Ohio Farm Tours

buckhunter10 said:
AHH so true Dogghr! However, I do see one issue with this browse pressure method, and this is just a theory of mine so I could be wrong.

When I look at my farm and the surrounding area it had what most of us would say a "healthy" number of deer. Now like many areas of Ohio and other parts of the Midwest, when timber is ripe for the cutting much an area is all done at one time. In our case we had 100s, if not thousands of surrounding acres cut all within a 2-4 year window. Now during that window, deer harvest numbers did not increase, actually I would say they decreased due to the deer having better habitat to hide in when the guns started to crack.

In this scenario if you measure browse pressure in late winter, you might not notice a significant amount of heavy browse in year one, year two or year three even.After year 4, when the browse is now over a deer's head, the area that just a year before seemed to not be over browsed can be decimated due to increase in deer from better bedding habitat but also decrease in browse within a deer's reach.

So my question is, do you think one can under-estimate the number of deer you have by only doing a late winter survey or making the assumption (as many hunters do as of recent) that your native browse can handle significantly more browse, only to have the perfect storm situation hit when browse levels decrease, deer numbers increase and now your fighting an uphill battle?

I am not sure if any of that makes sense as I type this or if I am just rambling, I hope this comes off as some what of a coherent thought.
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Yep its a variety of factors for sure and despite so many ways to determine deer population, it comes down to just getting a feel for your land. I know by what I see after these years, as to whether and how many doe we will shoot that season. But everything from available food to road kill to neighbors hunting to predator population enters in to the decision.
In 2015-2016 winters we had mast failure, I had several road kill deer, and adjacent owner let a yahoo shoot everything in sight. We honestly have not shot a deer except for a buck each season since then and no does. Last years mild winter, heavy mast has allowed deer to recover and once again see more bucks than doe on my place as it used to be. Predator numbers are constant so I know what to do. Kinda.
Logging typically produces best deer food year 3-7 then drops off . I manage for a mixed forest with emphasis on mature mast producers so I'm not at the mercy of logging recovery. But that's another discussion that goes agains the logging and forestry propaganda that deer and mature forest do no work together. One only has to read the old journals of the explorers into the mature forests to disprove that theory. Many factors, for sure, but its doable. But I digress.
I think deer numbers seen with in the woods give a better feel for population than the numbers seen in a field. But I'm just a barefoot inbred uneducated hillbilly, what do I know? Seriously good luck, I think you have a gold mine.
 
dogghr said:
Yep its a variety of factors for sure and despite so many ways to determine deer population, it comes down to just getting a feel for your land. I know by what I see after these years, as to whether and how many doe we will shoot that season. But everything from available food to road kill to neighbors hunting to predator population enters in to the decision.
In 2015-2016 winters we had mast failure, I had several road kill deer, and adjacent owner let a yahoo shoot everything in sight. We honestly have not shot a deer except for a buck each season since then and no does. Last years mild winter, heavy mast has allowed deer to recover and once again see more bucks than doe on my place as it used to be. Predator numbers are constant so I know what to do. Kinda.
Logging typically produces best deer food year 3-7 then drops off . I manage for a mixed forest with emphasis on mature mast producers so I'm not at the mercy of logging recovery. But that's another discussion that goes agains the logging and forestry propaganda that deer and mature forest do no work together. One only has to read the old journals of the explorers into the mature forests to disprove that theory. Many factors, for sure, but its doable. But I digress.
I think deer numbers seen with in the woods give a better feel for population than the numbers seen in a field. But I'm just a barefoot inbred uneducated hillbilly, what do I know? Seriously good luck, I think you have a gold mine.
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Great points my friend. I hope your last statement was a joke and I didn’t offend you as that was not my intention. I really appreciate your feedback and thoughts!

I have this internal struggle of trying to assess the overall situation and I’ve heard so many horror stories of areas that have allowed numbers to get out of control taht it is a worry for me.
 
I will say this. I noticed this year green briar on trails that used to get eaten on trails is now broswed back clear off the trails and ate in areas I would think would be too thick for a deer to even chew! That was one sign to me of heavy native browse.
 
buckhunter10 said:
Great points my friend. I hope your last statement was a joke and I didn’t offend you as that was not my intention. I really appreciate your feedback and thoughts!

I have this internal struggle of trying to assess the overall situation and I’ve heard so many horror stories of areas that have allowed numbers to get out of control taht it is a worry for me.
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Heck no u didn’t offend. Jst a little joking against some of the media’s self proclaimed experts on deer and land management. I think u as questions and wrestle w the same issues all of us deal with. As said I don’t think there are definitive answers and the person who works the land jst begins to get a feel as to what is needed. I thing u have enough food and browse for a lot of deer. I’m sure many on here would like to have that situation. Goo luck and I enjoy your thread and discussions immensely. Thanks for showing


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buckhunter10 said:
Thank you Chainsaw! It is not always easy to communicate with the neighbors but we have been blessed to have some darn good ones.

See my response above to Dogghr, what are your thoughts on this as well?
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Buckhunter, you make some excellent points in your post to Dogghr. Will take me a day or two to get back to you on this one; though it is a very good question it involves a bit of explanation. It may help a little to also follow the current conversation going on in PA Hillbilly farming property tour as some of this same topic has come up there.
 
Chainsaw said:
Buckhunter, you make some excellent points in your post to Dogghr. Will take me a day or two to get back to you on this one; though it is a very good question it involves a bit of explanation. It may help a little to also follow the current conversation going on in PA Hillbilly farming property tour as some of this same topic has come up there.
Click to expand...

Chainsaw, I think we could all help him out some but I think to truly understand we may have to spend a few days up in a tree stand there. Lol. What do ya think.


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wow boys, I am sorry it has taken so long but not anything major to update. Chasing a few good bucks and passed a darn good 3 year old.

Rainy day this past Saturday, sat in a box blind - stayed dry!
IMG_0488.jpg
somehow I passed this 3 year old stud at 15 yards, this is him eating clover/chicory further out in the plot
IMG_0491.jpg
this is him closer up from earlier in the season - this picture makes him look bigger then he is, he is fairly spindly racked.
IMG_0492.jpg
 
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