Ag Field Design

[Gobble4me757]

If you could design the best ag field in terms of the design of it to maximize deer/turkey usage, how would you do this?

I am cutting 30 acres of timber and converting to corn/soybeans to be farmed. Should I make a peninsula out in it? Should I have a pocket in the corners? What design features that yall have seen deer use more often than others etc

 

[bloodtrailing]

Not symmetrical will help with wildlife but not farming. Corner pockets are what I see preferred. Can depend on what is around you.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Never had the opportunity to design such a large area but have always read that hour glass shape or kidney bean shape works well because a buck cant see it all easily without moving through to different vantage points. Then there are oppurtunitys with stand placement, etc. No matter what, 30 acre of beans is going to be a draw if your not surrounded by beans.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

If you could design the best ag field in terms of the design of it to maximize deer/turkey usage, how would you do this?

I am cutting 30 acres of timber and converting to corn/soybeans to be farmed. Should I make a peninsula out in it? Should I have a pocket in the corners? What design features that yall have seen deer use more often than others etc

Usage or huntability?

I'd definitely want pockets in a couple of corners as well as a big "pinch" somewhere around the middle of the field. A small pond could really be your friend to help create the pinch. I'd also want 1-2 small plots just adjacent to ag field. Keep access in and out of those plots top of mind when figuring out where they go. I'd want to be able to enter and exit them without going through the large ag field. Sounds like an awesome project. Good luck!

 

[MickThompson]

You can't maximize both. An ag producer will want long straight pulls. That's not conducive to wildlife design. Maximizing deer use (damage) will also impact what you can lease it for.

 

[Gobble4me757]

This is kinda of what I'm thinking but open to ideas. I can't move the east and southern boundaries but can manipulate the northern and western. Disregard the black lines. Yeah there isn't much ag except directly across the road to the east but adding this would pull game from around. No ag north for couple of miles and multiple miles to west and south. This would be a big draw in addition to the other stuff planned for the property.

 

[Ski]

IMO it would make sense to have a narrow, long plot wide enough for the equipment to work it. Have it directly against where the cover will be. Then leave a narrow band uncut between it and the wide open ag. That band will become very thick very quick and act as a screen thicket. This way you'll get your ag and you'll get a very nice huntable plot. Leave just enough gap in one end of the band for equipment to move through.

 

[Gobble4me757]

IMO it would make sense to have a narrow, long plot wide enough for the equipment to work it. Have it directly against where the cover will be. Then leave a narrow band uncut between it and the wide open ag. That band will become very thick very quick and act as a screen thicket. This way you'll get your ag and you'll get a very nice huntable plot. Leave just enough gap in one end of the band for equipment to move through.

Please draw this/demonstrate…I like the sounds of your idea

 

[Ski]

Please draw this/demonstrate…I like the sounds of your idea

I'm not very tech savvy. But the concept is easy.

Basically in the pic you posted there is a house or barn on the bottom right corner. Beginning just above it, leave a 30yd wide swath of trees uncut that extends up to near the top save for just enough room for an equipment path. You'll still cut everything to the right and left of it but the left side will be much, much larger. The right side will be narrow & long and completely hidden. Both sides can be planted same time same way, and harvested same time same way. Or you can have ag on the big side & strictly food plot on the right.

That's only a conceptual example. You can leave that strip of timber anywhere, or even leave more than one strip of timber to create more than one small, secluded plot. If that picture you posted is correctly orientated then I presume the dominant wind is from the south and west. If that's the case then I personally would create those smaller plots on those sides of the property so that you can access from the north and east, which would give you the most hunting days.

But really it's a blank canvas to do with as you wish. Any strip of timber you leave is ground you won't be able to plant, which is a trade off. If your goal is to generate income from farming then you'll lose money with every strip of timber left and every plot created. On the flip if your goal is to create a hunting property then every plot & strip of timber will increase deer use, with maximum attraction being your property so segmented that it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. If you're anything like me or most other landowners it's not practical to have it all one way or the other. There's a balance that only you know. I'd love to have a property that is only for deer, where I could play on & work habitat any way I want. But that's just not how the real world works for most us.

 

[CBU93]

Keep in mind elevation changes as it relates to the field access and throughout the field. Especially in flatlands, any thing that can effect elevation in the field that connects to cover is a draw: ditches, berms, water drainage control, edge CRP, culverts, field road access, fence crossings, thickets and edge cover adjacent in the timber will all play into your design and hunt ability. Can you overlay your pic with topography?

 

[Gobble4me757]

Basically the goal is to maximize the hunting while not making the farmer mad. You can't have perfect either way so trying to meet in the middle. Topo wise, this is completely flat and no elevation. It's not in the bottom but it's low lying area. Ski, I think I have an idea of what you are saying… here are a couple that I've come up with or a buddy has. Thoughts on these? Which one do yall think best? Yes it's pretty cool to have the opportunity to design this stuff too lol

 

[Ski]

I like that second picture where the ag zigzags.

 

[MickThompson]

Have you checked your soil types yet?

 

[Gobble4me757]

Have you checked your soil types yet?

Yeah Tupelo black gum soil. There's an ag field directly across the street with the same soil. Farmer looked into it and is wanting to farm it

 

[yellalinehunter]

I like the blue and yellow pic as well. That being said it looks like a drainage is cutting through the east end. Is that something the farmer has a crossing.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I like that second picture where the ag zigzags.

I like the blue and yellow zig zag and the red H....same concept as kidney bean or hour glass design...breaking the large area up visually...wont feel so wide open...buck will need to cruise each section....but the timber areas that remain I would make thick....and I also would round the sharp corners off and allow them to grow up...also, give the farmer more sunlight and feather the edge back....Dont have clean timber going into clean beans...thick bush type feathered edge with thick pockets in the timber....add some diversity.

 

[Gobble4me757]

I like the blue and yellow pic as well. That being said it looks like a drainage is cutting through the east end. Is that something the farmer has a crossing.

That's a cut out road the previous land owner for some reason snaked around.

 

[Gobble4me757]

I like the blue and yellow zig zag and the red H....same concept as kidney bean or hour glass design...breaking the large area up visually...wont feel so wide open...buck will need to cruise each section....but the timber areas that remain I would make thick....and I also would round the sharp corners off and allow them to grow up...also, give the farmer more sunlight and feather the edge back....Dont have clean timber going into clean beans...thick bush type feathered edge with thick pockets in the timber....add some diversity.

Good idea with the soft edge. I could probably do in some spots. Running out of room to cut the timber etc