Habitat mistakes

[chickenlittle]

10 years of talking with little doing.

10 years talking about the woods being too open, needing TSI and cover, then just cutting firewood, preferably already dead, and never leaving anything of the tops that is thicker than 2".

10 years talking about doing something about the autumn olive.

 

[scott44]

-Thinking food plots was all I had to do, did them for 10-15 years before any other habitat work.
-No plan just throwing food plots where ever, they are all moved to a central location now.
-first couple years not protecting shrubs and trees, thinking they will "just make it"
- having too high expectations on what my deer would end up as and taking the fun out of hunting,

 

[chummer]

Pushing zone recommendations and planting where things shouldn't be planted. Plan for the worst winter and plant where they get the sun they need.

 

[bryant]

To piggyback on Steve, formulate a plan, prioritize based on property's biggest weaknesses, think long term rather than short, set realistic goals and don't half ass any step trying to hurry to the next. Keep records on habitat and hunting.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Planting too much stuff in small openings or too close to edges of existing woods. Things look a lot more open in the spring before all the leaves are out and even those sunny spots get closed up fast within a few years. So yeah those mature trees on the edges sure grow faster than the stuff you plant and suck up all the space/sunlight overhead within a few years.

Not having the one property boundary surveyed sooner when not real obvious. Actually I gained a little on other side of fence put up by neighbor as his fence line was based on just an ordinary homeowner gps. He used to run cattle so needed to fence (he bought around the same time I did). He was not too concerned about getting the fence moved by me but was johnny on the spot when the old farmstead was parceled off and the buyers had to get a survey for their mortgage on the house. Turns out my neighbor over on their side gained an entire shed and some more land to the south. He never was confrontational about the fence needing to move, just was always ready with reasons why he couldn't help until next Spring, maybe next Fall, whatever. Finally over a year later I just did it all myself. We get along fine, just got to move 5/8 mile of fence when it was hotter than blazes since "I'm gonna lease my land to some hunters this Fall so don't work on it when its their hunting season."

 

[willy]

Great question. I don't have the years of experience you are wanting (only 8)but these would be my top ones so far.

1. Thinking I needed to make my entire 80 acres good for deer, whether it be food or cover. Dead zones like Steve B talks about would have been good to have.

2. Giving it a couple years to learn the land and how the deer use it before making "changes that will make the deer hunting even better"

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

I've made about 20 years worth of mistakes in about 7 years.
1) thinking I could do 6.5 acres with an ATV disc. You get creative when your thumb gets sore. Get out the electrical tape and you got cruise control.
2) When purchasing tractor and equipment I bought a brand new 3 point disc for my tractor that was too light so I had to plow up ground almost every year to plant brassica. Lol
3). Planting brassica year after year after year without rotating.
4). Planting 75 plums and 75 Midwest crabs all right in the same area because that's the way the NRCS wanted it.
5) food plots in the middle of my property. Hopefully it's good fawn cover or something now.
6) Stands in spots with crappy access.
7). Making my yard at my campsite too big . I spend more valuable time keeping the campsite looking pretty when I should be doing stuff that will improve my hunting opportunities. Only so many hours in a day.
A ton of other things as well

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

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.

i have done almost all of these too freeborn

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

- having too high expectations on what my deer would end up as and taking the fun out of hunting,

I kind of see this happening in our family land now. Moral has gone way down over the past few years

 

[biglakeba$$]

I think morale is low in many areas of MN

^^^^^ yes it is. My nephew in the Marines is not coming back to deer hunt this year. What a shocker. He sent me several pics of very nice bucks on base that he is hunting. He is staying in Virginia this year. Big surprise.

Nice job MN DNR!!!!!!!!!!!! Really nice job.

 

[Jim Timber]

Planting too much stuff in small openings or too close to edges of existing woods. Things look a lot more open in the spring before all the leaves are out and even those sunny spots get closed up fast within a few years. So yeah those mature trees on the edges sure grow faster than the stuff you plant and suck up all the space/sunlight overhead within a few years.

Not having the one property boundary surveyed sooner when not real obvious. Actually I gained a little on other side of fence put up by neighbor as his fence line was based on just an ordinary homeowner gps. He used to run cattle so needed to fence (he bought around the same time I did). He was not too concerned about getting the fence moved by me but was johnny on the spot when the old farmstead was parceled off and the buyers had to get a survey for their mortgage on the house. Turns out my neighbor over on their side gained an entire shed and some more land to the south. He never was confrontational about the fence needing to move, just was always ready with reasons why he couldn't help until next Spring, maybe next Fall, whatever. Finally over a year later I just did it all myself. We get along fine, just got to move 5/8 mile of fence when it was hotter than blazes since "I'm gonna lease my land to some hunters this Fall so don't work on it when its their hunting season."

I'd just tear it out and leave it on his side. He'd fix it right quick when the cattle ran away. ;)

 

[wklman]

Mine would be trying to grow blue spruce. Dang things are the devil at taking their time growing in my clay soil.

 

[Jim Timber]

Mine would be trying to grow blue spruce. Dang things are the devil at taking their time growing in my clay soil.

My biggest mistake was planting Norway Spruce because I wanted fast growth, instead of planting trees that would want to grow fast in my soils.


It took me 3 years to learn the travel patterns here, and then a neighbor did a heavy logging and changed things up.

 

[Freeborn]

I wanted to add a coupe of things: These are what I would have liked to have known before I started my improvements and am now trying to adapt to my advantage.

1. Observing what the land and deer herd was telling me by how they use my land (this years late frost, deer still associate to green food even with dried soybeans)
2. Observing how the deer change behavior (bedding, socializing, feeding) based on my improvements (NWSG, tree/shrub plantings and what/where I have planted food plots.
3. Observing how the deer change behavior based on what my neighbors (farmers) have planted and harvested (not harvested). Example: deer move to the east when corn is not harvested.

One of the few things being a remote owner has helped with is slowed me down so I could learn more from the above. I have owned my place for 5 years and have decided against many ideas I like previously because of the above. I don't know if being to ambitious is a mistake but experience is a great teacher and knowing your land and using this knowledge to do 3 things correctly is much better than doing 6 things poorly.

 

[Bill]

I think my mistakes have all been mentioned. But repetition is often a good educational tool. :)

Wish I wouldn't have listened to the NRCS guys opinion on my first native grass planting. That mistake got me 6 acres of bluestem and Indian grass that is usually flat by the end of Nov and usually void of deer all year long. (I need to nuke that field). On the brite side that mistake made me throw the NRCS foresters plan in the trash.

Wish I would have understood the hinge cut properly before going hog wild in an area. I made low cuts hoping for bedding and got blockades instead. The bright side is going back and cutting trails through it directs movement.

Wish I would have had a better handle on planting live stake cuttings before jamming 5000 of them into an untreated grass/weed field and walking away. I think 2 are alive today and the field is finally regenerating naturally.

I should never have planted those 20'something apple trees and not protected them from the deer and then the dreaded Vole!

I should have passed on my farm and bought one with better topography and stand access. If I wasn't surrounded by huge blocks of managed land attracting and holding mature deer would be very difficult.

My number one recommendation to someone just starting out is this................

Completely, 100% without hesitation, ignore anything that comes out of your farmer neighbors mouth. Farmers don't know Jack about deer.
The only exception might be one that cover crops.

 

[MoLandOwner]

I think my mistakes have all been mentioned. But repetition is often a good educational tool. :)

Wish I wouldn't have listened to the NRCS guys opinion on my first native grass planting. That mistake got me 6 acres of bluestem and Indian grass that is usually flat by the end of Nov and usually void of deer all year long. (I need to nuke that field). On the brite side that mistake made me throw the NRCS foresters plan in the trash.

Wish I would have understood the hinge cut properly before going hog wild in an area. I made low cuts hoping for bedding and got blockades instead. The bright side is going back and cutting trails through it directs movement.

Wish I would have had a better handle on planting live stake cuttings before jamming 5000 of them into an untreated grass/weed field and walking away. I think 2 are alive today and the field is finally regenerating naturally.

I should never have planted those 20'something apple trees and not protected them from the deer and then the dreaded Vole!

I should have passed on my farm and bought one with better topography and stand access. If I wasn't surrounded by huge blocks of managed land attracting and holding mature deer would be very difficult.

My number one recommendation to someone just starting out is this................

Completely, 100% without hesitation, ignore anything that comes out of your farmer neighbors mouth. Farmers don't know Jack about deer.
The only exception might be one that cover crops.

This is one farmer that knows about deer and cover crops!

 

[Greta&Gus]

Joe, now the question becomes, what do you do about it? You have a 5 acre plot you can't access, do you make changes?

For us, last year we had 14 plots totaling close to 18 acres of food. This year we have 8 plots that is closer to 10 acres. Hopefully we can concentrate deer better.

If I were to buy a new property tomorrow I would do things in this order
1) Buy a property I could access from the SE because the predominate wind is NW
2) Hunt one year with cameras throughout the woods to observe deer movement naturally and hopefully figure out natural bedding areas.
3) Attempt to put the majority of my plots in areas that require deer to travel to them, not directly adjacent to bedding.
4) Put my plots in areas that my neighbors can't use for their advantage.
5) Hinge cut in already established bedding locations and not try and force the deer to change their habits
6) Log a portion and go back the next year to plant thousands of conifers

 

[MoLandOwner]

Wish there were more farmers like you around here

There are!

Just not enough that realize the value of the deer hunting tradition.

 

[MoLandOwner]

^^^not just deer hunting farmers, those that know about and use cover crops. Too much black dirt around here already

The reason farmers keep tilling the ground all fall is the same reason you use the same broadheads for 20 years. No one is comfortable with change.

Farming is a very expensive endeavor. Change things that have been working, have one big mistake, they are out of business. The average age of a farmer is in his 50's now. Very hard for him to change directions right before retirement. Would you? Or anyone for that matter?

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

Joe, now the question becomes, what do you do about it? You have a 5 acre plot you can't access, do you make changes?

For us, last year we had 14 plots totaling close to 18 acres of food. This year we have 8 plots that is closer to 10 acres. Hopefully we can concentrate deer better.

If I were to buy a new property tomorrow I would do things in this order
1) Buy a property I could access from the SE because the predominate wind is NW
2) Hunt one year with cameras throughout the woods to observe deer movement naturally and hopefully figure out natural bedding areas.
3) Attempt to put the majority of my plots in areas that require deer to travel to them, not directly adjacent to bedding.
4) Put my plots in areas that my neighbors can't use for their advantage.
5) Hinge cut in already established bedding locations and not try and force the deer to change their habits
6) Log a portion and go back the next year to plant thousands of conifers

I actually just used the 5 acre plot for an example G&G. I do have about a 1/3 acre in the middle I abandoned. Interesting though... Your situation is where I was headed with adding a lot more food plots. I have 3 now. A 6.5, 2.5, and a 1acre plot. It sounds like maybe adding a bunch more might not be what I want to do now.