Talk about cover!

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Here's a shot from some plot clearing today. At times, I was pushing through weeds close to 9 or 10ft high. This is my first time cutting anything on this side of the land. And to think I thought the other side was thick. Holy cow.2017-08-18-20-07-45.jpg
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Pushing through it you could see woody undergrowth from over the years. There's quite a few wild rose bushes too.

And briars. Briars everywhere. And black berries.
 
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beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
^At that point I'll look like a rabbit rancher.lol. They're everywhere in that stuff.

Will it be easier to cut at that point? Or will it just die and compost itself? While cutting this side(and the other) I noticed layers of dead chutes, just laying over one another. Do you think that was this year's competition or the dead chutes from last year, and the years before? The land has been vacant for years.

Probably a stupid question, but I'm new to this.
 
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jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Looks like 3 to 4 years growth. You can bushog it down and you will have half the growth next year. You can spray it in spring with 41% glyphosate and imazapyr and keep it down next year.
Looks like goldenrod and rugosa rose and blackberries.
You can also Mow it down and the deer will browse on the new growth during May to July.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I would mow it and disc over it. This will slow down the rose and blackberry growth but will stimulate native weeds for additional browse.
Discing when the soil moist will cut slits in the roots of the black berry and rose. This will be better than spraying
 

Tarheeler

Twelve Pointer
I know the struggle. Similar on obe of my spots
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para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Seems like good fawning/bedding cover to be getting rid of. Is food what is missing on these tracts of land or is the cover critical? Do you have the the acreage to only cut/disk/treat half each year?

If you need the cover may want to look at a more selective herbicide than glyphosate. Imazapyr will control the trees, especially the sweetgums, while promoting blackberry and legumes.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Seems like good fawning/bedding cover to be getting rid of. Is food what is missing on these tracts of land or is the cover critical? Do you have the the acreage to only cut/disk/treat half each year?

If you need the cover may want to look at a more selective herbicide than glyphosate. Imazapyr will control the trees, especially the sweetgums, while promoting blackberry and legumes.

I won't be clearing near a 5th of the cover para. I've got free range on this side. My understanding wife has said that this side is for nothing but hunting, with my choice of spots on the other side. What I cleared was a few 5ft lanes running to what will be around a 3/4 acre field of clover, and winter wheat. The plot will be surrounded by a few acres of the same as what you see and edge along a few acres of woods. In the woods there is a creek. On the other side of the woods, there is another field, that I haven't seen because everything is this tall on this side, and in there I'll plant something. I don't know what yet, but I'll plant something.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
^At that point I'll look like a rabbit rancher.lol. They're everywhere in that stuff.

Will it be easier to cut at that point? Or will it just die and compost itself? While cutting this side(and the other) I noticed layers of dead chutes, just laying over one another. Do you think that was this year's competition or the dead chutes from last year, and the years before? The land has been vacant for years.

Probably a stupid question, but I'm new to this.

Probably what you are seeing is blackberries. What's green and alive this year will die and new grows back every year. Blackberries aren't like trees where the same stalk grows year after year. Every year, they die and new sprouts out of the ground.
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
Some good info here. Making it a native plot has some great benefits and a heck of a lot easier than keeping up with a food plot. It doesn't look at pretty but if done right will be every bit as effective. Typical early succession plots are maintained on a 3 year cycle with the land broken up into thirds. Every 3 years an area gets disked, You can increase your edge effect by tapering the boarders of the woods. for instance a strip next to the woods will be on a 4-5 year cycle, the next strip will be 3-4, then 2-3.
 

Tarheeler

Twelve Pointer
Some good info here. Making it a native plot has some great benefits and a heck of a lot easier than keeping up with a food plot. It doesn't look at pretty but if done right will be every bit as effective. Typical early succession plots are maintained on a 3 year cycle with the land broken up into thirds. Every 3 years an area gets disked, You can increase your edge effect by tapering the boarders of the woods. for instance a strip next to the woods will be on a 4-5 year cycle, the next strip will be 3-4, then 2-3.
Thats right, huge amount of browse here if done correctly, green brier, honeysuckle, Forbes etc etc etc be caref .uk l though sweetgums are a menace and the main reason i mow

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para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
I won't be clearing near a 5th of the cover para. I've got free range on this side. My understanding wife has said that this side is for nothing but hunting, with my choice of spots on the other side. What I cleared was a few 5ft lanes running to what will be around a 3/4 acre field of clover, and winter wheat. The plot will be surrounded by a few acres of the same as what you see and edge along a few acres of woods. In the woods there is a creek. On the other side of the woods, there is another field, that I haven't seen because everything is this tall on this side, and in there I'll plant something. I don't know what yet, but I'll plant something.

Sounds like good opportunities. Not sure that I am reading your plan correctly, but you will not be able to stay ahead of it if you are only mowing/disking 1/5 each year. This rotation will definitely require herbicide. Treating 1/2 to 1/3 each year will likely still require some spot treatment on trees and non-natives. Dr. Craig Harper from UT recently released his latest publication which focuses on getting away from planting for early succession cover in favor of fallow management. This approach uses disking, burn and to a lesser extent mowing to promote volunteer vegetation and selective herbicide applications to treat undesirable species.

One option to include a more traditional food plot into fallow management could be to mow and disk an area in lat August or early September, broadcast rye grain, crimson clover, turnips and radishes into the disturbed area and then let it go fallow for the next two years. This would provide a green attractant during the winter but still provide plenty of volunteer browse during the spring and summer.

May be able to negotiate with the wife for a little more space by planting a mixture of wildflowers in some strategic areas on "her side" of the property. Black eyed Susan, are showy, durable, cheap, reseed easily and deer will readily eat them.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Thanks guys. Yal don't know how much I appreciate the help. This is our first time owning so much usable acreage and the possibilities are becoming a little overwhelming. It's not a lot, but it's a lot to us. As for the clearing, I did leave out that,on this side, we'll be doing what Eric Revo suggested in another thread and mowing (some of)the blackberries and fertilizing them.

I hadn't put much thought into plot rotation. I don't know why because I fully understand and know the importance of crop rotation. That will definitely be part of our plan going forward. Thanks again for that.

We set some cameras out to see if we could catch a photo of the bear. We didn't, but on our farm(other) side, we've been getting steady mother fawn photos. The other day a three pointer showed up on cam with another buck, but the fog was too thick to tell the size. Mind you, these cameras aren't sitting over any food source, natural or tossed out. We just set them up in the area that I saw the mama and her cubs. We moved a camera to the plot area I mowed, just to see what's going on over there. So we expect to see different photos.

On the farm side, we'll have a couple half acre plots. One surrounded by young trees and blackberries, the other 50 yards from a spot where 2 spring fed branches form a creek and that creek meets another creek. Between there, and this plot area, is 8-10 year old trees of many species, including persimmon. I've only seen one producing persimmon on the whole tract, but some of the trees are too young and I think the others were affected by the late frost this year.

We are definitely going to incorporate food sources for other wildlife as she wants to get back in to turkey hunting. Her birthday was earlier this month and I got her a Savage .243. I'd like to get her back on the deer too. I honestly think I'd get as much, if not more, enjoyment from the whole experience watching her or one of our boys taking a nice deer or turkey here.

It's been more than what we ever dreamed so far, and we've only owned it for 12 days, though we've been there almost every day since the end of June.

I sincerely appreciate all the input guys. I really do. Thank you.
 
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