Property Layout

[H80Hunter]

Not sure if this is the exact right forum:

We have a CRP contract expiring at the end of 2021 and want to actively manage the property for hunting habitat and my wife's horse ownership (pasture, hay field layout, etc). On the hunting side, I'm starting to lay out the area of our property that is basically a blank canvas. I've watched a lot of Jeff Sturgis habitat videos on youtube and am trying to implement some of these principles. Can anyone point to any more resources that would be helpful for this? I'd say there's about 40 acres of CRP that will be ready for whatever I want to do with it. I'm starting to think about some real "full sized" food plots, switchgrass plantings, tree plantings, etc to fill the open space. Anyone got anything to share?

 

[j-bird]

Read Jeff's books....his "By design" series.....at least the "white-tail success by design" one. They will help piece together the small bits and pieces you get off of you-tube and the like. Other books that may help are "mapping trophy whitetail" - this will help you understand how the deer use terrain features and how to work WITH what you have vs against it. Another book is by Steve Bartylla "White-tail deer management and habitat improvement".

Take a good long hard look at what you have and how the deer use your place and how your place fits in to the area as a whole. Your property is not an island and the deer will come and go and it's important to know when, where and why this happens. Look at the habitat basics and what the deer need (food, water, cover and space) and see which one is the most lacking in your area and focus on that. No point planting food plots if the deer have plenty or food already.....even though food plots are heavily pushed....that is because it's easier for people to make money that way. And you don't do anything...until you have a comprehensive plan. Just doing a little here and a little there simply makes deer patterns very difficult to nail down, may put deer where you don't want them and overall make hunting them even harder!

I suspect that with your place being smaller you are going to have to focus on attracting deer vs holding them. This is just a harsh reality many of us face. We simply lack the control of enough land to encompass everything a deer needs. As such we have to come to terms with the fact that we may be able to hold a few deer at times, but mostly we are going to have to share those deer with neighbors. This is where having a plan is very important as you want to disturb as little as possible making the deer feel as safe as possible.

 

[H80Hunter]

It's still not a "big" propertyt but we have 160 acres total. The neighbor also has 240 so it's pretty low hunting pressure in general. But, point taken. I think I will buy the books you recommended, thanks.

 

[Bszweda]

Why not post a topo / some aerials? I'd include a zoomed out view of the surrounding properties. Are you mainly a bow hunter or gun hunter? How's the hunting currently? I would think the existing 40 acres of CRP would be a big draw for wildlife.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Curious, Why would you want to take the 40 out of CRP?

 

[yoderjac]

Not sure if this is the exact right forum:

We have a CRP contract expiring at the end of 2021 and want to actively manage the property for hunting habitat and my wife's horse ownership (pasture, hay field layout, etc). On the hunting side, I'm starting to lay out the area of our property that is basically a blank canvas. I've watched a lot of Jeff Sturgis habitat videos on youtube and am trying to implement some of these principles. Can anyone point to any more resources that would be helpful for this? I'd say there's about 40 acres of CRP that will be ready for whatever I want to do with it. I'm starting to think about some real "full sized" food plots, switchgrass plantings, tree plantings, etc to fill the open space. Anyone got anything to share?

Absolutely! CRP is not the only program USDA offers. We have used their EQIP program in the past and it worked well for us. They also have other programs that are wildlife related that provide funding for certain conservation practices. What is even better is that USDA sent out a biologist and our game department did as well. They worked in concert with our private forester to develop a plan that USDA uses to provide funding. We rode the property with these folks. We told them we wanted to manage for deer and turkey as our primary species but for wildlife in general. We told them we wanted to balance those goals with our timber sales and value (we have a pine farm). We worked with the biologists and together came up with a plan that fit our needs.

All of these resources were free to us from an advice perspective except our private forester. He is paid a percentage each time we sell timber, but he conducts the sale and manages the loggers for us as part of that fee.

I'm in VA, so your game department may be set up differently, but USDA/NRCS works nation wide.

Thanks,

Jack