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Post by Sandbur on Jun 9, 2021 15:08:13 GMT -6
I’ve seen many beautiful bucks chasing does in open timbered pasture in Iowa. Terrible habitat but they like to pin does down in those areas... I have heard the same thing about grass waterways in standing cornfields in my area.
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Post by Sandbur on Jun 9, 2021 15:13:04 GMT -6
I know of two spots where bucks bed during the summer. One is a couple lone spruce trees on a ditch bank and surrounded by reed canary grass. The other place is a mound of soil from where a pond was dug. It is all grasses except for a nearby crab apple tree and some wild plums. I have to agree about the open bedding areas for bucks during the summer.
Do bucks naturally move out of these places or do small game hunters move them to thickets before firearm season?
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Post by nhmountains on Jun 9, 2021 16:28:23 GMT -6
I know of two spots where bucks bed during the summer. One is a couple lone spruce trees on a ditch bank and surrounded by reed canary grass. The other place is a mound of soil from where a pond was dug. It is all grasses except for a nearby crab apple tree and some wild plums. I have to agree about the open bedding areas for bucks during the summer. Do bucks naturally move out of these places or do small game hunters move them to thickets before firearm season? My guess is leaf drop and grasses dying. Deer are edge animals and leaves provide darkness, cover, and an edge. Deer here change their habits every year once the leaves drop. They may be looking for dropped acorns too though. Moose with 40” racks and big bucks can move through thick woods here but, again I think they would rather travel that edge area between thick and more open areas.
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Post by Catscratch on Jun 9, 2021 16:50:06 GMT -6
Don't know your guy's timber but I do know ours. Right now timber means zero breeze, biting flies, mosquitoes, and ticks. All of them in droves. It's much more tolerable to find some shade in the open and away from dense cover. I have to run 100yds of timber to finish my daily run (up the driveway). It sucks even in the heat of the day, I would rather be in the sun.
Velvet sensitive? It makes sense that it would be sensitive to me but for the last couple of weeks I've watched bucks use their velvet antlers to scratch themselves, lightly spare, and purposely move vegetation. From observations I would say they don't care much about bumping them since they do it on purpose.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Jun 10, 2021 6:58:55 GMT -6
Being diverse ideas the key. I would never hinge an entire woods again ... did it once, took a long time for wildlife/Hunter to adjust. Stages!
I spend a lot of time in hardwood oak timber in early November ... can’t beat it. It’s not exactly wide open either, there’s buckthorn !
(Although no buckthorn in Iowa yet!)
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Post by Tooln on Jun 11, 2021 5:58:01 GMT -6
When I bought my 40 it was like a park, very seldom saw deer. I did a clear cut on some and planted NW spruce and let it come back naturally with the spruce. It got think as shit. I did another section select cut/hinge, this also came back thick. 2 years after doing this I harvested 2 deer a year during bow season. It kept getting better ever year. You can go wrong with a mix.
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Post by Sandbur on Jun 11, 2021 8:23:32 GMT -6
I feel several things need to be part of this decision for a manager. Will he hunt early bow season, the rut, or a post rut hunt? How do Deer in that area act/react during each of those periods?
Which habitat type is lacking in your area?
Like Mike said, diversity can be the key.
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Post by smsmith on Jun 11, 2021 8:28:02 GMT -6
I feel several things need to be part of this decision for a manager. Will he hunt early bow season, the rut, or a post rut hunt? How do Deer in that area act/react during each of those periods? Which habitat type is lacking in your area? Like Mike said, diversity can be the key. Good points. I'd add: what is the hunting pressure like from September through December? A nice chunk of open woods that hasn't seen any hunter pressure at all would likely be very different than a nice chunk of open woods that's had pressure since small game/bowhunting opener in early/mid September.
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Post by Sandbur on Jun 11, 2021 8:37:29 GMT -6
I feel several things need to be part of this decision for a manager. Will he hunt early bow season, the rut, or a post rut hunt? How do Deer in that area act/react during each of those periods? Which habitat type is lacking in your area? Like Mike said, diversity can be the key. Good points. I'd add: what is the hunting pressure like from September through December? A nice chunk of open woods that hasn't seen any hunter pressure at all would likely be very different than a nice chunk of open woods that's had pressure since small game/bowhunting opener in early/mid September. Yup, part of how the deer react. I prefer to just leave things alone and hunt only the rut.
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Post by gsquared23 on Jun 12, 2021 22:41:40 GMT -6
To your original question, if I had to choose between thick-thick and open-open, I would choose double thick for sure. That is where a mature buck is more likely to live during the time that I can hunt him in an area with average pressure. I don’t care where a buck beds during the summer, I want him to be drawn to the thick I’m hunting due to the security and lack of pressure.
A mix of open and thick certainly would be ideal as it is more likely to have mast, edge, security cover and browse all available in different spots I can set up an ambush. A sea of thick without any edge or transition lines is going to be inferior to places with abundant edge (assuming all other things including pressure were equal).
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 14, 2021 12:12:36 GMT -6
I have a lot of cutting to do on the off season. A couple areas that need it bad, one in Minnesota and one in Missouri! My back hurts already thinking about it.
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Post by badgerfowl on Nov 14, 2021 15:09:03 GMT -6
Our hills place is open weedy areas with several thick drainages. Love it. When I went on to the neighbors to look for the buck I hit a couple weeks back their entire 40 was open mature hardwoods. Very little cover/brush on the ground. Their ridge top would be a killer turkey spot. We always hear them up there in the spring.
I really like our diversity. Just wish it was 200 acres instead of 30 but I’ve taken my biggest turkey and deer in just 3 years off it.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 14, 2021 15:49:59 GMT -6
I can tell you a true oak savanna with the chest high grass is really neat, and wildlife love it. Might be more of a Kansas/Nebraska/SD thing! Minnesota has very few Savannas (outside of NW MN). Sherburne NWF ismassive savanahs. 36000 acres is the refuge size.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 14, 2021 15:57:25 GMT -6
I can tell you a true oak savanna with the chest high grass is really neat, and wildlife love it. Might be more of a Kansas/Nebraska/SD thing! Minnesota has very few Savannas (outside of NW MN). Sherburne NWF ismassive savanahs. 36000 acres is the refuge size. . Do the grasses get very tall?
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 14, 2021 16:00:24 GMT -6
I can tell you a true oak savanna with the chest high grass is really neat, and wildlife love it. Might be more of a Kansas/Nebraska/SD thing! Minnesota has very few Savannas (outside of NW MN). Sherburne NWF ismassive savanahs. 36000 acres is the refuge size. We have Crane Meadows, the little sister to Sherburne. I don’t see the hunting pressure on the tracts of Crane Meadows near me. There was more pressure last year. The WMA is getting more pressure.
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