How much habitat work

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Do you actually do? I had the pleasure of spending the entire week at my farm this week. One thing I noticed is as much I love, value and understand the importance of habitat work, it generally gets pushed last. It’s all I can do to keep up with “maintenance”, so things like tsi, spraying undesirables, maintaining plots get very little attention. With my week I’ve, sprayed the weeds in driveway, changed oil in truck and equipment, cut grass, bushhogged roads, planted two screening strips to block road view, cut trails to two new stands, pressure washed house, cleaned out garage, painted exterior doors, stained porch posts, brought a busted banks blind from a tornado up to the shop to fix, went to other farm for 30 minutes to look at new plots which looked like crap, cut downed trees from said storm out of new road (about killed me and still not done), and spent two full days working on roads. When I’m talking to myself I like to say, I bought a farm to work on roads and if I have time deer hunt. My world revolves around getting water to go where I want it! So my habitat work in 7 days was sprayed two plots that had gotten away from me, planted 2 strips of millet in some early successional area I set back for the quail.
So all in all, I did almost nothing to make my hunting better! Im not complaining, just observing. It’s amazing how much time upkeep takes. I literally woke up at 5:30 every morning and didn’t sit town until 7 each night. I also have the thought that the habitat stuff for deer in ag country is only so necessary. I’m going to have what I have regardless of what little I do.

 

[Brian662]

I hear ya brother. Between a couple states and a few properties mixed with small kids, it's about all I can do to keep up with minor maintenance. I wish it were different but I've still got a 50 hour/week job to shuffle in between the rest of it.
Neighbor just sent me this Pic, so when I get back to WI next I'll be spending the day fixing driveways and culverts, not to mention more money in gravel and fill.



Just had a new logging road/tractor access cut into the bluff on our new property, haven't even gotten to see it yet let alone seed it...I'm sure it's washed out already. Very frustrating, but a reminder of who is really in charge..certainly not us.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I hear ya brother. Between a couple states and a few properties mixed with small kids, it's about all I can do to keep up with minor maintenance. I wish it were different but I've still got a 50 hour/week job to shuffle in between the rest of it.
Neighbor just sent me this Pic, so when I get back to WI next I'll be spending the day fixing driveways and culverts, not to mention more money in gravel and fill.
View attachment 65636


Just had a new logging road/tractor access cut into the bluff on our new property, haven't even gotten to see it yet let alone seed it...I'm sure it's washed out already. Very frustrating, but a reminder of who is really in charge..certainly not us.

100%! We are finally getting some rain this morning, which is huge. First in a couple weeks of any significance. I’m sure the road on the steep hill I spent about five hours working on is already starting to get washout ruts in it. My roads are never actually fixed. They are just temporarily passable.

 

[Bill]

I've done the big things. Did way to much TSI early on but those place are still thick. Planted miles of MG so that's done.
My work these days is planting and spraying beans and mowing clover. I agree in ag country the critters are already around. No need for perfect weed free magazine food plots.

 

[Turkish]

Do you actually do? I had the pleasure of spending the entire week at my farm this week. One thing I noticed is as much I love, value and understand the importance of habitat work, it generally gets pushed last. It’s all I can do to keep up with “maintenance”, so things like tsi, spraying undesirables, maintaining plots get very little attention. With my week I’ve, sprayed the weeds in driveway, changed oil in truck and equipment, cut grass, bushhogged roads, planted two screening strips to block road view, cut trails to two new stands, pressure washed house, cleaned out garage, painted exterior doors, stained porch posts, brought a busted banks blind from a tornado up to the shop to fix, went to other farm for 30 minutes to look at new plots which looked like crap, cut downed trees from said storm out of new road (about killed me and still not done), and spent two full days working on roads. When I’m talking to myself I like to say, I bought a farm to work on roads and if I have time deer hunt. My world revolves around getting water to go where I want it! So my habitat work in 7 days was sprayed two plots that had gotten away from me, planted 2 strips of millet in some early successional area I set back for the quail.
So all in all, I did almost nothing to make my hunting better! Im not complaining, just observing. It’s amazing how much time upkeep takes. I literally woke up at 5:30 every morning and didn’t sit town until 7 each night. I also have the thought that the habitat stuff for deer in ag country is only so necessary. I’m going to have what I have regardless of what little I do.

Sometimes, it’s all I can do to take care of my 2800 sq ft house, yard and pool. With my career being more demanding and kids being more active, I find myself paying for some repair work I’d have done myself earlier in life. And it irks me. As bad as I want a cabin on a farm, I have learned that I won’t be able to devote the necessary time to maintaining all that until I’m retired, especially if it’s very far from the house. Sucks, but it’s true.

 

[SD51555]

This is the reason I rode a missile down the rabbit hole of regen growing and native forest management. I'm not claiming to be an expert at either, but that is where my learning and efforts go. I have enough to do mowing the grass (which I now hired out) and maintaining the cabin (which is almost maintenance free) and weeding the garden (which is mulched so heavy, I can weed it in about 10 minutes/weekend)

I do not like repetitive chores that are necessary to maintain the status quo. If I'm gonna sweat, I wanna see something new. This is why I try to avoid buying trees, cages, posts, mats, etc. I still do it, but it is very little. I don't enjoy liming, spraying, or maintaining equipment. I have a lawn mower and wheeler that require some annual care, but that's it. I've been avoiding getting a trail and plot mower, but I'm not finding an acceptable total cost that can also get the job done. I don't particularly enjoy planting trees, but I will plant the easy ones.

 

[SwampCat]

I dont know how you guys do it that dont live on your place. I live on my place and cant get it dont. My house, yard, and driveway take second fiddle. Today, we picked blackberries, ran the coon traps, watered some of the trees - and I do plan on mowing my tiny front yard. Down here - fruit trees require a lot more work than what they are worth. They are the most labor intensive of my projects - and they are mostly for me. Deer dont seem to pay them much attention - except to rub them - I dont have one more deer because of my four or five producing apples and a couple of pears. I will have another 20 oor so producing trees in two or three years. They do browse the muscadines. I quit planting all spring and summer plots for deer - mostly soybeans. I dont think I have one less deer because of it. . I rely on perennial clover from my fall planting to get through most of the summer. I do plant for doves in the spring and ducks in the summer. I have done some tsi work - that helped the stand, but again, provided no more deer. Trails require a lot of work. Keeping the open areas open require a lot of work.

My cattle ranching neighbor has 1200 acres - about half pasture and half woods. He does not one single thing for the deer except a very restrictive harvest. He plants fescue and sprays to kill broadleafs. He is covered up with deer. I have rode through his place of an evening and see over 160 healthy deer

 

[356]

Definitely more than I can handle...most of the time my focus is to keep up with repairs, but I'm failing at that right now, as I have some steps to repair at the cabin (3 hours south). However, I find the satisfaction of land ownership--even when it gets a little overwhelming--far more rewarding than the nine "wilderness years" living in Kansas City and not have any land to care for or work.

At this point I am just a little more than two years from retirement, Lord willing, and I have a feeling that I'll still be overwhelmed with projects when that time comes.

I still have dozens of trees to cut due to our late spring storms. I also need to remove some saplings growing by the pond and clean the fence rows. On top of that I need to start thinking about the timing of the late August planting (which means July nuking) and putting up the tower blind and another tree stand.

On the other hand, I don't need worry about warm season plots (the EQIP plots and ag soybeans take care of that) and with no-till I don't need to worry about discing or preparing beds. Last year's soil tests showed I don't need to do any amendments, so I'd add my voice to SD51555's singing the praises of low-impact, no-til regenerative practices.

 

[SD51555]

On the other hand, I don't need worry about warm season plots (the EQIP plots and ag soybeans take care of that) and with no-till I don't need to worry about discing or preparing beds. Last year's soil tests showed I don't need to do any amendments, so I'd add my voice to SD51555's singing the praises of low-impact, no-til regenerative practices.

When i was out surveying the summer flush, I found about equal interest in native browse as I did in the plots. If I had to pick a winner, I'd say they're hitting browse harder right now. Next best would be the stemmy YSC, balansa, and they're warming up on the chicory. They're not eating chicory leaves though, they're only hitting the stems of the tall bolts.

 

[Tree Spud]

Since I have retired, has been amazing how much work I have gotten done. I am able to commit 2-3 days in a row an get some real momentum going. My work splits 50/50 with farm, equipment, etc. I am enjoining the projects more now as I am not under such as a time crunch with limited weekend time.

 

[356]

When i was out surveying the summer flush, I found about equal interest in native browse as I did in the plots. If I had to pick a winner, I'd say they're hitting browse harder right now. Next best would be the stemmy YSC, balansa, and they're warming up on the chicory. They're not eating chicory leaves though, they're only hitting the stems of the tall bolts.

When I was putting permethrin tags in the blinds I bumped deer from the EQIP. In addition to pollinators that deer don’t eat but make great bedding (Butterfly Milkweed, Queen Anne’s Lace, Wild Carrot and Horsenettle) the plot is filled with berries and brambles, pokeweed, ragweed, white clover, elephant’s foot, poison ivy, Prairie Rose, American plum, Deertongue (which turkey love) and a variety of other native plants.

For those will limited time, EQIP provides 1) A plan to follow, 2) Results that can be measured, 3) Habitat that benefits many critters that is generally native to the area and 4) Cost share funds that can be used to hire out some of the projects (I hired out invasive cedar removal).

Here is a picture of the EQIP plot from yesterday (6-23-2024) and during the dormant season burn (2-18-2024).

 

[West_Fork]

Road repairs
Weed spraying
Pipeline and troughs
Fence repairs and gates
Cameras
Fuel reduction and tree removal
Hunting people

It's all habitat work in my book and nothing I like doing more.

The best is that I would use 15+ gallons of spray mix to treat weeds over the course of a summer 20 years ago. Now its no more than 5 gallons and two days of hiking.

 

[g squared 23]

I’m 95% habitat I guess as I don’t have a living quarters or a road to maintain. Building a cabin on a lot this fall so thats soon to change.

Having multiple days in a row to commit to a project would be a blessing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Barndog56]

During the winter and early spring, when I have lots of spare time, I start too many projects that I then don't have the time for once summer gets here. Now that we've actually become a full fledged dahlia farm, some of the other things have taken a backseat. Falling behind on the upkeep of my apple orchard and wildflower areas.

My actual food plot plantings haven't seemed to have much affect on my deer activity anyway. All I've got for them now is a grassy plot with white clover and alfalfa, but they're using it constantly. Still eating acorns from last year's crop too. All I'm planning to do for them is overseed with winter rye this fall.

Of course it hasn't helped that it rains almost every other day it seems. I have three days off every week but I'm lucky if I actually get two days to work outside.

 

[omicron1792]

When I was putting permethrin tags in the blinds I bumped deer from the EQIP. In addition to pollinators that deer don’t eat but make great bedding (Butterfly Milkweed, Queen Anne’s Lace, Wild Carrot and Horsenettle) the plot is filled with berries and brambles, pokeweed, ragweed, white clover, elephant’s foot, poison ivy, Prairie Rose, American plum, Deertongue (which turkey love) and a variety of other native plants.

For those will limited time, EQIP provides 1) A plan to follow, 2) Results that can be measured, 3) Habitat that benefits many critters that is generally native to the area and 4) Cost share funds that can be used to hire out some of the projects (I hired out invasive cedar removal).

Here is a picture of the EQIP plot from yesterday (6-23-2024) and during the dormant season burn (2-18-2024).
View attachment 65666
View attachment 65667

Looks gorgeous

 

[Jlane35]

We are fortunate to have a business which provides manpower to the property when they are free from jobs. So that meant 5 guys for roughly 6 hours the other day. All 30 man hours were spent on clearing trails and encroaching growth, mowing grass and weed eating around our pond and pavilion, splitting wood to restock the fire pit pile and removing tree cages to remove brush and put the cages back up.

I don’t know how most guys get everything done on their places without spending all weekend, every weekend.

But again having everything clean orderly does make spending time on the property more enjoyable.

 

[West_Fork]

I am still a one man show. I started building a cabin about 30 years ago and got as far as the foundation and metal floor joists, so that has survived well all these years. After starting that project I moved to forestry work, weeds, pipeline and water improvements, and roads and never got back to building a place to sleep. As of this past week I am back to working on the quarters, I feel I am on top of everything else so now to take care of myself.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Father of 3 active kids, travel a lot for work, camp is 3 hours away. Camp has a ratty camper and shipping container. I too get stressed, especially when if feels like you are just maintaining and not making forward progress; and usually doing all the work yourself.

Things I’ve noticed:

The more stuff you build (food plots, trees plantings, roads and camps with rough lawns) the busier you you get with maintenance and not improvements.

Summer plots are tough because my kids are in school/activities and the spring is generally busier. The weather seems finicky (always to wet), and the grass/weeds grow like crazy.

I think the transition to clover and more fall plots is in my future.

Build it right once - nothing I hate more than dicking around dong something 2/3/4 times because you didn’t do it right the 1st time.

I like new equipment - I usually have limited time to get my projects done. When I want to get a project done, I want my equipment to start and perform. Ive worked for operations with subpar equipment - and it’s always a “fix it, to fix it, before you can actually fix it”. Fine if you are getting paid by the hour, tough if you have to get the project done before heading out to a gymnastics recital or hockey game!

Hire equipment and operators out if you don’t have the time. They get done 5x the work you can in 10% of the time.

 

[sandbur]

I have been retired for five years and now do a lot less habitat work. Maybe two or three dozen apple trees get reasonable care and the other trees get far less attention. I no longer plant my own food plots as my dairyman/ renter plants corn and alfalfa and helps with my corn plot.

This spring i planted about six spruce trees and two apple trees. I will probably do less next year.

I do have a hunting property about two hours away. Someone torched my cabin about 15 years ago. I guess it was all for the best. Far less work to maintain it.

Health has slowed down my habitat work and I have found I would rather fish. I am also much less focused on mature deer and just like our family to get about three or four deer for the table. We really don’t need anymore head mounts in the house.

Life changes. I want to enjoy the things and time that I have. I can’t see doing habitat work for 10-15 years in the future at almost age 70. The clock is ticking.

 

[sandbur]

I have been retired for five years and now do a lot less habitat work. Maybe two or three dozen apple trees get reasonable care and the other trees get far less attention. I no longer plant my own food plots as my dairyman/ renter plants corn and alfalfa and helps with my corn plot.

This spring i planted about six spruce trees and two apple trees. I will probably do less next year.

I do have a hunting property about two hours away. Someone torched my cabin about 15 years ago. I guess it was all for the best. Far less work to maintain it.

Health has slowed down my habitat work and I have found I would rather fish. I am also much less focused on mature deer and just like our family to get about three or four deer for the table. We really don’t need anymore head mounts in the house.

Life changes. I want to enjoy the things and time that I have. I can’t see doing habitat work for 10-15 years in the future at almost age 70. The clock is ticking.

I need to rephrase the one sentence. I can’t see doing any habitat work where results won’t be seen for 10-15 years. Heck even for 5-10 years. That would be things like planting more spruce or apple trees.

Just maintenance for now.