying everything to make it into something it will never be.

 

[MoLandOwner]

My biggest mistake so far :oops:
Put this piece of property in central WI (or northern MO, or many areas of IA, IL, OH, etc.) and I'd be in great shape.

I understand fully!

How would you like to be me. I had 25 deer per square mile when I bought here, then had the DNR issue more permits than deer in my area. Now we have the worst hunting you can imagine after doing habitat work for 20 years. What a waste of time.

 

[wiscwhip]

Biggest mistake?!? Assuming the old man was going to hold on to his property until he passed it on to my brother and me and not buying my own piece back when I was more financially able.:mad: Dumb @$$ed decision on my part!:mad: And no one to blame but myself!
Close second, letting my farmhand uncle(who worked with great soils all his life) convince my dad to keep discing and plowing that beach sand every spring as if it were the worlds best silt loam and destroying every bit of progress we could have made on ever improving that dirt. After 15-20 years of that repeated fiasco, the soil was far worse than what we started with and the old man was looking for answers, so he finally started to listen when I told him to quit taking steel to that dirt and move to a more "no-till" approach. Finally started to make some headway a couple years before he sold the place.
Third huge mistake, the old man buying apple trees at the deer show without knowing what a rootstock was or even inquiring about what rootstock they were planted on and then just digging a hole in that beach sand and dropping them in with no other prep whatsoever. About 15 years later, the heavily babied trees in the garden finally started throwing a few apples, the ones planted out back for the deer never did.
Lots of hard and spendy lessons to be learned in this game!

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Mine kind of dove tails with MO's point...In the earliest years, I put food plots and other improvements in areas that they were already relatively easy to establish, instead of focusing on finding the "best" locations for helping me as a hunter. I always tear a property apart, figure out what the deer are naturally doing and then devise a plan to work with what they're already doing as much as realistically possible, while getting them to do it even more in areas that can offer low impact stands...Long way of saying, always come up with a bigger picture, overall plan for your improvements before doing any of them, and try to tie them into what the deer are already doing. It's always easier to get deer to do what they are already doing even more than to get them to stop doing it. Sometimes you need to fight them, but working with them when you can is a much easier path.

 

[MoLandOwner]

I'd be very ready to join a class action lawsuit against the MN DNR for rec property devaluation

That has been talked about more than you can imagine. I am lucky the farm operation of the tillable land keeps the value ok for now. But many people are getting screwed so bad on value right now it is pathetic.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

a few more random lessons I as able to learn:
When doing TSI, when you think you're cutting enough, double it and it still may not be enough.
If you want to hunt a property somewhat hard, cover is more important than food
Areas you don't improve are as important as your improvements (helps focus deer activity and create dead zones for your travels)
when hinge cutting, cut as little as you can, while still getting the tree to drop and being safe.
NWSG plantings are almost always MUCH better than you think they are that first year
Every property is different


I could/should continue, but MUST get back to work.

 

[BJE80]

The one thing I think I would re-do if I had the chance. Buy the right 40 for more money instead of buying the wrong 80 that was really cheap. Now, I would of probably still of had to spend more for the right 40 instead of the wrong 80 I did buy. I think it will still all work out but I could of probably had gotten to where I want to go with less work and less money.

 

[MoLandOwner]

a few more random lessons I as able to learn:
When doing TSI, when you think you're cutting enough, double it and it still may not be enough.
If you want to hunt a property somewhat hard, cover is more important than food
Areas you don't improve are as important as your improvements (helps focus deer activity and create dead zones for your travels)
when hinge cutting, cut as little as you can, while still getting the tree to drop and being safe.
NWSG plantings are almost always MUCH better than you think they are that first year
Every property is different


I could/should continue, but MUST get back to work.

Now this is why we like Steve, his willingness to help some guys out with info, while Don told us on the Dark side, most of us could not afford his services. What a Dick!

 

[Brush Creek]

Waited too long and haven't planted enough fruit trees. Didn't properly care for the ones we planted.

 

[Freeborn]

I don’t have 10-15 years in but I have made my share of mistakes.

Not buying more land when I had the chance
Assuming the NRCS would provide the proper technical recommendation to tailor the mix of NWSG to my soils
Not matting my Spruce planting as part of my NRCS implementation
Allowing the NRCS to recommend and plant one row evergreen wind breaks
Planting trees or shrubs in Reed Canary Grass without matting
Risking hard earned money and effort by not protecting shrubs and trees.
Waiting on doing TSI because I was uncertain what I was doing.

There are more I just have to get back to work.

 

[j-bird]

Biggest thing I have seen is trying to "force" things. It can be deer numbers, deer age structure, food plots, beds or anything in between. I am so guilty of trying to force a square peg in a round hole it isn't funny and I think many of us do it as well. I did this when I started by jumping into food plots - when cover was and is my limiting factor. I did the same thing with my fruit trees - instead of getting deer apples I got people apples because I didn't want to wait. Yep - just use a bigger hammer.....pound, pound, pound! I see it when folks want big bucks, but shoot the first thing they see with antlers or try to mange 20 acres like it's 20,000! I also see it when folks try to plant things where they don;t belong (wrong region, soil type or even soil moisture level).

Other mistakes I have made - not focusing on stand access FIRST! Putting to much faith in my governmental agencies - yep guilty of that as well. The other thing is simply cutting corners trying to save a few bucks. Do it or don't - don't waste money on doing a half-assed job or putting forth a half-assed effort. Whatever you think your saving - it will cost you more to fix it later!!!!!

#1 - have a full blown plan FROM THE START!!!!!

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I wish I painted the trunks of my fruit trees white to prevent SW injury. I lost a bunch of fruit trees over the years before I realized SW injury was causing damage on most of my trees. Even the trees that lived had evidence of some damage

I also wish I took the time to put round up on every buckthorn and boxelder tree that I cut down. I enjoy cutting down trees, but I don't enjoy applying poison on the stumps. So I end up with a woods filled with junk tree regrowth coming from the stumps.

 

[bat man]

I bought in a DMU where you could shoot 7 does per year assuming they needed my help to trim the herd.

 

[Jameson]

My first food plot in the prairie. Should have given the sod roots much more time to break down before attempting to disc with my ATV. Back and forth, back and forth, add weight. Back and forth, back and forth, add more weight. All day and barely have grooves in the surface.

 

[Greta&Gus]

Planting too many food plots in too many areas across our property. More food isn't always better. Sometimes you are feeding the deer your neighbors shoot.

 

[wiscwhip]

Planting too many food plots in too many areas across our property. More food isn't always better. Sometimes you are feeding the deer your neighbors shoot.

More importantly than feeding the deer getting shot across the fence is the fact that too many foodplots can work against you in the fact that they disperse deer across a wider area of your property, thus making them harder to predict and hard to hunt effectively.

 

[wildfire]

Biggest mistake, not doing anything.