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Post by Freeborn on Nov 12, 2018 22:13:46 GMT -6
I want to create some more cover and sanctuaries and try and get bucks to travel to various areas on the property since the nicer bucks don’t seem to come out of cover to the foodplots with the does. Need to create some new trails/barriers or something so we can see them when they are moving through the cover. Have you thought of creating staging plots (kill plots). You've been to my place and seen my primary foodplot. I'm going to create 2-3 small staging plots between bedding and my primary foodplot. My primary plot is not in the woods so I only see bucks in it very late if at all. I'm hoping to see more socialization and buck activity in the staging plots as they will be in thicker cover.
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 13, 2018 0:30:20 GMT -6
Aaron,
Do you have any photos of the existing area? Girdling/spraying several trees might work too. The reason why I asked what other types of trees you have in there is because the other seeds and undergrowth are just waiting for sunlight. Once they have it they may take off. The quickest route would be to hire out like Batman has said. It might be worth planting done other trees like evergreens or browse like red dogwood osier or maples,etc
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 13, 2018 4:37:14 GMT -6
I want to create some more cover and sanctuaries and try and get bucks to travel to various areas on the property since the nicer bucks don’t seem to come out of cover to the foodplots with the does. Need to create some new trails/barriers or something so we can see them when they are moving through the cover. You must know where all of the prime funnels are. Can you create more or enhance them and forget about hunting the foodplots?
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 13, 2018 4:52:10 GMT -6
I want to create some more cover and sanctuaries and try and get bucks to travel to various areas on the property since the nicer bucks don’t seem to come out of cover to the foodplots with the does. Need to create some new trails/barriers or something so we can see them when they are moving through the cover. Do you have many evergreens, preferably spruce and not pines? If not, plant them for cover in sanctuaries and for travel lanes.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 13, 2018 4:56:06 GMT -6
I hunted one of my foodplots and eventually the deer knew it.
There is deer sign wherever we didn’t hunt. We had about 4 acres of standing corn for most of the season that was not hunted, 1.5 acre corn foodplot not hunted, apple trees not hunted, and two tiny rye plots in the woods not hunted.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 13, 2018 6:27:24 GMT -6
I will post a picture of the property later this am and maybe you guys can help me tweak it
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Post by chummer16 on Nov 13, 2018 8:00:28 GMT -6
I want to create some more cover and sanctuaries and try and get bucks to travel to various areas on the property since the nicer bucks don’t seem to come out of cover to the foodplots with the does. Need to create some new trails/barriers or something so we can see them when they are moving through the cover. At my home I have some Landscape Ornamental Buckthorn. I believe it's steril as it dos not produce a berry. It grows as a tall cylindrical shrub. I've been tempted to use it as a screen but haven't pulled the trigger. Buckthorn is one of the few shrubs/Trees that keeps its leaves well into winter. The problem with allot of these plantings is by the time rifle season starts they provide little cover. I love this shrub. I have 5 of them at my house as a backyard screen from neighbors. As of today they are still holding most of their leaves. Would be a pricey planting.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 13, 2018 11:13:18 GMT -6
Ok guys here is an aerial photo of one of the pieces we hunt. Road on north side is a driveway. All of the willow swamp and the spruces (Middle of the property) is sanctuaries. We basically have stands located downwind of the bedding areas and located on foodplots since we are struggling finding a way to hunt the core of the property. We have been shocked that the deer do not use the willow swamps nearly as much as we thought they would. We have proposed cutting shooting lanes into the spruce trees in attempt to see the bucks moving through the cover. Not a lot of topography to work with either. Thoughts??
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 13, 2018 11:25:52 GMT -6
We have thought about putting some kill plots in however not sure where to put them without blowing out the deer. The grass area on the north was burned and planted to native grasses however it was a complete failure due to the cool and warm season grass seed bed. Shrubs in this area are hawthornes. We actually have a lot of scattered hawthorne on this property.
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Post by jbird on Nov 13, 2018 11:50:45 GMT -6
My experience with iron wood is that it tends to be a small understory tree. if your trying to thicken up an area....nothing works like sunlight! To my knowledge deer have little to no use for ironwood so I would be cutting them off and using them as blockades and the like. Allow other hardwoods and weeds and the like to grow with the newly available sunlight. In my area trees that hold their leaves well into winter are oaks and beech trees. The big thing is that - that requires cutting higher canopy trees at times and some folks don't like that. If your going to go all out...clear cut the area, and either let mother nature do her thing or plant and protect what you want. I am also a big fan of turning trees into shrubs by leaving a decent stump and simply letting it resprout. Again it needs sunlight for best results. Nothing improved the thickness of my understory like a decent select timber harvest did! If your trying to do this for hunting...make sure you have small trails thru the cover and on the down wind sides of your plots. Some folks call these sneak trails. I see this on my place where the bucks sneak between the narrow strip of timber between my food plots and a large stream. They are not exposed and yet can check the plots for does. I then use the creek to access the stand.
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Post by Freeborn on Nov 13, 2018 11:50:48 GMT -6
Ok guys here is an aerial photo of one of the pieces we hunt. Road on north side is a driveway. All of the willow swamp and the spruces (Middle of the property) is sanctuaries. We basically have stands located downwind of the bedding areas and located on foodplots since we are struggling finding a way to hunt the core of the property. We have been shocked that the deer do not use the willow swamps nearly as much as we thought they would. We have proposed cutting shooting lanes into the spruce trees in attempt to see the bucks moving through the cover. Not a lot of topography to work with either. Thoughts?? Aaron, unfortunately I can't read your map. Can you post it differently?
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Post by Freeborn on Nov 13, 2018 11:55:18 GMT -6
Never mind, I clicked on the map and it worked.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 13, 2018 15:38:57 GMT -6
Are the bucks leaving your place during the rut to to feed?
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 13, 2018 15:50:54 GMT -6
No they stay on this parcel but do cross the roads cruising. We have around 12 acres of food with 4 acres of standing corn. Must be 30+ does on this parcel. All the neighbors talked this year and decided to focus on harvesting does since numbers are high on everyone’s not just ours.
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Post by mnaaron on Nov 13, 2018 15:53:44 GMT -6
The bucks are in the heavy spruce and rut in there and trying to figure out better layout to promote buck travel through out property so we can entice them out of the sanctuaries
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