New plots have been cleared. Wow.

The dozer was in last week and cleared some new plots on my hunting property.

All I can say is “Wow”! What a difference! I had two plots cleared on an 80 acre parcel that is 100% wooded, so suddenly seeing wide open spaces is a shock to the system. I’ve been hunting this property for 10 years before I bought it, so this is a huge change.

For me, it’s very difficult to envision an open space where nothing but solid trees and brush exist. Everything in my mind’s eye is off, but in no specific direction. Some things bigger, some smaller, etc.

I have to admit, I had a brief “Oh sh!#” moment when I first saw the size of the plots yesterday. As much as I worked to flag off the plots, GPS the outlines, lay out various options on the map, etc, nothing prepared me for what I saw when I first laid eyes on the new wide open spaces.

The south plot is about 100 yards wide and it’s just over 3 acres running mainly north to south along its length. The north plot is square with a few little “bays” and it’s nearly 5 acres. Seeing it in it’s rough form, with just the trees pushed off, I had that sinking “what have I gotten into” feeling.

My “food plot equipment” as such, is comprised of an ATV and a disc harrow and I also have a 20-gallon spray rig. Essentially, I have just shown up to a gunfight carrying a potato peeler.

However, I have friends in high places. Meaning the high seat of a big tractor. So I’ll be able to enlist some help to disc things down, level them out, and get some of the heavy rough dirt work done. My intention is to plant good clover as a “base crop” and then put some portion of each plot put into higher-attraction annuals each year.

There was also a sigh of relieve in terms of what I found for soil in the plots. The good news first. Relatively speaking, I have very little rock and it’s mainly small rock anyway. I was very afraid that I might uncover acres of pure rock because there are many places near me that are giant piles of pure rock. I got lucky and exposed really nice soil with only scattered rock that should be fairly easy to pick.

I’ll post some pics when I can get them off my camera.

I’m really excited, this is my first big move as far as developing this property to be more than just solid timber.

Grouse

Congrats! Very exciting.

Grouse, I experienced that exact same feeling. Though, our big start was prompted by 30+ inches of rain followed by 100 plus MPH line winds that up rooted trees. My 2 hour drive to my farm took 7 hours and I just sat in my driveway mumbling F-bombs.

Just one suggestion for you. Keep each task manageable. So what if it takes 3 years instead of 2, or whatever amount of time. Make it enjoyable and it will continue to be rewarding. I’ve wrapped up my 7th year since I really went all out on getting my property the way I want it. Spent the first 12 – 13 years wanting to do it. Spent about 3 – 4 years getting it all done. Now, I have that sense of pride and satisfaction because its just maintenance now.

Congrats on that first small step

Grouse – My 2 cents.
From what I’ve experienced and read, it’s nice to “section” off areas within your plots. If you make 4, 5 or even more different areas within each plot you will be surprised. By that I mean plant some thing that restricts vision from 1 area into another. Egyptian Wheat comes to mind but there’s a lot of options. You’ll find that different “family” groups can feed in each plot without fights. Them old does get real territorial. It also keeps pesky young bucks from bugging them if they can’t seem them from across the whole plot. It you do it right, it makes nice concealment for you too getting from 1 side to the other without being seen or heard.
Either way, you’ll have a ball once you get into it. You can pick up implements along the way or…you might get the bug and go all out…winning a lottery would help that!
Have fun and good luck!

Thanks for the kind words and advice, everyone.

Randy, I’m completely with you on the keep it manageable front. Great advice, I appreciate the perspective.

My goals for the next year are not to “get done” with both plots, but just to move the ball forward on a “we’ll see how it goes” basis.

If I have to just spray a lot of ground to keep it fallow, so be it. I have enough equipment to do that, so I’m perfectly comfortable in terms of my ability to not lose ground, even if I’m not gaining ground as quickly as I’d like.

The dozers are currently idle because of all this wonderful December rain has made the newly turned ground into a slimy grease. When they get back to it, I’m hoping they get things leveled off, cleaned up, and can be all done within a day or so.

Then it’s all me.

grouse

Grouse, I agree 100% with Haleysgold’s comments about breaking it up. It works so well. Excuse the deer in this shot. But here is the middle section of my back 3 acre plot. I have clover strip planted against the wood line. I just randomly put pumpkins in this mid section and let the foxtail grass grow. Plus the 6 rows of corn in the background seperates this from 19 acres of open field. The deer related to this so incredibly well, that now I never do more than 3/4 acre of any one thing and ALWAYS some time of seclusion barrier.

Was thinking about this a little more. I’ve also had HUGE success with leaving some small areas of tall grass amongst my plots. I learned this from not getting all mu big plots done and leaving some areas to plant later. What I found was deer would bed down in that grass very frequently. Also, as soon as I was having does bedding in there, the better bucks cane sniffing around

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That’s awesome Grouse, very excited for you. I can remember clearing my first plot like it was yesterday. The anticipation is overwhelming at times. Going to be very fun watching your progress through pics on here.

Some great advise given already! Take your time, have a lot of fun with it and try to keep a good variety of what you plant so your deer/critters have good food sources all year round.

Good luck and keep us in the loop!