No till plots

We recently leased an 80 acre piece of land in buffalo county. It is a great piece because it is all thick pines and oaks. And the neighbors all have corn surrounding us. However, because of the thick woods, we can’t till anywhere. We would like to get something in to hold more does late in the season. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Or something I can do with a power rake or by hand. Just no deep tills.

It would help to know more about what size of plots you have or can make?

If your property is surrounded mainly by ag fields, I think you have two opportunities here:

1. Increase the quantity and quality of the holding and bedding cover on the property. This can be tricky on a leased property.

When you say oaks and pines are on the property, how mature are they? A property with a lot of big, mature trees and minimal underbrush and low-growth is not going to maximize the attractiveness to deer, who want cover and weather protection.

I’d need more details about your lease to recommend specific solutions. Since it’s a leased property, I’m guessing that the usual route of hinge-cutting trees to produce bedding sites is NOT going to be an option, but more details needed. There are temporary plantings that you can use to make screens and other cover features.

2. Add late season food plots. Technically, I don’t think you’re looking for a true “no till” solution. No till planting involves using specialized equipment to “cut” seeds into soil that hasn’t been deep-tilled. Generally, this is for planting row-crops like corn and soybeans.

I think a better option is to look at “light till” options where you can just kill off an area with Roundup (glyphosate) and then disk the surface to provide seed to soil contact.

Since this is a new property, I’d say go for variety so you can hone in what works and what provides the staying power. Keep in mind that the most attractive plot varieties can produce a different problem: Over-use such that the plot is eaten to the nub by the time the season rolls around.

Here’s what I’d look at, assuming you have room for multiple plots:

– A good clover blend plot. There is NEVER a time when deer won’t eat clover. It’s easy to plant, is a perennial (comes up every year without replanting), and it adds nitrogen to the soil so the plot can later be used for other crops.

– A high-quality Brassicas plot. Brassicas are the Mac Daddy of late season food plot crops. The Brassicas family includes turnips, radish, beets, and other high-protein plants that when planted mid-summer, will mature and be at the peak of attractiveness to deer late in the fall. Just in time for hunting season. Brassicas can be more time and input intensive to grow, so to me brassicas plots are an “and” strategy, not something to go all in on.

– A cereal grain plot. The advantage to cereal grains like forage rye and oats is that they are simple and provide lots of green forage in the fall and spring. Since grain plots grow very thick, they out-compete weeds so plot maintenance is less intensive. Cereal grain also has good “standability”. If planted at the right time in the fall, it will stand up and present green forage above the early snow levels so the plot can continue to offer food even after the first few inches of snow.

Grouse

You are correct on the light till. The trees are all very mature, the family we lease from farm trees. The bedding area cover about a third of the land and we don’t hunt that part. It’s a very good sanctuary, however the deer tend to feed around the other fields but we would like to see more deer moving. The biggest reason we want to do this is because we want to hold more hot does during the rut.

How much space do you have for each plot? I’m assuming you have relatively open areas. Options will be very limited if you don’t have open areas where the ground is not shaded.

Also, with pines, my central concern is that you will have very acidic soil from the pine needles. This can also cause huge problems. Soil ph can be adjusted, but this is additional expense, labor, and it takes time.

Pictures/descriptions of the plots would be helpful.

From the information so far it’s a little hard to tell. For during the rut, you’re going to be looking for a fall crop with strong attraction, so that has me thinking about cereal grain blend with rye/oats. But everything depends on your plots.

Grouse