To bushhog or not?

[LanceS4803]

The farm I hunt, 180 acres of primarily steep, hardwood covered hills, has a 10 acre field along the ridge at the top.
The field always attracts deer at dawn/dusk, and I've taken numerous deer there, including one 150 class.
The owner has not cut the field since last fall, and the weeds are getting tall, along with locust trees. I'm worried that if she doesn't cut it soon, the field will be lost (without significant work).
With her permission,I'm thinking of having it cut myself, to maintain.
Any downside to doing this?

 

[Rob R.]

On our property of 80 acres we have a few very small fields. We keep them cut. I would cut it if she doesn't and that is with her permission. I don't like to see fields go wild and back to timber. Just personal preference on my part. I guess because we never really had any fields to speak of on our property.

 

[treefarmer]

A good time to bush hog is early summer after turkeys have finished nesting. If you cut now the food/cover will be lost till next summer. What I do is to cut half each year, so I always have food/cover for wildlife. Even better is every third year cut one third - this gives more food/cover for deer and lowers your cost.

 

[tn droptine]

I'd bushhog part of the field this year, then the other part next year, allowing the part you cut this year to grow up. That way every year you have a section of the field that is grown up to provide additional cover and bedding area. Not to mention the benefit this gives to small game.

 

[BSK]

A good time to bush hog is early summer after turkeys have finished nesting. If you cut now the food/cover will be lost till next summer. What I do is to cut half each year, so I always have food/cover for wildlife. Even better is every third year cut one third - this gives more food/cover for deer and lowers your cost.

^^^^^
This

Cut a third each year. Be creative in how you cut it, creating shooting lanes and no big openings deer will avoid. Deer feel most comfortable in daylight using an open area where good cover is just a bound or two away.

Overgrown fields may not be pretty to the human eye, but they are deer heaven. Deer are not creatures of the big timber. They are creatures of brush and thickets.

 

[BSK]

I wish I had more openings on my property I could allow to grow into brush. Best habitat there is. However, I do have two power-line right-of-ways crossing my property. I hate the years they mow them. That produces a little more food, but I prefer the weedy, viney, briery, brushy cover produced about the third year of regrowth after mowing.

 

[LanceS4803]

Thanks much. I'll have to come up with a plan to cut part of it.

I hunt another place that was clear cut about 10 years ago. It is now an overgrown area of small trees and vines, with small tunnels throughout that the deer use to travel. Deer love to hide in it, and I hate to try and get in there!

 

[rem270]

I like mowing strips, my dad likes it all mowed. We mowed it for years and he just has a hard time with change of anything lol. We have 5 different CRP fields on our place. In "my field" i mowed my food plot down and just did strips in the rest. 2 fields we mowed them all and 2 others we did strips in. He just freaks out if he don't have a whole field to shoot in.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

I wrestle with this every few years.,

I have two fields on my property. I cut the smaller field in two strips. The larger field I cut into 3 strips. Every two to three years I alternate the cuts. So whatever grows gets cut so there is always something clear and always something thick and viney.

 

[BSK]

So whatever grows gets cut so there is always something clear and always something thick and viney.

THAT is what you want to have. Sections of one year's grown, sections of two years growth, etc. Different types of important habitat plants will be available in each section.

 

[BSK]

I hunt another place that was clear cut about 10 years ago. It is now an overgrown area of small trees and vines, with small tunnels throughout that the deer use to travel. Deer love to hide in it, and I hate to try and get in there!

Without question, too much cover can be a nightmare for hunters.

 

[rem270]

Got to thinking about this thread while checking my cam before i hunted this evening. Got in my blind to make sure it was good and snapped a few pics. This whole field was mowed last year. This year i decided to mow the food plot down and just mow 2 strips coming to the plot. I mowed 2 strips around the perimeter of the field and the 2 coming to the plot are 15 ft wide sections.I really like this way instead of mowing it all. When i walked up this evening there were 2 does bedded just 5 yards from my blind in the tall grass. The trees you see in the back ground are a pine thicket with a power line running through the middle of it.



This is our bottom field. It's a pretty narrow field that gets even narrower where i'm standing. Where i'm standing is about a 20ft wide by 100 yards long. My dad mowed it all and you can tell what we did with the rest. To the left of the pic is a big gravel pit where they like to bed. To the right and also behind me in the pic are a creek and across the creek are crop fields every year. This is a heavy travel route from bedding to food, or vice versa.


I really think it's going to help us for the good by leaving some tall grass. My dad hates just because it's any kind of change. But hopefully he'll come around to it.

 

[BSK]

Those look great!

I've looked at hunter observation data for hunters hunting food plots that have good cover directly adjacent to the plot versus those hunting over plots that do not have cover adjacent to the plot. Hunters hunting plots with adjacent cover see far more older bucks per hunting hour.

 

[treefarmer]

It is a great idea for you to reduce your mowing. Some blackberry and other beneficial shrubs will start to come in which will benefit deer and other wildlife, for example turkey nesting. By mowing 1/3 of each field per year you will always have some tall brush and yet keep trees from taking over. It is also less work and reduces your fuel cost by 2/3, saving you more time and money (for ammo and other worthwhile expenses). Considering your dad's opinion, ask him if you can try it as an experiment on one field and the results will speak for themselves. A wild, natural food/cover plot is a beautiful thing to wildlife.

 

[BSK]

Great post treefarmer.

One of the biggest problems I have convincing hunters/managers to create good deer habitat is just how "ugly" good deer habitat can be. Many people prefer their land to look "clean" and well maintained. But deer hate "clean," and love what, to many people, looks ugly and poorly-maintained. There's a reason deer LOVE unmaintained old fields--all those weeds, briers and brush are prime deer habitat, providing a myriad of food sources as well as good hiding cover.

Some of the best deer habitat is areas that look like a bomb recently went off. If it's a mess, it's probably good for deer.

 

[duckriver]

We have a 45 ac field in the CRP program. All we do is bushhog once a year. Deer are like ants running everywhere in there. Could be because its suronded by 100 ac of beans on 3 sides. But I'd leave it tall or mow strips in it. They will follow the path of least resistance a lot of times and you can cut the path towards a stand

 

[dogmatik]

We have a ridge top field that I usually bush hog every year. This year, I only did half, yet bush hogged it 3 times and have used a mower on it 4 times. Just to see what it becomes.
Now down on the other side of the property on the far side corner which is above the main road, is about 8 acres that haven't been touched in 6 years. It's ugly as sin but it's deer heaven.