Turn pasture in to deer bedding?

[EarthySpirit]

Hello all. I am purchasing 49 acres in a couple weeks. It has a couple areas of pasture I want to utilize better, particularly turn into bedding for deer. Can I hear some advice about the best way to quickly turn grassy pasture into bedding? I've heard switch grass is best, but I've heard this mostly for northern states, not sure if this would work well where I am. FYI, I'm in Central Kentucky. Thanks for any tips!

 

[EarthySpirit]

 

[Rit]

Hello all. I am purchasing 49 acres in a couple weeks. It has a couple areas of pasture I want to utilize better, particularly turn into bedding for deer. Can I hear some advice about the best way to quickly turn grassy pasture into bedding? I've heard switch grass is best, but I've heard this mostly for northern states, not sure if this would work well where I am. FYI, I'm in Central Kentucky. Thanks for any tips!

My first question would be why do you think those areas should be bedding? Why not food? Why not remain pasture? Do you understand how the deer use these areas? If I was buying a property and I didn’t fully understand how the property was being used I would do nothing at first. I am a guy that rushed into improvements on a small property. I didn’t really have a reason for everything I was doing and often wish I could start over. I am still chasing my tail trying to clean up areas I thought should be bedding instead of letting the deer tell me where they prefer to bed. All I am saying is think big picture. Think great stand access before you start mapping out stands and bedding. Get a plan together. If you are putting in food plots make sure they are in the correct location. Once you have the food nailed down then you can start to figure out where the does will bed in relation to that food. Then you can start to implement travel corridors between food and beds all the while keeping an eye for for great access on good stand sites. I would do nothing for at least a year. By then you will have walked the property countless times and you will also have some hunting under your belt.

 

[Native Hunter]

I would call your location Northern KY rather than Central KY, however, switchgrass will do just fine anywhere in the state. It is expensive to establish without being in some kind of program like CRP or CREP, so that might deter you once you look into the cost. Another option is just spraying the fescue and letting natural regeneration take place. Download the following PDF by Dr. Craig Harper, and I think you will be impressed.

https://www.mdwfp.com/media/4200/oldfield_qw.pdf

 

[bigbendmarine]

X2 what Rit said. Some of the best advice I got when I moved to my place in 2013 was NOT to do much the first year until I could see how it was used / unused across all seasons. Take time to really think out your goals before doing anything that's almost sure to prove MORE painful trying to undo.

Travel paths (animals AND yours) based on seasonal winds / wind blocks, stand locations, any area(s) you might want to be sanctuary (you largely leave alone / avoid entering too much)... those things can be primary in deciding what projects follow.

Trees can be a good place to start if you have much desire to plant them for fruit, mast, forage, and / or placing game where you want it, as it's one of the things that can take the most time to develop. Long as you're confident in the location you plant trees, you'll sure not regret planting them as one of your earlier projects.

When I bought my place in FL I almost did the same exact thing you're looking at... trying to move more bedding on to my place as 20 of my 100 acres are open pasture. But truthfully, the way my land lies (long and narrow) and sits against 4,000 wild acres trying to get bedding on my place didn't prove necessary or even sensible. Making my place DIFFERENT and TEMPTING with a few well placed food plots has worked relative well, and I'm in Florida with un-fenced land... not known for being an area for nice deer.



Only add one more thing -- if you can share an aerial zoomed out to show more of what the general area around you features / is missing, some folks on here probably add some great observations / feedback! Know they have for me and I can't be more thankful!

 

[bigbendmarine]

And reading more closely and seeing the shared KY locale, don't think you can go wrong with ANY thing Native Hunter has to offer -- his shares on the work he does are incredible!

 

[Tree Spud]

View attachment 29873

What is this a picture of? Are the white lines your property boundary?

 

[OakSeeds]

X2 what Rit said. Some of the best advice I got when I moved to my place in 2013 was NOT to do much the first year until I could see how it was used / unused across all seasons. Take time to really think out your goals before doing anything that's almost sure to prove MORE painful trying to undo.

Travel paths (animals AND yours) based on seasonal winds / wind blocks, stand locations, any area(s) you might want to be sanctuary (you largely leave alone / avoid entering too much)... those things can be primary in deciding what projects follow.

Trees can be a good place to start if you have much desire to plant them for fruit, mast, forage, and / or placing game where you want it, as it's one of the things that can take the most time to develop. Long as you're confident in the location you plant trees, you'll sure not regret planting them as one of your earlier projects.

When I bought my place in FL I almost did the same exact thing you're looking at... trying to move more bedding on to my place as 20 of my 100 acres are open pasture. But truthfully, the way my land lies (long and narrow) and sits against 4,000 wild acres trying to get bedding on my place didn't prove necessary or even sensible. Making my place DIFFERENT and TEMPTING with a few well placed food plots has worked relative well, and I'm in Florida with un-fenced land... not known for being an area for nice deer.

View attachment 29874

Only add one more thing -- if you can share an aerial zoomed out to show more of what the general area around you features / is missing, some folks on here probably add some great observations / feedback! Know they have for me and I can't be more thankful!

Anytime you turn on any device playing music, I'll bet that deer conga line forms immedeiately. Very impressive regardless of which state!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Anytime you turn on any device playing music, I'll bet that deer conga line forms immedeiately. Very impressive regardless of which state!

OakSeeds, that gave me visions of them subbing in for the brooms under Mickey Mouse's direction in the original Fantasia.

Joking aside, normally have them sitting on various shelves but took them all in to the Florida Wildlife Commission for scoring / entry into FL's trophy buck system. Bar's REAL LOW in FL, with only a net of 100 needed, and all met it. Just grabbed the photo before putting them back up.

And only share to say if I can do it, most ANYONE can do it! And to speak to how much helpful advice from these forums makes a difference!

One SINGLE tip from a QDMA forum member who walked my place with me was 99% responsible for my success, and it had to do with stand location. I let an employee's husband hunt the very first year I owned the place, just as he was trying to get in to bow hunting. We both got bucks in the 90s that year, he was happy, but I was getting tons of night-only hits that showed me even nicer bucks were strictly nocturnal visitors... that, and he was hunting almost EVERY DAY and after almost every visit talked about spooking deer. To get to the stand he liked (and he'd put up) he had to walk ACROSS the small plot we'd planted and any wind out of the NE was blowing scent right into the plot while he sat.

QDMA member adamantly talked about how the stand needed to be moved. I told the employee's husband I was simply going to move the stand to the opposite corner for ease of entry (avoid having to cross plot) and that bruised his ego so much he informed me in short order he found another place to hunt. I moved the stand, limited hunting to cold-front days with NE winds, and voila... no more nocturnal buck problem.

And hope all that still speaks to Patrick's original post -- sometimes the simplest / most basic changes that require very little physical work can make the biggest difference! That, and good to come up with entry / stand plans as one of your starting points.

 

[EarthySpirit]

What is this a picture of? Are the white lines your property boundary?

Yes, they are the property boundaries.

 

[BenAllgood]

I'm about a year ahead of you. I bought last year in south central Kentucky. My 41 acre property has 40% hay fields. I was really glad to not do much at all the first season, and just watch and learn how the deer used it. I have a better game plan this year. I would just wait and watch. I could have ruined some areas that I really wanted to do improvements on. The deer in the area I bought in Kentucky are much different than the deer I was used to in Louisiana.

 

[BenAllgood]

Also, get the local state wildlife biologist to walk the property with you, and look into EQIP if you decide to do some bedding areas in the fields.

And, congrats on the new property and ENJOY it!

 

[EarthySpirit]

My first question would be why do you think those areas should be bedding? Why not food? Why not remain pasture? Do you understand how the deer use these areas? If I was buying a property and I didn’t fully understand how the property was being used I would do nothing at first. I am a guy that rushed into improvements on a small property. I didn’t really have a reason for everything I was doing and often wish I could start over. I am still chasing my tail trying to clean up areas I thought should be bedding instead of letting the deer tell me where they prefer to bed. All I am saying is think big picture. Think great stand access before you start mapping out stands and bedding. Get a plan together. If you are putting in food plots make sure they are in the correct location. Once you have the food nailed down then you can start to figure out where the does will bed in relation to that food. Then you can start to implement travel corridors between food and beds all the while keeping an eye for for great access on good stand sites. I would do nothing for at least a year. By then you will have walked the property countless times and you will also have some hunting under your belt.

completely agree with all you are saying. I do know how deer are traveling, and the 2 areas I want to further develop bedding are on the edges of property, and will not get in the way of my entrance and exit routes to stands. I do appreciate this consideration, however. Thank you!

 

[Rit]

completely agree with all you are saying. I do know how deer are traveling, and the 2 areas I want to further develop bedding are on the edges of property, and will not get in the way of my entrance and exit routes to stands. I do appreciate this consideration, however. Thank you!

After reading my post I didn’t mean to sound so abrasive my apologies. I just wish someone would have told me to be patient and have a plan. Mistakes take awhile to undo and can be expensive.

 

[EarthySpirit]

After reading my post I didn’t mean to sound so abrasive my apologies. I just wish someone would have told me to be patient and have a plan. Mistakes take awhile to undo and can be expensive.

Oh, no worries. I actually took your advice as trying to help me avoid mistakes. Which I appreciate!

 

[EarthySpirit]

Also, get the local state wildlife biologist to walk the property with you, and look into EQIP if you decide to do some bedding areas in the fields.

And, congrats on the new property and ENJOY it!

Thanks!!!

 

[EarthySpirit]

OakSeeds, that gave me visions of them subbing in for the brooms under Mickey Mouse's direction in the original Fantasia.

Joking aside, normally have them sitting on various shelves but took them all in to the Florida Wildlife Commission for scoring / entry into FL's trophy buck system. Bar's REAL LOW in FL, with only a net of 100 needed, and all met it. Just grabbed the photo before putting them back up.

And only share to say if I can do it, most ANYONE can do it! And to speak to how much helpful advice from these forums makes a difference!

One SINGLE tip from a QDMA forum member who walked my place with me was 99% responsible for my success, and it had to do with stand location. I let an employee's husband hunt the very first year I owned the place, just as he was trying to get in to bow hunting. We both got bucks in the 90s that year, he was happy, but I was getting tons of night-only hits that showed me even nicer bucks were strictly nocturnal visitors... that, and he was hunting almost EVERY DAY and after almost every visit talked about spooking deer. To get to the stand he liked (and he'd put up) he had to walk ACROSS the small plot we'd planted and any wind out of the NE was blowing scent right into the plot while he sat.

QDMA member adamantly talked about how the stand needed to be moved. I told the employee's husband I was simply going to move the stand to the opposite corner for ease of entry (avoid having to cross plot) and that bruised his ego so much he informed me in short order he found another place to hunt. I moved the stand, limited hunting to cold-front days with NE winds, and voila... no more nocturnal buck problem.

And hope all that still speaks to Patrick's original post -- sometimes the simplest / most basic changes that require very little physical work can make the biggest difference! That, and good to come up with entry / stand plans as one of your starting points.

yes, helpful. thank you!

 

[EarthySpirit]

I would call your location Northern KY rather than Central KY, however, switchgrass will do just fine anywhere in the state. It is expensive to establish without being in some kind of program like CRP or CREP, so that might deter you once you look into the cost. Another option is just spraying the fescue and letting natural regeneration take place. Download the following PDF by Dr. Craig Harper, and I think you will be impressed.

https://www.mdwfp.com/media/4200/oldfield_qw.pdf

Oh, this is great. I look forward to devouring this article. Just what I' looking for, it looks like.

 

[Native Hunter]

Oh, this is great. I look forward to devouring this article. Just what I' looking for, it looks like.

Good luck. I felt like this might be just what you were looking for...…………..

 

[EarthySpirit]

Good luck. I felt like this might be just what you were looking for...…………..

AND!!! We just signed a contract. We close June 1. I'm so psyched!!! If you don't mind, Native Hunter, I'd like to pick your brain some more. A lot of people respect your opinion on this forum. Maybe you can come seem my property since you're near buy. I'll buy you a lunch or a sip of bourbon or something since we're so close to the Four Roses Distillery. :)