7th Heaven

Looking good! Keep that plot going this summer! With a tract your size it could be your best friend.

I recently used clethodium with good success to kill of the grasses in my clover plot. However I would follow others advice over mine as this is also my first year plotting.

There is a picture of the clethodium spray in my property tour.

Did the turkeys use the plot?

I've read a little about Clethodium and right now it's what I've thought about using if/when needed. Don't think it'll help me with the Japanese hops, but it should help with the other weeds.

Didn't have any photos of turkeys in the plot this year.
 
My two best pieces of advice would be this:

1. Be very mindful of how you get in there based on the wind.
2. Any improvements to the quality of cover could make that a destination place to bed down in the area. Getting in without spooking will still be a challenge.

Thanks Mark! Yes, entry and exit strategies and limiting pressure this fall will be extremely important. This plot is in near the center of the property and I've decided to not hunt the plot and focus on hunting the edges.

Here's a map of my plans for the property. The main plot and travel corridor along the inside of the western are both established, and I have the area cleared for the new northwestern plot.

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Hopefully this layout will give me some opportunities over the years as food and cover begin to improve


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"Hopefully he's still around this fall."

Hopefully the trail cams will reveal him over the summer.

Fingers crossed! There isn't a lot of hunting pressure and there aren't any main roads, so I'm hopeful. Still, lots can go wrong for any wild animal. Luckily, he was running around with several good 8's and a beautiful 9 I wouldn't mind seeing either!


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Hey Brush! Good to see SWMO folks on here. I live in Strafford, but this little piece of property is at our family farm up north. Love what you've done with your place! You have such an informative thread.


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You had me scratching my head over the flat land and good soil, because there are no areas like that around here. I hunt small woods along the edge, and play the wind. I place my stand right on the edge, so deer don't detect me entering their habitat. Small woods need to be hunted very carefully.
 
My brother and I snuck out to the farm for about an hour last weekend to mow down the clover/rye plot. The rye was starting to look pretty scraggly and the clover seems to be filling in nicely. It's amazing how much good, green organic matter that rye produces.

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Hopefully mowing takes care of some of the weeds that have begun popping up in some of the thinner spots. Fingers crossed the Japanese hops don't over take the plot. It'll be interesting to see how much mowing sets it back.

Took a quick stroll down the new travel corridor to check on the hinge cuts and see how much usage the trail is receiving. The deer seem to have really taken to it. Lots of tracks, scat and even some hair on one of the hinge cuts.

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I love the photo above. So cool to see that the deer are utilizing the corridor and taking advantage of the newly available browse.

I also stumbled across several mulberry trees that sit right next to the trail. Glad I didn't hinge or drop them!

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Love it so far! Cannot wait to see what hunting season brings. Low pressure tactics with detailed wind and access strategies are key on small properties. Keep up all the good work.


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Home for a family get together this past weekend and had just over an hour in the morning to spend at the farm. As we all know, those hours go quickly when you're out doing what you love, so I was in a mad dash to do as much as I could with what little time I had.

My two goals were to pull the camera card and mow down the clover. Since I have to hike through standing soybeans to get to the timber my only option is to pack a weedeater in with me. Doesn't give me the most uniform cut, but it gets the job done. The weeds weren't near as bad as I thought they might be, but I'm glad I was able to mow when I did to set them back a bit. Next time I'm up my plan is to broadcast some chicory into a couple of patchy areas to fill in the gaps. I still have a few shady spots I need to work on if I want the chicory to amount to much.

So far I'm pretty impressed with the clover, but I'm curious to see how flood tolerant it is whenever we end up with our next round of high water. I've heard a few people say they've seen Durana bounce back okay after mild flooding, so I'm hopeful. I realize that planting clover in a floodplain might not be the best idea, but I'm always up for experimenting with this kinda thing.


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The picture makes the plot look worse than it really is. The mulched up rye and light shining through the canopy make the plot look sickly and full of bald spots.

The camera card showed a lot of activity since my last outing. The deer sure seem to be enjoying the plot and seem to be really fascinated with the utilization cage this year. Almost every deer came up and gave it sniff and a nudge when they passed by. Lots of pictures of both bucks and does, but no fawns. One good looking bachelor group and several loner bucks. Hard to tell at this stage, but I'm hopeful that one of those bucks is the big ten I had my eyes on last year. Time will tell!
 
Brent,
I have found some of the prettiest plots are some of the worst while some ugly plots get the most activity. It's probably because the ugly diversity to my eyes is beautiful to a deers pallette.
 
Nice place Brent and I like the long term plan as well. Something I did notice in your picks is that you like to hinge smaller trees, which is fine. But keep in mind those larger trees that form the canopy produce a lot of shade and limits your understory. Don't be afraid to remove (entirely or hinge) larger trees that have low timber or wildlife value. Sunlight is a very valuable resource and having trees that do little for you consuming that resource simply steals from others. I did this thru a selective timber harvest (you won't be able to do that because of the limited size of the property) but removing these canopy trees really allows the understory to explode and provide browse and cover for deer now AND get sunlight to potentially more beneficial trees for a long term gain as well. You don;t have to get rid of them all - but especially in targeted areas can be a big benefit.
 
Brent,
I have found some of the prettiest plots are some of the worst while some ugly plots get the most activity. It's probably because the ugly diversity to my eyes is beautiful to a deers pallette.

Yeah, I'm trying to not get too caught up on "weeds" as long as they aren't invasive (jap. hop for example on our property). Those extra plants are just creating a more diverse menu. I think regular mowing should solve most of my issues.


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Nice place Brent and I like the long term plan as well. Something I did notice in your picks is that you like to hinge smaller trees, which is fine. But keep in mind those larger trees that form the canopy produce a lot of shade and limits your understory. Don't be afraid to remove (entirely or hinge) larger trees that have low timber or wildlife value. Sunlight is a very valuable resource and having trees that do little for you consuming that resource simply steals from others. I did this thru a selective timber harvest (you won't be able to do that because of the limited size of the property) but removing these canopy trees really allows the understory to explode and provide browse and cover for deer now AND get sunlight to potentially more beneficial trees for a long term gain as well. You don;t have to get rid of them all - but especially in targeted areas can be a big benefit.

Thanks for the input J-bird! I hope to someday have a large enough property that I can do some timber harvesting. Up until this point I haven't had a chance to do very much work on the timber other than cutting travel corridors and opening up two areas for hidey hole plots. The small trees that I've hinged were mostly for experimentation and to help screen the travel corridor that runs just inside the field edge. I'm trying to be patient and use a full year's worth of observations to better understand how the deer are utilizing this area before I fire up the saw. I have plans to start on some timber improvement projects this winter and next spring to get more sunlight to the ground.

My day job is water quality and I constantly preach about the importance of maintaining healthy riparian corridors. A person with a bulldozer or a chainsaw can unknowingly do decades worth of damage to a stream in a handful of hours if they aren't careful. I understand the benefits of TSI, creating an uneven aged stand and early successional growth. I'm just trying to make sure I'm thinking things through so I don't look like a hypocrite or regret something down the road.

I'll be posting my timber improvement project plans sometime this fall. When the time comes, I'd love it if you'd weigh in on those so that I can make sure I'm on the right track.
 
Cool - as far as your water quality gig goes.....you will be glad to hear that my place has a riparian buffer program on it! It was a great way to increase cover for my deer as the area way previously farmed nearly up to the stream bank. It's now a planting of different grasses and natural weeds.

I fully understand where you are coming from regarding cutting trees as well. I will say however that it has to be one of the best habitat improvements I have made to my place. If I had known just how much it would have helped I would have done it sooner, but cutting trees to improve habitat seemed counter productive at the time. I have since had 2 select harvests and I look forward to the next cutting.

You will get lots of input and help on here. Not just from me but from others far more experienced and smarter than me as well (not that it takes a lot to be smarter than me). Keep us up to date with your progress and just be willing to ask for help. Small places like yours intrigue me because I essentially treat my place like it's 3 different small properties because my cover is so limited. My 150 acres actually hunts like is 3 different properties of only 10 to 20 acres each.
 
Cool - as far as your water quality gig goes.....you will be glad to hear that my place has a riparian buffer program on it! It was a great way to increase cover for my deer as the area way previously farmed nearly up to the stream bank. It's now a planting of different grasses and natural weeds.

I fully understand where you are coming from regarding cutting trees as well. I will say however that it has to be one of the best habitat improvements I have made to my place. If I had known just how much it would have helped I would have done it sooner, but cutting trees to improve habitat seemed counter productive at the time. I have since had 2 select harvests and I look forward to the next cutting.

You will get lots of input and help on here. Not just from me but from others far more experienced and smarter than me as well (not that it takes a lot to be smarter than me). Keep us up to date with your progress and just be willing to ask for help. Small places like yours intrigue me because I essentially treat my place like it's 3 different small properties because my cover is so limited. My 150 acres actually hunts like is 3 different properties of only 10 to 20 acres each.

Good for you J-Bird! I always try to sell the idea of setting aside a riparian buffer to increase wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities. Works with some, but unfortunately it seems most people with poor riparian corridors tend to be too focused on production or maintaining a view of the river to care about improving hunting opportunities. Most learn eventually when they begin to literally lose their land to the river.

I look forward to starting some tree work soon and seeing the benefits of getting sunlight to the ground. First step will be to get out and flag all of the mulberry trees I keep coming across. Don't want to lose those guys! Thank you again for all of your input. Happy to have you along for the ride.
 
I feel the same way and widen every riparian buffer I can.I have widened my creek to almost 300 feet in most places

That's good to hear Buck! For smaller creeks and streams we usually suggest a minimum of 50ft, double that for larger rivers. They create excellent travel corridors for all forms of wildlife and privide that ever important edge habitat that so many animals need.
 
I haven't posted in a while, but a lot has been accomplished in the last couple of months. I got my soil test back for a small hidey hole plot just inside the timberline. I'm super impressed with this river bottom soil! Decided that no soil amendments were needed to establish a plot in this area.

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Decided to plant a popular food plot mix from the local seed store- purple top turnips, forage turnips, crimson clover, jumbo ladino, alfalfa, bob oats, cereal rye, Austrian winter peas, and chicory. I realize that this is a lot to try to cram into a tiny plot and some of the plants may not make it due to the growing conditions and planting method, but I figured it would be a neat experiment to see what works.

On August 18-19th we prepped and planted the new #2 plot. I had sprayed this area about a month prior, so we had to clear dead vegetation, break up the soil, and broadcast seed. This is a tiny plot, so everything was easily accomplished with a weedeater, garden rakes and a small seed broadcaster. The soil's surface was easily broken with the garden rakes, so we should have had really good seed to soil contact. We had a good rain the next day, so I feel we should have good germination.

Other than planting, I moved the trail camera and hung two stands. The first stand is on the new #2 plot that provides shot opportunities to the plot and the field edge. This spot is situated near two different bedding areas and along a travel corridor just inside the field edge. The hidey hole plot should just be icing on the cake. The second stand I hung is in, what I think, a phenomenal rut funnel. I've never hunted this spot or even hung a camera in it, but it's covered in old rubs and is 10 yards from where deer are scrambling down the bank to get a drink. I've been eyeing this spot for a couple of years and I can't wait to do a few all day sits there this November.
 
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