I have been trying to plan how to best prepare my property for whitetail habitat and figured I would ask if any of you guys have any suggestions. I bought my home and a small wood lot 3 years ago and have a few options on how to prepare the land.

I have about 28 acres total and about 2 acres is yard giving about 26 acres for potential deer habitat. There are 15 acres of hardwoods plus 11 acres that were farmland when I bought it 3 years ago. The entire property is stand-alone; it does not butt up to any other woodland. The closest woodlot is an 80-acre hardwoods about 350 yards southeast of my property. I do occasionally see deer crossing the farm field to run between the two and I am sure at night they run between any of the several woodlots within a half-mile of me.

Now the question is what to do with the 11 acres that used to be farmland. There are 3 fields separated by a creek, 5 acres in the back corner, 5 acres along the east, and 1 acre directly behind my house. So far I have planted a 1-acre biologic food plot and planted 1 acre with 800 pine tree saplings to eventually create a pine thicket. The rest has been growing wild for 3 years. Right now the fields look like typical CRP fields with tall grass about shoulder high. I see a few options:

1. Let the remaining 9 acres continue to grow wild; eventually turning all of it into a thicket.
2. Mow these fields every few years to keep it tall grass but stop the saplings and briars from taking over.
3. Continue to plant more pine trees that will result in thick cover over the next 5 to 10 years.
4. Plant pine trees just around the perimeter of the fields to hide the fields from the roads and then mow them like a pasture.
5. Contact a local farmer to plant crops (my Dad thought this might be a good idea but I think providing cover would be more beneficial and I am surrounded by crop fields anyway). I think this would be my last option.
6. Any combination of the above.

I am leaning towards a combination where I would let the back 5-acre field grow wild which will eventually turn into a tangle of a thicket. The 1-acre food plot would be between the thicket and the woods. I then thought of maybe taking the remaining 5-acre field and mowing it every few years to keep a CRP type of field. I had thought about filling in the 1 acre behind my house with pine trees, but when they mature they would block our view of the hardwoods and I am not sure I like that.

We have a few doe families that I believe live on the property most of the time (see them just about every time I hunt and get trail cam pics every night). I have gotten some trail cam pics of a few mature bucks (and saw 1) but I think they just pass through checking the does during the rut. I also have over 30 turkeys that live in the woods. Right now the does really seem to like the tall grass. They bed in the tall grass and I watched a few young bucks chasing them back and forth across these fields in mid November. I know this property is too small to every be a prime piece of hunting land but I want to maximize what I have.

Below is a rough layout of how the fields and woods are located, any suggestions?


Also a view looking East over the clover plot with the tall grass beyond:


Thanks for any input.

Bingo! It's exactly what we did. If you have great food and a water source , you have a deer draw. If you create a bedding area (thicket) they have no reason to leave if not pressured.

I forgot to add , the best way to get awesome thickets (willow/briar thickets) is to cut the field and plow it. In a couple years you'll have 3 times the growth you have now.

Wow, you just about have it all. I would use the 9 acres for a bedding area (thicket). Heck, if you plant some flowers in your yard, you prolly could take a few deer from your house (I wonder if they sell cammo screen that you could replace your house screen with, LOL) Seriously, you sound like you are set up well. Are any of the hardwoods oaks, persimmon, etc? If not, I might plant a few hardwood food trees too. Congrats. on your little oasis-

Bowfanatic, thanks for the recommendation on mowing and plowing the fields to help promote growth. It's funny you mentioned that because after 3 years of not being touched I thought the overgrowth would be farther along than it is. I still basically have just tall grass, very few saplings or briars starting to fill in yet. I think I will try that but my 4-wheeler and little 48" disc will get a workout trying to do all 9 acres, LOL.

Thanks dkeener, it has always been a dream of mine to own my own hunting property. Like I said above, it is not huge but it is mine and it's nice to have it right out my back door. I hunt an awesome farm with 600 plus acres in Southern Ohio but the problem is that it is 2 1/2 hours away. The southern property will always be my best chance for a mature deer because it is located in hill country and where there are 1,000's of acres of continuous woodland. I plan to always take a week of vacation to hunt the southern property during the rut but I can hunt my place every day after work if I wanted. Can't do that when the other is so far away.

Wanted to bump this once to see if anyone else had any suggestions, thanks.

Pick an area where you can hang a stand that is well hidden and takes advantage of your predominant fall winds. Than plant a small grove of persimmon trees and some late bearing apple trees!!

Looks like you got a great start to a deer habitat maybe try a few fruit trees.

How much does planting all these trees cost? I've got 100+ acres of CRP with a 1-2 acre timber, a 3-4 acre timber, a creek with some timber around it that runs through it, and some other spots of timber running some draws ect. I'd like to fill it in and make more timber to improve the deer hunting. How much Would a project like this cost though?

I would talk to your forestry department. I know guys that have made money by letting the state plant trees on their property. Rather than having the local farmer farm the land for a piece of the profit, the state comes in a plants thousands of trees and pays you to leave it alone. I don't really know the details but that is the gist of what my buddy told me, who has done this.