I've been working on making a habitat plan for my father's 115 acres. Right now there is approximately 45 tillable acres, roughly 40 acres in a permanent easment of crp grasses, and 20 acres of woods. The last 7 or 8 years we have been passing on 1.5 yo bucks and have passed on a fair amount of 2.5 yos in the past 5 years. We have taken and had opportunities at a few 3.5 yos and even had a 4.5 yo on camera.
The tillable acres will stay in production besides some screening of spruce trees along the border. The center of the north field has an existing swale that is appoximately 10 yds wide by 125 yds long and is an existing sanctuary. It is made up of a mixture of willow brush and cattails. The fields have 50ft filter strips that expire in the next couple of years, however I am trying to get dad to leave them in for additional cover.
The crp is a mixture of big blue stem and little blue stem grasses along with various other grasses, weeds, and forbs. The grasses have been in since 2000 and we now have pockets of cottonwood willows growing in. We have spent every year planting trees along the border, but still have many to plant.
The north half of the woods was select cut last year in an effort to get a little more sunlight to the ground. Most of our woods is park-like and I am looking to change that. We have plenty of white and red oaks along with maple in the north half and aspen, elm, maple, and cottonwood in the southern half. I plan on cutting most of the mature aspen and cottonwood down for fire wood, and hinge cutting multiple areas for bedding. I will also be planting conifers this spring for thermal cover.
We have 3 existing foodplots that are the western most shown on the image. We have planted corn, beans, sorgum, oats and peas, wheat, rye, clover, radishes, and rape. Oats and peas have been the top producer this year. I am looking at creating three smaller food plots that are shown in the woods.
The property to the east gets mild pressure from about 3 hunters. The north border of our woods has probably 6-7 stands within 10-30 yds of our property line. I don't think I want to change a whole lot in the north half due to the pressure there. Really don't feel like helping the neighbors out as they seem to be hunting ours already. Little to no regard for deer age in their harvests. I plan on hinging a screen and using the property line as stand access.
Sorry there is not a legend on the map and some colors are hard to see, but it is as follows:
White- Property line
Dark Blue- Water
Yellow- Screening (Spruce,Pine,Hinge Cut)
Red- Stand access
Red Circle- Stand sites
Light Blue- Bedding
Green- Food Plots
Light Brown- Travel Corridors
Many folks have been very helpful sharing their wealth of information and it is greatly appreciated. I have read both of the Jeff Sturgis books and plan to pick up Bio's book as soon as it comes out. I also plan on going to the QDM day at Scott Bishop's place this spring. Even have a Silky Zubat on the way. Thanks for all the information and I would appreciate it if you let me know what you think about the plan. North should be North in the picture if it shows up right.
The tillable acres will stay in production besides some screening of spruce trees along the border. The center of the north field has an existing swale that is appoximately 10 yds wide by 125 yds long and is an existing sanctuary. It is made up of a mixture of willow brush and cattails. The fields have 50ft filter strips that expire in the next couple of years, however I am trying to get dad to leave them in for additional cover.
The crp is a mixture of big blue stem and little blue stem grasses along with various other grasses, weeds, and forbs. The grasses have been in since 2000 and we now have pockets of cottonwood willows growing in. We have spent every year planting trees along the border, but still have many to plant.
The north half of the woods was select cut last year in an effort to get a little more sunlight to the ground. Most of our woods is park-like and I am looking to change that. We have plenty of white and red oaks along with maple in the north half and aspen, elm, maple, and cottonwood in the southern half. I plan on cutting most of the mature aspen and cottonwood down for fire wood, and hinge cutting multiple areas for bedding. I will also be planting conifers this spring for thermal cover.
We have 3 existing foodplots that are the western most shown on the image. We have planted corn, beans, sorgum, oats and peas, wheat, rye, clover, radishes, and rape. Oats and peas have been the top producer this year. I am looking at creating three smaller food plots that are shown in the woods.
The property to the east gets mild pressure from about 3 hunters. The north border of our woods has probably 6-7 stands within 10-30 yds of our property line. I don't think I want to change a whole lot in the north half due to the pressure there. Really don't feel like helping the neighbors out as they seem to be hunting ours already. Little to no regard for deer age in their harvests. I plan on hinging a screen and using the property line as stand access.
Sorry there is not a legend on the map and some colors are hard to see, but it is as follows:
White- Property line
Dark Blue- Water
Yellow- Screening (Spruce,Pine,Hinge Cut)
Red- Stand access
Red Circle- Stand sites
Light Blue- Bedding
Green- Food Plots
Light Brown- Travel Corridors
Many folks have been very helpful sharing their wealth of information and it is greatly appreciated. I have read both of the Jeff Sturgis books and plan to pick up Bio's book as soon as it comes out. I also plan on going to the QDM day at Scott Bishop's place this spring. Even have a Silky Zubat on the way. Thanks for all the information and I would appreciate it if you let me know what you think about the plan. North should be North in the picture if it shows up right.
2015 Habitat Plan
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