Property habitat improvements

[turkeyhunter20]

Hello all, first post here. I’ve been reading and learning on here for some time but I’m posting now to get some general ideas about habitat improvements for my property. We have roughly 65 acres in East Tennessee. Our property is long and narrow, around 0.6 miles long and 600yds wide at the widest point. The red line in the aerial represents the property line. The green are food plots that i have been planting for a couple years. The rest of the fields are mowed for hay every year and during the winter are cut and left at ankle height, providing nothing for deer. My main concern is converting our hay fields into something that will benefit deer, if not for bedding cover, then to increase daylight movement on the property.

The yellow lines show the usual directions deer are coming from to access the food plots, mainly at night. The area on the left is an a dense thicker that usually holds a group of 5-10 does. The rest of the deer are coming from the surrounding properties. We had our property select cut 4 years ago and that has thickened things up substantially but i have not seen much of an increase in attraction or bedding. The dark green areas at the bottom left of the property and in the lower center between the food plots are small stands of pine with nothing growing underneath that I’d like to do something with, I’m just not sure what. I’m also interested in creating some more cover/hinge cut bedding/ tree removal where needed. At the top of the property you can see green on a south facing slope that is a dense laurel thicket that occasionally will have a buck or two bedding in but never consistently. The property is very low pressure with only myself hunting it. I’d like to increase the attraction/ cover in order to increase the number of deer using the property

 

[Telemark]

Oh wow, that looks like an amazing deer property. I would start up in the northern third and just make as much bedding as possible, especially thicken up the area where deer enter your property.

Where is the property located?

Are you done growing hay? Or do you just want some kind of cover crop?

 

[turkeyhunter20]

Oh wow, that looks like an amazing deer property. I would start up in the northern third and just make as much bedding as possible, especially thicken up the area where deer enter your property.

Where is the property located?

Are you done growing hay? Or do you just want some kind of cover crop?

In East Tennessee, just west of Knoxville. The fields have been cut by a friend of mine for the past 10 years or so solely to keep me from having to mow it. I do not have any cattle nor do i get any income from the hay so I’m ready to turn the hay fields into something that will provide for deer

 

[jsasker007]

I go with my usual suggestion of clover and chicory as a starting point that deer will eat daily. Depending on how many acres you want in food plots you might want some oats and peas that will draw deer to your property but require replanting every year. Rye grain is good anywhere and helps to keep the weeds down to a minimum. Where you put the plots on your property is your call.

 

[Telemark]

I would start by screening the road with a multi-layered but staggered screen to allow deer to continue to come onto your property from across the road but block the view of passers by. Then I would start converting the hay field nearest the food plots to cool season perennial blend.

I would leave the mature pines, but plant more spruce and pines around those clusters, interspersed with shrubs and bushy trees. Maybe surround those bedding oases with a connecting field of switch grass.

 

[Native Hunter]

You have one of the best habitat guys in the world at the University of Tennessee - Dr. Craig Harper. Below is a link to a good article for managing your fields for deer. He has also written a bunch of good books, and there are dozens of podcasts on Youtube where he discusses all kinds of habitat management techniques. There is a good chance that just killing the cool season grasses in the hay fields could be all you need. That will release a multitude of native species from the seed bank. However, if you happen to have Johnson Grass or some other invasive species present, that will require some additional work. Good luck.

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/pb1855.pdf

 

[Hoytvectrix]

One thing you haven't mentioned yet is your access. I presume this is from the south by the road?

I think that is more important than knowing what to plant and where. Any chance you can access from the north along that ridge?

 

[BenAllgood]

Old field management, Forest Stand Improvement, and a destination food source that you can setup on pinch points going to it is what I'd do. Put the deer at ease in the daytime and give them a preferred food source that they can get to stress free. Dr. Harper's advice on how to do each of those is gold.

Here's another one of Dr. Harper's books to go along with the one @Native Hunter posted:

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1885.pdf

 

[turkeyhunter20]

One thing you haven't mentioned yet is your access. I presume this is from the south by the road?

I think that is more important than knowing what to plant and where. Any chance you can access from the north along that ridge?

I can actually access from any direction. The 60 acres to the left of my property i have permission to access as well as the property to the right. The property to the back is an 800 acre lease that i am a part of so i can access from any direction necessary. As of now while the fields are mowed during season i access from that direction because there are no deer in that area. But once I begin managing the fields i can access from anywhere. I do access from the back when hunting the back side of the property.

 

[turkeyhunter20]

Old field management, Forest Stand Improvement, and a destination food source that you can setup on pinch points going to it is what I'd do. Put the deer at ease in the daytime and give them a preferred food source that they can get to stress free. Dr. Harper's advice on how to do each of those is gold.

Here's another one of Dr. Harper's books to go along with the one @Native Hunter posted:

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1885.pdf

Went back and read Dr Harpers write ups as well as tracked down an old students that helped him on some graduate projects. As far as the field management goes, it seems very straightforward. Spray cool season grasses this fall, possibly again in the spring and let it go. I was shocked when Dr. Harper said one herbicide treatment at the right time can increase forage and cover 10x over the current condition of a field. Thank you for the information.