datamax

I'm buying a new house and it has 5 acres with it. The red lines are my property boundary, the blue lines where I've seen sign of deer movement and the yellow dots are deer scrapes from last fall ! Its a level 5 acres, probably 30% white oaks, 50% red oak and 20% other. At the very bottom as you look at that pic, theres someone that has a tree stand still there from previous owners/hunting season.

How does one fertilize white oaks ? What can I do (short of baiting) to enhance the property ? Any ideas ?

BOWFANATIC

From my experience , if you have 30% white oaks , you wont have to do a damn thing!
Them white oak acorns are like filet mignon for deer around here. You could plant a few apple trees.

Are they mature white oaks? If they are , you needn't do nothing.

MNRut

I heard of tree paks for fertilizing trees, but I do not know many details. I think they are just permeable paks filled with fertilizer that you just place at the base of the tree.

You could open up the canopy to allow shrubs to grow by downing some trees. This could offer secure travel cover. Not, to mention woody browse for those spooky mature bucks.

Good Luck!

datamax

I got some really nice white oaks - mature - and by the ammount of deer tracks I'm seeing and a few rubs and scrapes the deer are use to coming through my place. I was thinking maybe some honeysuckle ? That would attract year round, but especially late winter. I don't know how many local guys hunt around the community, could be some nice hunting. Thats going to be so cool - hunting in my back yard in the evening if I choose. No more subdivision for me !

MNRut

Here's a website:

[link]http://www.nutripak.com/faq.html[/link]

Good Luck

deerhuntress56

Sounds like a great place data!!! With that many white oaks, you should see lots of deer. Remember tho, the acorns only last a short while. Honeysuckle is an excellent idea!! We have it running rampant here, and the deer always help us out in the winter months by feeding on it. Another that they seem to like is called Privy Hedge (sp). Folks used to plant it between houses to offer some privacy. It tends to spread pretty fast and can become a nusiance. We see the browse line every year where they feed on it.

I don't know how your laws are on baiting, but I feed my deer corn and dog chow in the hard months of winter after season is over. I saw an advertisement on the Outdoor Channel for some kind of corn that you can buy to feed deer that has extra vitamins and nutrients in it. Also guarantees no alpha toxins that tend to give deer diarrhea. I am hoping to see that ad again and write the info down.

If you have any bare spots that get minmal sun, plant some clovers....The soil takes alot of lime for clover and if you can get a good stand started (the deer eat mine up before it matures, meaning I need to work on some does), but has done great here in other areas where they control the population better than I do.

I would also suggest getting some mineral licks.....they LOVE them and they last a long time.

Good luck if you plan on having a garden!![&:] I have decided that I just plant mine for the deer!! Only thing I DO get that they don't eat is okra and maters....[]

Good luck!!!! and Congrats on a new home that sounds like paradise!!!!

cardeer

fOOD PLOT,EVEN A SMALL ONE OR SEVERAL SMALL ONES

MEhuntalot

I know a couple guys that had similar properties...they picked out a few "special" oak trees and put a 50 pound bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer around each one. From what they tell me it worked out great and the trees produce more than they did before.

datamax

10-10-10 huh ? Thats what I'm thinking too. Fertilize the big white oaks, plant honeysuckle all over the back 1/4 or 1/2 acres, maybe a mineral lick or deer cocaine etc too. I know baiting (legal in Arkansas) would be a huge benefit too.

deerhuntress56

[&:] 50 lbs of 10-10-10 will kill the biggest oak you can imagine!!!!

Take a pitchfork, poke holes even with the canopy....no more than a pint per tree....[&:] You do NOT want to burn the roots that are NOT used to heavy fertilization.... We have some 36" diameter white oaks here.... They get a small handfull every other year!! The leftover acorns from a "bumper crop" act as the fertilizer in mast crop years.

You might want to contact your local forester for advice.....[]