Man, some sweat equity sure goes a long way with management of your OWN lease. I guess I was lucky to have such a cool neighbor (developer) to give me the sole lease on this piece of land. So far in two seasons it has allowed me to harvest two of my best bucks (10 pt and 9 pt) and several does since this particular county has a whole month of nanny whacking in December.

It also helps that it is surrounded on 2 sides by hunting clubs. My main objective was to provide sanctuary (bedding) and a safe place to graze on some good forage. When they let the dogs loose, the deer know where to come, and I have all the pinch points with stands, as well as blinds on the plots we successfully cleared and planted. The old owners used to harvest spring wheat and soybeans, so the ground was fairly fertile when I got it, but had overgrown with cedars and small sapplings, which was key to adding the bedding areas they needed.

Here is a few shots of before:









Then came the work!







When spring came the first year after clearing throughout the fall and winter before, we mapped out what where we wanted to plant what....and here are some pics to show the progress:















After a few mows and weeding



This was in early April this year where we decided to mix in sweet beets, purple top turnip, and alfalfa next to about 8 rows of silver queen sweet corn...this picture is about 800 yrds away from clover.







These pictures were taken in late April.





The deer had already started to dig around and feed on the tips of the beets and alfalfa.



I dont have any recent pictures of this plot because I have been staying out of the area, other than switching a few trail cams around. The corn is head high and the deer have been shucking the ears and chewing on the corn and the turnips have almost all been torn up, along with heavy feeding on the beets and alfalfa. When I get a chance I will update this plot with some aftermath pictures.

Quality management is the way to go!