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Post by mgderf on Jan 27, 2019 14:25:20 GMT -5
I have recently come into 50 acres of woods for hunting.
It's thick, with lots of underbrush, but can be cleared.
It is mostly bottom land and very close the old Wabash-Erie canal. Because of this, much of the ground is wet, or at least soggy, for a lot of the year.
I would like to plant some food plots but I'm not familiar with wet ground growing.
Is there anyone here that can give me any advice?
Mostly looking to hunt whitetail.
I can get moderate sunlight in several areas, and full-day sunlight in a few areas, but the full-day sunlight will only be in the very wet areas.
What can I plant that won't drown out?
Thanks in advance for any help.
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Post by esshup on Jan 27, 2019 16:06:50 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. I don't know if this is feasible for you, but if you dig a pond, you can spread the dirt you dig out around the pond and turn that into a food plot. Also, digging a pond will help concentrate some of that water to the pond, and leave less on top of the ground around the pond. If you taper the sides to the pond at a 4:1 slope (1' drop for every 4' horizontal distance) you can mow to the waters edge.
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Post by mgderf on Jan 27, 2019 19:28:10 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. I don't know if this is feasible for you, but if you dig a pond, you can spread the dirt you dig out around the pond and turn that into a food plot. Also, digging a pond will help concentrate some of that water to the pond, and leave less on top of the ground around the pond. If you taper the sides to the pond at a 4:1 slope (1' drop for every 4' horizontal distance) you can mow to the waters edge. Great minds think alike. The problem is getting any kind of heavy equipment down to the bottom. Well, I take that back. Getting it DOWN there wouldn't be the issue. Getting it back up may be impossible without constructing a road first. I have a 1939 Ford 9N tractor, and a grading 5' blade, but that's not going to dig much. I could push a few berms into place. We have almost 3 acres that sit inside the old canal proper. Water doesn't stand exactly there, but 200 yards away there sits a beaver den, in the same canal way. I think our property is just silted in more. There is marsh grass and a few trees growing in this area, but it is prone to flooding on occasion. Water will pond for days at a time, but not for weeks... I have a lot of research, and work to do... I'd really like to be able to plant something there, but I'm not sure what could survive the wet soil, and still attract deer. |
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Post by esshup on Jan 27, 2019 19:40:18 GMT -5
You might be surprised. When I renovated my pond the excavator had LGP tracks (Low Ground Pressure). It tracked across a low area at the back of the pond and sunk down about 2". I walked right in those tracks to follow it across and sunk up almost to my knees. For a machine that weighed around 60,000 pounds I was really shocked at how well the LGP tracks worked!
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Post by firstwd on Jan 27, 2019 19:48:39 GMT -5
I wouldn't clear underbrush/cover/bedding areas to plant food plots. Work with what you have and fertilize the mast trees, remove "junk" trees and replace with hard and soft mast trees.
Open area food plots are not the cure-all for deer habitat. Give the deer what they want and need and be different than the property across the fence.
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Post by duff on Jan 28, 2019 5:20:41 GMT -5
Lots of truth to the last post. A lot of folks do the clearing and food plots because they think it is a must do to make deer hunting better.
By all means do what you want and what you can afford. Lots of benefit to thick underbrush. Good luck and enjoy!
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Post by mgderf on Jan 28, 2019 6:24:28 GMT -5
Most of the clearing we want to do is clean-up.
It seems about 3 or 4 years ago this property was logged for walnut trees.
We now have very few walnut trees, none of any major size, but what we do have is the abandoned tops of all of the walnut trees they harvested.
Between that and the honeysuckle, it can be difficult to get a good sightline of more than about 100 yards.
Using the scale on an abstract of the property I've determined we have approximately 300 yards across the short side of the property, and roughly 900 yards length-wise.
WE do have several small areas of 1/2 to 1 acre spotted throughout that are already getting some sunlight to the forest floor. These are the places I was hoping to "clean-up" and plant.
I was wondering about oats, and maybe winter wheat.
We have farm fields directly across the road, and generally covering the entire area, so corn and beans will be available.
There are 20+ acres of woods on either end of us, and the canal to the west.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2019 7:56:55 GMT -5
If you can see 100 yards that is not very thick. I try not to hunt areas that open. 50 yards max. The down tops are great for deer bed areas. Leave as much as possible. Now the honeysuckle is another story. If all honeysuckle then clear 100% and plant small mast flowering fruit/berry trees and chestnuts trees. For the 1st 5 years plant some food plot around the young trees. The bad news, black walnuts leaves have chemicals in them that prohibits other plants from growing. It might be hard to grow food plots within walnut trees.
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Post by hardwood on Jan 28, 2019 8:26:36 GMT -5
Last year was my first year managing 40 acres of CRP land. I had some beautiful looking food plots- oats, turnips, cereal rye, clover. The first deer I shot was browsing on naturally growing dogwoods. Even now they don't seem to pay much attention to the oats and turnips- they're just as likely to feed on the post-harvest green up in the nearby ag fields. That's not to say food plots aren't fun and that I won't do them again- but I overvalued them and undervalued woody browse.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2019 9:26:10 GMT -5
Here's a okay video on food plots. 5 reasons food plots are bad and 1 good reason.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Jan 28, 2019 10:09:25 GMT -5
I quit food plots awhile ago. Land leased to local guy for corn or soybeans. Not worth time or investment to me. Habitat improvements is the way to go.
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Post by swilk on Jan 28, 2019 10:22:24 GMT -5
Both is the way to go .... IMO.
To the original poster .... unless you get the ground to not hold standing water I dont know what success you will have.
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Post by steiny on Jan 28, 2019 12:33:19 GMT -5
Do the clearing now and give it a good spraying with Glysophate to kill weeds soon as things start greening up. Then, go back in there in July or August driest time of year, mow and spray one more time, then till and plant some turnips.
If it floods and water stands there for an extended period, no food plot will live.
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Post by jbird on Jan 30, 2019 14:52:41 GMT -5
Leave as much alone other than removing invasive plants as possible. Cover is THE one thing that will hold deer on a year round basis...as long as the deer feel safe. Food plots are not a magic bullet. They are a money making scheme perpetuated by the hunting media. The ONLY way a plot is going to make a significant difference in your deer is if you have zero food around. Other than that a plot is only a tool to help you pattern the deer movements easier (or the deer pattern you).
I suggest you battle the honey suckle and see how mother nature responds. Rip it out of the ground or cut it off and treat the stumps. Nature should respond with something far more productive for the deer. If you want a few small "kill plots" that is fine, but your going to need the soil to dry out to some extent. Depending on the lay of the land - you might, and I say, might consider some sort of drainage project. Clear your spots and keep it simple to start with...plant cereal grains and brassica with maybe an annual clover in the late summer early fall, some clovers will handle wet soils better as well.
I also like the idea of fertilizing the native plants and trying to promote those as well. Planting browse and mast bearing (hard and soft) trees and shrubs can be great long term additions, but the sooner you get started on those the sooner you reap the rewards.
I would not worry about the tree tops...walnut doesn't burn well and those tops are not worth anything timber wise...so your simply wasting time and removing potential cover elements from the property. You need a plan...you need to understand how the deer use the property and how it fits into the bigger picture. Where do the deer come from, where do they go and why. The thing is to work WITH what you have and try not to force something. How can you best access the property for any reason and NOT disturb the deer in the process. No point in working your butt off for a plot that every time you try to hunt it you bust deer along the way... Learn the property and understand it and how the deer use it and why and then work WITH what you have. Not all habitat work is the glam of food plots. Proper planning, planting of trees and shrubs, hinge cutting and removing invasives is not glamorous...but it's often a very vital part in getting the most out of your plots as well.
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Post by jbird on Jan 30, 2019 14:54:31 GMT -5
Sorry... for the ramble. After doing my place for 20 years I just remember some of the mistakes I made and have paid for in time. Everybody wants to get started...but it all starts with understanding what you have and then having a plan on how to best get there.
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Post by esshup on Jan 30, 2019 22:06:06 GMT -5
I found that with all the agriculture around, putting in winter forage plots that feed the deer after all the crops come out of the field helps keep them around more frequently than relying on browse and left over acorns.
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Post by mgderf on Jan 31, 2019 18:35:35 GMT -5
Lots of good information here.
I'd never studied the issue before, since I didn't have land of my own to work.
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