Property updates, gentlemen??

[Bowsnbucks]

For those of us on here with some years of habitat work under our belts, share your top 5 habitat moves that have worked out well. This condensed info may help newer guys just getting their hands dirty. Could be burning, logging, hinging, planting certain things, digging a pond, or letting nature take its course.

 

[Brian662]

Some of my lessons learned, not necessarily in any particular order

-If you want the planting (tree,shrub,etc)to live, then protect it with a cage
-killing fescue is great for wildlife
-before you cut a tree, have a plan. They are not easily replaced
-find the missing piece in your area, could be cover, food, water, or security and provide that to your herd. Your property will be the best in the neighborhood.

Hunting strategy related

-water in huntable locations during a certain part of the year is a stronger draw than almost anything
-less is more, if you love to hunt and have to be out there watching wildlife, hunt very low impact observation type spots. Save the intrusion for prime time, my best spots get hunted once or twice a year when the time is right and a high percentage of the time it results in an encounter or harvest

 

[SwampCat]

Wheat and clover for deer. I used to plant all kinds of stuff - spring and fall. Some plantings required different planting dates a month apart. The hogs actually drove me to do it. They will graze wheat and clover - but typically wont root it too bad. No fertilizer, five consecutive days of planting for 35 acres, and the deer and turkeys use it just as well - if not better - than when I was planting everything under the sun.

Doe Factory - probably the biggest positive factor we have implemented. Back in about 2010 - my camera surveys turned up four does. We were part of the problem - just because the law allows multiple does to be killed does not mean you should do it.
Multiple One to two acre clover food plots where doe groups will make their home base. No doe shooting for seven straight years. We couldnt stop the neighbors - but we could stop ourselves. Went from four does to 40 does on those Sept camera surveys.

Defensive baiting. Baiting is a way of life where I live. Corn is stacked up head high as you go in the door at Krogers and quick marts. When you have 15 adjacent landowners - half of them with a corn feeder fifty yards off the property line - you will keep them happy with all your habitat work while they kill the deer you raised. After years of 15 acre landowners killing all the bigger bucks - we joined the crowd. We didnt just join them - we largely beat them at their own game. The neighbors normally just bait during season. We start with high protein feeds in June and go to Dec with that. I run a number of spin feeders using corn year round. Since we have done that, we have never killed a buck bigger than 185 lbs live. Now we kill a buck near or over 200 lbs every year. Antler sizes seem larger, also. The grand daughters have killed a few deer actually hunting bait - but for the most part - it goes unhunted. We have doubled our target buck harvest. Outbait thy neighbor and kill the deer early season.

What has been a bust, speaking purely from the perspective of improving wildlife numbers or use - any type of tree planting, NWSG, TSI hack n squirt.

I am not one to isolate my property from human use. I live on my property and am out and about on it daily. Might duck hunt in the morning, deer hunt in the evening, and coon hunt at night. Crawfishing, frogging, alligator hunting, fishing, thermal hunting, doves, dog training, fishing. Day and night - 365 days a year.

 

[SD51555]

1. Quit buying trees
2. Learn to identify what you have, what is good, what needs to come down, and best use for what needs to come down
3. Get out there with the saw and knock out the canopy and let the sun hit the good stuff
4. Transplant native trees from the road ditch before the county mower gets them
5. Minimize hours spent on maintenance / Maximize hours spent on durable improvements

 

[b116757]

Canopy release of oaks and native persimmons to promote acorn production and getting more sunlight to the ground in mature timber stands to promote undergrowth=cover and food

Adding fruit and nut trees but this is the long game and more $$$

Figuring out what naturally does well in your area with minimal care upper Great Lakes area zone 3 likely apples are king down south where I current live zone 6 persimmon and fireblight resistant pears are the best.

If you jump down the apple tree rabbit hole educate yourself on rootstocks before purchasing any trees. Dwarfing rootstocks = junk wildlife trees.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

1) create the thickest bedding area in the neighborhood and never go in there between July and January.
2) Plant road and property line screens.
3) Have better food options on your place than your neighbors.
4) Plant apple trees early and often, but always plant them in a row so you can mow around them easier
5) Put stands in locations where you can enter and exit without spooking many deer

 

[Native Hunter]

* Low pressure and human presence in sanctuary areas - especially after June - keep these areas as large as reasonably possible - do maintenance late winter and early spring - improve hunting strategies to keep from spooking during entry and exit
* Increased cover - especially cover that stays thick and secure after leaves have fallen - combination of hinge cutting, NWSGs, TSI, etc....
* Trigger restraint to get bucks to an older age class
* Fall food plots and various mast trees that attract and hold deer nearby during the hunting season
* Keep property lines marked and posted.

 

[BuckSutherland]

1. Eliminating food plots to focus on cover, thick bedding (especially conifers, grasses, browse), edges and secure travel corridors ( I have a hay field across the road that is the destination food source).
2. Cages/tubes, weed mats, mulch
3. Chainsaws and silky saws
4. Having a long-term definable plan before you go do a bunch of stupid shit.
5. Stay the F out of your woods until its time to hunt and stop going in like a dumbass to check cameras, look for sign, deploy scent or anything else that your average Fudd does to blow out your woods and turn all the deer nocturnal or send them to the neighbors.



In a year of the lowest deer numbers for my area I had the highest buck usage ever on my property and it wasn't even close. Keeps getting better every year as my property continues to thicken. Used to be 90+% does. Now it is around 50/50 for the October/November time period. I could care less what happens the other 10 months of the year. Cover trumped food 100 to 1 just like it does every single year when Fudd hits the woods. I was thoroughly impressed by what I saw in my woods in the post season walk through. Wish I could have hunted more than the last 4 days of rifle season. The neighbor shot a real nice 10 pt along our property line. Judging by all the rubs and scrapes he and several other bucks were highly active on my side of the line. Very encouraging from a habitat management perspective. Maybe next year I will find a little more time to hunt.

 

[Baker]

1) Successional timber harvest creating different growth stages across property
2) Simple food plots focusing on perennials ( clover ) and simple to grow small grains; unless you have a lot of equipment, land, and experience
3) A great road system!
4) Harvest management goals that match your circumstance
5) Plug the lowest holes in your ecosystem first...nutrition trumps all, water, cover realistic goals.....

 

[SwampCat]

I love these threads. They illustrate basically nothing is a given - nationwide or even across the street. I have properties in the same river bottom six miles apart and they manage nothing alike - with the exception of providing food.

Some guys stay off the majority of their property ten months of the year. I use mine 24/7/365. No acre on my ground is sacred. I couldnt justify buying land for nothing but deer hunting.

A lot of guys are mainly concerned and manage for deer. We pursue alligator, crawfish, frogs, doves, ducks, deer, hogs, turkeys, squirrels, coons, possums, fish - and more - all on our property. We probably spend as much time on duck management as anything. Deer are really pretty easy compared to the rest. People management goes a long way with deer hunting.

Cover seems to be a big component for most. Cover is everywhere around my place. Food is what brings pretty much all game species out of cover.

Fruit trees not worth the expense and labor here

NWSG provides little to no benefit - for anything at my place.

So interesting to see what works on other properties.

 

[Tree Spud]

1. Caging 100 trees, is far more successful than planting 1,000 uncaged/unprotected trees
2. Sanctuary, sanctuary, sanctuary ... once deer feel comfortable, and are not being bumped regularly by your presence, they will stay longer.
3. Screen your property boundaries with conifers. The sooner you do this the less prying eyes and fence line sitters you will have.
4. Creating screening around you food plot, and add vertical height in plot plantings make deer feel more comfortable.
5. Less is more ... not every idea on habitat forums or YouTube is a good idea. Be selective in the things you do as some things you do may take a long time to undo.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

All this is my opinion and opinion only!!

Planting trees is a waste of time for most landscapes represented on this board. UNLESS you have great habitat and just like planting trees

Keep plots simple. Wheat, clover, etc. Especially early in a plots life make it something you can spray to help with weed competition.

For small tracts bedding and cover is more important than worrying about food plots unless you have great neighbors.

Felling trees is good for most of us but…we also need to manage after the saw. Whether that is stump spraying or basal/foliar spraying after resprouting. Otherwise you are liable to have an extremely high stem count mess of low value tree (see almost every timber cut/thinning in the midwest).

Learn herbicides. They are a necessary evil. Invasive eradication is a noble and worthwhile cause but it’s also frustrating and expensive if you don’t understand when and how to do it.

Hunting management
If you want bigger bucks you have to pass on smaller bucks. He may get shot by your neighbors but if you shoot him he will absolutely get shot!

abnormal pressure on your property hurts. If you are constantly on the property you can get away with a lot more than a weekend warrior. Think about the wind on your path to and from and in the stand.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

1) Successional timber harvest creating different growth stages across property
2) Simple food plots focusing on perennials ( clover ) and simple to grow small grains; unless you have a lot of equipment, land, and experience
3) A great road system!
4) Harvest management goals that match your circumstance
5) Plug the lowest holes in your ecosystem first...nutrition trumps all, water, cover realistic goals.....

Good point on roads. So overlooked initially and such a pain to maintain when not done right.

 

[SD51555]

Felling trees is good for most of us but…we also need to manage after the saw. Whether that is stump spraying or basal/foliar spraying after resprouting. Otherwise you are liable to have an extremely high stem count mess of low value tree (see almost every timber cut/thinning in the midwest).

This is a big one. I have one tree that can get away from me quickly, and I know I've got to go back and do some maintenance. It's the balsam poplar. That stuff grows faster than anything in the woods, and the deer do not browse it at all. Most every other thing that comes up after cutting will get browsed to some degree, even tag alder. I've seen diamond will stumps explode in suckers and the deer trimmed it back completely.

But that Balsam Poplar can shoot up 10' in a year. It grows so fast the shoot stays green. I'll have to go back once they get to about 20' and knock them all back down. Same goes for tag alder. Eventually, that needs to be reset too. I also do follow up maintenance cuts where I have really good understory species emerging like conifers, dogwood, and oak. The birch and maple seem to be fine once they get a single release.

My deer trails from the 2021 cut are starting to get rank too. Those will need a clean up pass before summer.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

This is a big one. I have one tree that can get away from me quickly, and I know I've got to go back and do some maintenance. It's the balsam poplar. That stuff grows faster than anything in the woods, and the deer do not browse it at all. Most every other thing that comes up after cutting will get browsed to some degree, even tag alder. I've seen diamond will stumps explode in suckers and the deer trimmed it back completely.

But that Balsam Poplar can shoot up 10' in a year. It grows so fast the shoot stays green. I'll have to go back once they get to about 20' and knock them all back down. Same goes for tag alder. Eventually, that needs to be reset too. I also do follow up maintenance cuts where I have really good understory species emerging like conifers, dogwood, and oak. The birch and maple seem to be fine once they get a single release.

My deer trails from the 2021 cut are starting to get rank too. Those will need a clean up pass before summer.

Sycamore for me. I swear you can blink and it grows an inch. And one stump will give you 10 new trees.

 

[SwampCat]

Sycamore for me. I swear you can blink and it grows an inch. And one stump will give you 10 new trees.

Black Willow here - cut a ten inch willow in a duck hole to open it up. Next year there will be 20, two inch willows, 15 feet tall

 

[Baker]

Tallow trees---straight from evil

 

[356]

1. Learn to identify native and invasive plants and trees
2. Work with your state private lands specialist or consultant to help come up with a master plan that is realistic
3. Apply for cost share programs
4. Controlled burns really work! Our 10 acre burn was transformational!
5. Develop access trails

 

[TreeDaddy]

Black Willow here - cut a ten inch willow in a duck hole to open it up. Next year there will be 20, two inch willows, 15 feet tall

chinaberry and Sweetgum are both of the devil

bill

 

[FarmerDan]

All the good stuff is covered above. I will go another direction.
1. There are 43,560 square feet in an acre. There are 640 acres in a square mile. These are important measures for habitat work.
2. When it rains one inch, an acre of land receives 27,154 gallons of water. Success and failure of habitat depends on getting a lot of things right. Many you cannot control. So, don't try.
3. To grow good food plots requires good cropland. Good cropland is defined by soil depth and characteristic. Know your soils, their advantages and limitations.
4. Contrary to a lot of what you read here in this forum soil cultivation is OK. As a beginner, if you are, doing it to create a successful food plot is almost essential. Plant seed like your life depended on it ... and not like God does. God has a lot more time and resources at his/her disposal.
5. As many have noted above, successional forest is ideal but if you don't have it, don't sweat it. Find another habitat trick to compensate.