Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

38 acre land management advice/help

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    38 acre land management advice/help

    I recently purchased 38 acres and want to be a good steward of it and manage it the best I can. I have been doing research but still have a lot to learn. I thought posting it here might be a good place to get some tips and thoughts. The place is located in East Texas in the Post Oak Savannah region. It has a seasonal creek/run off. Has hard and soft woods, pines, oaks, elm, and sweet gums to name a few. I have tons of hogs that I am currently trying to trap and kill (if anyone is interested in assisting pm me) I will upload a picture soon of where things are.

    The main goals are not to grow big deer per se but to just improve the land I own and draw in wildlife, hunt recreationally, and just enjoy the outdoor with the family.

    The land to the 400 acres or woods north and north west is all rarely used woods with a few trails that folks ride atvs through on occasion. The rectangle 6 acres of woods west across the street are dense and completely untouched. The field to the East and South East have long horns in it. Not sure about the field to the South, south west. I haven't seen any live stock and I still need to meet the neighbors.

    I am currently finding all the large oaks and clearing around them to open up the forest floor to promote forbe growth and take away competing trees for water. Clearing a good deal of cedars so they don't steal water from the good trees. Creating a few clearings about 1/4 acre in size. Clearing 1.5 acres on the North West corner to make a field. It has a small loop trail in the center of the tract. The next picture I load will show what I have gathered and drawn on my gps.

    Any suggestion would be great. Thank you I will try to post pictures as this journey progresses.
    Attached Files

    #2
    Its pic heavy and will only get worse

    Yellow and dark yellow- trails
    cyan- the seasonal creek
    black- powerlines
    every other color is pretty much run off

    The dam looking symbol is where I was thinking of putting a dam in a valley to make a small pond.
    Attached Files

    Comment


      #3
      Check out the book Extreem Deer Habitat by Jim Brauker. He shows how to make a small property into a deer haven. He is from up North, however much of the info will work here as well. I am purchasing 45 acres also in NE Texas and I'm wanting to make improvements for deer hunting as well. I'm thinking laying out food plots, selecting sanctuary areas and making deer beds, and using some of his info on Extreem scent control will all be key to making my property a success. Thanks for sharing. I'll be following!

      Comment


        #4
        Your doing great so far, my suggestions for attracting deer is an orchard. Pears, (I like kiefer) Persimmons, and jujube as well, and all of these trees will drop fruit in the fall. Plant these maybe in one big orchard or two small ones and keep them protected with tubes or a fence and in 5+ years when they produce they will be the top attractant in the area.

        Fast growing oaks like sawtooth or gobbler oaks will help along with nuttall (best version of a red oak) and if you have 40 years plant white oaks. But you may have some already.

        Good luck!!! Wish I had my own place to do this just be doing this on my dads land. My pears are in year 4, persimmons are native and jujube in year 1.

        Comment


          #5
          I have a place similar in size...37 acres. Here is what I've done....all by trial and error. I made one good sized plot where I know I can get in and out of undetected. Fooling with multiple plots on that small of a place seemed silly to me. It can cause entry/exit/wind issues....as well as second guessing where to hunt.

          Having one plot where the deer know they can go eat every day will make them feel secure and they will eventually flock to it. On my place I have one main plot of 2.5 - 3 acres. I've had it in that location for 6 seasons now and the deer use it every day. The first year they didn't eat alot in it. Year two was really good and now after many years in the same place I routinely see double digit deer on most sits. They rarely get bothered there and know there is food there pretty much year round. It really doesn't matter what I plant there....they eat it. I also have a corn feeder on the edge of that plot.
          Also if you put stands on it for different winds....tuck them back into the trees off the edge of the plot and plant tall screening plants like egyptian wheat so you can climb down and get out undetected.

          I also have about 10-12 acres that I rarely go in to except to track a deer or hinge cut trees for bedding. I generally know that the deer will come from either of two directions every time so I have my stands hung accordingly.

          Small acreage hunting is enjoyable if you have good neighbors. I don't have big deer but I have taken 3 older bucks in the last 6 seasons. Good luck to you!
          Last edited by unclefish; 04-21-2016, 09:04 PM.

          Comment


            #6
            Congrats on your land. Looks good.

            I can appreciate you trying to make things better.
            Same I try to do on mine.
            FWIW:
            I would definitely designate a sanctuary of at least 5 acres of the thickest area. No human entrance whatsoever. I agree with one larger plot. Get soil tested and start lime and fertilizer. From my experience the past two years, I would fence the hogs out of about 2-3 acres. I missed your exact location, but in leon co hogs love to eat/root in my unfenced plot. Too much effort and money in seed to let them do that. I put a feeder in there also. I would eliminate the sweet gums and cedars. No forage and little cover. I would plant as many good oak trees as soon as possible. (This fall). Even live oaks. Deer love the fertilized acorns from these nonnative trees in only a few years. Be sure and put big cages on them. I would not put out any corn feeders without pens because they will attract pigs. I would try to start some honysuckle and blackberry vines in some cages to protect from overgrazing.


            Send me a pm if you have any questions. I am a avid lifetime deer hunter, but for past 30 years I have enjoyed improving the herd more than killing the bucks on my own land. I am ruthless on the pigs however.

            BP

            Comment


              #7
              Jm10 what kind of soil do those trees like? I didn't even think about an orchard. What am I protecting them from with the tubes and fence? Like most this all will take time and money, both which come every other week around Friday.

              Keep it coming

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by robert13t View Post
                Jm10 what kind of soil do those trees like? I didn't even think about an orchard. What am I protecting them from with the tubes and fence? Like most this all will take time and money, both which come every other week around Friday.

                Keep it coming


                Deer will eat the saplings and kill them if you don't put a cage around each tree. The tubes help protect the trees from weather extremes kinda like a little greenhouse.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by robert13t View Post
                  Jm10 what kind of soil do those trees like? I didn't even think about an orchard. What am I protecting them from with the tubes and fence? Like most this all will take time and money, both which come every other week around Friday.

                  Keep it coming
                  Mine is sandy and they are doing great. I mixed in a little chicken manure and my dad throws dead fish every once and awhile on top of root ball. You can go bare root and get those cheap. I got 3 gallon trees which were around $12 or so.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Fun thread

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by robert13t View Post
                      Jm10 what kind of soil do those trees like? I didn't even think about an orchard. What am I protecting them from with the tubes and fence? Like most this all will take time and money, both which come every other week around Friday.

                      Keep it coming
                      I put large cages around most of my large trees. Otherwise, the Bucks will rubb them in the fall and kill them. Plus the deer eat the new growth that sticks out of smaller cages.
                      From your topo map it appears you have some water
                      I put a water container with a gravity fed dish in my food plot to keep them from traveling.
                      My soil is sandy for a couple feet then I hit clay.
                      Trees are cheap. I planted acorns from red oak, burr oaks, white oaks and live oak in small pots at the house. Then transfer them after a year. I also bought bare root saplings.
                      I would invest in a chainsaw ASAP and eliminate trees that wildlife don't utilize.
                      Plus you can use the firewood.

                      BP

                      Comment


                        #12
                        learn of T cutting some of your trees. Sweetgums make a great T cut tree and this will put food at the deers level (they love sweetgum leafs) and they also like the new growth shoots that will grow at or near the cut. T Cutting sweetgums will also provide some dense cover and overhangs, all of this the deer like. There are several types trees when T cut provide browse and remember, the number one choice of a deer for eating is browse.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          deer farmer: when you say T cut, you mean hinge cut I am guessing?

                          Big Pig: I got a stihl 361 chainsaw and went to work. Look at all the big trees I found once I started cutting back the large ones

                          Comment


                            #14
                            A few big oaks and a pine. The creek has good water in it from the rain.
                            Attached Files

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Having trouble uploading so here is the pine and the creek
                              Attached Files

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X