What would you do??

[Deer Fanatic]

So, here is my dilemma. This is a pine stand that was thinned 2 years ago. In about another 5 it will be thinned for the last time. In the top right hand corner you can see my established food plot running diagonal to the pine rows and running into a grove of sawtooth oaks. In the western third notice the cut road running north and south leading to a loading dock on the south edge. What to do with the cut road and loading dock?
1- leave alone till after the last thinning then establish more food plot/fruit trees?
2- go ahead and work up and grow some sort of food plots now?
3- other idea???
The pasture between the pines and the pond is left to grow up every year and burned off in the winter. The field to the south is row crops... not my land.

 

[Nitram4891]

Plant the pasture in something now and put soybeans in it this spring or create more bedding in that pasture area and also keep some of it planted as well.

 

[Mackie889]

I would plant that area in the Fall of 2021. Get a soil sample and add the amount of lime necessary to get the pH good (I’d wait until after hunting season so you don’t mess up your hunting this year). It takes at least 6 months for the lime to start work omg. Assuming it is fairly shady, plant a blend of clovers (Durana, Patriot, medium red, etc.) in the Fall of 2021 along with a cover crop of rye and oats. This plot should last you until the pines are thinned. Then just over-seed again after the thinning. It would give you a nice perennial (don’t have to keep planting each year) food plot.

 

[Mackie889]

In the field between the pines and pond there is a lonely island of trees/or tree. From that point to the right of the map I would bush hog a few times a year.

I agree with this. Throw some fertilizer out too to create a different “food plot.” You might even mow / scalp very low in early October and broadcast some grain rye / clover to give an additional food source.

 

[Canuck5]

5 years is a long time away and lots can change.

I'd soil test and lime in any open ground and plant whatever I could, when I could. Train this years fawns that the only place to go for food is Deer Fanatics Farm. Do whatever you can to help reduce their size of "range". Keep them local.

Plant protein where it makes sense.

 

[Canuck5]

 

[Deer Fanatic]

Thanks for all the replies!! I have kept the pasture mowed for years but in the last 2 or 3 have just let it grow all summer then burn it off in the winter .From the small clump of trees in the pasture east toward the pond dam it gets really tall and nasty and the deer do like to bed and leave fawns in this area during the summer. There are some sawtooths on the western side of the pasture and I do plan on scattering some more soft mast trees in there. I was wondering if apple trees would actually produce this far south... I found some last week for $20 each and am thinking about getting some next week. My main question is what to do with the cut road and loading dock. I cleaned them up after the initial thinning and am keeping them mowed. I have a couple pear trees planted on the north end of the cut road and am planning to plant a couple more. The stumps are all but rotted. They will use the same road and dock for the next thinning so would it be better to wait and try to establish some food after the next time or go ahead and do it now? The road and dock will be completely destroyed during the next thinning and may be even worse if if I work up the ground. I have never grown clover in a plot. I do plant spring, summer and fall plots just because I enjoy doing it and growing different things for the deer/wildlife.

 

[Crakajak]

I would plant winter wheat and crimson clover in any area you are going to plant once it's cut.Good cheap food source and building the soil with lorganic material as well as nitrogen from the clover..Replant every year until year of cutting.Then establish a perennial clover plot.

 

[across the river]

Not sure how big the field is, but it doesn’t look to be that big. I would let at the field grow up thick for bedding. Does will bed closer to the food source than bucks, so you want does bedding on the south part of the field and hopefully have it thick enough for a buck to bed up by the pond on the N/NE side. Plant clover in the loading dock and in that area. Plant wheat up the road going north from the loading dock. Not sure where you park or plan to hang, but I assume by the road on the West. I would set a blind or stand far enough in the pines you cant see it from the road. Then clear out far enough you can see the plots and the road. You can then hunt it on a N or NE wind.