Land Plan Recommendations Needed

[Camp 2 Dukes]

Hi Guys
I can not express how great it has been reading many of the threads on this site. Hats off to many experienced folk and Admins. I hope its OK to bounce a property plan off anyone willing to read and give insight.
I bought this piece of property with 2 friends back in 2001. It is 142 acres in Northern WI. Just N of 8. There is about 30 acres of tillable. Unfortunately there is currently no good access to the fields. This was one of the partners family farm and when it was sold we did not get the house with 40 that holds the field access. The guy that bought it is from Chicago and lets just say he has not made many friends in the area nor does he seem to care to. The 1st time I stopped to meet him there was a dead goat in the middle of summer rotting in his drive way. That said it all. He does not want any body using his tractor trails. So we have left it in prairie grass unless we are doing food plots. I have noticed when we till it over it comes in thick in red clover until the grass takes over. Also the deer do seem to bed in the grass especially during gun deer season.
We have done some work mostly just access trails and tree stand locations. We did food plots for a few years. When we got rain they came in great. We have access to some equipment and I have purchased some as well. It is 4 hours from home so our time there is limited. Of the 3 of us only 2 of us care put forth any effort on the property. That is a double edged sword. The 3rd owner really only gun hunts it for 2 days and that is about it. Which pretty leaves it for the 2 of us and my son to hunt. The other partner only gun hunts so the property gets little to no pressure doing bow season. Over the years I have pretty much figured out what the deer are typically doing and hunt the last weekend of Oct and the 1st 2 of November. Northern WI had 2 tough winters in a row which has really been tough on deer sightings. That said during bow season we always have bucks running around. This year I saw 6 different bucks and a number of doe groups. However the minute gun season opens the deer seem to vanish. I am assuming our property must not have the holding power it needs. Which brings me to why I am trying to create a land plan. Any input is appreciated.
My other "active" partner has recently had limited funds (divorced) and many other interests so this is not necessarily on his list of high priorities. He will help but I know him it will be limited. So I will be pretty much be going it alone with the help of my 12 yr old son who is not afraid of work and we love spending time together outdoors. I have tried to give as much detail as I could think of I hope there is enough information here to make assessments.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

This is the property currently. I may post a larger aerial photo to get a better idea of large deer movement.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

This what I came up with for a property plan. Hopefully get this done in a weekend. Right? JK. I expect this to be probably a 5 yr project with a 20 - 30 yr. ROI.

 

[Bill]

Without digging to deep. I think there may be to many sidewalks. I've yet to make one of those but plan on maybe trying.

Keep in mind the browsing hinge cuts may become prime bedding.

Contact the divorced guy and buy him out. Alone :). He's got the best funnel in the neighborhood. Though you have it on your side of the fense too.

I'll keep looking at it. Are you hunting in the middle of the timber often? Partially why I questioned the sidewalk count.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

Thanks Bill
Many of the sidewalks are existing deer trails. There certainly could be too many. I tried to emulate the sample plan Steve showed. I noticed he had a number of sidewalks around the border and tied them together on the inside. That made sense to me when he talked about getting them to wage as much time as possible on your property. It looked like he was almost making them walk in circles on his property. The only issue with buying out the neighbor is the house on the property. They have really let it get run down.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

Bill on the East side of our property just off our property (where the doe and buck beds are marked) is actually an island surrounded by swamp. If you look close you can see it has a small high spot that connects it to our piece. I call that the gateway. I have kept that location in my back pocket. Nobody else has figured that spot out yet.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

This is a bigger area shot. You can see we are not far from the "Big Woods" Our property is the one in the south east corner outlined in white

 

[wiscwhip]

That looks like a honey of a spot, what winds do you hunt it in? It seems like anything other than a primarily easterly wind would not work very well. SE wind so your scent blows into the open woods to the NW of the funnel?

 

[kl9]

Does the 17 acre neighbor to be south allow you to access your land via his?

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

That looks like a honey of a spot, what winds do you hunt it in? It seems like anything other than a primarily easterly wind would not work very well. SE wind so your scent blows into the open woods to the NW of the funnel?

That is the tough part. Deer can come at you from any direction. The property to the N is the 400 under QDM it is good property lots of deer come off of it. I tend to hunt it with a NNW wind.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

Does the 17 acre neighbor to be south allow you to access your land via his?

He will he is a great guy. Retired military helicopter pilot. His daughter is a Thunderbird pilot. His property really has no access to ours water all around his. His 17 is pretty much an island. The black property line is actually a creek. We own to the N of the creek. The creek is literally the boundary

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

That looks like a honey of a spot, what winds do you hunt it in? It seems like anything other than a primarily easterly wind would not work very well. SE wind so your scent blows into the open woods to the NW of the funnel?

I have 3 stands near the gateway only one right at it. If you look close there is a low spot of tags to the west of it. NNW can be safe. I have another stand just NW of the gateway that I can hunt a SW wind. And yes of course E wind. Which I had a lot this yr. The only other issue is it is way back on the property and you tend to spook deer getting to it.

 

[Bill]

Thanks Bill
Many of the sidewalks are existing deer trails. There certainly could be too many. I tried to emulate the sample plan Steve showed. I noticed he had a number of sidewalks around the border and tied them together on the inside. That made sense to me when he talked about getting them to wage as much time as possible on your property. It looked like he was almost making them walk in circles on his property. The only issue with buying out the neighbor is the house on the property. They have really let it get run down.

That makes more sense now. I was looking at it from a hunting the sidewalks stand point not a deer time management standpoint. My neighborhood has allowed me to slip in the time management area. But there was a time I spent hours tying down scrape and licking branches just to occupy their time. I need to do that again.

Make an offer for raw land if the house is rough. But I'd bet it could be made to beet sleeping in a tent :D.
Lots of big timber in your area. No wonder they come all directions. I'd try and get your prairie planted into something easy like clover. Even if you can't mow it. Clover will last a while with weeds.

I'm not on the ground but your NW corner has to be a good a road crossing. I also see the neighbor to the west has been at this a while even if thier shooting small ones. That road screen isn't new.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

One other neat feature of the property is it has an abandoned Rail Road bed that runs through it. They built it up back in the 20s and never put tracks down. It is the long white line running N and S in the 1st pic.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

That makes more sense now. I was looking at it from a hunting the sidewalks stand point not a deer time management standpoint. My neighborhood has allowed me to slip in the time management area. But there was a time I spent hours tying down scrape and licking branches just to occupy their time. I need to do that again.

Make an offer for raw land if the house is rough. But I'd bet it could be made to beet sleeping in a tent :D.
Lots of big timber in your area. No wonder they come all directions. I'd try and get your prairie planted into something easy like clover. Even if you can't mow it. Clover will last a while with weeds.

I'm not on the ground but your NW corner has to be a good a road crossing. I also see the neighbor to the west has been at this a while even if thier shooting small ones. That road screen isn't new.

Bill you are spot on with the NW corner. They currently use the field not sure if the sidewalk can entice them to walk on our side of the fence. That road is a gravel township road.
The neighbors piece with the funnel was one of my partners house where he grew up. The funnel is good but not as good as it looks like it should be. I thought about buying it and selling the house and 5. But would be afraid I might get stuck with it or have to dump too much money in it. If you notice we have a cabin in the west edge. In the big woods country I have noticed they often come right across the prairie. In S WI where it is primarily AG they seek out the small wood lots. It seems in the N it is flipped. Where it is all wooded they seek out the fields / open areas. Especially fields that are secluded.

 

[bwoods11]

This is a bigger area shot. You can see we are not far from the "Big Woods" Our property is the one in the south east corner outlined in white
View attachment 11843

Wow, that is big timber. Must be bear and wolves in the area??

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

Wow, that is big timber. Must be bear and wolves in the area??

There are for sure. For a few years we had wolves. Then the DNR (and maybe a few locals) removed the wolves. The president of the cattleman's association is in the neighborhood and has had the feds remove a number of the wolves. Haven't seen or heard a wolf in 3 years. The bears were thick and are still around but I know of 39 bears shot int he past 3 years. 30 on AG tags.

 

[shawnv]

How about having a logger come in and clear cut a couple clear cut chunks in the NE corner rather than hinge? You could earn a little to pay for some of the projects and have the logger make a nice access road for you to get back to the plots. I think your place has a lot of potential for nice stand locations for sure.

 

[Camp 2 Dukes]

How about having a logger come in and clear cut a couple clear cut chunks in the NE corner rather than hinge? You could earn a little to pay for some of the projects and have the logger make a nice access road for you to get back to the plots. I think your place has a lot of potential for nice stand locations for sure.

Shawn you are right that would be great. Unfortunately we hired one who never showed. We have not pursued it too hard. Anyone that may have a good logger recommendation would be appreciated. Again N WI.

 

[shawnv]

Some decent smaller guys are good and treat you better than the bigger guys. Saw this ad...

https://eauclaire.craigslist.org/wan/5915156171.html