nrowles
5 year old buck +
Please read through as I really value your input and want to do this the best I can. My 15 acres gives my many challenges with this.
I read the Extreme Deer Habitat e-book in 4 days. I binged out. I got a lot of info but some of the fine details were left out. I have some pictures below for reference. Again, this is all jack pine. Not sure if I should have separated the different concepts to keep your attention but here is my full plan.
Some of the concepts the book mentions that I feel apply to my micro plan are as follows: bedding in back, plots near house, many small plots with separation, nice transition areas with brushy growth and browse, make a few barriers to determine deer movement.
I want to stay off the southern edge for now since my neighbors create some disturbance there.
The red is definitely getting cleared for our view from the house and I plan to plant fruit trees and bushes or just brush hog once a year for now.
The west end of the property with the small plot I plan to set up for turkey since that is where I have noticed most turkey activity.
Blue. The north and west edges of my property are where I see the most deer activity. On the north edge they travel east/west and on the west edge they travel north/south. Sometimes they round the corner and use both. These trees are much more mature and spread out. There is very little annual growth during the summer but I didn't make note of what it was. I plan to thin this a bit more to get sun to the ground and create some more native growth.
The yellow is 1 acre that I want to make bedding. I have a picture below of how I plan to do it. This will be done on the only area of my property where the trees are "rowed up". The black is standing tree. The white is open, creating growth and browse. The gray is where I am going to hinge cut my trees high to create bedding (I know the trees won't live or create much browse since pine). After 4-5 years when the original beds are useless I can cut the remaining trees for another 4-5 years of bedding. At the very beginning I can plant some spruce in the white area so after the 8-10 years they will be mature bedding.
Now this is where I am having more difficulty, the food plots. The area between the house and bedding is SOOOOO thick with trees that deer don't use it and I can't even walk through it. I'm thinking of putting 2 hourglass shaped plots of 1/4 acre each for a total of 1/2 acre. At the pinch point of the hourglass I would like to plant something like switchgrass to separate the ends and create what almost seems like 4 small plots in total. Cut a couple paths between the plots and my fruit trees. If I don't cut any paths between the bedding and the plots, the deer will come out the north end of the bedding and travel the same areas they travel now. They would then come into the north end of my plots. I can direct their travel a bit this way. Even if the deer aren't bedded in my bedding, their current natural movement would bring them in the north end of my plots. The only thing I'm worried about is creating too much restriction around my plots, so the deer may feel confined with no escape if danger comes. The restrictions would be the thickness of the current trees and windrowing of trees cleared.
Anybody still with me?
Will the plots area make the deer feel too confined or is it big enough with enough paths that's not an issue? I was thinking of clearing the entire area and planting brushy/browse/grassy stuff around the plots for transition areas. Of course that will cost me a lot more.
Are 28 20x30 beds too much or too big?
Bedding Layout
I read the Extreme Deer Habitat e-book in 4 days. I binged out. I got a lot of info but some of the fine details were left out. I have some pictures below for reference. Again, this is all jack pine. Not sure if I should have separated the different concepts to keep your attention but here is my full plan.
Some of the concepts the book mentions that I feel apply to my micro plan are as follows: bedding in back, plots near house, many small plots with separation, nice transition areas with brushy growth and browse, make a few barriers to determine deer movement.
I want to stay off the southern edge for now since my neighbors create some disturbance there.
The red is definitely getting cleared for our view from the house and I plan to plant fruit trees and bushes or just brush hog once a year for now.
The west end of the property with the small plot I plan to set up for turkey since that is where I have noticed most turkey activity.
Blue. The north and west edges of my property are where I see the most deer activity. On the north edge they travel east/west and on the west edge they travel north/south. Sometimes they round the corner and use both. These trees are much more mature and spread out. There is very little annual growth during the summer but I didn't make note of what it was. I plan to thin this a bit more to get sun to the ground and create some more native growth.
The yellow is 1 acre that I want to make bedding. I have a picture below of how I plan to do it. This will be done on the only area of my property where the trees are "rowed up". The black is standing tree. The white is open, creating growth and browse. The gray is where I am going to hinge cut my trees high to create bedding (I know the trees won't live or create much browse since pine). After 4-5 years when the original beds are useless I can cut the remaining trees for another 4-5 years of bedding. At the very beginning I can plant some spruce in the white area so after the 8-10 years they will be mature bedding.
Now this is where I am having more difficulty, the food plots. The area between the house and bedding is SOOOOO thick with trees that deer don't use it and I can't even walk through it. I'm thinking of putting 2 hourglass shaped plots of 1/4 acre each for a total of 1/2 acre. At the pinch point of the hourglass I would like to plant something like switchgrass to separate the ends and create what almost seems like 4 small plots in total. Cut a couple paths between the plots and my fruit trees. If I don't cut any paths between the bedding and the plots, the deer will come out the north end of the bedding and travel the same areas they travel now. They would then come into the north end of my plots. I can direct their travel a bit this way. Even if the deer aren't bedded in my bedding, their current natural movement would bring them in the north end of my plots. The only thing I'm worried about is creating too much restriction around my plots, so the deer may feel confined with no escape if danger comes. The restrictions would be the thickness of the current trees and windrowing of trees cleared.
Anybody still with me?
Will the plots area make the deer feel too confined or is it big enough with enough paths that's not an issue? I was thinking of clearing the entire area and planting brushy/browse/grassy stuff around the plots for transition areas. Of course that will cost me a lot more.
Are 28 20x30 beds too much or too big?
Bedding Layout