Property Layout help

[MattDDO]

Here a video from Jeff Sturgis that I think could apply really well to your property. Essentially, it talks about setting up a property as an "Inside-Out" property, which I think is great and something you could do. Bedding in the middle, multiple food sources toward the edges. Having wetter land already in the middle sets up nice for bedding in the middle. Food plots around more of the edges means you could setup an access trail around the perimeter of your property and (hopefully) have stand locations that you can access/hunt on any wind direction.
I'll quit yapping, Jeff's the expert not me :) Here's the video:

 

[Prelude8626]

 

[Prelude8626]

Here are a couple pictures of the right side of the wetland. Great summer/fall cover when the grass is up and green. Need to find a way to improve the winter cover.

 

[Prelude8626]

Here a video from Jeff Sturgis that I think could apply really well to your property. Essentially, it talks about setting up a property as an "Inside-Out" property, which I think is great and something you could do. Bedding in the middle, multiple food sources toward the edges. Having wetter land already in the middle sets up nice for bedding in the middle. Food plots around more of the edges means you could setup an access trail around the perimeter of your property and (hopefully) have stand locations that you can access/hunt on any wind direction.
I'll quit yapping, Jeff's the expert not me :) Here's the video:

I definitely have thought about that idea. The one question I would have for people who have tried it. How does that affect the deer feeding so close the neighboring properties. In Maine the normal hunter shoots at anything that is brown.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

From my hunting experience in Maine, I notice deer travel the edges of swamps / marshes, along edges where hardwood & softwood meet, and they utilize any trails such as snowmobile trails, logging trails, and the north/south blazed geographic lines that the state maintains. Any logged clear cuts draw deer for the flush of new growth from sunlight. Deer will bed up against brush piles of tops in those clear cuts. Logging activity = deer activity.

For Maine - Balsam fir, hemlock, northern white cedar and spruce would be the ticket for winter cover. They're all native there and should take right off.

Hunting the big woods of Maine is different than most other places because of the vast miles of unbroken timber. Logging activity is like ag in most other locations - it's the draw. Deer love to eat the grayish moss that hangs from so many trees there. When any trees are dropped - or fall over from age - the deer will zero in on those trees to eat the moss off them. Any sunlight getting to the ground & the new growth is like ringing the dinner bell there.

 

[Livesintrees]

I definitely have thought about that idea. The one question I would have for people who have tried it. How does that affect the deer feeding so close the neighboring properties. In Maine the normal hunter shoots at anything that is brown.

As long as they are on your property during the day who cares where they go at night. That’s the principal sturgis is getting at. I’ve hunted mean quite a few times and I think another real concern for you would be Road hunters. I’d make sure no one can see into the property from the outside anywhere. Then some Spruce and other things like that will provide excellent winter cover if you have the only food in the area you basically are going to have the property that dictates daytime movement

 

[Prelude8626]

As long as they are on your property during the day who cares where they go at night. That’s the principal sturgis is getting at. I’ve hunted mean quite a few times and I think another real concern for you would be Road hunters. I’d make sure no one can see into the property from the outside anywhere. Then some Spruce and other things like that will provide excellent winter cover if you have the only food in the area you basically are going to have the property that dictates daytime movement

There is no way for the property to be viewed from the roads. Did have some issues with trespassers this year and one poached deer but nipped that pretty quick. Where I am in Maine isn’t exactly like the “north woods”.

 

[Scott S]

I have little advice to offer as I'm new at this myself. I'm just excited to see someone else from New England in here and wanted to say hello. There's not many of us from what I can tell from reading here pretty extensively. I know nattybumpoo is from Mass, but other than that I don't think there's any other frequent contributors from New England.

Get used to getting called crazy for doing habitat work in our area. I deal with constant negativity because I'm working on a chunk of rock with hand tools and not some 100 hp tractor on AG land in Wisconsin. I've only been at it for 3 years, and only having a half decent big picture clue of what I was doing for the last year or so, and the results are already quite positive.

I look forward to your land tour thread.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Prelude - What part of Maine are you in ?? I've hunted west of Abbot Village area, and over around Howland /Upper Pistol Lake region.

 

[Prelude8626]

Prelude - What part of Maine are you in ?? I've hunted west of Abbot Village area, and over around Howland /Upper Pistol Lake region.

I’m just outside of Portland. Howland is about 3 hours north (maybe a little less). I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Lincoln but that was just on vacation.

 

[soavejas]

I would strongly recommend Steve Bartylla's habitat book. He goes in great depth in how to set up a property for deer hunting. I've read and listened to stuff from almost every deer and habitat manager I can get my hands on and in my opinion nobody even comes close to Steve.

The first step needs to be identifying your goals and making sure that they are somewhat obtainable.

In the meantime I would learn as much as you can about how the deer are using your property currently. Try to find areas where you can enhance the movement/bedding/feeding that will also allow you to hunt it in a very low impact manner. The less the deer are aware of your presence the more likely you are to achieve your goals.

Good luck and have fun.