The thicker the land?

[Football Hunter]

The more pressure it will take,Im guessing.With the logging Im getting done,and the storm damage on my adjoining lease,Im thinking it will take pressure better,as far as daylight deer movement.Not that Im gonna get sloppy,make sense?

 

[BSK]

That's actually one of my current research projects. I'm look at two things pertaining to the amount of thick bedding/sanctuary cover a property has. First, I believe the more cover a property has, the more older bucks it attracts during hunting season. Second, I believe it allows bucks to stay more active during daylight longer into the high-pressure parts of hunting season. In essence, hunters will see daylight buck activity longer into MZ/gun season the more cover the property has. Hunters can put more hunting pressure on the property and still maintain high buck sightings.

 

[monsterbuck07]

So BSK if you believe that the thicker the land is better...should I let these fields remain grown up for the upcoming season? This was them in Dec. killed a 10 pt. out of it in Jan.

Should we let them all grow up or just a few...this one connect to the top pictured field.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Boy, those pictures are REALLY making me antsy! I wish you hadnt posted them :D . I will say that grown up fields are GREAT places for deer to hide out. If I had something like that (alot of bigger fields to work with), I would have a combination of 2 types of fields:

1) Entire fields that are grown up

and

2) Grown up fields around the edges with a foodplot in the dead center. I would make the "buffer" from the edge of the woods to the center of the field pretty wide and have it grown up quite a bit. This is when you would catch them sneaking out in it right before dark thinking they are covered, when you can see their every step :)

Just my thoughts....

 

[trealtree]

At the farm I hunt in KY we have a field similar to that and we leave it grown up and cut narrow shooting lanes in the shape of an upside down "peace sign" so that we/he has multiple opportunities to shoot at a deer as they walk through.

This is only one of many others fields that he actually lets grow up and we/he see's 10X the deer in this field, My cousin has killed 2 deer that would score near 150" out of that same stand in the past several years. But he cuts all the other fields before hunting season and lets me hunt them.....

 

[Rubberduck270]

Boy, those pictures are REALLY making me antsy! I wish you hadnt posted them :D . I will say that grown up fields are GREAT places for deer to hide out. If I had something like that (alot of bigger fields to work with), I would have a combination of 2 types of fields:

1) Entire fields that are grown up

and

2) Grown up fields around the edges with a foodplot in the dead center. I would make the "buffer" from the edge of the woods to the center of the field pretty wide and have it grown up quite a bit. This is when you would catch them sneaking out in it right before dark thinking they are covered, when you can see their every step :)

Just my thoughts....

That setup works extremely well. A farm I hunt a few time a year in Haywood Co. is set up the same way. Roughly 40 yrds. of chest high sage grass around the field edge with a 2 acre chicory patch in the dead center. Bucks wont make it into the plot until it is dark but they begin slipping through the sage during shooting light.

 

[BSK]

Monsterbuck07,

What I would do with those fields would depend on many factors, including the layout of the property, the layout and habitat of surrounding properties, the availability of agriculture on your property and surrounding properties, other sources of good cover, etc.

 

[monsterbuck07]

My land and ALL of the land around has no crops within a few miles. However every year we are loaded with white oaks. I just cant see putting in plots when we have so many acorns, I mean we are loaded.Our property is around 400 acres with 1/2 fields that size (about 9 of them) and hardwoods.

 

[jmb4wd]

Back when I used to hunt South Dakota, I loved hunting the CRP fields!! It was amazing the deer you would see that had been bedded down out there all day, and boom right before dark, you better have your gun up, cause it was game on!! We had big feilds of CRP and lots of them in the river bottoms and from our vantage point up high on the ridges you could see for hundreds of yards and that is where we would always see the monster bucks!

As far as the bushhogging question, I would bushhog them every other year just to keep the woody growth down and to make it easier on my equipment.

 

[BSK]

My land and ALL of the land around has no crops within a few miles. However every year we are loaded with white oaks. I just cant see putting in plots when we have so many acorns, I mean we are loaded.Our property is around 400 acres with 1/2 fields that size (about 9 of them) and hardwoods.

Just remember, acorns can't be counted on. White oaks (or any oaks for that matter) won't produce a bumper crop every year. In addition, acorns are only a fall/winter season food. For summer growth and hunting season attraction, agricultural plots could be a huge benefit, especially in a poor acorn year.

Considering that, I would turn and plant those fields, but leave a significant portion around the edges in either natural, unkept growth, or convert them to Native Warm-Season Grasses (NWSG). NWSG are much more management intensive to get started but easier to maintain in the long run. If those field-edge buffers are left in natural growth, they should be bush-hogged in sections on a rotation long enough to produce woody growth that can still be cut with a bush-hog. In essence, if it takes three years of growth to produce woody brush in those fields that can still be cut with a bush-hog, then break up the field buffers into three sections, mowing one section each year in late winter. That way, one section will have one summer's growth by the following hunting season, the next section two summer's growth, and the third section three summers growth (which will be the section you bush-hog the next early spring).

These field-edge buffers should be at least 40-yards wide around the fields. 60 yards is better.

The central planted areas can be planted in a soybean-corn rotation each spring and a mix of fall annual attractants in late summer.

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

The thicker the land the harder it is to hunt.

 

[BSK]

Monsterbuck07,

Even if you decide not to plant the center of these fields (and food plots/agriculture can be VERY labor, equipment and money intensive), much can be done with creative bush-hogging. I've seen large fields like those pictured left to grow and then bush-hogged on a 3 or 4-year rotation (1/3 of the area bush-hogged each year in a 3-year rotation, or 1/4 of the area bush-hogged in a 4-year rotation) in very interesting and helpful patterns. When the field is over-looked by a permanent tower stand like yours, you can bush-hog in a "sun-burst" pattern, with each cut section running outwards from the stand's location (just like the "rising sun" WWII-era Japanese flag).

You can also disk strips of each bush-hogged area just after it is mowed prior to spring green-up. The disked strips will grow a different assembledge of plants than the areas only bush-hogged (disking promotes broadleaf plants while mowing promotes more grasses).

 

[monsterbuck07]

Hmmmmm very interesting... I did not know that about the disking to produce broadleafs. Well my mind is made up I am going to bush hog the middle of a few fields and leave the edges grown (50 yards) also I may cut lines just like the lines on a football field. How wide can you make a cut and a deer still feel hidden, 10 yards? Thanks for all of the information

 

[BSK]

Think about trying to make a shot on a walking or trotting deer and how much "space" you will need in a mowed section to make the shot. The narrower the better for the deer, but the wider the better for the shooter!

I would say 10-20 yards would be just right.

 

[Football Hunter]

good info,unfortunatly,my plots are all about 1/2 an acre,so leaving big wide strips leaves no plots.

 

[Boone 58]

I like this....it has an "illinois" look to it from the Drury videos! nice breaks.

 

[BSK]

good info,unfortunatly,my plots are all about 1/2 an acre,so leaving big wide strips leaves no plots.

I started experimenting with these wide buffers when I gained a client that had huge agricultural fields bordered by big, mature hardwoods. The problem was, deer wouldn't use the big ag fields until well after dark. They were holding up in the closest available cover (hundreds of yards away) until dark before moving towards the fields. To alleviate this problem and get deer using the fields during shooting light we began experimenting with creating fairly wide buffers (40 yards) of NWSG around each field.

The results have been spectacular. Now, deer are not only using the fields during shooting light, instead of bedding back in the cover a considerable distance from the fields, they are bedding in the NWSG. The client reports that just after sunset, deer can be seen popping up all over as they get up from their beds in those NWSG buffers.

 

[Football Hunter]

good info,unfortunatly,my plots are all about 1/2 an acre,so leaving big wide strips leaves no plots.

I started experimenting with these wide buffers when I gained a client that had huge agricultural fields bordered by big, mature hardwoods. The problem was, deer wouldn't use the big ag fields until well after dark. They were holding up in the closest available cover (hundreds of yards away) until dark before moving towards the fields. To alleviate this problem and get deer using the fields during shooting light we began experimenting with creating fairly wide buffers (40 yards) of NWSG around each field.

The results have been spectacular. Now, deer are not only using the fields during shooting light, instead of bedding back in the cover a considerable distance from the fields, they are bedding in the NWSG. The client reports that just after sunset, deer can be seen popping up all over as they get up from their beds in those NWSG buffers.

I usually hunt the trails leading to the fields,rarely hunt sitting on top of the fields.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

good info,unfortunatly,my plots are all about 1/2 an acre,so leaving big wide strips leaves no plots.

I started experimenting with these wide buffers when I gained a client that had huge agricultural fields bordered by big, mature hardwoods. The problem was, deer wouldn't use the big ag fields until well after dark. They were holding up in the closest available cover (hundreds of yards away) until dark before moving towards the fields. To alleviate this problem and get deer using the fields during shooting light we began experimenting with creating fairly wide buffers (40 yards) of NWSG around each field.

The results have been spectacular. Now, deer are not only using the fields during shooting light, instead of bedding back in the cover a considerable distance from the fields, they are bedding in the NWSG. The client reports that just after sunset, deer can be seen popping up all over as they get up from their beds in those NWSG buffers.

I usually hunt the trails leading to the fields,rarely hunt sitting on top of the fields.

Me too UNLESS they are overgrown fields that provide plenty of cover AND food :)

 

[Football Hunter]

The thicker the land the harder it is to hunt.

I agree,to a point,but when its just big mature hard woods,and you can see 300 yards in the summer,deer get pretty scarce in the gun season a lot of times.

 

[BSK]

good info,unfortunatly,my plots are all about 1/2 an acre,so leaving big wide strips leaves no plots.

I started experimenting with these wide buffers when I gained a client that had huge agricultural fields bordered by big, mature hardwoods. The problem was, deer wouldn't use the big ag fields until well after dark. They were holding up in the closest available cover (hundreds of yards away) until dark before moving towards the fields. To alleviate this problem and get deer using the fields during shooting light we began experimenting with creating fairly wide buffers (40 yards) of NWSG around each field.

The results have been spectacular. Now, deer are not only using the fields during shooting light, instead of bedding back in the cover a considerable distance from the fields, they are bedding in the NWSG. The client reports that just after sunset, deer can be seen popping up all over as they get up from their beds in those NWSG buffers.

I usually hunt the trails leading to the fields,rarely hunt sitting on top of the fields.

Problem was, trail-cameras showed the deer weren't leaving the cover until after dark. In addition, big open hardwoods produced very diffuse movement patterns towards the fields. With the change in habitat, no more problems getting shooting opportunities (and this client was having a real problem with producing enough doe-shooting opportunities to control population density).

Good habitat management needs to be geared not only to the lay of the land and current macro-habitat conditions, but also to the needs of the hunters that will be hunting the land. I often tailor my habitat plans to the experience level of the hunters.

 

[deerchaser007]

The more pressure it will take,Im guessing.With the logging Im getting done,and the storm damage on my adjoining lease,Im thinking it will take pressure better,as far as daylight deer movement.Not that Im gonna get sloppy,make sense?

Would depend on how much thick cover you have spread across several hundred acres,.. small patches of thick cover will not improve daylight movement. also,.. the pressure from surrounding properties has a larger impact on daylight movement on your property than you would think, even if you don't step foot on your property.
I can not step foot on my land til gun season, but see a huge difference in daylight movement once mz season begins on my cams over plots and active trails,.. caused by pressure on surrounding properties!!!

 

[BSK]

The more pressure it will take,Im guessing.With the logging Im getting done,and the storm damage on my adjoining lease,Im thinking it will take pressure better,as far as daylight deer movement.Not that Im gonna get sloppy,make sense?

Would depend on how much thick cover you have spread across several hundred acres,.. small patches of thick cover will not improve daylight movement. also,.. the pressure from surrounding properties has a larger impact on daylight movement on your property than you would think, even if you don't step foot on your property.

I couldn't disagree more.

 

[deerchaser007]

The more pressure it will take,Im guessing.With the logging Im getting done,and the storm damage on my adjoining lease,Im thinking it will take pressure better,as far as daylight deer movement.Not that Im gonna get sloppy,make sense?

Would depend on how much thick cover you have spread across several hundred acres,.. small patches of thick cover will not improve daylight movement. also,.. the pressure from surrounding properties has a larger impact on daylight movement on your property than you would think, even if you don't step foot on your property.

I couldn't disagree more.

And that is fine,.. my situation is different than yours, so my results are gonna be different. I've done the cam survey on my places and seen it for several years. Small patches(1-2 acres) of cover on 100 acres is not gonna improve daylight movement with high pressure in the area,.. but you put 50 acres in cover on that 100 acres you could increase it slightly within a high pressure area.

Key words,.. high pressure area!

I guess you see different results with your BIG tracts with low hunting pressure and higher deer densities don't ya!!

 

[BSK]

I guess you see different results with your BIG tracts with low hunting pressure and higher deer densities don't ya!!

My clients range in property size from 60 acres to thousands of acres. Deer react to cover-versus-hunting-pressure the same way in each situation, regardless of deer density. And the deer densities in western Middle TN can be far more variable than most would realize, from around 15/sq. mile to over 30 in localized pockets.

 

[BowGuy84]

In essence, hunters will see daylight buck activity longer into MZ/gun season the more cover the property has. Hunters can put more hunting pressure on the property and still maintain high buck sightings.

My experience at my place. Cut the property next to me (more cover in addition to mine) and the next year I saw not one but two bucks 2.5 the second weekend of KY's gun season...thats saying something for KY.