Hinge cutting advice for logging road trails?

[MoBuckChaser]

Another thing to note is hinge cutting and releasing mast trees will provide more food than any number of shaded trails will by far.

With stand placement, it is very hard for a hunter not to hunt right on his, or your food plots (trails) but on a small property one of the worse things you can do is put a plot in the middle and walk in there every other weekend and hunt it. I would really concentrate on hinging a 1/3 of the way in from your fence lines for bedding and hunt around the perimeter when winds allow it. But only you can make that call.

I do have a 40 that I hunt in the middle on a ridge. We hunt it mornings only, mostly when temperature inversions take the scent up and not down to ground level. I almost always bust deer going in, but during the rut, it is worth going in there. Otherwise we don't hunt in there.

 

[Someday isle]

I really like that idea. As you can see on the rough map I drew, our primary stand efforts this year were as low impact as possible and really staying on the perimeter. With the exception of the north side we can access the perimeter reasonably well depending how n wind conditions. I'd like that to stay a priority. It's tough right now because we're so anxious to get working on the future but I don't want to make mistakes that we can't undo. This cold weather along with a busy month personally and at work will keep us out for a a little while.

On another note, my soil test probe came yesterday so I'll head out one morning next week and take some samples and get them to the MU extension. We've decided with three deer in the freezer we are done hunting this year. When I take my samples I'll do another walk around and just try to picture things better.

Keep the advice coming - MoBuckChaser, I appreciate your straightforward approach and advice. Please don't hesitate to critique my plans. I'm an old hunter but a new habitat manager so I'm open minded. Mostly I want this to be a fun learning experience for my boys so they can hunt and learn a lifetimes worth of knowledge.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

As many in MN will tell you. You can do all the work you can on a property, and still have shitty hunting. I know, I have done many properties plus my own home farm in MN, still terrible deer hunting. That is why Missouri has been so much fun since I first started buying there. You can screw up all you want and deer still come by. The key is making the mature deer come by! That can be difficult at times, even when you think you have everything perfect!

 

[Bill]

Not that it will help me add any thing but do you have a zoomed out pic that includes the neighborhood?
Sometimes a neighboring finger or hedgerow through a field set a direction of movement and thus stand placement.

I'm with Mo and many others, picking at the edges usually offers better hunting long term than busting into the middle. That said I have a few stands smack dab it the middle of timber for those special occasions during the rut.

 

[Someday isle]

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[Someday isle]

My property is right in the middle. On the south border you can see a connecting section of woods from the neighboring property. There is a sometimes used trail there.


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[MoBuckChaser]

I will say this, it looks like you bought the right 36 acres. I wish i was there to see how much bedding is on the neighbors!

I would be drawing in bucks from all over by concentrating on making mostly doe bedding.

Great looking spot you picked up there!

 

[Bill]

One potential spot for a stand that cry's out to me is your NW corner. Deer should be using on you just inside the hay field corner.
It might be a good SE wind stand. Lord knows we had enough of those this year. If that trail was extended to it I'd be willing to bet the deer would meander down it on the way to the hay field. It would be a long walk in down the west line but your wind would be blowing out.

 

[Bigshooter19]

If i'm understanding the map right id be moving my camping area to the outside edge and use that as another food plot. If i were you food plot will help more than you can image. The only difference that i know of for hinge cutting for doe bedding and buck bedding is location. Big mature deer in my area like place they can see a long distance and anything that may be coming.I think if you put a decent amount of does in your food plot ever night the bucks will come. Like mo said be nice to walk around see what you have and what you don't have. Plant what you neighbors don't have. By me I have a super amount of AG ground corn,beans,wheat,alfalfa.I planted clover this year and deer went crazy along with some rape seed and turnips. I will be bk to check out my food plot this weekend. Has been getting pretty cold here now and very interested to see how it looks. This is what they have done to my plot last time i was in there 2 weeks ago.

 

[Someday isle]

I will say this, it looks like you bought the right 36 acres. I wish i was there to see how much bedding is on the neighbors!

I would be drawing in bucks from all over by concentrating on making mostly doe bedding.

Great looking spot you picked up there!

Thanks! It's great to be validated after putting so much time into looking for what we wanted.

 

[Someday isle]

One potential spot for a stand that cry's out to me is your NW corner. Deer should be using on you just inside the hay field corner.
It might be a good SE wind stand. Lord knows we had enough of those this year. If that trail was extended to it I'd be willing to bet the deer would meander down it on the way to the hay field. It would be a long walk in down the west line but your wind would be blowing out.

I agree - we need to do some work on that North border to better access that corner.

 

[Someday isle]

Bigshooter 19 - the 110 acres to my south has a 5 acre bean field but other than that there are no food plots or AG around. I've definitely considered moving my campground. It's a half acre that is pretty open. The biggest drawback there honestly is that I'm the new neighbor and don't want to change where everybody else is used to each other's camps being. It's a unique group in that everybody gets along and they're all just seeming to be really good guys. We've had a couple compound work days where the four of us that share the road have spent the day cleaning things up and getting to know each other. The last thing I want to do is make waves early on. Your suggestion is certainly something I'd consider down the road though after I've been around a while. Right now I value the good relationship with the neighbors too much to stir things up. Plus it's a nice campground now that I've cleaned it up a lot.

 

[Bigshooter19]

Bigshooter 19 - the 110 acres to my south has a 5 acre bean field but other than that there are no food plots or AG around. I've definitely considered moving my campground. It's a half acre that is pretty open. The biggest drawback there honestly is that I'm the new neighbor and don't want to change where everybody else is used to each other's camps being. It's a unique group in that everybody gets along and they're all just seeming to be really good guys. We've had a couple compound work days where the four of us that share the road have spent the day cleaning things up and getting to know each other. The last thing I want to do is make waves early on. Your suggestion is certainly something I'd consider down the road though after I've been around a while. Right now I value the good relationship with the neighbors too much to stir things up. Plus it's a nice campground now that I've cleaned it up a lot.

Yeah man I hear ya. Hunting pressure,food,cover. All them things you can control. You do your best on all of them and you will be successful in your own way rather that's taking a mature deer or seeing alot of deer. Keep me posted best of luck to you. Whatever you do to improve you land is step in the right direction!

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[Someday isle]

I got my soil tests back today and started a new thread on it. If any of you guys have any advice based on those results I'm all ears. I posted it in the food plot forum.

Thanks,
Dwight