New Land to Hunt

[shoningram]

I have been given permission to hunt the family land behind my house. It is 47 acres of mountain land. High ridges. One road runs through the middle. Not a lot of deer sign but I know they are there. Several have been spotted in the area. Hardwoods, Creeks. What is the best way to bring in more deer? Plots? Mineral licks? Airdrops? I need some advice! Thanks!

 

[Os2 Outdoors]

If the timber is open hardwoods, than the best bet would be some logging.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

 

[shoningram]

I cant log it. Next suggestion?

 

[treefarmer]

Sounds like you don't have openings to work with. I suggest you obtain a free timber management plan from your TN Div. of Forestry Area Forester and see if there are opportunities to improve the forest at the same time as providing food/cover for deer. There may be some dry ridge tops or South facing slopes that cannot support a quality hardwood forest but can be converted to a healthy pine stand. Pines can go dormant during the hot summer and grow in the spring/fall if that is the only time there is water. If you can convert small areas such as 1/4 to 1 acre that will be enough but if a forester can explain to you how you will have a better forest you may be able to convince the family to do more. We converted 135 acres of junk hardwood forest to pine on our property and are glad we did. Two adjacent landowners have now done the same thing after seeing our results. Another option is Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) which is removing the junk understory trees such as maple/elm/hornbeam/sweetgum/sourwood/etc. using a chain saw and spraying a herbicide on the stump to kill it. This allows more light in which allows some oaks or other desirable trees to get started which is good for the deer. This is how I spend my winter weekends and get firewood. If you aren't going to be the owner some day you may not want to do this because it is a lot of work unless you can use the firewood. Another option is to cut trees that are competing with the oaks so the oaks can get bigger and produce more acorns. If your family doesn't want to cut a tree there isn't much you can do.

 

[shoningram]

Since I cant cut trees, I am really looking for advice on what to plant before the start of gun season. What will sprout within the month? I am going to plant several mini plots this spring but Id like to get something in the ground this year. Any suggestions?