From solid woods to thriving food plot!
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
We closed on an 80 acre parcel of solid woods last February and first thing we did was fence it and while the dozer was there clearing boundary lines I had him push out a small food plot and waterhole/pond. I had to clean it up a little bit with the box blade and take out a couple trees I had originally wanted to keep but decided needed to go due to roots too close to the surface...
March 1st I spread the first Durana White and Barduro Red clover...
Clover growth about mid May...
Hand broadcast 160 lbs of pelletized lime and 150 lbs of triple 13. Added a summer mix of Soybeans, Milo, Millet, Sunflowers, corn and some others. This is after a couple more weeks growth...
These pictures are from yesterday...
I wasn't sure if anything would grow in this forest environment when I started. I figured the Ph would have to be terrible... The soil is a clay/gravel mix with a little OM and is very tough to dig anywhere. We have been blessed with timely rains up til now with more chances later this week and that is all that has let this grow... The woods are a mix of white oak, post oak, red oak, Pine, and hickory. This property has a huge amount of hard mast and very little soft mass. I plan to add persimmon to it as well as some pears and apples.
Some of our new fencing...
Looks good so far. Is the pond from groundwater or precip? Could a serious 4-strand barbed wire fence be some trouble to certain animals?
Looks great! Just maintaining that fence thru the timber will be a full time job.
I've come across a few young deer/fawns dead right up against 4 strand barbed wife fences. I don't like them. I think the coyotes use the fences to slow the deer down that cant clear the fence easily. I've also witnessed non-spotted fawns having trouble with 4 strand barbed wire on slopes and get pretty torn up trying to go under, then over, then through the fence.
One thing that one of the big local ranches has done is to build crossing points every 300 yards or so. 1x6 cedar planks nailed to a square base X2 that basically form a teepee slanting down at about a 30 degree angle with the top of it in place of the top wire which is removed between 2 posts. The bottom has a square cut out big enough for a fawn/coyote to go through. Deer can go over or under it very easily, but cattle/calves cant.
What is the fence for? I typically try to eliminate all fence like this as they serve as food traps for k-9 "friend".
Food plot looks great and love the water hole.
Think I agree on the fencing. I would try removing the bottom strand, unless you are going to put cattle in there.
When you find the favored crossing points where deer jump the fence, try lashing long cut poles to or just above the top strand so the deer can easily see the top of the fence and can clear it without snagging their feet or legs on the barbs.
I will try to alleviate all of your fears on the fence but it was put up for 2 purposes. The property and the properties to the south, west, and east are unfenced so our property was used as public hunting by everyone in the area. Signs on trees never have cut it up there nor even the dreaded purple paint but knock on wood so far the fence has made the statement nobody can deny... the statement that you can't use... "I didn't know this was posted or I crossed the line in the dark without realizing it".... Camera surveys and plotwatchers have shown only wildlife and dogs on the property since we fenced it even through our big trespassing time which is turkey season.
The other part is that the property to the north is a working cattle ranch and they had a sorry fence so most of the time their cows are crossing the broken down fence and end up all over our property. They can cross anywhere along their south, east, or west border and end up on our parcel so food plots would be out of the question with that happening so we got rid of that issue...
Our property is full of fawns and I have seen one run full tilt through that fence without slowing. The big deer can walk through it so easily that you can't even hardly tell they changed body postion to do it.
We have a 10 acre parcel we live on that is fully fenced and is loaded with deer. I have lived there 45 yrs and have never seen a fawn or adult deer caught in that fence. If I ever do I will let you guys know.
The water hole was filled by precipitation... we have been blessed with adequate moisture so far and in Oklahoma that is saying something...
That's an impressive plot! It even grew a baseball cap in the middle of it.
Thought the plot was so tall we were looking down on the top of a guys head that was standing in the plot, HA! Did you have to use any bentonite to keep the waterhole from losing water or is that good ole Okla. red clay keeping the water in there for you?
LOL - Hat was to show how much growth we have gotten in that woods dirt...
No Bentonite - just good old Oklahoma red clay...
Very impressive - great job! You can use that fence to your advantage, find a prime spot and remove a few strands, and it will become a "funnel" in no time, especially if it's in a transition area between bedding and food..
Fence was mainly installed for a house that has 10 people and 3 large dogs on our west boundary... bad thing about it is they are 20 acres deep into their 30 acres which puts them deep into the woods on our west boundary. The trail from this house into our woods was impressive to say the least when we began and before we could run this fence I had to ask them to move some junk they had stacked on our side... it is 5 strands of wire on that side. We put 4 strands around 3 sides and 5 on the west side...
"good fences make good neighbors"
I have a 4 strand fence on my east property line that has been there for the last 15 years and have never seed a dead deer near it. The trees in the creek have made sure there are places for wildlife to cross... Any fence with trees nearby will have to be maintained occasionally due to branches and whole trees falling from high winds or storm damage. I put mine up also because of the neighbor's cattle and his lack of effort to keep them on his property. Nothing more frustrating than anticipating a deer making noise and onlu seeing a 1800 pound Herford bull.
When you now the clover won't it kill the other stuff?
When you now the clover won't it kill the other stuff?
Only going to mow about 1/2 of it and that is only when I put turnips/rye grain in this August. What is growing there now is just gonna be whats there all summer... My plots are always a buffet style :D
Darn them neighbor's. Who would have thought they'd had the nerve to build their house 20 acres deep, on their side of the line, without a future owners permission. Who's to say they didn't have permission from the previous owner to access the property you now own? You sound exactly like the kind of neighbor I want.
If they used their own land I would have never said a thing... I would never build mere feet from someone elses land facing my house to their land and put my trash all over their land, pile my junk on their land and cut my firewood off their land. I know they had no access from previous owner because the previous owner is my Aunt and she has owned it since 1972 and that house was built in 1976 and the people living there bought that house from the bank foreclosure in 1995 and she had me going up there tearing down treestands when they would appear on this posted land after we put notes in plastic baggies on them to please remove the boards from the white oak trees and came back later to find more trash thrown around and the notes ripped up and thrown down...
I am exactly the kind of neighbor you would want - I stay on my side, you stay on yours. I don't have livestock or dogs that will be roaming all over you and expect the same in return...
Gonzo, very nice work you have done. Pay no attention to WV Mountaineer, there is always someone taking the side of the slob neighbors/trespassers in these threads.
Yeah gonzo, dont feel you need to defend yourself. Guys like that are usually the same guys that create situations where its necessary to run barbed wire around a property to keep whats yours yours. But oh, thats right, we shouldnt post our properties that we paid for or try to exclude anyone from doing what they want anywhere they want. I guess this is the country where the hard working man supports the people who want it all but are to lazy to work for it.
Good Job, very nice indeed.
If you want to funnel deer at some point along that fence line, just zip tie the top strand to the next strand below. They will be drawn to that point like a magnet.
Gonz, did u remove ALL of the stumps, or just what you could easily? And did you plow or till? Or just plant in the loose soil that the dozer created? Fantastic job
Yeap, I'm a trespassing, poaching, deer stand stealing son-of-a gun. Pure hunting trash. I let other deer poaching, stand stealing, trash hunters hunt my land though. :^) No fences required. BTW, any of you fellas please feel free to imply that to my face in person if we ever meet.
Your own words said 85 feet from their house, and their house faces your property. Are you friggin serious? What does it matter which way the house faces? People can't walk through their back yard in Oklahoma? It just confused me, especially since I've never met a farmer who liked chasing or looking for lost cows. I buy and sell land almost weekly. Most of the bigger asses you'll meet present themselves on the "New Owner" side. Just my experience. If you knew they had no prior permission, good for you. But, for every situation like yours, there is a guy who gets a parcel of land, be it 2 or 200 acres, that didn't know that and makes it appear the way you did. Unwarranted.
Take it how you want. I may have been incorrect in the assumption that you were just another Ass. If it doesn't apply, than good for you. Enjoy your land. It's yours to do as you wish, as it should be.
His original post regarding the fence said that the posted signs didnt mean a whole lot to the surrounding folks.
thank god for the internet... what a boring life we would live
stick n string - there are 2 stumps left in that plot. They were white oaks you can see in the second picture I posted and I thought they would be viable but they never leafed after our dozer work so I cut them high so we can wrestle them out at a later date. The tree I pushed out with the tractor was another (live) white oak but it had surface roots all around it and it was difficult to work the soil so I sacrificed it in the name of a better plot and less shade... The plot was dozed, then I ripped it with my box blade, used an ax and shears to cut ground roots, picked up the larger rocks and smoothed it up best I could. I have since gotten a landscape rake and think that would have made the job much easier and will use it on the next plot I have planned out for this property that we are going to clear this winter.
Regardless of what I have planted on 3 different properties when acorn drop occurs it is game over on the plots so I like to have a lot of oaks producing on the property to hold some deer when that happens. Here is a representative white oak and the seedlings it has thrown...
A few more shots of the property...
First shed I found on it this year...
Pair of sheds we found in March...
Some of the kind of stuff I found in various places around the property. I haven't taken a picture of the "dump" yet but will...
I would out a plot watcher right there.
looks like you are on your way gonzo.best of luck
Gonzo- Great job improving your land for deer and all wildlife. From the sign I see maybe you should set a trap for Beaver.
Yea... Beaver trap... thats funny! Praying for rain right now. It has rained all around us this week but not on our property. Pop up thunderstorms daily but they have been missing where we need them. Was at the lake yesterday with my boat and it rained on me almost the whole time :(
Congratulations on the land Johnny! You've got your work cut out for you for a few years. When we first bought our land, the neighbors informed us that "no fence would keep RV and Roy from hunting there since they've been hunting that land their whole life, and nobody else could stop them". Fortunately the barbed wire topped net wire fence was to difficult for them to climb. Oh, and for those of you who think a four foot fence will keep deer in/out...HahahaHahahaha!
Hope you have many years of good hunting to look forward to!
Matt n Cheryl
Thanks Matt n Cheryl. So far so good on the neighbors... Their big thing seems to be when I visit the property to get out their 20 gauge single shot and .22 rifle and shoot off several rounds. When I drive my diesel they hear me when I pull in so the shooting commences. When I drive my little Nissan 4x4 I never hear a shot... LOL
We got a decent little shower and hopefully more later this week. We are a little paranoid here in Oklahoma about drought and figure its not a matter of if but when it will hit!
06/24/14 plot is still thriving. I busted deer out everywhere I tried to go yesterday afternoon after work on our 80. I think they are liking the improvements :)
This plot is over planted but I wanted ground cover to supress grasses and some weeds. Looks like the test is coming though, high heat, no rain, hot winds as a high pressure system blankets Oklahoma...
Got a few residents using our plot/waterhole...
Here is a couple of bucks I have on a mineral block about 50 yards from the plot...
Right on Man that's exciting for you!!!
Darn nice work Gonzo... thanks for sharing.
Congrats on your new property Gonzo! There's not much better than cleaning the dirt out of your fingernails from your own property.
My best friend lives in NW Okla. & has suffered through the droughts that you guys have been having the past couple of years. He must live real close to you cause it always seems to rain all around his place but never on his;>)
Looking forward to your hero shot of your deer this fall. Good luck!
Gonzo very nice congras by the way them pink panties might be nicks I ve seen him shooting a matching pink bow :>
I have same fence on section on my place the deer slip right thru it ,, what I did was tie it together in a section so making a crossing point .
Best of luck
Thanks guys, we are pretty excited about the up and comers... looking forward to a little bowhunting up there.
Took some time off the tractor and took the grandkids for a little boat ride for the 4th...
The fence is no deterrant to the deer as you can see from the pictures and actually in time they will start to realize inside the fence is better for them because over 40 acres inside that fence is sanctuary we don't even go into. During deer season the deer will be pushed into that area and we won't be bothering them there... We have most of the White Oaks and Red Oaks in the area and we have the only water for a mile until it dry's up in our Oklahoma summer...
I will try to get up there later this week to check on things. At home our clover is starting to go dormant from heat and lack of moisture...
We now live about 35 minutes from our new 80 acre property on a 10 acre parcel deeded to us by my family years ago. We just recently found a 20 acre parcel with a very nice home that was built in 2007 and has 1936' of living area that is just 5 minutes from our land that we just officially made an offer on this morning. 75% open and 25% wooded with a nice barn... awaiting a reply...
Lone Bugle's Link
Wouldn't you like have had this bad boy whe you were doing all the clearing?!
Thats awesome gonzo, good luck on the bid for new house!!
very nice house best of luck I SO NEED TO MOVE !!!
Should find out in the next couple of days on the house. Another offer had already been made so we will see...
Plot needs moisture badly...
Waterhole still a focal point of the local wildlife but evaporation is taking it's toll...
I'd made some strips for the corn ,sunflowers, and milo in the clover.
dm - I would have but the mix was an afterthought and I wanted to see how it would work without tillage... scuffed the ground in a few areas and just broadcast it by hand and walked awat... crows, turkeys, and blackbirds lived on that field the next week so I figured nothing would grow but what a surprise!
My dozer road along the southern edge along the county road to our property has a lot of sprouts popping up in it so I have about 3/4 of a tank of remedy left over from spraying over at my dads place I am taking up in the morning to try and get that under control. Also need to change some camera batteries and see how the 1.5" of rain we got yesterday helped the plot/waterhole... triple digit temps the next couple days then another good shot at rain and temps in the bottom 80's all next week...
I am following your progress/property threads in "surround sound".....here and qdma, its all good!
Keep up the good work, looks great!
Yep - I was a member of bowsite for many years mainly posting on the "Leatherwall" before I was a member of the QDMA forum hence the different handles. My Black Widow recurve is named "Gonzo"...
Update on the housing situation. We were thrown a counter offer asking for more up front money yesterday and an earlier closing date because the mortgage company wants it off their books by 9-1. We decided to drive up and walk the 20 acres out since it was a pleasant day with a nice north breeze. As soon as we got there I could smell chicken litter bad so we got to looking around and went through the trees behind the house and found 2 large chicken houses about 200 yards due north of our house on the neighboring property. We loved the house but with the smell of chicken litter and the unknown quality of the well water which may be contaminated with litter, sulphur, clay, or iron we opted not to address their counter and are rescinding our offer so next in line can purchase. We have decided to build with a good friend of mine who builds custom homes and get exactly the home we want, built exactly where we want it.
We drove on over to our 80 acres from there and to our delight the whiteoak acorns are finally starting to show up. We have a very large whiteoak population and a few red oaks. The red oaks are loaded as well. We have most everything a deer could want on this parcel with food from mast, plot, and browse, Water, and heavy cover... the plot is being used very well and we have ordered a new Plot watcher to set up on it to see exactly where the deer are entering the plot and at what time since my trail cam on the plot can only pick up when a deer walks in front of it.
Nice setup you have there. Looks like you've put a ton of hard work in! Good luck with everything, Josh
Thanks!
Here is a pic of the wife next to a sunflower in our plot. We can hardly wait to have our first season up there. I haven't setup any stands yet but will be doing so right after I put in our fall plot middle of next month...
Just wanted to share a few pics I took off our front deck this morning. I got up and was getting around to go up to our property and saw a few deer in the plots here at home... counted 7 this morning... We had a yard sale at my daughters house yesterday morning and my truck was still loaded with a bunch of stuff from that deal so it is in the picture...
Another deer eating hedge apple leaves...
2 more in the middle plot I sprayed with gly last weekend...
A small buck and 2 does in our small clover plot... all pictures taken from our deck right off the front of our house...
On up to the property... plot looks good...to deer :)
This is what got me truly excited though! I thought we weren't going to have any this year but they are showing up bigtime now... white oak acorns...
Haven't updated in awhile... Got a few new trailcam pics to share...
Here is a nice clean 10 point...
Here is a nice old 13 pointer...
Here is a 9 point, the 10 point, and the 13 pointer together...
Here is a different nice 8 pointer a few days later...
You have to feel great with your results. Awesome!
Holy smokes! He's a brute!
Very cool thread - I don't know how I missed it all summer. You are lucky to be in an area with such big deer - they are quite impressive!
Thank you guys... We put up a few stands this last weekend and trail cams show bucks still hanging around but they are more solitary and broken up right now. Velvet loss is right on the horizon so maybe I will get them in hard horn on camera very soon... Here are a few stand setup pictures...
WOW!!!!! Those are some nice bucks. You gotta feel good about what you've accomplished.
view from that stand at the SW corner of our plot... Plotwatcher shows all the deer moving through the plot from SW to NE and vice verse...
Here is the view from the NE plot stand near the waterhole...
Here is the white oak woods stand - trail cams show this to be the area most used in daylight by these deer. Creek bottom with finger ridges running up to this area with lots of hard mast and thick cover in spots makes this a favorite it seems...
One view from that stand...
Haven't updated in awhile. We took #1 and #2 bucks we were after from the stand in the previous picture on November 26th and 27th 2014. Here is the wifes... Remember this is posted on the Deerbuilder site...
And here is mine I took on Thanksgiving day...
I got this buck on Halloween day with the smokepole...
Now on to 2015 stuff...brought the dozer in and created another plot about 400 yards north of the existing plot...
Then got into a lower corner and built another waterhole...
Almost done in this picture...
I planted this plot in Red clover, White clover, and Chicory on the morning of the 9th and then it started to rain - we got a slow soaker for about 15 hours...
I also expanded my original plot by 1/3rd but haven't got this part cleaned up yet as it was too muddy to use the tractor on it last weekend. Hoping it dries enough to work by this weekend so I can get the Durana seed down... In this picture the new dirt to the left of the pond is the expansion area...
We did not end up buying the other house and land due to a bad well situation from the farmer just across the fence using chicken litter on from his chicken houses so we have decided we wanted a home on our 80 acres. We own both sides of a county road with about 15 acres on one side and 65 on the other so we are using our "small side" for the homesite to keep from disturbing the deer hunting side too much...
We didn't even have a driveway into that side so we had to create one...
Roughed in raw about 360 feet long total...
7 18 wheeler loads total... almost done - Happy wife!
Then had to clear a homesite from the thick woods on top of this ridge...
Then a nice flat pad for the home...
And a place for the powerline to come in. We got a new neighbor on our east side that owns 50 acres but they only own 1/2 acre on the side our house will be on so they had no reservations on signing an easement across it for us to get to our land. Least expensive option we had for electricity is right where we ended up...
Beautiful hunting property. It has everything.
Gonzo, Congrats on creating an incredible property for your family to enjoy....lots of great memories in the making!
Oh yea, congrats on three killer bucks!
Mark
Thanks guys - It has been so wet since I updated this that I have little to share other than the new waterhole in the new plot is almost full now...
And with all the rain and milder temps the clover in the original dozed plot is beginning the big greenup!
Looks really nice! Great bucks too. Thanks for sharing.
Gonzo, are we going to see a buck or two with an arrow hole in it this year? Nice piece of land, and you obviously have a good idea on how to upgrade it. Have you estimated what you invested in money and time to achieve the improvements you (and the critters) now enjoy?
I did put an arrow hole in the buck I ended up eventually getting with my rifle. He chased a doe in front of me on Veterans Day and I failed to bend at the waist in my hurry to get a shot off and hit him high through the backstraps...I figured I would never see him again but Thanksgiving he came back through chasing another doe...
Since I can do most of the work myself my expenditures have been dozer @ $70 hour and I have used him for about 40 hours total, about $2K in gravel, enough fencing material to do 1 1/2 mile of fence, $200 seed, about $600-$700 in lime and fertilizer (which I need to put lime down now on new plot), $250 for tree seedlings. Electric was about $2K which is paid but poles are not up yet. My time I can't put a value on because I enjoy everything so much...
I figure I have hopefully 20-25 years left in me to continue hunting so I am trying to get as much as I can get done while my body will let me. My goal is to leave somewhere for our grandsons to hunt and a nice place to retire with my wife :)
And I can even shoot a little when I don't screw up...
Looks like your hard work and efforts are paying off. Well done!
7 loads of gravel on an 18 wheeler for $2000 is a great deal. That's really, really, cheap. Were talking $250 per load. That's $10.50 a ton for gravel and hauling. Did you own the truck?
It looks like you've done this before. Great work and even better results. Congratulations and God Bless
I got 5 loads on an 18 wheeler and 2 on a 10 wheeler. Don't own the trucks...
I looked over the receipts and total was $2180 so I was off a little bit...
Thanks for the Kudos guys - I appreciate it!
Mighty nice. Good to see a family enjoying things together. Keep up the good "work." Beautiful place you are making.
$2180 is awesome for just that stone. But, trucking included, it is really awesome. God Bless