My wife and I just purchased an 80 acre parcel with farmhouse last spring. This is our dream come true as my parents live next door and we have great relations with our other neighbors.
I will attach 2 pictures, one of just the 80, and another with the remaining 200 that I have permission to hunt, but not do habitat improvements to. Please note, 10 acres of our parcel is taken up by water (two lakes with dam in between). These are pretty and fun to fish, but make hunting access very difficult and block deer movement a bit.
The yellow highlighted fields from the southern attached farm always get 3-4 acres of corn/beans a piece, rotated every year. The maroon field to the east is just Ag land (15 acres)and gets picked in late October/early November each year.
The Good
Big, mature deer visit this place often as a hub that gets them to other properties in order to check bedding. There is a good mix of field/woods for the deer to use, and some terrain elevations provide a good zone for cruising.
The Bad
The two fields marked CRP (GREEN) are currently just filled with ragweed and a little blue stem/prairie grass mixed in. I will be required to resow something in each field next year, more than likely.
Because the grasses aren't that tall (4 ft. and very sparse), deer can see you coming from a mile away once you get West of the big lake. Three days ago, my wife and I literally spooked two deer bedded in the CRP from 300 yards away in an electric go cart.
So this place holds some deer, but they are very hard to get to. They enjoy bedding here because they can watch everything coming towards them from all sides. I can use my neighbors north, south, and west to access the property, but again, this entire area is more traditional farmland which has zero screening.
I need to make the open areas smaller, while also making them feel secure.
I would like to begin habitat improvement on the 80 with the goal of holding more deer through border screening, food plots, fruit trees, shrubs, thick and nasty cover, and anything else that folks here might see as important.
Would you all have any advice to offer?
I would like to compartmentalize it and really make it "small" where it's open.
I'm not sure what the CRP folks will let me plant, but I'm hoping to do more than just complete chunks of wide open grass bedding. I'd like to do some clover, chicory, forbes of some kind.
It looks like the area near the lakes is manicured... that would be the spot to add your fruit trees, etc., imo. The deer may not travel too much through that swamp, but I bet they'll bed there, and especially if you get'em a dry spot or two to lay on. In regards to the crp, first you will have to determine what program it is actually in. That will determine what you can interseed it with. In my experience, USDA/FSA has tightened up their grip on crp establishment and management requirements. I wanted to mix some taller grasses for cover into my CP-42 Pollinator that we sowed this year on my dad's place, and they would not allow it. However, each state is a little different, but I would assume Indiana is similar to Illinois. Just know that right now there isn't much of a program, and new enrollment will be minimal for the time being.
I am envious. Enjoy every minute!
Nothing makes me happier than finding a spot that has big deer and is hard to hunt. This usually means it will remain that way. Find a way to hunt it.
I’m a bit confused as to exactly where your property lines are? Can you post a pic that just shows your boundaries? Several things you can use for screening. Egyptian wheat, Sudan grasses, and hopefully, a more permanent screening solution, Miscanthus Gigantus. I planted some of the Miscanthus this spring, so the jury is still out on it, but it looks promising so far. It takes approximately 3 years to really shine, it is supposed to stand up to snowloads much better than other options. Standing corn can also be used for a screen.
I definitely want to focus on screening this spring. The Thuja Green Giants look like they grow fast and are fairly inexpensive. I liked the look of the Leyland Cypress, but I am in Zone 5b (close to Zone 6), and do not want to risk planting 100 trees and losing them in a couple years to a hard freeze. The ultimate goal is to create thick cover inside the tall borders and include hybrid oaks, blackberry briars, etc. for them to munch on during the day before they travel to destination AG (located South and East).