Been putting this off for awhile, because I won't have a heck of a lot to share. I'm 2.5 hours away from this land and life isn't giving me much time for hobbies these days. I am getting ready to have some dozer work done, so in that context, I figured it would be worth my time to see if anybody on the forum wanted to make some suggestions.
This land is in SW MS, in timber country. I have 2 tracts on either side of a fairly busy county road -- both about 40 acres. The northern tract has poorer timber, with a much greater pine sawtimber component. The south, while having more thick, early successional growth, also has more higher quality red and water oak timber. My timber appraisal indicates about twice the timber value per acre on the south side. Both tracts have more than their fair share of ironwood trees, hence the name. In the non-gray shaded areas on the bottom map, there is a lot of blackberry thickets. This is commonly what comes back heaviest in this area after logging.
Deer hunting pressure in this area is high to very high. A single family owns land bordering about half of my property, both tracts. They are good neighbors. Folks to the west of the north tract hunt hard and hunt the line hard. They are a nemesis. My south side is bordered federal property, along a parkway, giving me somewhat of a buffer. Across that parkway is another large tract of land that gets hunted fairly hard. I've owned the land about 4 years. I do most of my hunting elsewhere but am keen to slowly try to improve this place. Honestly, it is a means to an end, as I'm constantly looking for a situation to "trade up" -- sell this and buy something a little bigger. This land was close to other family property, was in my price range at a fair price, and was ALL timber, requiring minimal upkeep.
My property was selectively timbered about 5-6 years ago. I'm not set up to burn and I have no food plots at this time. All neighboring properties have an abundance of acorn producing oak trees. The pastures to the north are planted in low quality rye grass food plots in the fall. I suspect most all neighboring properties are feeding corn, as an attractant, that I have no idea whether it's being done anywhere to a degree that would constitute nighttime destination food sources -- maybe, maybe not. I do not use bait and don't plan to start.
The lack of high quality food plots is what has me considering building one in the green shaded area shown. This is about the only location that I can put one that is level enough and not in the middle of the property. My goal is to enable low impact hunting of the property. Thus, the dozer work in the next few weeks will also focus on putting in access trails along my borders, specifically on the south tract. The northern tract has too many deep ditches that cross the property lines, that a trail along the border is difficult. On the northern tract, border trails will probably be only on the south and west lines.
Take a look and tell me what you think. Any concerns with the food plot? Bad idea?
Here is the topo, a zoomed out view of the neighborhood, and tighter maps with current trails (green), deer trails (yellow) and stand sites. The grayer shaded areas represent areas that were not timbered and have very open timber...
This land is in SW MS, in timber country. I have 2 tracts on either side of a fairly busy county road -- both about 40 acres. The northern tract has poorer timber, with a much greater pine sawtimber component. The south, while having more thick, early successional growth, also has more higher quality red and water oak timber. My timber appraisal indicates about twice the timber value per acre on the south side. Both tracts have more than their fair share of ironwood trees, hence the name. In the non-gray shaded areas on the bottom map, there is a lot of blackberry thickets. This is commonly what comes back heaviest in this area after logging.
Deer hunting pressure in this area is high to very high. A single family owns land bordering about half of my property, both tracts. They are good neighbors. Folks to the west of the north tract hunt hard and hunt the line hard. They are a nemesis. My south side is bordered federal property, along a parkway, giving me somewhat of a buffer. Across that parkway is another large tract of land that gets hunted fairly hard. I've owned the land about 4 years. I do most of my hunting elsewhere but am keen to slowly try to improve this place. Honestly, it is a means to an end, as I'm constantly looking for a situation to "trade up" -- sell this and buy something a little bigger. This land was close to other family property, was in my price range at a fair price, and was ALL timber, requiring minimal upkeep.
My property was selectively timbered about 5-6 years ago. I'm not set up to burn and I have no food plots at this time. All neighboring properties have an abundance of acorn producing oak trees. The pastures to the north are planted in low quality rye grass food plots in the fall. I suspect most all neighboring properties are feeding corn, as an attractant, that I have no idea whether it's being done anywhere to a degree that would constitute nighttime destination food sources -- maybe, maybe not. I do not use bait and don't plan to start.
The lack of high quality food plots is what has me considering building one in the green shaded area shown. This is about the only location that I can put one that is level enough and not in the middle of the property. My goal is to enable low impact hunting of the property. Thus, the dozer work in the next few weeks will also focus on putting in access trails along my borders, specifically on the south tract. The northern tract has too many deep ditches that cross the property lines, that a trail along the border is difficult. On the northern tract, border trails will probably be only on the south and west lines.
Take a look and tell me what you think. Any concerns with the food plot? Bad idea?
Here is the topo, a zoomed out view of the neighborhood, and tighter maps with current trails (green), deer trails (yellow) and stand sites. The grayer shaded areas represent areas that were not timbered and have very open timber...
