Food Plots Overgrown pasture

[megalomaniac]

I bet it will be hard to rent a mulching head for your skid steer... #1, they are EXPENSIVE. #2, the hourly maintenance that has to be done on them is necessary to make them last.

Not to mention you need one of the bigger skid steers to actually run most of them.

If the bulk of the brush is less than 2 in thick saplings, I'd bush hog with tractor or your skid steer.

The biggest advantage of the mulching head is the roots, brush stumps will be ground down to below dirt level... so you can plant right away, the brush is less likely to resprout, and you don't have to worry about puncturing tractor tires. The mulching head can also easily and quickly handle saplings up to 4 inches in diameter. It can handle larger than that, but becomes significantly slower and more tedious.

 

[tree_ghost]

I bet it will be hard to rent a mulching head for your skid steer... #1, they are EXPENSIVE. #2, the hourly maintenance that has to be done on them is necessary to make them last.

Not to mention you need one of the bigger skid steers to actually run most of them.

If the bulk of the brush is less than 2 in thick saplings, I'd bush hog with tractor or your skid steer.

The biggest advantage of the mulching head is the roots, brush stumps will be ground down to below dirt level... so you can plant right away, the brush is less likely to resprout, and you don't have to worry about puncturing tractor tires. The mulching head can also easily and quickly handle saplings up to 4 inches in diameter. It can handle larger than that, but becomes significantly slower and more tedious.

Yeah there's nothing bigger than 2" in that field

 

[deerhunter10]

Yeah there's nothing bigger than 2" in that field

Bush hog it. 2 inches isn't much.

 

[Swampster]

Whether it's now or soon, you want to get ahold of it before it gets too big and out of control. I like the stage approach mega mentioned. I would try and get ahold of all the overgrowth before the end of 2025. It grows so fast in that stage that it becomes unmanageable very fast! Thats what we are combating now.

We have about 15 acres we are going to try to burn Mar-may to try and kill as many saplings as we can.

Really fast. I spent days cutting and clearing trees that got away from me in the NWSG section of my CRP (riparian buffer). It was probably only an acre. I had left some sections alone because there were such good blackberries there and BAM! There are birches, sycamores, box elder, and gum trees that are four to six inches in diameter.

 

[Ski]

Congrats on the new acreage!!!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Really fast. I spent days cutting and clearing trees that got away from me in the NWSG section of my CRP (riparian buffer). It was probably only an acre. I had left some sections alone because there were such good blackberries there and BAM! There are birches, sycamores, box elder, and gum trees that are four to six inches in diameter.

Fast for sure. Moving our burning of these areas to early fall for better effectiveness.

For what it's worth @tree_ghost, literally, it seems like one year with no management intervention, it can get out of control - I've seen areas where I've said "I'll take care of that next year", then 2 years later when I've gotten around to it, I've wondered how in the heyal it's gotten out of control

 

[7mmWSM]

If you're going to burn and want good results you need to do it before the green up starts. While everything's dormant you'll get a complete burn. After it starts greening up or into full green up success will go way down as far as a complete burn goes.

 

[tree_ghost]

If you're going to burn and want good results you need to do it before the green up starts. While everything's dormant you'll get a complete burn. After it starts greening up or into full green up success will go way down as far as a complete burn goes.

Yeah I think given my timing of closing on the farm and the amount of area to improve I think I'm going to go the brush hog route this year and reasses potential burning next winter.

 

[7mmWSM]

Yeah I think given my timing of closing on the farm and the amount of area to improve I think I'm going to go the brush hog route this year and reasses potential burning next winter.

Nothing wrong with that. We burned an area almost every year. But did more bushogging than anything. You'll be fine whatever you decide to do. Both are good options.

 

[Volbuck777]

Not sure what you're looking at but 10 acres of where a rabbit couldn't go sounds like a big buck haven. We had a spot like that in Kentucky and bucks would come through it and just appear. It was like that for 2 years. We had an awesome spot. Then someone decided to make the deer another food plot. Sightings went down tremendously and we went from killing 3 over 130 and a 165 to not even seeing any over 130. Needless to say the landowner loved what we did. He wanted us to keep it mowed. Now none of us hunt it. We were our own worst enemy. Food for thought. Deer don't need plots near as bad as we want them. Deer need cover. I know you know this, I just really push it. My last 5 wall hangers have come from exactly what you're talking about. Good luck in whatever you do. By the way congratulations again on the farm.

 

[7mmWSM]

Not sure what you're looking at but 10 acres of where a rabbit couldn't go sounds like a big buck haven. We had a spot like that in Kentucky and bucks would come through it and just appear. It was like that for 2 years. We had an awesome spot. Then someone decided to make the deer another food plot. Sightings went down tremendously and we went from killing 3 over 130 and a 165 to not even seeing any over 130. Needless to say the landowner loved what we did. He wanted us to keep it mowed. Now none of us hunt it. We were our own worst enemy. Food for thought. Deer don't need plots near as bad as we want them. Deer need cover. I know you know this, I just really push it. My last 5 wall hangers have come from exactly what you're talking about. Good luck in whatever you do. By the way congratulations again on the farm.

I agree. I'll take cover over food anyday!

 

[tree_ghost]

Not sure what you're looking at but 10 acres of where a rabbit couldn't go sounds like a big buck haven. We had a spot like that in Kentucky and bucks would come through it and just appear. It was like that for 2 years. We had an awesome spot. Then someone decided to make the deer another food plot. Sightings went down tremendously and we went from killing 3 over 130 and a 165 to not even seeing any over 130. Needless to say the landowner loved what we did. He wanted us to keep it mowed. Now none of us hunt it. We were our own worst enemy. Food for thought. Deer don't need plots near as bad as we want them. Deer need cover. I know you know this, I just really push it. My last 5 wall hangers have come from exactly what you're talking about. Good luck in whatever you do. By the way congratulations again on the farm.

I thank you you very much for your input! I don't want to eliminate my cover but I want to "open up" some areas for interior thicket movement. I have watched big bucks time and time again work the edge of a thicket until they found a place to slip a wide rack through simply because the cover was too dense. I've also watched them climb down in a complete tangle of a mess to my surprise but more often than not I see them bed on the edge of cover that is too thick to run through with their racks when they need to make a quick exit. I want to have it all at LOL!!!!!

 

[tree_ghost]

Ok so I went in a brush hogged about a 20 x 60 yard strip at the top of the ridge a few weeks ago along with an access path along another edge. The payoff has been great! I like the larger growth at the stage it is so my thoughts are some type of rotational bushogging over the course of a couple years in order to allow for differing stages of growth in the thicket but without it getting out of hand with saplings. Is that viable or am I dilusonal lol.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Ok so I went in a brush hogged about a 20 x 60 yard strip at the top of the ridge a few weeks ago along with an access path along another edge. The payoff has been great! I like the larger growth at the stage it is so my thoughts are some type of rotational bushogging over the course of a couple years in order to allow for differing stages of growth in the thicket but without it getting out of hand with saplings. Is that viable or am I dilusonal lol.

Your not dilliusonal at all...we've done some rotational bush hogging for years keeping different areas at different stages.
Your creating early successional growth. Also your adding edge and transition areas. Great diversity. And certain areas we actually bush hog every year... but understanding that mowing every year can turn an area into more of a grassy habitat verses forbs...and in certain areas that may be a good thing ...but keeping areas in early stages of growth is very benifical creating natural food as well as fawning and nesting habitat...very rewarding to do habitat work and see wildlife respond and benifit...enjoy the process.

 

[BSK]

Ok so I went in a brush hogged about a 20 x 60 yard strip at the top of the ridge a few weeks ago along with an access path along another edge. The payoff has been great! I like the larger growth at the stage it is so my thoughts are some type of rotational bushogging over the course of a couple years in order to allow for differing stages of growth in the thicket but without it getting out of hand with saplings. Is that viable or am I dilusonal lol.

As DoubleRidge said, you are not delusional at all. I like overgrown openings to be bushhogged on a 3-year rotation in spring or even mid-summer. I mid-summer mowing means the new growth will still be quite tender come fall hunting season.

 

[deerhunter10]

Ok so I went in a brush hogged about a 20 x 60 yard strip at the top of the ridge a few weeks ago along with an access path along another edge. The payoff has been great! I like the larger growth at the stage it is so my thoughts are some type of rotational bushogging over the course of a couple years in order to allow for differing stages of growth in the thicket but without it getting out of hand with saplings. Is that viable or am I dilusonal lol.

We do this quite often we have some on 1 2 and 3 rotations. You will probably be surprised at the deer you will have using it.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Ok so I went in a brush hogged about a 20 x 60 yard strip at the top of the ridge a few weeks ago along with an access path along another edge. The payoff has been great! I like the larger growth at the stage it is so my thoughts are some type of rotational bushogging over the course of a couple years in order to allow for differing stages of growth in the thicket but without it getting out of hand with saplings. Is that viable or am I dilusonal lol.

That's great!