Property Improvement

[Hedgelj]

If they left the tree tops, it is a great place to plant fruit trees. It will protect them from getting browsed on while young. Or any tree if you plan to plant any.

Trees probably aren't happening this year. That's a strong possibility we may be purchasing some property that's near to the farm. The purchase will decrease my available funds for this project for this year.

I'm looking at using the roads the logging created as food plots to link areas. Then looking at where they opened the canopy; plant some berry bushes and allow it to thicken up. If i can find a few good spots, some switchgrass. Also looking at 2 different sites for minerals.

I think this is a good first year plan. I may play with taking out some "junk" trees to further open the canopy in select areas also. My brother works for a tree trimming company so hopefully he can do some hinge cutting.

 

[Hedgelj]

Here is one half of the farm about 130 acres in this photo. You can see the crops strips in the tillable land. There is a small "lane" of grass between the strips and the field at the top of the image. Its always "damp" there and has been torn up from the driving through with different machinery and side by sides. I seeded some throw and grow there. The top half of the woods (Looks more open) is former orchard with a lot of crab apples. Its taller than your favorite part of the farm @bowhunter1023 and I'm gonna bring in a mower and put in some paths and cut down some small stuff to get it closer to the height of the stuff you had. There's only so much I can do as this part of the farm is owned by my wife's aunt so I can't get too crazy with it. Though the two pieces we may have an opportunity to buy are in this photo.

You can see one of my ladder stands in this one looking downhill towards the open field. Its a good stand, hoping this makes a small difference.

 

[Hedgelj]

This is the other half of the farm about 150 acres. There are some other properties in the neighborhood and adjoining that we hunt but this is the section I'm gonna be having fun learning with. There are 3 main pieces of woods as you can see. The one on the far right I walked the most in and it was the most heavily timbered (and it needed it as you will see). The middle horizontal section right behind the house had a few trees removed and I have some ideas for it. That and it makes for an easy approach into a stand or blind from the house/barn area. The area on the bottom left of the image was timbered a few years ago and its in a good state of regeneration/succession right now. Its mainly one big hill and its hard to get into without bouncing the deer out of their beds.

 

[Hedgelj]

Lots of work to do here....we seeded with throw and grow on this dirt.

More tops, opened up the canopy and its gonna get thick.

We walked down this entire trail and seeded with throw and grow.

As you look in this image you can see why the deer didn't stay on the property and especially not in this woods once the crops came down. Its bare and needed some growth. Now I need to control it to my advantage.

 

[Hedgelj]

Gratuitous photo of 2 of my kids seeding the throw and grow.

 

[Hedgelj]

My plan is to take an organ grinder and seed this entire logging road from the top to the bottom with some sort of high protein forage. I want to talk to the guys at merit about what will not only give good food but also keep as a food source through fall (even if I have to reseed). I'm also thinking about putting in sections of switchgrass to give sections of bedding and break it up.

This is a great image of what the woods looked like this fall. Absolutely nothing to hold deer in.

Should grow in thick and I just have to make sure its not TOO thick.

 

[Hedgelj]

This is the one side/corner of the woods. Its been thick with greenbriars and also a few trees that had blown over. Its had lots of bedding and I can almost always get a few thermal images of deer on cold mornings bedded in this area. This additional logging will really help make a nice thick area. My one old stand site is just up the hill from here and I think I found a place to make into a small food plot and hopefully get them as they transition from the fields to the food plot and into this (hopefully) prime bedding area. Its south facing also.

 

[Hedgelj]

This is just up the hill and around a bit from that bedding area. I think if I come in with some Roundup and its level enough I could make a small food plot of 15-20 yards by 20-30 yards. Then I can stretch a section of it into the logging road in the next photos along with some switchgrass to give the deer some comfort coming into and out of it to feed. I can get into this area from the back road easily it just involves walking uphill a ways so its an easy sneak in when the wind's blowing my scent into the field behind the stand.

The deer already use this area coming from that bedding area and other bedding areas on the nearby woods and move through to get onto the ridges and crops in those fields off to the right of this patch of woods in the big overhead photo.

This is the area where I continue the food plot idea but also plant some switchgrass to keep the briars from going too insane.

 

[Hedgelj]

This is the section behind the house and barn. Its just some rolling hills with enough elevation change to give you and deer the ability to hide from one another on the ground. I think what I want to do is go through with a chainsaw and open things up and get some of the small "junk" trees out of there. Might play around with the idea of hinge cutting if I can figure it out.

I am thinking about using some roundup here and then planting a food plot. Then if finances allow putting in some fruit trees to make a small orchard. I want to make this area an easy to get into area to hunt with my kids. If I open up some of the areas around it then it should thicken up nicely to give some comfort to the deer.

 

[Hedgelj]

Highlight of the day

 

[Hedgelj]

In summary. I'm really excited to see how the one patch of woods rebounds from the logging. It really did some disruptive things to the canopy. I think the torn up logging roads gives me some great opportunities to put in smallish plots that I can cover with an organ grinder style spreader. Then some spots of switchgrass to break it up. To do what Jesse did and wait for other areas to grow in and see what happens and then attempt to influence them as I see good or bad what's happening.

I saw very few deer trails in the normal locations so I'll have to keep boots on the ground and see where they're moving once they move back in. I did bounce 1 out of its bed just at the top of that bedding area i mentioned a few posts back that I want to make more inviting.

The property holds a ton of deer while the crops are up. If I make it thicker with good bedding and the deer feel safe and I increase how much food is on the farm once the crops are down hopefully I can hold onto some rather than having to see them move through to get opportunties.

 

[giles]

This should be fun!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Tons of potential for that place for sure. It'll be fun to see it come along!

 

[Hedgelj]

Stopped by merit seed today. Talked with one of their guys. He recommended a basic clover blend for the logging roads and a switchgrass blend. For my two small food plots he recommended roundup and buckwheat, then roundup and a brassica heavy blend come August.

 

[at1010]

Stopped by merit seed today. Talked with one of their guys. He recommended a basic clover blend for the logging roads and a switchgrass blend. For my two small food plots he recommended roundup and buckwheat, then roundup and a brassica heavy blend come August.

If you can - add a legume to the buckwheat mix. It’ll pump nitrogen into soil all summer. As it is browsed and you kill it in fall - it’ll release the N and make it bio available for the brassicas. Also add a little clover in with brassica mix so you have spring green up - without effort! Love following along buddy!! Hammer down!

 

[Hedgelj]

If you can - add a legume to the buckwheat mix. It’ll pump nitrogen into soil all summer. As it is browsed and you kill it in fall - it’ll release the N and make it bio available for the brassicas. Also add a little clover in with brassica mix so you have spring green up - without effort! Love following along buddy!! Hammer down!

What legume do you suggest

 

[at1010]

What legume do you suggest

If you are broadcasting and going to kill just a clover will suffice. Medium red is cheap and matures fairly quickly if memory serves me correctly.

if you have a drill you could use peas,beans, etc.

Alfalfa is awesome but to expensive - imo for soil building methods like your doing.

lastly - medium red and crimson in the fall is a great add to brassicas as is rye grain.

 

[jagermeister]

I’ll second the medium red clover as a legume addition to your brassica plot. Planted in the fall, it really does well come the following spring.

Glad to hear you talked with the folks at Merit. I’ve dealt with them for years and have never been steered in the wrong direction. Great people and a great company to do business with.

 

[Hedgelj]

Well today I did some work on my food plots and used OnX to help show you what I'm working with/on.

This first photo shows the track of the major logging paths/roads through this section of woods. Its the one I have the most control over. The blue "stand" icon is where I've had a ladder stand along a nice trail. Its the ladder stand that's in the background of some of my better trailcam photos. Its a great location for gun hunting but I'm realizing its not cutting it for bowhunting.

The little extension of the trail to where my blue dot is I seeded primarily in switchgrass. Its a little kicker trail that goes from the bottom towards all the tree tops and bedding area that I described previously. I wanted to get some nice thick sections of switchgrass in there to break up the sightlines from the bottom of the hill all the way up. It also gives a path from the bedding zone into the food plot/travel corridor of the trail that then connects the creek at the bottom of the hill (left border of the woods) to the top of the hill (right border of the woods) for them to use to get around.

This is the little trail heading to my one food plot. It comes right out to the pasture field on the right. I did the first 20 yards or so in switchgrass so that they can exit the field right into thick cover if they desire and then hopefully use it as a travel corridor to the food plot. The second half of it is seeded in clover right now.

This is an area I sprayed with roundup walking around and around with a little hand held sprayer. I'm going to go back in a few days, rake it and then seed it with primarily buckwheat along with a bit of clover and chicory added in. The white icon is a potential stand tree where I can possibly ambush coming from the bedding going into the food plot.

This is the major trail from the logging. It had the throw and grow placed on it back on the last update to this thread. I used an organ grinder style spreader and put out 25# of clover with a little chicory added onto this. Every 20-30 yards or when the path widened or had small cross spots I hand spread switchgrass. I probably spread it in 5-10 yard spots in odd shapes. Just trying to see what it does and how the deer will use it for bedding/cover.

Finally this was the last spot. This is behind my in-laws house so has easy access for me to take the kids and get int a stand or a blind. You can see the path I walked with the hand sprayer just covering the area with round up. My plan is to come back and rake it and then spread the same or similar buckwheat, clover and chicory mixture. Then in august spray roundup here and at the other place and then plant brassicas and such for a fall/winter plot. I also spread some switchgrass along some torn up ground to the bottom right, this leads into the area I want to hinge cut and make thicker for bedding.

 

[Buckmaster]

I’ve been leveling 1.5 acres of hardwood since August to create a small orchard, plot, and pond outside the house. Drained the swamp today.