LAND MANAGEMENT FOR DEER GOALS - SHORT TERM VS LONG TERM
What up guys this should be a good one for you!
OK! As each year goes on more and more hunters are getting into land management. I wont really get into the reasons why but what i am going to talk about is what we can do to help wildlife. There is several ways in doing this and no dumping corn or some other product on the dirt hoping to catch a picture is not land management!
Setting goals and a budget is very important and trying to take it up a notch each year is also very important. Land management consist of having short term goals (instant gratification) and long term goals. That being said, what are your goals?
In my opinion on leased land you should always have short term goals (instant gratification) now if its a land you leased for many many years then you could set some long term goals. Leased land comes and goes. You never know when something could happen and you loose it.
What i mean by short term goals is manipulating something and reaping the rewards pretty much all season which can also turn into long term. Let me explain. Planting a annual food plot in the summer so you can reap the rewards in the fall in hopes of killing a deer. Its not growing back the following year so you’ll have to replant it. that’s a short term goal And almost instant gratification.
Short term goal. I planted a mix of brasicas, oats, turnips and clovers to reap to benefits during hunting season.
Long term goal would be to plant some mass producing tress to reap the rewards years down the road. Now perennial food plots can also be a short term goal because in a couple months you’ll have great quality forage but its also a long term goal to be able to feed deer year round. Make sense?
What i don’t understand is why land consultants recommend planting trees to a client on a leased piece of land. Talk about a looooong term goal! Makes no sense. Mass producing trees take years to produce and its only for a short time frame. They are a lot of maintenance and can get pretty expensive. Now if you owned land sure go ahead and plant apple trees, pear trees, persimmon trees etc. For leased land makes no sense.
As hunters we want to see quick results. Honestly most hunters don’t plant food plots to grow bigger deer they just want to kill a deer and have fun in the process. Lets be honest, there is no better feeling then planting a food plot and watching that deer or turkey take the first bite its a huge internal feeling of greatness.
another short term goal was to plant buck wheat because up north we have a short growing season. once deer mowed this down we then tilled it in and planted our fall plot.
Here is some land management tips that i believe will help you for both short term and long term. When you have leased land and want to manipulate it you are going to have to spend some money if you want to see results. The biggest thing you can do is create a food plot. Find An area that gets enough sunlight and you can get in and out of easily without spooking deer.
When you find that area please get a soil sample. That 15 dollar soil sample will have you a lot of headache in the future. The whole idea of a food plot is to be the most palatable food source in the area. If its not anymore palatable then anything why would the deer spend anytime eating it?
Now if you don’t care about really supplying deer with a year round food source then just plant a annual food plot. Annual food plots grow for one year and die off. Your main focus is to kill a deer right? You could plant some brassica’s, oats, turnips, winter wheat etc. Now be careful with brassica’s because once a deer takes a bite of leaf off that leaf wont grow back. That’s why its important to mix in winter wheat, oats or even some clovers as they will grow back after being chewed off.
long term goal. Freshly planted clovers that will provide tonnage for most of the year and will continue to grow back each year as long as its maintained
Now to turn that short term goal into a long term goal of providing a year round food source to help grow bigger healthier deer then you want to mix in some perennials . perennials grow back year after year anywhere from 3-7 years depending on what you plant. Now depending what part of the world you are in you will have a shorter or longer growing season. North will be a few months shorter then the south.
The whole idea is to have something working for you for as many months as possible. That way you can provide deer with a year round food source. Plantings such as clovers, alfalfa, chicory are all good choices. Its important to have a mix of both. You want those perennials but you also want those annuals.
These would be much better choices then planting fruit trees in hopes of getting mass in 3 years who wants to wait that long lol. Why they always recommend planting trees i will never know. They are good to have for sure but there is many others things you could do first!
Hope this helps guys when picking a short term goal and a long term goal. Any questions let me know!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…
For more info on land management or for land management services please check out
Also check out our Youtube channel for more info and subscribe if you found it helpful!
Here is a video you can check out as well!
Land Management for deer.