Over the years I've come to enjoy the process of managing a particular piece of property as much, if not more than I do actually hunting it. When dad acquired our 80 acre farm back in 2005, it started the ball rolling on what has become one of my favorite hobbies. Part of managing a property is creating something from nothing. I've had success in creating food plots in areas that were formerly weed patches and a decade later, I'm really starting to see the payoff. I've been thinking about the project I'm calling K's Spot for almost a year now and it's time to start laying the ground work for what I feel will become the most rewarding project on the entire farm.
The reason I'm naming this K's Spot is that this is going to be my daughter's primary hunting spot for years to come. She will turn 3 on 12/31 and I set a goal when she was born to get her to harvest her first deer on/around her 6th birthday. She already loves watching deer and I can see a blossoming hunter in the making. When we go for drives in the evenings, she sits in the back with her "glasses" and watches for deer. She loves going to the farm to check on the food plots and check cameras. With my wife also hunting, I've never had any fear that Kaydence would lack interest in deer hunting. She's not even 3 and I can tell she's on the hook! Knowing how fast time flies and that I want this project to have a couple years to mellow so that the deer get accustom to it, I need to get this thing off the ground now and completed in the spring.
Here is a look at what I'm working with...
Our farm is shaped like an L and I have generally ignored the southern end of the north/south running holler. In my first full year on the farm, I was getting good pictures of an 8 point that was using what has always been the best trail on the property which comes off the corner of the fence and drops down in to the bottom where I have "New Food Plot". After seeing that buck in the pasture near the oak fence line one morning, I hunt a set in between the sanctuaries and that evening, my cousin got a shot at him. That was 2006. The following year, I starting getting pictures of Deuce in this bottom and in January of 2008, I spent almost 40 hours hunting down there trying to kill him on his way to a bait pile on up the holler. It never worked out and as a result, I started leaving this area alone. Over the years, it has grown up and needs some serious TLC. As you can see from the map, there are some great topographical features that funnel deer in to this bottom, along with food, cover and water.
Right now that plan is to build a box blind (design still in progress) that would allow for easy access from the hay field above. It's nearly flawless access. The food plot in the bottom is going to be a clover/chicory blend. I plan to had a gravity feeder and some soft mast trees along the edge. I'll need to do a good bit of work with the chainsaw and weedeater to open things up looking N down the holler. There are several trails that cross the bottom from E/W anywhere from 30 to 200 yards down the holler. The food plot will provide shots inside 30 yards and will be built so that I could also bowhunt out of it in bad weather.
I'm really excited about this project and will document it well so those who want to follow along, can do so. With the season in full swing, the habitat portion will have to wait. Right now the big project is box blind design, so I'm welcome to any suggestions you all have on that front!
The reason I'm naming this K's Spot is that this is going to be my daughter's primary hunting spot for years to come. She will turn 3 on 12/31 and I set a goal when she was born to get her to harvest her first deer on/around her 6th birthday. She already loves watching deer and I can see a blossoming hunter in the making. When we go for drives in the evenings, she sits in the back with her "glasses" and watches for deer. She loves going to the farm to check on the food plots and check cameras. With my wife also hunting, I've never had any fear that Kaydence would lack interest in deer hunting. She's not even 3 and I can tell she's on the hook! Knowing how fast time flies and that I want this project to have a couple years to mellow so that the deer get accustom to it, I need to get this thing off the ground now and completed in the spring.
Here is a look at what I'm working with...
Our farm is shaped like an L and I have generally ignored the southern end of the north/south running holler. In my first full year on the farm, I was getting good pictures of an 8 point that was using what has always been the best trail on the property which comes off the corner of the fence and drops down in to the bottom where I have "New Food Plot". After seeing that buck in the pasture near the oak fence line one morning, I hunt a set in between the sanctuaries and that evening, my cousin got a shot at him. That was 2006. The following year, I starting getting pictures of Deuce in this bottom and in January of 2008, I spent almost 40 hours hunting down there trying to kill him on his way to a bait pile on up the holler. It never worked out and as a result, I started leaving this area alone. Over the years, it has grown up and needs some serious TLC. As you can see from the map, there are some great topographical features that funnel deer in to this bottom, along with food, cover and water.
Right now that plan is to build a box blind (design still in progress) that would allow for easy access from the hay field above. It's nearly flawless access. The food plot in the bottom is going to be a clover/chicory blend. I plan to had a gravity feeder and some soft mast trees along the edge. I'll need to do a good bit of work with the chainsaw and weedeater to open things up looking N down the holler. There are several trails that cross the bottom from E/W anywhere from 30 to 200 yards down the holler. The food plot will provide shots inside 30 yards and will be built so that I could also bowhunt out of it in bad weather.
I'm really excited about this project and will document it well so those who want to follow along, can do so. With the season in full swing, the habitat portion will have to wait. Right now the big project is box blind design, so I'm welcome to any suggestions you all have on that front!