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poleclimber

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Jul 24, 2009
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gallatin,tn
i see you recommending improving habitat over food plots a lot. my question is how do you improve habitat on 300 acres lease mostly hardwoods with big hollows and a huge power line right of way running thru the middle? just let it grow wild or is there something else that can help. i dont have very many thickets and early pressure seemed to push deer away. we saw a lot of deer early but late season was awful,also borders a wma on one side, and we would really like to hold deer on our property when the wma hunters push them to us.
 
A chainsaw is the answer. Of course, you stated your on a lease, so that probably isnt an option. If it is an option, that is great!

Idealy, you would want to improve your habitat by cutting small parcels (2-5 acres) that are scattered. We too, have the same problem...Many deer sightings early in the season with a dramatic deer sighting drop later in the season. Why? It's wide open hardwoods with no cover. Deer will flee to cover more and more during daylight the more pressure they get throughout a deer season. We have 400 acres and are cutting 50-60 acres starting in a week or 2. They are all 3-10 acre sections (9 seperate sections)

What I did was just print out a topo, and highlighted what has existing cover and what doesnt. Then mapped out the sections where we want cover all over the property....making thickets about 100 (or so) yards apart.

If you cant cut, then yes, me personally would let the powerlines grow wild. Good luck with it!
 
JCDEERMAN's recommendations are right on the money. What you need to hold deer during the high pressure hunting season is cover. Currently, you powerline is a saving grace. The weeds/brush in the powerline is probably your best cover.

Now again, leases are tough because you often don't control the habitat hence cutting trees is out of the question.

Old pastures/fields are great places to produce cover, if you have them.
 
JCDEERMAN said:
A chainsaw is the answer. Of course, you stated your on a lease, so that probably isnt an option. If it is an option, that is great!

Idealy, you would want to improve your habitat by cutting small parcels (2-5 acres) that are scattered. We too, have the same problem...Many deer sightings early in the season with a dramatic deer sighting drop later in the season. Why? It's wide open hardwoods with no cover. Deer will flee to cover more and more during daylight the more pressure they get throughout a deer season. We have 400 acres and are cutting 50-60 acres starting in a week or 2. They are all 3-10 acre sections (9 seperate sections)

What I did was just print out a topo, and highlighted what has existing cover and what doesnt. Then mapped out the sections where we want cover all over the property....making thickets about 100 (or so) yards apart.

If you cant cut, then yes, me personally would let the powerlines grow wild. Good luck with it!
Click to expand...

Are you going to just let these grow up naturally or follow up with a pine planting?
 
If you are on a lease like the one above and have limited ability to manipulate habitat, here is a little trick you can use.

Powerlines are typically mowed or sprayed every few years to limit tree/brush growth. In between you can fertilize to help jump start the growing process and make the growth more tasty. If it has been sprayed, you may need to wait several months to a year before anything will grow depending on what they sprayed it with.

If you are starting with a mowed or sprayed power line, consider scattering a couple bags of birdseed out. This will attract birds who will bring seeds from your local area and deposit them in your target area. Any bird seed that germinates is an added bonus.

If you have the luxury of a tractor and some implements, you can do the same after breaking up the ground a bit. You aren't trying to plant putting green perfect food plots, just get the seed bed worked up a bit and stimulate natural weed cover growth.
 
fishboy1 said:
If you have the luxury of a tractor and some implements, you can do the same after breaking up the ground a bit. You aren't trying to plant putting green perfect food plots, just get the seed bed worked up a bit and stimulate natural weed cover growth.
Click to expand...

I have seen this used to great affect in powerline right-of-ways. Heck, I do that on my place when equipment is available.
 
Jarred525 said:
Are you going to just let these grow up naturally or follow up with a pine planting?
Click to expand...

What a do with a clear-cut or thinned hardwood area depends on the local conditions, most importantly slope, slope aspect (direction the slope faces), soil quality, and soil moisture.

On the poorest, driest, steepest soils, I'm going to plant some pines. In the best soil conditions I'm going to let Nature take her course and regenerate hardwoods.
 
A little fertilizer and a rainy year like we had last year will turn that power line into a bedding area pretty quick. I have a little over 100 acres of 1 year old clear cut on my property and its amazing how much it grew just last summer.
 
If you seed birdseed make sure you don't use any with thistle seed in it. Do and you'll end up with nothing but thistle in a few years. I hate that stuff as much as I hate johnson grass!
 
Jarred525 said:
JCDEERMAN said:
A chainsaw is the answer. Of course, you stated your on a lease, so that probably isnt an option. If it is an option, that is great!

Idealy, you would want to improve your habitat by cutting small parcels (2-5 acres) that are scattered. We too, have the same problem...Many deer sightings early in the season with a dramatic deer sighting drop later in the season. Why? It's wide open hardwoods with no cover. Deer will flee to cover more and more during daylight the more pressure they get throughout a deer season. We have 400 acres and are cutting 50-60 acres starting in a week or 2. They are all 3-10 acre sections (9 seperate sections)

What I did was just print out a topo, and highlighted what has existing cover and what doesnt. Then mapped out the sections where we want cover all over the property....making thickets about 100 (or so) yards apart.

If you cant cut, then yes, me personally would let the powerlines grow wild. Good luck with it!
Click to expand...

Are you going to just let these grow up naturally or follow up with a pine planting?
Click to expand...

We are just going to let it grow up naturally. 30% of our property is surrounded by about 1000 acres of pines. Then another 50% is surrounded by 7 year old clearcut. Thats where all the deer go when the guns start going off....therefore no reason to come onto our place (wide open hardwoods) UNLESS it is at night to load up on food. We are loaded with food plots and oaks. BUT they leave for the cover by first light. THAT is what we are wanting to change. If these cuts just hold the deer a little bit longer, there will be positive results. The same goes for the afternoons. Hopefully, they will be making their way back onto our place well before dark. Some of the cuts we are making will be anywhere from 50-150 yards from the property boundary. I would love to hold some deer in the cuts we are making in the core of the property as well.

One thing is for sure....We will be in our climbers ALOT the next few seasons trying to find their new patterns, because those will for sure change!
 
BSK said:
Jarred525 said:
Are you going to just let these grow up naturally or follow up with a pine planting?
Click to expand...

What a do with a clear-cut or thinned hardwood area depends on the local conditions, most importantly slope, slope aspect (direction the slope faces), soil quality, and soil moisture.

On the poorest, driest, steepest soils, I'm going to plant some pines. In the best soil conditions I'm going to let Nature take her course and regenerate hardwoods.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Another good "fix" for leased property is to fertilize Oak trees. We have done this to attract deer to specific trees. It has worked well.

We also fertilize honeysuckle patches. And according to BSK...Nitrogen IS the best.

102
 
Yes, I think this is part of the reason. I also think it might make the acorns taste different. But there is definitely an increase in browse as well. Also, it does not work on all the trees we fertilize, just seems to help on the trees around 10 inch diameter.
We also discovered that one needs to spread the fert. around the drip zone of the tree and not the base.

102
 

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