Turn pasture in to deer bedding?

[BenA]

Yeah, listen to what @Native Hunter has to say about early succession plants and old fields. He has perfected it in our area.

And, find as much stuff from Dr. Craig Harper as you can and listen or read or watch several times. Here's a link to a recent podcast Dr. Harper was on: https://habitatpodcast.com/habitat-...t-vs-forbs-herbicides-for-espc-fire-soil-fac/

 

[EarthySpirit]

Yeah, listen to what @Native Hunter has to say about early succession plants and old fields. He has perfected it in our area.

And, find as much stuff from Dr. Craig Harper as you can and listen or read or watch several times. Here's a link to a recent podcast Dr. Harper was on: https://habitatpodcast.com/habitat-...t-vs-forbs-herbicides-for-espc-fire-soil-fac/

Thank you so much, BEN!

 

[Native Hunter]

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. :)

Lol, I like seeing people get excited about deer habitat.

Right now I'm still working full time and pretty busy on the weekends, but thinking about going part time at the end of the year. That will give me more time for visiting. In the meantime I'm going to PM you my cell phone number, and maybe I can give you some guidance over the phone from time to time as you have questions.

Just to get you a little more excited, here is a picture you will like. Everything you see on this wall was shot in what was cattle pasture a few years ago - except for the one on the far end, which was extremely close to former pasture. And there is another one at the Tax Man right now that will be joining them soon.

 

[EarthySpirit]

You're right, that does fire me up!!! Nice wall of bucks there! Thanks for letting me pick your brain. I will indeed call you! Perhaps I can send you a plat and explain to you what I have, and you can make some suggestions. Thanks so much!!!

 

[Tree Spud]

Yes, they are the property boundaries.

First, congrats on the new property. As mentioned above, rushing in and making a bunch of changes can disrupt a good property and in some cases can take a long time to correct.

The improvement you could make right away would be to create screening along the road frontage and the NE & SE corners. On some of my earlier properties, I always started working on the interior of the property and over time, regretted that I did not focus on the boundaries. If you create good bedding in those fields, you will draw roadside visitors ... people glassing your fields, shiners at night, and those that like to shoot at deer out in the filed.

I would suggest 2 rows about 12 wide of pines or spruce. Pine are faster growers and you can space every 8' or so. I prefer spruce (Blue or Norwegian) at 10'-12' spacing as their branches stay low to the ground and will provide a very dense screen. The trees also add the benefit of overhead cover and roosting for pheasants & turkey.

As the pines will take some time to establish, you could always do a interior row of MG while the pines or spruce are establishing themselves.

I doubt you will regret adding screening and the deer will be far more comfortable bedding without all the roadside activity especially at night.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Don't want to beat a dead horse / promise won't recommend it again, but if you could share a pic zoomed out to show the surrounding properties (with yours in the middle) almost certainly be helpful in folks sharing some specific observations / recommendations. Maybe even share a couple -- with one zoomed to show maybe 500 acres or so, then one zoomed out even farther to show the general vicinity - few thousand acres. More and more professionals are making at least part of their living doing recommendations based on aerials, and on the forum you can sometimes get similar quality observations / recommendations for free... can't beat that!

 

[EarthySpirit]

First, congrats on the new property. As mentioned above, rushing in and making a bunch of changes can disrupt a good property and in some cases can take a long time to correct.

The improvement you could make right away would be to create screening along the road frontage and the NE & SE corners. On some of my earlier properties, I always started working on the interior of the property and over time, regretted that I did not focus on the boundaries. If you create good bedding in those fields, you will draw roadside visitors ... people glassing your fields, shiners at night, and those that like to shoot at deer out in the filed.

I would suggest 2 rows about 12 wide of pines or spruce. Pine are faster growers and you can space every 8' or so. I prefer spruce (Blue or Norwegian) at 10'-12' spacing as their branches stay low to the ground and will provide a very dense screen. The trees also add the benefit of overhead cover and roosting for pheasants & turkey.

As the pines will take some time to establish, you could always do a interior row of MG while the pines or spruce are establishing themselves.

I doubt you will regret adding screening and the deer will be far more comfortable bedding without all the roadside activity especially at night.

View attachment 29891

Yes, great idea! I like that idea, especially since deer are already bedding heavily not far off the road, on either side of the long mowed ridge you see in the picture. I walked both sides seeing lots of bedding sign, even jumped a deer out of there Wednesday walking it over before making the offer.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Don't want to beat a dead horse / promise won't recommend it again, but if you could share a pic zoomed out to show the surrounding properties (with yours in the middle) almost certainly be helpful in folks sharing some specific observations / recommendations. Maybe even share a couple -- with one zoomed to show maybe 500 acres or so, then one zoomed out even farther to show the general vicinity - few thousand acres. More and more professionals are making at least part of their living doing recommendations based on aerials, and on the forum you can sometimes get similar quality observations / recommendations for free... can't beat that!

Great! I'll do that now....

 

[EarthySpirit]

The southern edge is a creek, if you have not noticed. The two fields on the bottom border a year-round creek.

 

[EarthySpirit]

 

[EarthySpirit]

As I have received more feedback from you I realize I may not want to convert that place into bedding after all, because I may want to use that field for access routes to stands. So, Rit, you were right! As you all have said, I need to think through the overall plan and understand the movement and be able to choose low impact stand sites for various winds before I start making changes. Thank you all for your feedback!!

 

[EarthySpirit]

Now that I've gotten this feedback, I was thinking about giving you all another photo where I label the various parts of the property, then get feedback on suggestions how to lay out this property for deer. Is there a particular area of the forum where I should do this, or would it be appropriate to it here?

 

[bigbendmarine]

Unless Bill has heartburn I'd just do it here for continuity sake / since you've shared quite a bit. Or I think he might can even move the existing thread to the "land tour" section and you can use to discuss / post / track long term efforts if you desire.

I'm not expert enough to offer as much advice as many others but am glad I urged you for the other pics, as really like the looks of your place, especially being nestled in a surrounding area of wooded cover versus more distant outer areas being more open pasture / farming land. Dont know how easy it is for deer to navigate that southern "dogleg" shaped area between the wooded neighboring properties, but if they can manage it just have to think you'll have some good traffic!

Definitely be following as intersted in seeing what others have to say / offer!

 

[BenA]

In areas with good variations in topography, I find it helpful to use that too. Here's an overview map of your place, and also a link if you want to zoom in for more detail or out for the general area. https://arcg.is/1y1b5H

 

[OakSeeds]

Have you met any of you neighbors? If not, do some research and find out who is who (to the extent possible)... do they have large families, are they retired, what do they do for a living, and are there any known deer camps in the area (if you can identify the rural mail carrier, s/he can tell you a lot). BEFORE you go to introduce your self. It appears you have several neighbors just NE of your property; however, the most important is the one(s) who are adjoining landowners. This will help you indentify where hunting pressure is likely to be the greatest and this knowledge might influence how you develop your land. Inventory your timber ... are there oak trees, apples,or persimmons .... how many, and where are they located? As TS said, road screens are important and something to consider early on. An important aspect concerning your property is the two really nice funnels (NE & SE entrys to your tract) that may provide deer from much larger tracts of timber (not many houses in the areas of these tracts). Looking at your first map on post #29, I would think about starting were the i in ridge road is located and establish an interior screen (running north to south to center of property). Depending on how you develop the pasture areas, I believe you could create a great pinch point for deer travel from the 2 funnels and directly from the south. The first 1/3 of the screen might be conifers or MG; however, I'd make the southern most 2/3, lines of plums ... (plant on 6' centers - straight line - in 5-6 years they will be so dense, you can't detect the shape of an object behind them ... even when they have lost their leaves. In a sense, you have a blank canvas; talk to NH and other deer hunters and conservation folks about deer hunting in KY and your area.

 

[Bill]

I’m curious what deer activity looked like right here when you walked it?

if there is a fence there cut that bad boy

Tough spot to hunt in the middle of the place but done once at the right time could be killer.

 

[OakSeeds]

That's exactly what the second screen is intended to facilitate; there are a world of things you could do immediately east of Bill's circled area that could make it a hotspot pinch point. You appear to have a natural cut in the woods (from SE area - funnel -to area east of circle), and you might get traffic from the north along the treeline extending north (of circle) and, with further development of the property line screen suggestede by TS, you might see traffic from the NW (travelling east and then south). I'd spend a lot of time this summer out there early in the day observing movement and looking for prints.

 

[EarthySpirit]

I’m curious what deer activity looked like right here when you walked it?

if there is a fence there cut that bad boy

Tough spot to hunt in the middle of the place but done once at the right time could be killer.


Thanks Bill! yes, I do see that funnel connecting the woods to each other. I'll check out the sign there. I did follow that fence line further south into the woods. There is one break in the fence there, and the travel there is immense, coming and going into the thick redbuds, cedars, other small shrubs and bramble. I'm super excited about that!

 

[EarthySpirit]

Hope this helps. I'd love any feedback on working/managing the land for whitetails (turkey too, but secondarily). Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[titan23_87]

I’m curious what deer activity looked like right here when you walked it?

if there is a fence there cut that bad boy

Tough spot to hunt in the middle of the place but done once at the right time could be killer.

View attachment 29897

Right here too. I’d say to the point on meeting your neighbors... also don’t be afraid to ask for additional access into your ground from theirs. May be the ticket for spots like these circled, and who knows may lead into you getting permission to hunt on neighboring properties as well.