Food plots or habitat improvement?

I would be interested in hearing an answer to that question too. Not too many guys here from central Iowa, I think I could add some good reports.

Posting information, helping members, answering questions are a few thing that will get you noticed. Then if IDO needs a reporter in that area, someone from the Steering Committee will contact you.

Just because you or others are not on staff DOES NOT mean that you can not write a report and post pics about your fishing trips and place them in the appropriate forums.

Ron

Thanks Slider.

Why cant you hit on the post tab in the fishing reports and post? is that a staff feature only?

Staff/ Reporter function only.

Ron

Ron pretty much nailed it on the head. If you have any further questions feel free to post them here or PM me directly.

Like Slider said answering questions and posting reports in the forums in your area will help get you noticed. There are lakes and rivers in your area that you could report on. Some would be Des Moines River, Brushy Creek, Twin Lakes, Storm Lake, IGL, and many more smaller lakes too. Including pics always makes a report more interesting. Sharing techniques and how you caught your fish would help. You live in an area that has no staff coverage at the moment so start posting away and see where it goes would be my advice.
Thanks, Bill

Does the field staff position pay very well?

No, no staff positions are paid- For me, it is about helping other people catch fish, sharing my knowledge, and learning from others who know more than I- It is also about promoting our sport in a respectable manner, teaching/helping kids about this great sport. Talking about CPR and being an ethical fisherman…and sharing fishing reports…also sharing about products and gear that I believe in..These are a few of what I would call “my responsibilities” as a staff member- Do I get paid for doing this? No, but the joy from helping others and being a part of IDO is worth more than any amount of money to me…

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No, no staff positions are paid- For me, it is about helping other people catch fish, sharing my knowledge, and learning from others who know more than I- It is also about promoting our sport in a respectable manner, teaching/helping kids about this great sport. Talking about CPR and being an ethical fisherman…and sharing fishing reports…also sharing about products and gear that I believe in..These are a few of what I would call “my responsibilities” as a staff member- Do I get paid for doing this? No, but the joy from helping others and being a part of IDO is worth more than any amount of money to me…

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Great answer Luke.

I feel the same way as does most of the IDO staff.

Yep, OK RON & LUKE nailed it on the head!

Great answer Luke and also my main reasons I wanted to be staff here @ IDO. I wanted to give back to a site that has made me a better fisherman and outdoorsmen. I wanted to share my experiences with others and help others succeed in the great outdoors!

I’d like to add a bit to this. I’m an old fart, and have been around the block a few times. Everything in life comes by the example you set. If you consistantly display staff qualities, I’m sure you will be asked to be part of the staff. Quality people want to be surrounded by other quality people. Same goes for any aspect of life.

I guide part time fishing and hunting. If I did it for the money, my wife would devorce me. I get the ultimate reward from seeing the satisfaction of my clients. When I am able to teach them something they can take with them, there is a sense of gratitude that is hard to explain. But when you experience it, you want more of it. Its pure, and you walk away with a feeling of really contributing something. Thats why I welcome phone calls, emails, and what ever it takes to share in what I have spent nearly 40 years learning. I never had anyone very knowledgeable to teach me. I look back and often wonder what I could have accomplished if I had. But that drives me to help anyone willing to learn.
We also create some of the greatest memories anyone will enjoy in life. Think about how much in life you have been able to witness that no one else will ever get to see. Boring in a way if you experience it alone.
That is why I do the things I do!

I spent almost 15 years testing and trying every new magic seed blend that came along, usually the claims were very accurate, I would have 15-20 deer in my plots every night! but where were the mature bucks? I saw plenty of 2/1/2 year old bucks but very few mature bucks.It was only when i started to improve my habitat that i started to consistantly see mature bucks in my plots in the daylight. so now i try and spend as much time improving my habitat as i do on the food plots. Examples are hinge cutting for bedding areas, securing the bedding areas. building/improving existing beds. I just wanted to share this because it took me 15 years to realize that it wasen’t the food… it was giving the deer what they really wanted, security!!! with food being the secondary draw.

Very good post and point bobs

A mature buck needs the security in close vicinity to his food. Under most circumstances, unless during the rut a mature buck usually does not move too far between the two. He needs food, security and water. Missing one of these items, he will find somewhere that has it.

Thanks, it took many years to get it thru my thick scull but when i finally realized that a mature bucks #1 priority was security and 2nd was food my daylight buck sightings have increased ten fold from the 1st day of the season to the last day of the season. As hunting pressure increases on surrounding farms my place only gets better.. they feel safe because they have the security that we have given them.

I have a friend of mine who has allowed me to put in a couple of food plots around a pond he dug last fall that is near the bedding area. The bedding area is not very thick, but does provide some cover. It’s near a swamp, but does not have much for mature trees. I was thinking of planting pines trees to give more cover for the deer. Any other advice?

Pine trees would make good cover. you can plant them in circles of varying sizes. make sure you plant spruce, red cedar or something the deer won’t browse on. If you have some smaller trees you can bend them over and tie them down to the base of other trees creating a canopy.I buy parachute cord from cabelas in the camping section. ( do alot of this)you can make a room anywhere from 5′ sqaure that will hold 1 buck or you can make bigger rooms that will hold an alpha doe and her young.The canopy should be about 4′ high inside and on fairly level ground, Build your beds so that they can’t watch you travel to your stand site. at my cabin i have a swamp that i have been working on turning into a bedding area. grab a good pair of boots and go looking for natural high and dry spots in the swamp.(they only have to be 3-4′ in diameter) I use a rake or spade to level these spots off. you will have deer using them in no time! I like the fact that you have the pond! one thing that all great deer habitat has in common is water.

I was planning on planting blue spruce. Advice as to how many you would plant in a circle and how far apart they should be would be great. Great advice on bending the smaller trees over.

Blue spruce is one of the slower growing trees so i would probably plant them about 6′ apart and make your circle have about a 15′ inside diameter. as the trees grow you will be able to trim some of the inside branches in your “bedroom” to create what you think would be optimum.you will also have to make a door by trimming some branches as time goes by.I will never forget the first time that i walked up to a bed that i had made and found out that a deer had made it his home! That was 3 years ago… I killed that buck this year. Good luck on your quest to improve your bedding area!

Congrats bobss and keep the tremendous advice/experiences coming.

Drelan,

One thing to consider with blue spruce is that they aren’t native to this area. Not necessarily a huge deal, but they are naturalized to more arid climates and our humid summers will stress them causing them to lose their lower branches. White spruce would be a better choice in my opinion. Sounds like a sweet spot to improve though.

Bob when hinge cutting are you doing it in existing areas that you know deer are useing as a bedding area or do you do it in more open areas in hopes of providing more cover?I have a pretty good bedding area already but want to make it as good as I can, and minimize my entry at the same time, area Im talking about has lots of brush with small openings filled with tall grass and scattered cedar trees. Or should I leave it and keep it free of all human activity, of the 168 I have 80 in ag land and the rest is timber about 60 acres of the timber is not enterd during the summer or deer season. any suggestions would be awsome!

It sounds like you have what you need already but I still like to hinge cut or tie down small trees to give them some horizontal cover. after 1 or 2 years the hinge cut trees start to sucker from the horizontal part of the tree giving them even more cover. When I look at a map of a farm I try and determine Where I want my bedding ares. for instance I want my bedding as close to the center of my property as possible. This will really mimumize your deer straying from your property to the neighbors. you bring up a great point about staying out of your woods so you don’t pressure them. when there is no human pressure mature bucks will move about freely during daylight hours. one example of this is Lee lakaski, he has 5000 acres on 5 different farms in iowa. he is very strict obout controling human activity on his farms and anybody that has watched his shows can see many mature bucks feeding in fields several hours before dark. To make a long story short I would try to improve your existing bedding areas and also look at doing a few beds in other areas that show promise. I start by hinge cutting one tree at about 5′ and then start carfully hinge cutting trees so that they lay on top of the tree you have just cut, you will end up with alot of horizontal cover. remember to have about 4-5′ of clearance under these trees for your beds.

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Drelan,
One thing to consider with blue spruce is that they aren’t native to this area. Not necessarily a huge deal, but they are naturalized to more arid climates and our humid summers will stress them causing them to lose their lower branches. White spruce would be a better choice in my opinion. Sounds like a sweet spot to improve though.

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Thanks shednut…yep had a buddy out last night to take a look at it. He told me the same thing…go with the white spruce.

Bob here is the farm, 168 acres white line is boundry green spots are plots all over 1/2 acre, some lab lab, brassicas,clovers, peas, forage soybeans, rr soybeans and rr corn, and yellow dotted area is corn feild next year. I like what you said about improving promicing areas they are labeled safty in my pic, I leave them alone because the buffer the neighbors, do I want the deer sleep that close to the enemey? We have bad night time poaching, not the neighbors but road hunters I should add it in soy beans this year. what do you think, focus on keeping them centered or improve every thing

it looks like you have a great piece of property!! I would still try and keep the bedding areas as close to the center as possible but i wouldn’t be afraid to do do some improvements closer to the surrounding farms. i just make sure that i keep a buffer area between my farm and the neighbors. (Open area) they won’t like to travel those areas in the daylight. is there any cover along your waterway? even though this is close to the enemy bucks prefer to bed close to these waterways and this would also be a great place to improve your bedding. Is it possible to plant some screen trees or switch grass along the roads? this would sure help with the shining and poaching. also start thinking about time management to keep your bucks on your property as long as possible. there are many ways to distract your bucks long enough so that they won’t get to your neighbors property until after dark.

In the left safty zone there is an awsome spring that flows naturaly to the big creek that its the north border of the farm, it has 2or3 pools there all year long, always moving very clean water, In this area when I go and hinge cut where should it be? Hinge all the trees in one area? I understand how cut them but I dont get is do you do this every where in there? or small 1/3 acre areas? More than helpful you are Bob thanks for tking the time to help a young guy!I have dotted the areas in purple I think will be best as they are thick woods, no under brush or deadfalls though, the deer just walk right through those areas.I lable the sprng and its ponds in Blue.I think a hinge area would be key in there

Sweet looking piece of ground QDM! In my opinion you are on the right track with the areas that you highlighted in purple to enhance bedding cover. I hate to speak for Bob here but as far as size of hingecutting areas it really depends on what you want to do. Does will gravitate to areas that are large enough for their family group, where as bucks will prefer to bed alone. A bucks bed could be created with just one large tree laying down to give him horizontal cover. This all varies depending on season though(summer=bachelor groups, fall=lone bucks) so a nice mix of small “pockets” and larger security areas would be my choice. Does also like separation during fawning so multiple bedding spots spread thoughout can provide good fawning habitat also. Don’t take my word for gospel though….I’m learning too

In looking at you’re aerial again I had a few afterthoughts: What is the swampground like on the north end? Are there any highspots out there? I’d look at planting alders/redosier on any highspots to promote browse and bedding. Swamps can be a real magnet when pressure picks up

No real high ground in the swamp, pretty much lump with water between them in my farm in clay county and ottertail, swamps are killer but up here honestly they dont like the swamps, during gun season I watch them come across from the neighbors place, all the grass are short, they blow right through it, and the neighbors hunt the swamp edge heavy to the north, found this ol boy dead there last season after on the first day of muzzle loader

I have been ploting about 6 years now with great sucsess the last few and am moving on to habitat improving now, I learned early to stay out is key and with out owning any land its hard to justify spending money on a place I could loose overnight. Hinge cutting will be the experiment for this year, so your hinge cutting in tiny pockets making bedding for 2 or 3 deer here and there with in the bed room area correct? When I first read about hinge cutting 5 years ago the guy was saying to hinge between 1/2 and 1 acre in the centers of your desired bedding zones, but man thats alot of trees, I like the thawt of a few here and a few there much better.