Help with management

[willbjew]

Ok i hunt on a club that is ruffley under 3000 acres. In South carolina, it legal to bait here... We have 3 major fields 2 of which are about the same size at about 20 acres... pretty fertil fields that we plant about 4 acres of corn in each. Then we have a rice field and we plant that with just millet for duck and other wildlife. There is about 5 hunting members and we all pretty much have our stand about 2 to 3 a piece. No of the stands have big area around them to plant a plot any bigger than one half an acre. mostly road sides and at mine a 70 yard long by 20 feet wide plot which has cow peas in it about 2 day after they come up and BAM they are gone. The fields are highly used by deer but they pretty much come out only during the night probably cause the road goes right through the field. I have tried feeder but with no success. the deer will actually aviod it. i dont know why, but u cant keep a pile of corn on the ground a week ... but they wont eat it out of a feeder. Our club rule 3 years ago was 5 points are better next was 6 points the 8 and out side the ears this year. we have deer like this but rarely come out during day light. we are also killing 2 does for every 1 buck . what i am asking is what can we do we are taking care of the doe problem cause they used to dog drive 15 years ago and the rule was"if it is brown it is down" and almost wiped out the population and now the pop is so high that the bucks arnt getting good food. This club doesnt get real high hunting presure but more riding presure and i cant do nothing about that... i dunno know what i even need to ask

[wnogood]

Well, seeing as how no one else is going to reply, here's my two cents. You guys are definately doing the right thing by killing more does than bucks. It will however take time to see a noticeable improvement in the overall health of your bucks. Dont let anyone talk you out of it. My saying is that the more does you kill, the better the whitetail gods will reward you for your efforts when it comes to a big trophy buck. As far as the nocturnal problem you are having with your bucks, the only advice I can give you is to try and find their bedding area and hunt closer to it. If they are only feeding at night and dissapearing before first light, you will have to catch them either leaving or returning to their beds. On the feeder problem, you may want to "hide" your feeder from all of your hunters. Deer aint as smart as alot of folks think, but they can figure out that one of them barrels means that somebody is most likely watching them, with intent to do them harm. Find the most nasty, grown up spot on your land, and put your feeder there. Dont tell anyone where it is. Dont even go there yourself any more than you absolutely have to. If you have a trail camera, after the deer start using your feeder, put a camera near it so you can see the deer you are trying to kill. If you dont see any deer that meet the antler limits you have set, you may want to reconsider your point limitations. Just my opinions....

[Russ otten]

The way you state that the Peas are gone in 2 days indicates to me that there is not enough plots to provide forage. I would guess that either larger plots or more smaller plots. On those Peas, use some kind of deterent to slow down their feeding until the Peas have a chance to grow. either the Plot Saver, or the simple plastic bag fence to deter them for a couple of weeks. This will give them time to establish some kind of root system to help them to survive. Somewhere on that 3000 acres there must be places for more plots. Sounds like there isn't enough food available.

Russ

[Deleted User]

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[Russ otten]

You mentioned the fields were about 20 acres with 4 acres of corn. If that 16 acres is fallow ground, till it, disc and drag, and then plant Buck forage Oats. Both fields if you can, NOW! This will give the deer some good forage and may last all winter in your zone. You could put Clover in the mix with the Oats. And if you get a good stand, mow off the oats next spring. If most of the land is timber, is there Honeysuckle growing in it? If so, fertilize it, 13-13-13. By sweetening it, the deer will utilize during the winter if forage is slim. If there is a lot of timber, open up some small areas, try some different forages in them. You can find what the deer like that way. I just planted a 200 ft. strip of Rape in one my trails. Did this last year, deer didn't touch it until the first frost, then they wiped it out.
Get enough forage out there, then you will be able to find what they prefer, until then they will destroy what little you have planted.

Russ