SteveK
New Member
Hey guys I want to get some opinions/thoughts on planting a field of switchgrass. I've owned my farm about 4 years now, and have a good idea how the deer travel. I've work on various projects since I bought the property, some panned out others not so much. I will attach some pictures so you guys have some perspective on my thoughts. My camp is where purple line starts on the west side of my property which is 111 acres in southern Ohio. I kind of break my farm into 2 farms from an access prospective being I have a big powerline running down the middle of it which is this with overgrown grasses besides my quad tractor path. I use the powerline to access the northern half of my property and my south border to access the rest. I can and do have permission to access through my neighbors cattle pasture for access which I currently use for certain stands. I have 3 fields you will see in the photos, the first 2 I have planted soybeans/corn last few years, which I will continue to do with a minor adjustment to a small portion of the second field. The third field used to be an overgrown brushy field when I bought the property and my first year I kicked a buck out of it, hence why I think I should plant it in switchgrass. I had previously planned to put crops in it, but am scrapping that after learning the land and realizing it makes getting in/out of stands difficult even with being able to access through neighbors pasture (which I am trying to minimalize as much as possible). Keep in mind we usually have a NW wind. I did plant muscanthius grass last year for screening on the south side of the field in question (Marked Orange in photo) with enough room on south side of grass for my quad/tractor. My questions are: Do you think if I plant the whole 3rd field in cave-in-rock switchgrass, (being it is south facing and to me seems natural for them to bed) will deer bed in it? (approximately 1.5 acres)? If so do you think I will be able to walk the south border undetected with deer bedding there? My plan is for deer to bed in it as well as their current bed above in woods, come to the food to the west. Hunting between switch and food in finger between fields, as well as being able to get to other stands past the last field. I have attached a photo of switchgrass I planted last year on the top of my powerline which was above my head and I am 6'2". The deer bedded in it like a magnet, but the terrain is also a high point and natural buck bed area. In the photo the open white areas are where I plan to plant the switch main one in question is the most south white area. The bright green area areas where I have food plots. The dark green are usually planted in soybean or corn, with the plan to take the bright green area in the second field for brassicas this year. The stripped white area is where I planted the switch last year and the circle red area is a big bed, which I cut some timber on 2 years ago. The Purple in the photo is my current/planned access with hopes to quit using the neighboring pasture. I tried to attach a photo with a topo so you could see lay of the land but not sure it will be easy to see contour lines. The dark green running along the top of the fields are overgrown cedars which I have started cutting/thinning. Any thoughts would be great!
![Switch 2018.jpg Switch 2018.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/18/18136-d4a730310275bba4eaa0b9b91267c995.jpg)
![topo 2.PNG topo 2.PNG](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/18/18137-393ad55b031ae35f6c5f2041af023ad7.jpg)
![K 111 Property_LI (8).jpg K 111 Property_LI (8).jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/18/18135-d29487bcf05e7db5500d7faac42609ef.jpg)
![Switch 2018.jpg Switch 2018.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/18/18136-d4a730310275bba4eaa0b9b91267c995.jpg)
![topo 2.PNG topo 2.PNG](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/18/18137-393ad55b031ae35f6c5f2041af023ad7.jpg)