Holding deer on the property

[fourwheeler431]

What we have is 2200 acres of woods. We have 3 wells on the property that are small clearings and that's it. To the north and east of us are 300-500 acres of pasture/farmland and orchards of some kind. The south and east boarder of our property is a river and a creek with catoosa wma on the river side,and morgan state forest on the creekside. What is going to be our best way to attract and hold deer from these other properties to ours? Foodplots,feeders or what else would you suggest?

 

[tophat]

I would go with food plots that just me tho.

 

[username]

 

[Chaneylake]

just guessing, a sanctuary in the center with thick cover and plenty of food.

simply stated but difficult and costly to establish, it probably depends more on your type terrian.

I am by no means an expert, just a guess in as few words as possible

 

[fourwheeler431]

This is a lease so we are limited to how much cutting we can do. What we have planned so far is 3-4 small foodplots but, we are not sure how big we should make them or what to plant just yet. Any ideas what size we should be planning on clearing to plant with this much property? All of the property is not usable for plots because of the terrain.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Figure you need AT LEAST a good 5 percent in perennial and annual food plots. So were talking 110 acres in food plots. Have that and have cover with natural browse and you will hold deer. Thats the problem with leasing though, you just take what you have, doubt many companies are going to let you clear 110 acres. Even then thats ALOT of money for clearing. That being said, you can get away with zero fields if you have plenty of browse but deer will still leave to feed if there are green fields/crop fields in the area. I know the area you are referring to, should have some decent bucks in there.

 

[fourwheeler431]

The property isn't owned by a company luckly but, we were told we could clear some areas for foodplots if we wanted to. We just have to mark the areas off and let them know where they are, and he would bring the dozer in and clear out anything to big for us to handle. We thought a couple of smaller areas would be better then 1 large plot though.

 

[megalomaniac]

ditto

 

[Radar]

Food plots will attract deer , but they wont hold them on the property like thick cover will .

 

[416wbymag]

heavy cover we have plenty of. one of the problems we re facing is we cannot cut "money" trees. so our plots are probably gonna be half acre to acre or smaller each. that or leaving trees standing in the plots.

 

[416wbymag]

oh, and thanks for your help so far guys...

 

[BSK]

416wbymag,

Unfortunately, with the property being a lease, you won't be able to do what is necessary to draw in a large number of deer. That would take some serious timber harvesting in a very strategic manner.

 

[fourwheeler431]

Bsk,

What are some of the things in your opinion that we can do? Like you said serious timber harvesting is not an option but, we would like to do everything we possibly can to improve the property.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Thats really good that they are at least letting you clear some, of course the cleared ground will add to their property value so I would let it be cleared too. If you already have heavy cover with plenty of browse theres not much you can do short of what has been mentioned. What stage is that heavy cover in though? Sapling stage is great cover but doesnt have alot of browse. Maybe you could see if the landowner would be interested in clearcutting small patches throughout the tract. Make them money off pulp and sawtimber and then they could get 75% cost share for planting it back through conservation programs. Im sure thats probably a long shot though.

 

[BSK]

Bsk,

What are some of the things in your opinion that we can do? Like you said serious timber harvesting is not an option but, we would like to do everything we possibly can to improve the property.

Honestly, not much. Food plots won't HOLD deer on a property during daylight, even a large property. Deer will travel considerable distances at night to feed in plots, only returning to their thick-cover bedding area by daylight.

To HOLD deer on a property during daylight requires thick cover.

 

[fourwheeler431]

Thank you for your replies. We are going to plant some foodplots and we will also look at maximizing our thick cover. We do have 125 acres ajoining our property that was clearcut 2-3 yrs ago and I think that is where most of the bedding areas are but I am not sure of that. The deer on our property don't seem to follow any clear pattern as far as going to that property though. They just seem to meander through the woods with only a few clear trails.

 

[Dean Parisian]

Your cover will have to "hold" bachelor groups of bigger bucks and hopefully your lease will be able to keep enough doe groups around to pull those smaller bucks off of Catoosa and hold them for a couple of years. It appears most of the real big bucks killed on Catoosa come in to the area from other areas, ie: the Fairfield Glade golf course complex is a great area that feeds into Catoosa. The guy who owns about 250 to 400 acres smack dab in the middle of Catoosa doesn't kill huge bucks even though he has the cover to hold big bucks......the pressure on the "4-point to a side" bucks is substantial and given the numbers/ratio's of success of hunters/deer harvested bears that out.

 

[spctbone]

We have several areas that are very thick in Mountain Laurel. I am talking so thick you cant walk through them. I found an area today that looked as though something had been crawling through the "thick stuff to get into the center where it looked to be less thick. But it was inpenatrable by me! LOL

I know we have a huge turkey pop. on the place too. I saw 3 dif. flocks today totaling over 30 birds. I think the plots will help hold them there too. There are several areas with honey suckle that are thick. could we fert. that to help with the browse?


Thanks guys for the help!

 

[TheLBLman]

What if your "hunting area" consisted of about 2,000 acres of mixed habitat, mainly a mix of mature hardwoods in creek bottoms, pines on ridges, plus maybe 15 to 30% in clearcuts ranging from "fresh" to 5 years since cut?

Would placing several deer feeders this hunting area help us kill more older bucks, as well as keep them from leaving the property?

 

[BSK]

Deer will travel long distances at night to feed. But food rarely holds deer on a property. Your cover wild hold deer much better.

 

[corymhoward]

sounds like yall got it together

 

[Twitch]

I agree. A good thick sanctuary. Hard to come by.