Reaping the Rewards

[sportsman94]

Awesome inspiration. I have two properties I want to try to manage similarly. One is only 20 acres, and one is 68. Time is my biggest problem with both of them and being a one man show doesn’t help. Thanks for the inspiration that it can be done!

 

[Long Cut]

Awesome inspiration. I have two properties I want to try to manage similarly. One is only 20 acres, and one is 68. Time is my biggest problem with both of them and being a one man show doesn’t help. Thanks for the inspiration that it can be done!

I have done 90% of the work by myself. You got this!

 

[Long Cut]

Congratulations!

How much land is the “Back 40” (40)? And how did you get on those sweet gums? Hack n Squirt..Girdle?

Congratulations again!

65 acres.

Combination of burning (late March into June has killed SG the best) January-February burns don’t touch sweet gums.
*Wait until ALL Sweet Gums on your property are budding and leafing out to strike a fire*
I’ve found that hot Head Fires kill sweet gums with close to a 90% kill rate. 1’ up to 10’ trees. Backing Fires are safer, but do not kill as efficiently.

Spraying (Imazypyr) has been the ONLY herbicide to consistently kill sweet gums. Glyphosate/24D/Dicamba has only “leaf killed” Sweet Gums at times for me.

Hack & Squirt works good for larger Sweet Gums, but is tedious & time consuming for the smaller groups we see in “Old Field” growth.

 

[krizia829]

We bought this “Back 40” piece back in 2020 with the goal of recreation, hunting and possibly a homesite one day.

We enrolled the Farm in the State’s DMAP Program, formed a Co-Op with neighbors and planted 2 food plots. Along with this, we began controlling invasive (Privet, Kudzu, Chine Berry) and killing all Sweet Gums as we possibly could. We conducted controlled burns annually on the property and ran annual trail camera surveys to monitor the areas deer herd density.

Between 2020-2022 we killed 15 does off of the property, as the buck to doe ratio was a little over 1:2. Before then, it wasn’t unusual to see 17-23 does in a field at any given time. Food plots were “lip height” outside exclusion cages and a 500# trough feeder would be emptied out in 6-8 days. For some reason I want to say we averaged 62.5# of feed per day.

The 2023-2024 season I hunted this property a total of 5 times. In those hunts, I saw 4 mature bucks in daylight.

All of the habitat work was done with: chainsaws, backpack blower, zero turns, ATV, 15gal & 4gal sprayers, push & shoulder spreaders and a drip torch.
The GA Forestry Commission cut firebreaks in for us and we've maintained them with a Zero Turn & ATV with a sprayer ever since.

This long-winded post is to hopefully motivate others to maintain their land, establish relationships with their neighbors to better the wildlife and overall hunting.
You DO NOT need significant equipment to make this happen.
You DO NOT need a ton of land to see mature bucks consistently in daylight.

View attachment 1274813View attachment 1274819View attachment 1274820View attachment 1274821View attachment 1274822View attachment 1274823View attachment 1274824View attachment 1274825View attachment 1274826

You have struck gold! That's amazing! Congratulations!

 

[Long Cut]

If I killed 15 mature does in three years at my house there wouldn't be any deer left here. There must be a lot of deer in your area.

Thanks for sharing!

There was A TON of does. Guys before us probably only shot bucks because it wasn’t unusual to see 10+ does in one hunt.

Now I’ll see anywhere from 1-8 does a hunt and the Rut has been A LOT better for us this year. More noticeable chasing and I’ve seen more mature bucks in daylight than ever before.

Our Deer Per Square Mile is somewhere North of 100 if memory serves me correct on this Farm and the area as a whole.

 

[sportsman94]

There was A TON of does. Guys before us probably only shot bucks because it wasn’t unusual to see 10+ does in one hunt.

Now I’ll see anywhere from 1-8 does a hunt and the Rut has been A LOT better for us this year. More noticeable chasing and I’ve seen more mature bucks in daylight than ever before.

Our Deer Per Square Mile is somewhere North of 100 if memory serves me correct on this Farm and the area as a whole.

Would you mind sharing an aerial of your property? I’m always interested in layouts for increasing mature buck movement in daylight. Access points, predominant wind direction, etc

 

[ucfireman]

Our Deer Per Square Mile is somewhere North of 100 if memory serves me correct on this Farm and the area as a whole.

If that is the case than you will never kill enough.
If I remember correctly I heard that 25 was high, couldn't imagine what 100 would look like. Maybe like Don Carter State Park or old Redtop.

 

[Long Cut]

If that is the case than you will never kill enough.
If I remember correctly I heard that 25 was high, couldn't imagine what 100 would look like. Maybe like Don Carter State Park or old Redtop.

Totally depends on the habitat.

In AG Country of SWGA, some places can hold 100-175 DPSM.
On the other extreme, North GA you’d expect to see maybe 5-25 DPSM.
1 Square Mile is 640 acres for reference.

The Biologist told me a good “Rule of Thumb” is to harvest 1 mature doe per 100 acres per year to maintain your herd density.
This is obviously once your numbers are in-check.

I’d say for “Good” to “Great” habitat and your goal is big antlers, you want your DPSM to be around 50-75 ideally. If you just like seeing deer, you can have 100+ DPSM but expect antler size & body weights to go down.

More Mouths = Less Available High Quality Browse

 

[fireman32]

Looks like you’re doing a great job. I’ve got 40 acres I’ve been working on for several years, about as good a 40 as you can have deer wise. Mostly low land hardwoods that hold water most of the fall and winter. I’ve been concentrating on the 5ish acre rise that has some pines on it toward the middle of the property. Opened the canopy up and did some burning, sunlight on the ground made a huge difference. Still have an acre or two to open up and a good many overcrowded oaks to remove across the property . I also have like minded neighbors with good habitat, my neighbor farmer put a hurting on the population this year with depredation permits though.

 

[Bud Man]

Like-minded neighbors is the key, I have 500 acres between what I own what I lease and what my partner owns all continuous, and just tonight I heard gunshots all over the place around us 5 acre tracks, good for them they can kill what they want on their land , and many say they want to kill big and mature bucks, but can't resist,but we are trying vigorously to grow and mature bucks. Even reached out to very many of them, with very little positive support of our goal, Watched the neighbor pick up a deer out of the front lawn today, not sure what it was, and won't intrude on privacy but the last one was a tiny buck a few weeks ago. Only cuz I was over there when he shot it. Piles of protein piles of supplemental feeding piles of food plots tons of management won't make a difference if you don't have the right neighbors. Good for you on having them hopefully you will continue to be able to manage your property. We're going into our third year and if things don't change, we will look into investing our money elsewhere lol. Hopefully y'all had a great season and have continued success

 

[Long Cut]

Like-minded neighbors is the key, I have 500 acres between what I own what I lease and what my partner owns all continuous, and just tonight I heard gunshots all over the place around us 5 acre tracks, good for them they can kill what they want on their land , and many say they want to kill big and mature bucks, but can't resist,but we are trying vigorously to grow and mature bucks. Even reached out to very many of them, with very little positive support of our goal, Watched the neighbor pick up a deer out of the front lawn today, not sure what it was, and won't intrude on privacy but the last one was a tiny buck a few weeks ago. Only cuz I was over there when he shot it. Piles of protein piles of supplemental feeding piles of food plots tons of management won't make a difference if you don't have the right neighbors. Good for you on having them hopefully you will continue to be able to manage your property. We're going into our third year and if things don't change, we will look into investing our money elsewhere lol. Hopefully y'all had a great season and have continued success

It can be frustrating, but as I said before.. those folks hunting the little 5-10 acre tracts don’t have the habitat to really hold or draw mature bucks in daylight.

 

[175rltw]

Like-minded neighbors is the key, I have 500 acres between what I own what I lease and what my partner owns all continuous, and just tonight I heard gunshots all over the place around us 5 acre tracks, good for them they can kill what they want on their land , and many say they want to kill big and mature bucks, but can't resist,but we are trying vigorously to grow and mature bucks. Even reached out to very many of them, with very little positive support of our goal, Watched the neighbor pick up a deer out of the front lawn today, not sure what it was, and won't intrude on privacy but the last one was a tiny buck a few weeks ago. Only cuz I was over there when he shot it. Piles of protein piles of supplemental feeding piles of food plots tons of management won't make a difference if you don't have the right neighbors. Good for you on having them hopefully you will continue to be able to manage your property. We're going into our third year and if things don't change, we will look into investing our money elsewhere lol. Hopefully y'all had a great season and have continued success

Probably a pretty awkward conversation with the neighbors. Hey y’all we got 500 acres with a ton of money invested in feeding the deer to grow some big ones- will yall mind not shooting the deer that present themselves on your 5 to help us out?

But I like that you”respect his privacy” talk about a good neighbor!

I bet the right 5 adjacent t your place could be. Real honey hole

 

[Bud Man]

I totally respect everybody that has the opportunity to own land whether it be 5 acres or 5,000 acres, and I know that the game is wild game, with an abundance of does, I don't understand someone saying they want to kill a good matur buck and then killing a 40-inch 6-point or a 50 inch 8pt because they say they want deer meat or know someone that wants some deer meat. It is what it is I still enjoy seeing the game I see.

 

[175rltw]

I totally respect everybody that has the opportunity to own land whether it be 5 acres or 5,000 acres, and I know that the game is wild game, with an abundance of does, I don't understand someone saying they want to kill a good matur buck and then killing a 40-inch 6-point or a 50 inch 8pt because they say they want deer meat or know someone that wants some deer meat. It is what it is I still enjoy seeing the game I see.

Well sad, Guvnah. Poor sods just aren’t as keen eyed about the future as you M Lord...

Wanting deer meat!!! Tisk I say.
Tisk Tisk.

Let those heathens eat cake.

You may need high fences IOT protect your investment. Not sure what to suggest as far as improving your enjoyment. Maybe another 300 acres around the first 300 so you have a buffer.

 

[Toliver]

@Toliver is the biologist through the state or private? I'll be interested to hear what they have to say and how much benefit you feel was provided.

DMAP?

Doesn’t sound like DMAP. Sounds like one of the Federal Grants.

Could be LongLeaf Pine, Turkey, Quail or a CRP Type Program is my guess.

I know you said "back 40" but how many acres did you do this on? I have not reached out to the DMAP but would like assistance, I thought the feds only wanted larger parcels and old fields that used to be farmed but not anymore.

You must have been seeing tons of bucks then, 2 bucks for every 1 doe. Ha!

Good work, I want to burn my place its mostly hardwoods. Everyone says don't burn hardwoods it will kill them but the DNR and Forestry burn WMA and forest land all the time.

Did you apply through the USDA?

Got a call this morning from Forestry. I could not for the life of me remember the name of the program until he said it. Looks like we will be meeting him to get recommendations on the forestry part at the same time we have the wildlife biologist out there discussing habitat programs. Once we do this and they do their thing we'll know if we got approved for financial assistance sometime this coming spring. We filled out the applications at our county extension office.

| Natural Resources Conservation Service

www.nrcs.usda.gov

 

[bfriendly]

Awesome inspiration. I have two properties I want to try to manage similarly. One is only 20 acres, and one is 68. Time is my biggest problem with both of them and being a one man show doesn’t help. Thanks for the inspiration that it can be done!

If anyone can do it, you can! Love the story @Long Cut! Keep us updated and more pictures please!

 

[nix03]

What county is your land in?