Acorn1956
Six Pointer
I would like to thank everyone for all the advise you have given me so far in managing my land and helping me decide on equipment. Your comments are very helpful.
I do understand that managing a small farm of 56 acres is not going to provide me with monster bucks behind every tree, but I want to try and get the best hunting experience I can from the property. The property has 100 acres to the west of mine that the owner does not allow hunting. There is another 80 or so acres to the east of me that are 50% Ag fields that are planted in corn. North of me is unknown and south of me are additional Ag fields of unknown size that I think get planted in corn and soybeans.
My property of 56 acres consists of approx 12 acres of Ag fields, 20 acres of mixed hardwoods and pines consisting of yellow poplar, white oak, hemlock, red maple, Virginia pine, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, sourwood, white pine and 24 acres is a loblolly plantation with a large number of Virginia pines and a few pitch pines mixed together. In addition to the pines the understory consists of American holly, mountain laurel, switch cane and is dense with greenbrier. I got this information from a management plan from the forestry service that was given to the previous owner.
My plan is to lease out approximately 10 acres of the Ag fields. I currently have it listed in WNC Farmlink. I will plant 1-2 acres of food plots that include the fields and the power lines.
My question is how do I figure out the best way to manage this land? How do I determine what food plots to plant? Fruit trees? Should I be putting out minerals in a few weeks? Thinning or removing trees? Everything I find online is a bit confusing and sometimes contradicting to say the least.
I'm looking to maintain a small herd and in a perfect world harvest 1-2 bucks and a few does each year. The property will be hunted by me and my son. Any ideas? Can you point me to some info online? I really do not know where to start. As always, thanks again for any input or advise.
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I do understand that managing a small farm of 56 acres is not going to provide me with monster bucks behind every tree, but I want to try and get the best hunting experience I can from the property. The property has 100 acres to the west of mine that the owner does not allow hunting. There is another 80 or so acres to the east of me that are 50% Ag fields that are planted in corn. North of me is unknown and south of me are additional Ag fields of unknown size that I think get planted in corn and soybeans.
My property of 56 acres consists of approx 12 acres of Ag fields, 20 acres of mixed hardwoods and pines consisting of yellow poplar, white oak, hemlock, red maple, Virginia pine, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, sourwood, white pine and 24 acres is a loblolly plantation with a large number of Virginia pines and a few pitch pines mixed together. In addition to the pines the understory consists of American holly, mountain laurel, switch cane and is dense with greenbrier. I got this information from a management plan from the forestry service that was given to the previous owner.
My plan is to lease out approximately 10 acres of the Ag fields. I currently have it listed in WNC Farmlink. I will plant 1-2 acres of food plots that include the fields and the power lines.
My question is how do I figure out the best way to manage this land? How do I determine what food plots to plant? Fruit trees? Should I be putting out minerals in a few weeks? Thinning or removing trees? Everything I find online is a bit confusing and sometimes contradicting to say the least.
I'm looking to maintain a small herd and in a perfect world harvest 1-2 bucks and a few does each year. The property will be hunted by me and my son. Any ideas? Can you point me to some info online? I really do not know where to start. As always, thanks again for any input or advise.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk