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Let's compare ideas on hunting land improvement.; Discuss your thoughts, ideas.
Topic Started: Dec 27 2014, 04:56 PM (642 Views)
Renegade
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Atikokan, Ontario
What kind of improvements have you done on your hunting property? What worked well what didn't? Do you foodplot? Do you plant trees? What kind of trails do you make and what equipment do you use? Do you make land alterations with drainage, fencing, trails etc.

What I have been playing at.

NW Ontario. Clay belt area. Properties are diverse with some old homesteads, existing farms, canadian shield rocks, different aged forests, swamps, creeks, ponds and a lot of bush of different ages. Primarily hardwoods but a lot of spruce and pine and few odd cedars of different ages.

-In my area I have been creating food plots for immediate improvements in carrying capacity at certain times of year and some good nutrition.

-I created a lot of nice trail systems for access and enjoyment for myself but also creating good habitat for all sorts of critters on clover seeded trails. I keep most of my trails mowed by going over them 2-3 times a year with swisher.

-Create some natural openings and areas of native grass.

-Allow beavers in some areas and not in others. Have utilized banks of old ponds for plotting.

-I have mineral locations and supplement feed deer during the season and beyond.

-Have some larger fields and am starting to develop them and get into an alfalfa-clover rotation.

-Getting a piece of new equipment for the tractor and quads every now and then.

-We do have some areas we leave alone and don't intrude. Only exception is spring shed hunting. We can walk anywhere then, got to see if sanctuaries are actually being utilized. :cheers:

Anyway, your thoughts?


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Angus0914
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I have owned the farm for four years now. I have cleaned out two 3 acre food plots. From what I learned I'm probably one of three people in the area doing food plots. I have a International B250 tractor with a front end loader. 3 point hitch is broken right now :( . I have a very old single furrow breaker plow and a real old set of disks. I'm going to be getting a groundhog max this spring for the atv. Next on the wish list is a brush hog for the tractor.

There are hunters on two sides of the property and the other side is a river. The property is a basic triangle. After food plots I have been working on getting a atv trail cut around the property line. Got 200 yards left to the back corner then about a 1000 yards to the river. It's slow going when you are only there total of about 6 weeks a year. The plan is to get the trail done and then start opening up the bush to allow some sunlight on the ground and get some bush foodplots in.

Plan for one food plot is do in soybeans next year. As far as I know this will be the only one in the area. So I have a farmer putting that in. But I have to supply the seed and the pay for the roundup he is going to use. He is going to spray, till,plant and fertilize and then roundup again. Everything that has been planted in this food plot has been beat down. I don't have the money to fence off so we will see if the beans survive. Other food plot has half clover and the other half a farmers mix. Clover did very well but did not seem to be eaten off very much. Farmers mix where it did grow was hammered. I did not do anything to the ground for the farmers mix other than disk and drag so I don't blame the seed for not growing well. I'm going to try and keep a good journal with lots of pictures on how the beans do and post.

Don't have any places that I don't go yet as I'm still learning the lay of the land but I do plan on it after the trails are done. I'm going to try and mark out about 50 or so acres of no go zone after but I will have to look into what kind of land that should be. I don't want set aside land that the deer won't even use or stay in. Might have to do quite a bit of hinge cutting.
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Renegade
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Atikokan, Ontario
Angus0914
Dec 29 2014, 02:43 PM
I have owned the farm for four years now. I have cleaned out two 3 acre food plots. From what I learned I'm probably one of three people in the area doing food plots. I have a International B250 tractor with a front end loader. 3 point hitch is broken right now :( . I have a very old single furrow breaker plow and a real old set of disks. I'm going to be getting a groundhog max this spring for the atv. Next on the wish list is a brush hog for the tractor.

There are hunters on two sides of the property and the other side is a river. The property is a basic triangle. After food plots I have been working on getting a atv trail cut around the property line. Got 200 yards left to the back corner then about a 1000 yards to the river. It's slow going when you are only there total of about 6 weeks a year. The plan is to get the trail done and then start opening up the bush to allow some sunlight on the ground and get some bush foodplots in.

Plan for one food plot is do in soybeans next year. As far as I know this will be the only one in the area. So I have a farmer putting that in. But I have to supply the seed and the pay for the roundup he is going to use. He is going to spray, till,plant and fertilize and then roundup again. Everything that has been planted in this food plot has been beat down. I don't have the money to fence off so we will see if the beans survive. Other food plot has half clover and the other half a farmers mix. Clover did very well but did not seem to be eaten off very much. Farmers mix where it did grow was hammered. I did not do anything to the ground for the farmers mix other than disk and drag so I don't blame the seed for not growing well. I'm going to try and keep a good journal with lots of pictures on how the beans do and post.

Don't have any places that I don't go yet as I'm still learning the lay of the land but I do plan on it after the trails are done. I'm going to try and mark out about 50 or so acres of no go zone after but I will have to look into what kind of land that should be. I don't want set aside land that the deer won't even use or stay in. Might have to do quite a bit of hinge cutting.
Awesome. Considerations for areas of sancuary is a tricky subject. Something I am learning as well. I had this area where I have a stand in the bush looking over a small dried out beaver pond. Access is limited to one route in possibly two. I have found quite a few sheds in this area. First clue. I have also jumped a lot of bucks as compared to other areas going in and out of this spot. Second clue. Around old beaver ponds the beavers will take out a lot of the hardwoods and leave a ribbon of conifers around the swamp. Great bedding, hiding and wintering area. Third clue. I have a mineral site there and run a camera normally. This year I decided to make it a sancuary. Roughly a 40-50 acre area. I went in there three days ago and there were plenty of beds, buck tracks and I found my first shed of the year. :cheers:
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Angus0914
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Hmmm those are some good clues. You got me thinking I don't have any old beaver ponds but I do have the river. If I make a no go zone backing on the river (which is ok considering the big ravines that washouts have caused) it would not be to hard to drop some bush a make it a little more nasty. I was always thinking right in the middle of the property but along the river sounds like a good idea. Hmmm will have to think on that one. Glad it sounds like it is working for you. Always good to hear how things are working in the north. -25 here this morning but no wind. :thumbsup:
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Posted Image wilebski
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Angus0914
Dec 30 2014, 08:23 AM
Hmmm those are some good clues. You got me thinking I don't have any old beaver ponds but I do have the river. If I make a no go zone backing on the river (which is ok considering the big ravines that washouts have caused) it would not be to hard to drop some bush a make it a little more nasty. I was always thinking right in the middle of the property but along the river sounds like a good idea. Hmmm will have to think on that one. Glad it sounds like it is working for you. Always good to hear how things are working in the north. -25 here this morning but no wind. :thumbsup:
I have done some work on a couple of my hunting acre's.... Building food plot's and shooting lanes and trail's.
Try not to over do it is one thing... To many is not good. A good dozer operater can do wonder's. A poor one can make a $ mess for you.
My biggest concern is when you make trail's or shooting lanes be careful of changing wind movement & direction of the lay of your land.
They can act like a chimmney &/or make your scent swirl...
The biggest asset I feel is it can get you where you need to go with out alerting movement's to & from stand or ambush site's...
Also putting up a plastic snow fence or cattle fence will alter deer movement's where you want them on shooting lanes.
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