4 acres

[tsawyer340]

You have 4 acres of crop land to turn into bedding area/ cover, what do you plant?

 

[bcbowman]

Strips of spruce with strips of hawthorn, hazelnut, plum, ninebark, dogwoods, etc. in between. Hopefully you get some briars that would come in on their own. I planted this same scenario a few years ago, it is still a few years from being really good, but it's getting there

 

[Mortenson]

Norway Spruce I thought was the answer til I learned the deer eat them like they're pixy stix.

 

[John-W-WI]

There are many right answers to that question. Here would be my personal list in no particular order (you might not be able to fit them all, but give them some consideration):

Evergreens (norway spruce are my favorite).
Hybrid Poplar & Hybrid Willow
Switch Grass
Shrubs
Giganteus Miscanthus (tall grass).

Tell us a little more about what you are hoping to do and I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

-John

 

[tsawyer340]

I have 5 acres I want to take out of crop production. About .75 acre of that would become food plot and the rest would become switchgrass planting with evergreen borders.

 

[Diesel5610]

I did Norway Spruce in a spot the same size last year. I never had a problem with deer bothering them before this year. I did lose a bunch to deer and I am filling in the voids with more trees this year. I wouldn't hesitate to plant a bunch of the shrubs and trees bcbowman suggested in there as well.

 

[j-bird]

Depends on the lay of the land and if your trying to hold does or bucks. Bucks in my opinion prefer woody cover with decent stem density but with an elevated view. Does are less selective and if so desired I would plant a mixture of switchgrass with pockets of conifers and desirable shrubs for browse or even a soft mast food source. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[mikmaze]

what is there now? you say crop land, but bare dirt?? wet area? dry?

windbreak on the windward side of the area for blocking winter winds, then as above, mix of spruce, red twig dogwoods, switch grass, .......

 

[Tree Spud]

You have 4 acres of crop land to turn into bedding area/ cover, what do you plant?

What is the surrounding topography?

Would like to know exists in the surrounding 400-500 acres ...

 

[JFK52]

Switchgrass with nothing else around it so you can do controlled burns on it every 3-4 years. That is if this piece lays right for burns and you have someone in the area who could help you with the burns.

 

[NWWI]

Norway spruce. I would plant bare root over plugs. The only time I have had an issue with deer eating spruce is when I have planted small plugs and I think they mistake them for something else. Deer will mow down white and red pine.

 

[JFK52]

Deer have eaten white pine I have planted in very bad winters. I have never seen them eat red pine. I planted 12k red pine and had another 30 acres already planted on land I bought.

 

[tsawyer340]

There are many right answers to that question. Here would be my personal list in no particular order (you might not be able to fit them all, but give them some consideration):

Evergreens (norway spruce are my favorite).
Hybrid Poplar & Hybrid Willow
Switch Grass
Shrubs
Giganteus Miscanthus (tall grass).

Tell us a little more about what you are hoping to do and I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

-John

The ultimate goal is hold more deer and increase daytime deer activity. Every year the property is planted half in corn and the other to soybeans. Once the corn is gone, there's limited bedding and the daytime use of my food plots is pretty much non existent. Adding cover is gonna be the most important part of improving this place and I just would like to make sure I'm not overlooking anything.

 

[John-W-WI]

I'm not trying to answer a question with a question, but is the limited daylight use of food plots due to you or your neighbors hunting pressure? Is stand access an issue? Or are the nocturnal because of things outside of your control?

A few years ago we COMPLETELY stopped hunting foodplots. We hunt access trails TO foodplots, but not on the plots themselves. And we are freakishly careful with our access trails. Our hunting has improved 10x. We are also in Wisconsin where our fawns are born looking up in trees for hunters

-John

 

[Tap]

^^^John gets it. I stay away from plots as much as I can.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

If I had that 5 acres to plant to something, I'd plant Norway & white spruce in pockets of maybe a dozen and cage them until they get established. Plant several pockets of the spruce so does can have separate bedding areas. For $100 - $150 you can get ample fencing to make cages - money well-spent if you want no-fail results. You don't need to plant thousands of them.

I'd fill in the gaps with native grasses, a few crab apples ( Chestnut crab, Dolgo, Firecracker ), some Washington hawthorn, a couple Chinese chestnuts, some red osier dogwood, ninebark, silky dogwoods. I'd also encourage weeds / goldenrod to grow in the gaps between the spruce clusters. Native blackberries would be a plus, too.

This mix would provide cover, some food sources, browse, and windbreaks for colder weather. I'd most likely plant some spruce on the windward side of the area to also break the wind throughout the block of land. Guys above have mentioned some of these same things - they work.

 

[tsawyer340]

I'm not trying to answer a question with a question, but is the limited daylight use of food plots due to you or your neighbors hunting pressure? Is stand access an issue? Or are the nocturnal because of things outside of your control?

A few years ago we COMPLETELY stopped hunting foodplots. We hunt access trails TO foodplots, but not on the plots themselves. And we are freakishly careful with our access trails. Our hunting has improved 10x. We are also in Wisconsin where our fawns are born looking up in trees for hunters

-John

I hunt it smart and if the conditions aren't 100 percent I won't go in. When the crops are down i do become vulnerable to pressure from the neighbor because the deer will bed on the neighbors property and then come to my plots in the middle of the night. I only have one stand on a food plot.

 

[John-W-WI]

I hunt it smart and if the conditions aren't 100 percent I won't go in. When the crops are down i do become vulnerable to pressure from the neighbor because the deer will bed on the neighbors property and then come to my plots in the middle of the night. I only have one stand on a food plot.

I'm not being very helpful (but hopefully making you think a little)..... You only need to educate an old doe a time or two and she will stop coming to your foodplot during daylight hours. Unfortunately the world revolves around mature does. Fawns follow her and learn, and bucks chase her (and she sure isn't going to a food plot while being chased). IMHO there is no such thing as hunting a foodplot smart. The very best you can do is have someone else clear the field with an ATV to push them off the plot at dark. There is NO way to low impact hunt a food plot in the morning.

Converting a foodplot to cover is a wise move (if that's what you intend to do) as far as keeping deer on your property. The thicker the better.

-John