Food or cover?

[diamond hunter]

Ive got about 15 acres of fields that I would like to convert to thicket.About 10 of that hasn't been mowed this year and the other is currently in beans.Question? Which is more important,the thickets so that there is a better chance of a deer being there or clearings so that you can see the deer when hunting?This year we have seen a better age class of deer than ever before.My friend that hunts with me says mow all of it so you can see the deer walking through.I say let it all grow up into a briarpatch jungle.I plan on hiring BSK to come again and give advice this coming year but wanted opinions here also.Im looking to build a place to hold these bucks better cause these rednecks around me are driving me crazy.There is also about 50 acres of beans currently on myplace and lots of edges with oaks so food overall isn't a problem.

 

[catman529]

Let some of it grow for sure, your friend doesn't realize that you won't see as many deer if they don't have a safe place to hide... If you have 50 acres of beans that sure sounds like plenty of open food space and I think the thicket area from letting the other fields grow up will be ideal. But I'm no expert

 

[warpheagle]

briar patch holds more deer than a field

 

[Food Plot 101]

Cover, cover and more cover.

 

[lpo1981]

I'd let it grow up and bushing it every other year.. My neighbor has 40 acres of pasture and I have 37 of timber. He went 3 years without bushogging his fields and it was the best 3 years of hunting I ever had on my place...

 

[diamond hunter]

Ok so,letting it grow up is usually the top answer.How long can you usually let it grow before you can no longer bushhog it?

 

[Diehard Hunter]

Ok so,letting it grow up is usually the top answer.How long can you usually let it grow before you can no longer bushhog it?

I had one field I let grow for cover. I bush hogged it every February. If I let it go more than a year I got too many locusts in it. I have another field that has been growing for five years. It would be impossible to bush hog it now, but I want it to regenerate to woods anyway.

 

[AllOutdoors]

Ok so,letting it grow up is usually the top answer.How long can you usually let it grow before you can no longer bushhog it?

Let it grow! How long depends on your equipment or that of those you hire. Some of mine is every year. And some i cut every 3 years.

 

[Rollo]

Let it grow and just cut a lane or two through the thicket every year. maybe even plant the lanes, but not too wide. 12' maybe. Give them cover AND food....

 

[Mike Belt]

I used to hunt on an 800+ acre tract. We had the only ag food around but not much in the way of thick cover. The surrounding deer fed on us heavy. Once deer season opened and hunting pressure got hot the deer continued to feed on us but were almost always gone by sunup. We didn't have the cover to hold them. My vote...cover over food.

 

[Okatoba]

Thickets hands down.