- Joined
- Oct 10, 2018
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- 1,377
I recently purchased a 17 acre property and want your ideas on how to make it a buck magnet.
It's a rectangle that is approximately 165 yards wide by 500 yards deep. The first couple hundred yards off the road is where the house and barn are located so there's not much I can do to improve deer traffic.. The area I want to work on is roughly 300 yards deep and 165 yards wide. There is a an open field that borders the north end, the west edge is bordered by a swamp at the front corner and dense pines and brush in the middle and rear. There are 4 - 10 acre properties on that side but only two have homes which are set on the opposite end of the their respective properties. So the edge that borders me is the back of those properties and is pretty thick. Neither of the neighbors hunt.
The property that borders the east side runs the entire length. It is mostly trees with huge evergreens starting about midway along the border and continue towards the rear. The evergreens taper off into an open forest made up of beech, maple and hickory trees which run past the field behind me. This neighbor doesn't hunt either.
My property is an open hardwoods made up mainly of beech trees, an evergreen here and there, and a few maples and hickories. Not one dang oak tree! There is a small open low wetland/swamp area along the east border adjacent to the neighbor's evergreen trees. The property is relatively flat for the most part. It's a very slight rise in elevation going from the front to the rear. The low wetland/swamp section is about 10 feet lower in elevation from the height of the center of the property, and levels out leading towards the neighbor to the east.
A friend suggested I knock down most of the trees to let the sun reach the forest floor. He said hinge cut the trees to create a thick area for bedding, along with planting red osier dogwoods in the swamp area and wherever I can get them to grow. His idea is to make a sanctuary in the middle of the property and set up stands in the four corners so I can hunt according to the wind.
Initially, my thought was to remove some trees along the west edge and create a small food plot/hidey hole. I've got cameras out along the swamp and the west side. Deer cross the property daily and I had two good shooters on the cameras in mid January so they'll be around this season. I'm thinking to leave the property as is for now and hunt it this season to get a better idea of deer movement and how they're using it.
I don't have access to farm equipment and I don't want a 10 plus acre food plot. Should I make it a sanctuary by opening it up and letting it brush out? Plant a couple of small food plots, say no more than 1/4 acre each? I'd like to hear what you guys have done with your properties and what you would do different, or what you have learned and would do over again.
It's a rectangle that is approximately 165 yards wide by 500 yards deep. The first couple hundred yards off the road is where the house and barn are located so there's not much I can do to improve deer traffic.. The area I want to work on is roughly 300 yards deep and 165 yards wide. There is a an open field that borders the north end, the west edge is bordered by a swamp at the front corner and dense pines and brush in the middle and rear. There are 4 - 10 acre properties on that side but only two have homes which are set on the opposite end of the their respective properties. So the edge that borders me is the back of those properties and is pretty thick. Neither of the neighbors hunt.
The property that borders the east side runs the entire length. It is mostly trees with huge evergreens starting about midway along the border and continue towards the rear. The evergreens taper off into an open forest made up of beech, maple and hickory trees which run past the field behind me. This neighbor doesn't hunt either.
My property is an open hardwoods made up mainly of beech trees, an evergreen here and there, and a few maples and hickories. Not one dang oak tree! There is a small open low wetland/swamp area along the east border adjacent to the neighbor's evergreen trees. The property is relatively flat for the most part. It's a very slight rise in elevation going from the front to the rear. The low wetland/swamp section is about 10 feet lower in elevation from the height of the center of the property, and levels out leading towards the neighbor to the east.
A friend suggested I knock down most of the trees to let the sun reach the forest floor. He said hinge cut the trees to create a thick area for bedding, along with planting red osier dogwoods in the swamp area and wherever I can get them to grow. His idea is to make a sanctuary in the middle of the property and set up stands in the four corners so I can hunt according to the wind.
Initially, my thought was to remove some trees along the west edge and create a small food plot/hidey hole. I've got cameras out along the swamp and the west side. Deer cross the property daily and I had two good shooters on the cameras in mid January so they'll be around this season. I'm thinking to leave the property as is for now and hunt it this season to get a better idea of deer movement and how they're using it.
I don't have access to farm equipment and I don't want a 10 plus acre food plot. Should I make it a sanctuary by opening it up and letting it brush out? Plant a couple of small food plots, say no more than 1/4 acre each? I'd like to hear what you guys have done with your properties and what you would do different, or what you have learned and would do over again.