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Post by mnaaron on Dec 24, 2020 11:38:21 GMT -6
When you guys are setting up sanctuaries are you simply leaving larger areas undisturbed and the deer bed where they bed or are you creating specific bedding areas within your sanctuaries to help facilitate deer movement etc...
Hope that made sense...
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Post by smsmith on Dec 24, 2020 11:43:53 GMT -6
I simply leave my tamarack/cattail/tag alder/sedge swamp undisturbed. My wife and I walked through it one year out to the lake. Other than that, there's been no human presence out there since 2012.
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Post by benmnwi on Dec 24, 2020 11:57:56 GMT -6
I leave the back side of my woods as a sanctuary since the deer naturally like bedding there and it is hard to get in and out without spooking them there. I go in there to drop a few trees every year to keep that bedding area thicker than average. The deer can figure out exactly where they want to bed in that general area though.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 24, 2020 13:28:52 GMT -6
I have dropped some cedars to try and create bedding areas in the sanctuary. I don’t think dropping the trees has made much difference to the deer.
Leaving it alone and keeping it thick are the keys.
Red cedars and buckthorn keep most of my area thick. Popple regrowth in a couple of small areas.
And some planted spruce. If planting for a sanctuary with spruce, I would leave some gaps of three to four rows.
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Post by nhmountains on Dec 24, 2020 13:44:14 GMT -6
We stay out of most of our property. Probably 80-90 acres untouched. Our issue is that coyotes are there 24x7x365. They don’t take days off unless they take a permanent dirt nap.
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Post by sd51555 on Dec 24, 2020 16:55:02 GMT -6
I’m trying to make the most open areas of my sanctuary thicker. That’s about it.
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Post by mnaaron on Dec 24, 2020 20:03:25 GMT -6
I ask the question since we are now getting to the point where we are planning some bigger scale regen projects within our sanctuaries and I am thinking about doing smaller clear cuts approx an acre in size and then leaving an area and then another clear cut. Creating more diversity and different ages of regen.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Dec 24, 2020 23:06:28 GMT -6
To me with a bow, everything with cover is a sanctuary on the property. And within the sanctuary you create bedding area if possible. Only hunt the trails going to food when the rut is not on, and hunt the trails from dawn till dark between bedding areas during the rut.
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Post by Catscratch on Dec 25, 2020 7:07:15 GMT -6
Late summer through January a lot of the place sees no human presence outside of farm work. I hunt much like Mo said; I stay out of plots and bedding... and just hunt fringe of travel routes. No scouting, no trailcams, no crossing deer paths, etc. I try to be a ghost during season and never let them know they are being hunted.
During spring morel and shed season the whole place gets walked. Nothing is off limits. This is when I take notes on fall sign we see. There are places we only walk through once a yr but no places that are strictly sanctuaries all yr.
To your question; I'm in the same boat. Up till now I've done a lot of food and soil work on the place. Not a lot of cover work. Considering going into several spots and doing a very concerted and specific effort in creating some bedding cover then walking away. I want to do it well. Don't want to just randomly hack stuff up. Doing a ton of research and changing ideas seems like every week.
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Post by mnaaron on Dec 25, 2020 7:13:26 GMT -6
The woods I am going to change was logged about 20 years ago so has been crazy thick but now is at the point it needs another thinning out.
We hunt just like MO. We sit in between sanctuaries and try to catch bucks going back and forth between them.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Dec 25, 2020 9:00:56 GMT -6
The woods I am going to change was logged about 20 years ago so has been crazy thick but now is at the point it needs another thinning out. We hunt just like MO. We sit in between sanctuaries and try to catch bucks going back and forth between them. I may have missed it Aaron, but are you talking a large chunk of woods or small? If small ten acres or less, why don't you just tornado hinge every junk tree in there?
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Post by mnaaron on Dec 25, 2020 10:04:25 GMT -6
Wish I could post pics. The entire woods is approx 120 acres with the vast majority set aside as sanctuaries. Some sanctuaries are willows and conifers so that we can leave alone but others might be 20-25 acres of mixed hardwoods and softwoods and I am wondering do I tornado the entire 25 acres or be more strategic and only do certain sections to make them bed in certain areas and each year clear cut a new area so over time there is always a newer area and a transition occurring.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 25, 2020 10:05:26 GMT -6
The woods I am going to change was logged about 20 years ago so has been crazy thick but now is at the point it needs another thinning out. We hunt just like MO. We sit in between sanctuaries and try to catch bucks going back and forth between them. What types of trees are in there? Mostly popple from what you said?
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Post by batman on Dec 25, 2020 10:07:28 GMT -6
Wish I could post pics. The entire woods is approx 120 acres with the vast majority set aside as sanctuaries. Some sanctuaries are willows and conifers so that we can leave alone but others might be 20-25 acres of mixed hardwoods and softwoods and I am wondering do I tornado the entire 25 acres or be more strategic and only do certain sections to make them bed in certain areas and each year clear cut a new area so over time there is always a newer area and a transition occurring. If you do smaller areas and they hold doe groups would not take a rocket scientist to know where the bucks cruise downwind during rut. Then you could stagger every 7 years or so and as one fades another becomes prime. Lots more diversity and edge and your parcel does not have to peak and fade.
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Post by mnaaron on Dec 25, 2020 10:16:12 GMT -6
The woods I am going to change was logged about 20 years ago so has been crazy thick but now is at the point it needs another thinning out. We hunt just like MO. We sit in between sanctuaries and try to catch bucks going back and forth between them. What types of trees are in there? Mostly popple from what you said? Poplar, basswood maple and oak
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