Top 5 Ways To Create Deer Bedding On Small Parcels
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2020
- Is the chainsaw your best deer bedding creation friend? From plantings to switchgrass to chainsawed deer bedding areas and buck beds, here is your deer bedding area creation guide. You can't ignore these top 5 ways to create the best deer bedding areas for small parcels.
For high quality deer bedding switchgrass seed, make sure to check out my friend John Komp and Northwoods Whitetails Seed at:
www.northwoodswhitetails.com/
You can learn what bedding areas is the best for your land, by enrolling in my latest land design web class at:
www.whitetailhabitatsolutions...
After you are holding bucks in the deer bedding habitat that you created on your land, make sure that you know WHEN to hunt by following my weather forecast deer hunting predictions thru HuntCast, at:
huntwise.com/sturgis - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I like this when you talk about habitat for wildlife not just deer.
Thanks Rick! The best whitetail habitat encompasses a huge amount of wildlife if done right.
I wish he gave acorns more credit. They are mighty important for protein and fat.
Limited time frame. Dont get me wrong, I hunt around white oaks and had lots of deer showing regularly, but in north east WI, only lasted for a couple weeks while they were green.
@@scottsolinko1 He has mentioned oak trees as a component of his systems, just not an overriding feature. All the acorns are gone in the depth of winter when there is a serious shortage of food so they would have to play a minor role.
You should do a video on the different types of trees and how to recognize them.
This is one of your top videos! I have seen them all so I know what I am talking about!
Always my favorite habitat expert videos to watch, great stuff Jeff thank you !!
Thanks for mentioning the value of us consulting foresters
Another great video, Jeff!
I watch it no matter what, you can never learn enough
Jeff I really appreciate all the info! I’ve read your books watch your TH-cam Videos and am signing up for your web class first of the year! 2 weeks left of our deer season down here in Va can’t wait to see what all these 3.5 year olds we have left turn into next year!
Awesome video Jeff. Thanks for the great information.
Great advice as always Jeff!!
Thank you very much Nate!
Great video Jeff!!Some very good info
Thanks Jeff you do a great job breaking down the points and providing details that will help everyone. My family has enjoyed improving habitat on our property for all wildlife and spending more time outside of hunting seasons utilizing your information. We are making wood duck boxes this weekend for our property in Southern Indiana. Keep up the good work!
These are great tips, I'd love to hear your insight on smaller plots in the mountains of eastern TN.
These videos are golden, great information
Thanks Jeff for sharing your expertise, I am currently adding pockets of switch to a old pasture of 8 acres . Its got some natural regeneration started. I have planted switch along one property border and made lines and round pocket as well. Gonna add small food plots to it as well. Thanks for all the advice and help.
Appreciate the content👍 Thanks Jeff!
Another great video there Jeff going to try some off these set up keep up productive videos
I would warn that everyone interested in doing these practices, to be very detailed when having a discussion with your logger. I am a whitetail enthusiast and also work in habitat creation and I had to add timber buying and cutting to my business because I had a couple loggers go against what I prescribed and naturally that caused issues. I suggest talking to several logging outfits and getting one you trust will help you with your goals. Great video jeff! As always.
great topic great video- we have dozens of acres covered in blow down oaks from a storm a few years ago- so thick you can get through them- I am seeing alot of deer sign in and out of it though
It doesnt matter weat the videos are i tend to always learn atleast 1 thing or can relate to the things you say to my hunting expirenece. Congratulations on 150k subs.
Thanks a lot Jimbo...really appreciate you being a commenter on the channel! I really appreciate you feedback...crazy we are close to the beginning of habitat season already 🙂
Perfect timing. I'll be doing all of this. Red osier and switchgrass on higher land. Sent you a request on your website a few days ago. Saw your other video about what you did in UP and sounds like that's what I'll be doing.
Just want to say I appreciate your work. I admire it really. Your vision has help me at least see the signs of Bucks and see deer Twice while in the woods. I'm squirrel hunting today but looking for more signs and understanding the public land I hunt. I have pictures of nice buck scrapes if interested to see. God bless you guys. Love what you do.
So true. `33 of our 40 acres has been large oak, our property is an “outside - in” property. Thanks to you we hope to change it.
Great info
Was rolling up a highway in rural East Texas mid-morning today, and a gaggle of does were bedded right on a ridge of an open field...probably hiding from the wind, definitely enjoying some sun....but in the widest of open area....bedded...chillin.
Season is winding down in NY. Time to get into habitat improvement. Perfect timing! Thanks Jeff
It really is that time of the year Josh...have fun!
Still hunting here in MO, still trying to fill a tag! Not been much buck movement.though.
How much snow did you get. I'm.in Mass 8 inches
@@davidhickenbottom6574 we got a little over a foot in CNY
Its fun to watch your videos come out in close to real time and see how far behind the rest of the world the Texas season is. Going thought around here is rut starts during thanksgiving, even though A&M has shown its mid december-xmas time frame. I suppose thats what happens when you have 80 degree weather during the beginning of december!
I'm not a young college kid but ill do apprentice work for you jeff!! I want to learn everything you know!!
Although you do have a lot of knowledge about hunting dg outdoors is my go to for great whitetail knowledge 😉
Could you do a video that gives advice if your neighbors have food plots? I don't have a lot of acreage so it's tough.
Have you done a video on bedding area and habitat improvements on properties that have cattle pastured in them ?
I come because...if your not educated on it, you don’t speak on it.
- thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us.
Great video Jeff - bought your 3 book series and read through in in about 3 days! Outstanding material. Located not too far from where you were in Wisconsin. In the planning stages of putting together a bedding area. It is about 4 acres of solid Canary Reed grass which is terrible stuff. Has 6-12 inch popular and birch mixed in. No browse nor really any good cover at all. Going to try and convert smaller sections at a time to switch grass pockets. Any suggestions on the birch and popular. Should those be completely removed and allow the regeneration to comeback or hinge cut to provide some cover as well. I believe in this video you mention possibly not hinging popular. Thanks. Absolutely love this Channel!!
Is a super thick young pine,briar and all kinds of grasses and weed that is about 12’ tall good bedding area/basically a growed up field
Great advice Jeff. I have a friend who just purchased 28 acres. These improvements will help him out for sure. On the public land front, I just found a food plot on private land via Onx adjacent to public land. Scouted it yesterday and it was getting pounded by deer. Found where the bedding was on the public and setup in between. No brainer for this time of year haha
How did you find food plot on private using onx? @jimpeterson
@@NorthOf8 it was pretty easy actually. The landowner had it tilled so it was a brown horseshoe shape in the corner of his property. Everything else around it was green. Wasn't 100% sure that's what it was at first but when I walked back on the public it was obvious. Cow path central through the snow heading right to it
Good luck to your friend! I hope he doesn't have some candyass snooping around his property and hunting just off his line cashing in on all his hard work.
@@waynestock2006 150 yards off the private and 100 yards from the bedding area. Whoever plants a food plot right up next to public land isn't very bright. I'm sure I'm not the only one taking advantage of it
@@jimpeterson3806 I shouldn't judge, I have no idea what the situation is around you. I have relocated a pile of stands and blinds that were within rifle distance of my property. Its for their safety. I just don't see the attraction of going and hunting by someone else. I would always try to find a place that nobody else was in.
Jeff, would you consider pine trees in the conifer family as it relates to deer cover? South Georgia has a lot of properties that have yellow pine trees for wood plantations.
Jeff, great stuff again. Thanks! We’re getting ready for timber harvest on our 60. We’ll be clearing some areas for food in different areas, leading to a larger source. When you say 50-100 conifers per acre, are you planting 1-2’ trees? Or smaller? Bigger? Thanks again!
Have around 60 acres of crp that 30,000 trees were planted around 20 years ago in Missouri. Mix of cedars various hardwoods and pines. It’s getting pretty thick and already a great bedding area. Think it would be beneficial to go through and cut small clearings in certain spots? Mostly hill tops , possible bow hunting stand spots.
I seem to be covered up with bucks during summer months and early bow season if I'm lucky. Then they leave and hardly come back on the property till after Christmas when the rut is over... Basically they live there till rut then head out and come back if they survive.
I want to hinge cut some hard maple is there a size that should be avoided?
Jeff, how do you decide between long winding 10-12’ wide plots vs a bigger one? For instance you 8 acre video only has a long one verse “destination” one if you will.
Hey Jeff I've been watching alot of your videos. Just purchased a heavily wooded 40 in Northern WI. Planning on putting some river style fiod plots on the northern side of the property and some buck bedding towards the southern end. The bordering neighbor has a small 1/4 acre food plot on that southern end should I be worried about that affecting my buck bedding? Thanks
Love the video! Love the micro parcel stuff and would love to see more aerial examples and drawings laying out property
Great subjects Jeff. Being only 30 to 40 miles from you are you seeing the deer are not hitting the food plots very hard? Yes they are hitting the green tops but not digging for the bulbs as normal. I can only assume this is because of no snow and are living on acorns shrub tips etc.?
Hey jeff. Coming from Waterford mi. Enjoy you material. Would switch grass work in Benzie co. Sandy northern mi soil.
I was watching your TSI video tonight and the clear cuts are big for my property. I know from public cuts that 1-3 year are good then the poplar gets pretty thick. With 40 acres of land would you go through and cut regeneration at year four? We have options to log/self cut other areas but I’m trying to keep bedding, cuts, and plot regular for deer.
How narrow can I do a strip of switch grass just to screen the neighbors? ( I’ve got lots of bedding on opposite side) . Thanks! Can’t wait for my first frost seedibg! 👍
My land in upstate new york is a lot of brush, honeysuckle and buckthorn supper thick should I thin pockets of that out?
We just got buried in snow up here in Connecticut - Time to get the Mickey Mouse boots out of the attic- still muzzleloader season here. A week ago I had a mature buck on video at mid day on a scrape -froze my a-off yesterday waiting for him but he never showed up
In my area in the UP the deer bed in the cedar swamps, how would you enhance that to have them bed in a certain area of the swamp?
So you do the habitat management to keep deer so they can reach full age potential you want to see. Thoughts on 3 or 4 year old bully bucks running off your 4 or 5 year old target bucks. Once heard some of the biggest bucks are old an big because they are not very aggressive and dint put themselves in bad situations
How do you recommend to maintain switchgrass? Do you just let it grow or do you burn or possibly mow every few years?
Any thoughts about topping off conifers when they reach 7-8 foot or so...It would slow down the time frame where you would have to remove them because they got too tall, shaded other growth, and were starting to die off the lower branches which negates the effect of cover. Just an idea that I had....
My property immediately begins shooting up balsam fir when I get sunlight to the forest floor. What do you think of balsam fir Jeff?
What would you recommend for bedding in north central mn? My land is primarily aspen and birch trees mixed with swamps.
Jeff, I have a 3 plus acre section of yellow pine replant area (row planted,monoculture) any advice as what to do with it....?
Is switch grass suitable in Central East Alabama? If not what’s a good sub is acidic sandy southern soils?
Should you cut the trees for bedding with leaves on or off?
Where are you getting the pollinator seeds? I'm going to try that in a new SG field conversion.
Jeff, what first lite jacket and pants are you wearing in this video?
Switchgrass doesn’t grow well in wet lands but I’m having success with planting red osier dogwood pockets.
Nice that's awesome Mark!! Some hybrid willows could be great too in spots like that 👍
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Thanks Jeff I love your analogy of different ways to skin a cat and it’s best to cater to your specific land layouts and features.I’m going to look into adding willows that you mentioned. Thanks!
Where did you get you dogwood , and what size ? I have a wet property as well.
I also need to know where to get the dogwoods in bulk.
@@matthewbegin3462 You should be able to purchase from local nurseries shortly because I think they harvest shouts soon. I collect and propagate my own as it is prevalent in this area. Take about the size of a pencil branches.You have to knock down the grass in Spring because it will out compete the shouts for the sun. Plant it in moist soils but not standing water for better results. Real trick is keeping the deer from eating the fresh shouts and I’ve had better results fencing but I’m thinking about trying scarecrows this year.... should be good for a laugh if nothing else!
Hey Jeff, I noticed most of the videos are about small parcels. I was curious if you could do a video on large parcels in big timber no Ag areas? By large I mean 600 acres which I’m sire is more like a medium parcel compared to some others. Upstate Pa big woods. Topics such as...More annuals or perennials in food plots, is it worth creating bedding or use what’s already there, etc. my apologies if you’ve already done videos on this I just haven’t seen them. Thanks
Jeff, I have a small 15 acre parcel In Northern Lower Michigan Central. My question is every year my land is infested covered with ferns. Is it good to eradicate them and if so how to do so. Is there any benefit of these ferns?
Can you plant food plots in those pockets of switch?
When are the best months to hinge cut?
Would you do consultancy with a gis map or something like that? Im trying to setup my property with a couple foodplots some pine and switchgrass. Im in virginia
Is thick cedar a good bedding area, or should i thin it out slightly?
👍👍
Could you touch on your opinion on motorized feeders. I put one out and it scares me half the time, just think the mature bucks won’t like it. Some people say they hear it and it start coming to it once they know it’s food but I have hard time believing a mature buck would.
Question off topic, how many waterholes estimate can be placed on 75 acres of woods in bluff country.
do deer like honeysuckle for cover because I have a lot of that.
Jeff, what if you have open areas however it is still too shaded to grow any screening or bedding area plants? I’ve been trying to make a 5 acre piece attractive to deer. I understand I will never hold them but if I could attract them during hunting season I would be happy. I believe my downfall is cover, there isn’t much of that at all.
Jeff, is select cutting different from high grading ? If yes, please explain. I just purchased your Webb Class Program and can't wait. Wish I was younger. Have you ever planned Chestnut Trees or soft mass for deer food?
Let us know how that web class goes
Does it matter what elevation that you try to start a bedding area?
What would your advice be for hunting in fog/rain? Does it really affect deer movement?
I love hunting holes in the rain...great tactic! I find they do move in the fog, especially when bad weather is coming soon...or has just passed and about to clear. Just plain fog all day...no. Or rain. But the end or beginning of bad weather...really good. Check out this video. Just about any topic you are interested in, you can find thru a search on TH-cam...most of my videos come up at the top.
th-cam.com/video/CQWPyELikJg/w-d-xo.html
Let me know what you think!
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 thank you for the advice it helps a lot
Have you seen that deer trails closely follow the contour lines on your properties? Maybe it's just coincidence on mine.
Hi D they always do! You can even find deer trails on lands without actually seeing them, just by connecting the topographical features.
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Behavior driven partly by the law of least effort.
Can some give me some info on where the best place to buy the switch grass seed and also a variety of trees in bulk? Thanks
I'm in dire need of some help with my property! Have you ever done a property in louisiana?
How would you create defined bedding areas in a monoculture of 15-20 year old pople trees?
Clear cut it. They will become browse and bedding in 1 season.
I just edged a 7 acre area “bowl” with a 10 ft wide heavy concentration of switch seed and snaked a couple of 10 ft lines through the middle. Are you suggesting to sprinkle in small spots of heavy switch for more interior edge or using a light switch and food mix through the whole thing? Deer don’t bed in the heavy switch by me (mid-Michigan). I have clover and rye in the bowl and just seeded a section of Forbes. I think your saying to have pure food or pollination blends separated by heavy switch lines.
You always want heavy switch...to protect the bedding within the area and to create bedding edges. You never want to mix switch with anything...especially food. Most areas should be 40-50% switch, with diversity pockets of planted browse or natural regeneration.
Check out this video...there are a lot more like it in my bedding videos playliat on this channel..hope rhey help!
th-cam.com/video/FbH2cjC7374/w-d-xo.html
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Thanks. I understand.
Can a lot be to thick for deer to really wanna be in there?
Is cottonwood what you call popple?
Thought i heard you say that switch grass wasn’t good for bedding
It's not. Which is why they bed beside it and not in it, unless forced to.
Nice to actually see the target seat this time! Hard to find good help these days lol
The best way to have and keep great deer in your land and make a successful hunting area. This works land as small as 300 acres to huge tracts or at least it does in Texas so I don’t see why it won’t work up north too.
1. Built and maintain a high fence.
2. Buy a couple high quality breeder bucks and do not harvest them for 6-7 years.
3. Cull Cull Cull get rid of the lowest quality genes on you property keep the decent deer bucks.
4. Feed high protein
5. Continue culling for several years and don’t harvest non culls until they are over 5 years old.
6. Manage the population so there is a roughly 1 to 1 ratio of bucks and does. Continue to maintain your fence and provide ample feed and buy at least new breeder buck every 6 years and a few quality breeder does (tag to prevent harvest) every other year.
To offset the cost sell cull and population control doe hunts. As breeder bucks get old sell a few trophy hunts. Within 10 years your property will be stacked with trophies you sell $10k+ hunts every year. If you really want to be successful get a few exotics (axis/sika/blackbuck/sheep/etc.) and so the same thing with them.
If you weren't able to get switch grass started, could you start with egyptian wheat then frost seed the switch the following year?
Yes you sure can! You just need to make sure that the dead EW isn't shading out the switchgrass...
I dont have open ground. So sw is not a real option. Retired blue collar so dont have big money for big equipment,dozers,etc. I have had it select cut two times, it seems to me only hinge cutting is my option.
I always enjoy your videos but a lot of the terms were unfamiliar to me. Do you have a more basic video that describes them?
How do you compete with a neighbor that is trying to do the same as you ?
That’s actually good! The deer herd will increase for everyone and simply someone will get lucky. I’d say manage your pressure and only hunt on days that are extremely preferable for your stands.
Doesn't sound like a puzzle...find out what everyone else is doing in the neighborhood and follow them! Great thanks cya
Now waaaaaaait a minute here...I shot a 185 class buck this year chowing down on acorns in an open white oak hammock. So I got lucky?
Yeah, he hates on the oak savannas. I think it's because it doesn't offer cover in the winter in northern latitudes.
@@scottsolinko1 Ha! I'll show him my trail cams and then he won't hate...way more mature bucks on my acorns than on my corn fields. However, I've got good cover very close to those places...so who knows.
Great video,do you have to plant the switch grass every year.
No, it's an annual. My question though, that I haven't found an answer to, is will it green back up once it turns brown every fall, or does it resprout and regrow every year?
@@scottsolinko1 if it resprouts it means the seeds will spread and could create a problem
How come you aren’t responding chief
Best way to improve hunting on a small parcel, is to find and hunt big parcels.
We love our 30 acre chunk of cover we hunt in WI and kill 2-3 of the oldest bucks in thebarea on each year 🙂 Dont need a bigger parcel...a hunter just needs to manage the land and hunt better.
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 agreed. My dad lives on 25 acres and we hunted it maybe 3 times the whole season and the first time I hunted it was November 8th and shot one of my biggest bucks and it was the biggest buck all the neighbors were chasing in the area. 👍🏻
I hate switchgrass, mine failed me.
Man, I keep hearing you talk about 20-30-40-80 acres. I'm sitting on about 100 and it feels very small. I live in northern Michigan in the manistee national forest though, so there's miles of mature woods that the deer roam. Can you really pull that many deer, that are use to personal space, into such a small area?
It seems like everywhere I look there's daytime browse and bedding. Is the key to have a good food source?
Hinge cut trees just kill the trees. Why? Deer don't use that for bedding on a regular basis. Hinge cuts cost you money in the long run by lack of growing mature trees.