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This 240-acre property had a lot of dead and dying oak from years of gypsy moth attack and drought. The understory was crowded with fern and there are about 50 acres of regenerating pine and pine overstory.
I prescribed a harvest of the dead and dying oak and the older pine overstory. Most of the timber harvested was not contributing any seed or wildlife food, but generated over $30,000 of income for the landowner.
Post harvest forest conditions. Note the lack of fern, pine understory and properly restored skid trail.
Some of the income was rotated back into the land, paying for the construction of food plots in the woods, herbicide application to remove ferns and a good road network to provide access for hunting and hiking.
In 2006, there was money available from the Forest Land Enhancement Program. I was able to secure $10,000 in funding for new projects. We are using the funds to pay for more intensive food plot work, herbicide work, thinning and replanting of unproductive stands of timber and fencing. In other words, planting of forage and forest regeneration.
As soon as the weather warmed up in spring of 2006 I started plowing the pasture. I have been working on the rehab of this old field for years, plowing under the turf and sweet fern and blueberry patches. It took years of tedious plowing with my small equipment to accomplish this. Several heavy lime applications over the years and pasturing of horses to rotate grasses into manure have created optimum planting conditions again after 50 years of inactivity. There was no use of the old farm fields by wildlife prior to rehab.
Turning over the existing turf with a mold board plow. This type of plowing captures the nitrogen and organic matter in the turf which will hold moisture and provide fertility to the soil.
The area of about 15 acres of old field has 8 acres of level field and a smaller ravines and areas where white pines have established themselves. These areas will be planted in switchgrass to provide bedding cover. Some switchgrass was planted 4 years ago and was burned to refresh the stand this spring. I will continue the grass into the unplanted areas around the pine trees to provide cover. The 8 acres will be planted with corn on half of it and soybeans, cowpeas and brassicas on the other half. The corn will provide cover and winter food and the other will provide summer forage. The two sides can then be rotated each year to prevent insect and disease infestation to the crops and to decrease the amount of fertilizer needed to produce corn. It takes a tremendous amount of nitrogen to make corn and the legumes will add a lot of it to the soil. Corn planted in plowed-under soybean field will do well and we will save money on fertilizer and herbicides/pesticides.
Next to the annuals, I planted perennial clovers and chicory. There are about 2 acres there and 5 small hunting plots back in the woods planted in the same mix. If the weather cooperates, we should have good hunting plots in the woods for several years.
Burning switchgrass refreshes the stand and puts the nutrients from the dead grass into the soil
After burning, the switchgrass takes off. This stand should be 5 feet tall by the end of July.
After plowing, several passes with the heavy disk are needed to create a seed bed and incorporate lime and fertilizer into the soil.
The soil test showed that we needed only a small amount of lime, but a lot of magnesium. This is an expensive fertilizer, but if you use high-mag lime, it is cheap to apply, so we put a ton per acre on plus a good dose of starter fertilizer (10-20-20.) I will have to apply more nitrogen to the corn after my first application of herbicide. I went with Roundup Ready corn so I can apply glyphosate herbicide to kill the competing grass that will come up with the corn. The cost of the soil amendments was about $1,000 per acre and the seeds were about $80 per acre for the perennials and $50 per acre for the annuals. Corn must be planted with a mechanized corn planter, so I hired a local farmer to plant it for me for $100.
We have corn! With care this will provide good food and cover in the fall.
The brassicas are coming in nicely, I hope to see more beans and peas soon.
My perennial plots failed last year after the first planting since we had three weeks without significant rain when the young clover plants were just getting started. Similar conditions this year may have killed off much of the clover – time will tell. It takes two growing seasons to establish a stand of clover with ideal conditions.
We cleared out the woods plots in five locations strategically located to take advantage of bedding cover and prevailing winds to allow good hunting opportunities at these locations. We cleared the plots where the land was not too stony and picked rock in the stonier places. When the clover failed last year, I put in some forage oats in late summer and the deer really loved the stuff. We had good acorns too, so there were lots of deer around last fall. Everyone had good hunting. This year should be even better with the new acreage put into forage.
Two weeks of growth
Picking rocks out of food plots if part of the process.
I use a small Brillion seeder for most of my planting. Discing in and dragging with a cut pine tree was used to put in large seeds such as soybeans and cowpeas. This plot is a real producer come hunting season.
The tools of the trade. Plow, heavy disc harrow, cyclone spreader and seeder/cultipacker. This 55 horse tractor is barely powerful enough to pull this stuff. A 70-horse would be better.
Does habitat improvements work? Take a look at two of the bucks killed on this property last year. Two other very nice bucks were taken and everyone who had a doe tag filled it.
Compare these results to State Gameless Lands. Ever wonder what they do with that 70 million dollar they have? You should!
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