frustrated with lack of deer sightings

cbird...one thing I've noticed in much of central and east central MN is a real lack of thermal cover (i.e. evergreens). My place is no exception and that's why I've been planting more evergreens every year. Thinking I'll go for 1500 next spring.

you going plugs again or?
 
I'm in a different area than you but here is my opinion which is pretty much in line with other have stated.
I am blessed with a really good buck an doe population/ratio in a low deer density area. I contribute this to lots of thick cover an browse due to logging 6 yrs ago. My dads farm is very close 1 mile to be exact as the crow flys. He has open, park style woods and has no more than 4 bucks using his 214 acres. My ground is 287 acres and I have approx 20 bucks on camera. I do allot more habitat work than him in all areas but even with a clean slate I simply had more deer. I contribute this to cover first, food second an water third.
If I lacked wooded ground. I would poor my heart into native grasses which will give you quickest results I think
 
Stu - Just wanted to let you know something I found kinda by accident , actually observation. On a piece of state forest land that I hunt occasionally, I noticed lots of buck sign in & around a line of spruce trees that someone planted. The majority of the forest is red & white oaks, maple, hickory, birch. Lots of mountain laurel, too. Faint trails meandered along this spruce line & many rubs were there as well. Then - on another piece of ground I hunt - in an area that had been logged heavily 15 yrs. before - Norway spruce had been planted along a skid trail. As time wore on, trees & brush grew in the logged area. But having a tree stand in view of that old skid trail revealed much deer travel along THOSE spruces. Scrapes, rubs, turds and an obvious trail was / is kept fresh by year-round use. Seeing the travel patterns around those 2 areas of spruce got me to thinking. Why not plant some on my camp property in a way that steers deer past favorable stand locations? If they like the dark, shadowy security of the spruces to travel thru, I'll plant some " yellow brick roads " past some stand locations. It works.

I planted a double row of spruce between bedding areas & food plots / apple trees. 2 blocks of spruce for bedding with a double row between the blocks. Deer WILL use them. We sprinkled some in a clearcut area - it became a great bedding area for us. Just some thoughts to chew on. ( we planted Norway & white spruce too! ) Good luck with the planting.
 
I've been doing a lot of banging my head against the wall the last few years with the lack of deer on the property I hunt ( which I blame a lot on the DNR) so I've been thinking about putting a bunch of micro plots in. I put in the normal food plots of corn,beans,clover,turnips,oats and so on my question is anyone put in micro plots ? And what do you plant?

If the deer are not using "normal" food plots, what leads you to believe they would use micro plots?

Are you using cameras to inventory activity? If so, what are you seeing? Are you moving them around to potential trails, funnels, etc?
 
Deer will follow a line of spruce or balsam, especially after the leaves drop from the hardwoods. Clumps of spruce, or circles of spruce surrounded by young popple makes great bedding areas.

I like spruce and willows for bedding.

we have had a wet summer and the deer movement is slightly different with all of the water in the swamps.
 
If the deer are not using "normal" food plots, what leads you to believe they would use micro plots?

Are you using cameras to inventory activity? If so, what are you seeing? Are you moving them around to potential trails, funnels, etc?

The deer that are around use the plots but mostly after dark so I thought if I made some micro plots in the cover I would have a better chance of catching them during daylight. The buck that I have in my profile avatar is a prime example very rarely get any day time pictures.
 
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I have two tiny plots of rye in the woods. Give it a try next year. I would put in two plots and hunt the corridor between them. Work on a plan this winter and figure out the access for different winds to the travel corridor between them. As you can see these plots are not very big. I also cut and mow a deer trail between the plots.

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You might have to wait for the rut to see the bigger bucks during daylight.

I would also work on a plan to establish some conifer cover.
 
sandbur, that's my kind of plotting right there! lol With as far west and north of us as your place is, I am amazed at how similar your woods looks to what we had on my parents old place in central WI. I look at the pic with the trail and it is like I am walking out the old man's back door to the plot/stands south of the river on our old place. Except that funny shade of green on that tractor, of course. I think we even had that same half dead pine tree at the edge of our south plot.
 
The deer that are around use the plots but mostly after dark so I thought if I made some micro plots in the cover I would have a better chance of catching them during daylight. The buck that I have in my profile avatar is a prime example very rarely get any day time pictures.

That may suggest that the deer moving out of their bedding areas are browsing feeding on the way to the food destination areas. By the time they reach the food plot or ag fields it is reaching dark. It also may suggest they are being too pressured and are sitting tight until dark. Transition food plots may help, but they and use of them may only suppress deer movement further.

If I owned the property you outlined, I would plant conifers & shrubs on the N, S, & eastern borders of the ag fields near the road. Planting more screening cover on N & S wood line may be a good idea depending on fence sittings neighbors.

I would also evaluate your hunting tactics. Hang a few stands in the transition between the marsh & woods. Areas that you can glass to observe when movement occurs. Deer feeding patterns are sometimes ovals where they leave and return bedding areas at different points. Look at finding entry and exit routes on the outer perimeter of the property and use only when the wind is right.

Habitat work can be very beneficial; however, it is also more pressure if done too often, in the wrong areas at the wrong times. I don't think food is the issue, nighttime only movement suggests they are reacting to something else.
 
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My guess is there just aren't many deer around and those that are there don't move much during daylight. Some deer have a tendency to move mostly after dark and in many areas of MN those are the only deer still alive. The daylight movers were slaughtered over the last 10 years leaving the after dark movers.......who then teach this trait to their fawns. Just a theory of mine.
 
Yup...I'll never plant a bareroot evergreen again. Plugs are so friggin' easy it blows my mind...at least with the plug tool that Jim Timber made up it is ;) I think he could sell a fair number of those if he wanted to do so. I just shot North Central Reforestation an email. Ordered 500 Austrian Pines, 500 Norway Spruce, and 500 White Spruce.

Plugs are awesome! So easy to plant. Survival is great! I'm going with some larger plugs next spring to fill in any that have died (which is not many--except some oak plugs). For conifers they cannot be beat in my opinion!
 
I need to find a place where I can buy eastern Red Cedar plugs if that is possible.
 
My guess is there just aren't many deer around and those that are there don't move much during daylight. Some deer have a tendency to move mostly after dark and in many areas of MN those are the only deer still alive. The daylight movers were slaughtered over the last 10 years leaving the after dark movers.......who then teach this trait to their fawns. Just a theory of mine.

I think you hit the nail on the head and Ive had the same theory which once again I blame the dnr for. This why Im going to try something different than the norm.
 
I think you hit the nail on the head and Ive had the same theory which once again I blame the dnr for. This why Im going to try something different than the norm.
Very true. Anything that pokes it's head out during rifle season gets a shot at it with 5,6 or more doe permits per hunter.
 
I use north central and they are great. I too only use containerized plug style trees. I think I did 750 in 1 long day last May. They plant quick.
 
I know it may have been posted somewhere before, but are there good plug tools out there? Hand made work just as good?
 
http://www.itascagreenhouse.com/page22.html

They do make planting tools, but homemade works just fine and a lot cheaper too. I had a 1" steel rod and painted the correct depth so I knew how deep to go. Carrying that and a 5 gallon bucket filled with plugs, was able to get 1500 done by myself in a day last spring.
 
http://www.itascagreenhouse.com/page22.html

They do make planting tools, but homemade works just fine and a lot cheaper too. I had a 1" steel rod and painted the correct depth so I knew how deep to go. Carrying that and a 5 gallon bucket filled with plugs, was able to get 1500 done by myself in a day last spring.

1,500 in one day is a lot of trees. And I think for $60 I will carve a plug machine out of a closet rod. Wow, that seems like a lot of money for that.
 
John-keep those red cedars well away from your apple trees. Maybe at least 1/2 mile unless you have disease resistant varieties.
 
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