Once he was done with the dozer I came in with my Kubota and used the boxblade with the ripper teeth set full deep to fill holes and pull roots up so I could cut them.
Once that was done I frost seeded 5 lbs of Durana White clover and 5 Lbs of Barduro Red clover with no ammendments... clover took forever to get started but once it started popping I went back up and put down a few hundred pounds of pelletized lime and 250 lbs of triple 13 and threw in a summer blend of seed on top.
Since deer up in the big woods didn't really ever have anything like this it took them a long time to figure out it was edible but once they did I had lots of regular visitors including all 3 of the mature bucks we took off the property...
I see in the video that you left some stumps. I'm curious as to why you didn't grub out all of the stumps?
I have a bunch of Soft Maple stumps on the edge of my river bottom food plot as well as a few stumps in other plots that I have to maneuver around. They are kind of a pain. I will let them rot for a few years then I should be able to grub them out with my skid loader. Not worth spending the $ to hire a dozer.
You already have the dozer so that's not the reason. Did you leave them for another reason? Just curious.
Also, on the apple trees at or near the plot, do you prune them back to promote better growth/yield or do you just leave them as-is?
I don't have one of those little rakes to gather all my roots up, I picked them all up by hand ! I thought about buying one, just never have. I left a few trees in my plot that I wish I had taken out. Just something about an oak that makes me want to leave it, but they are a pain to work around. Good stuff !
I have a new property in KY and just had my first full season hunting it. One of the things I noticed was how nervous the deer were hitting the fields. The bucks were constantly on edge and hardly stayed in the fields for more than 2 mins. Curious if you have considered adding any types of tall grass strips or corn rows to provide cover and relax the deer a bit. I have four plots but the experience is the same from the 3 small acre plots to the big field which is prolly 6 acres.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I am considering adding apples trees near the corner edges and give another option for food.
XMan
I know these plots are small, but small plots do make the deer more nervous. One thing that comes highly recommended is to leave a fairly large strip around the edge implanted. 20 yards is not too wide. This implanted edge will grow up in briars and saplings...thick edge cover that should be fertilized. I have followed this practice and have witnessed deer feed in this edge for long periods and never come out into the field. We at times think we can plant all these exotic new plants only to find out that a natural stand of plants that are fertilized can produce good too.
I did that on two of the smaller plots and it didn't really help. One plot is 150 yards long by 75 yards wide, each side I left to natural weeds that grew 4 feet tall. Deer avoided this plot like the plague, planted brasicas in it with clover. The plot grew great, not sure why the deer didn't like it but they would run across this plot and never stop to nibble, cameras in this field now are not yielding many deer. its still green with brasicas.
The other plot is 150 yards by 150 yards had only brasicas in it and the does liked this field, but very cautious. Bulldozed a giant heap of trees in the middle to funnel deer to either side or on the low side. I was thinking of burning this brush pile down next season and planting rows down the middle.
the last small plot didn't do well for a variety of reasons, too many stumps and trees left in it so the moisture and any water is getting sucked up by the trees. need a bulldozer to really clean this one up or plant something like apples and pears and forget it as a plot.
The deer didn't think much of the white clover/rye/radish mix I planted. I think I'll have it disked up and plant all mammoth clover, the deer here seem to like that best. It will get over knee high and deer will even bed in it.
In southern MI the going rate is $50 hr for dozer work, they don't charge for transport either if you have 10 hrs or more work.
That $600 also included making some trails in my woods.
You just have to have the work done early before their busy time starts in summer.
