I'm entering my second year of creating a sanctuary on the family farm. After it is complete, it will be approximately 3 acres. Not huge, but the neighbor cattle farmer is cramping my style. He has a large portion of the abandoned pasture I've been working in. Fortunately I have some room to work.

The 3 acres is in a large cirlce and divided in half be a branch of a creek. I'm planting 2.5 acres of switchgrass and outlining it with low growing shrubs such as buttonbush and red-osier dogwoods. I have 1 acre of the sanctuary done. I'm doing everything by hand, and planting the switchgrass with the use of a tiller. It's very time consuming, but will be rewarding some day.

When choosing your are, make sure you located it near the center of the property. A sanctuary is a place deer will hopefully feel safe and spend a considerable amount of time. There is no sense locating this near a property line and letting the neighbor benefit from it. I always think of a sanctuary as being thick and narly. To create this I would plant some NWSG and low growing shrubs along with some conifers.