# Land consultants



## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

I'm looking to find ways to improve my parents property to hold more deer. Food plots don't seem to do well in my neck of the woods(nw Ohio) cause there's too many crops. I'm considering hiring a consultant to look at the property and give me some recommendations. Can anyone recommend someone in this part of the state. The property has a lot of potential but I need ideas.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Logging and/or hinge cutting. It takes either food or cover to draw deer. If food doesn&#8217;t work, create cover. Get rid of the canopy and let the saplings/brush fill in. Don't resort to paying someone yet.


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

I should have elaborated more. My parent's property is 60 acres. Roughly 25 acres of it is in crp with warm season grasses. There is a ditch running through the property in which we planted trees consisting of oaks, spruces, pines,and bald cypress and a few more I can't remember. These were planted 6 years ago so they are relatively young. The woods was logged in 2004 and 2006. Primary species include red & white oak, white ash(or what's left of them) beech,and hickory. The wooded area makes up the remainder of the property. The main woods is about 50 acres with about 1/2 that belonging to my parents. This is nw Ohio which is flat as a pancake and grain crops everywhere. The property is 1/4 mile from US 30 to the north. To the east of the woods(neighbors) there are crp fields, a tree farm, and crop fields. IMO there is a lot of cover with the crp and the understory growth due to the logging. And there is plenty of food for the deer. So I need to figure out what if anything I can do to help hold the deer on our property. There is light hunting pressure on us and the neighboring woods. I know there is no sure thing but I'm up for trying anything.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

What&#8217;s the pressure like on your parents place? Not just hunting, but disturbances in general? I&#8217;m a little confused as to the acreage numbers? 60 acres total, 25 in CRP and 50 wooded? Is the 50 of woods not all your parents&#8217; property? Just trying to piece it together. It sounds like it should have good cover. You&#8217;ll never &#8220;hold&#8221; deer on 60 acres, but you can increase what you see. Obviously, I don&#8217;t know anything about the place, but would it be a good guess that when you hunt the property, you enter from a direction opposite of the crop fields? I&#8217;m wondering if part of the problem is that every night the deer are traveling away from you, toward the crops. Maybe they&#8217;re there, you just aren&#8217;t seeing them. Just a thought. 
What sort of food plots have you tried? It&#8217;s going to be very hard to pull deer away from large crop fields, but there are a few things that will work, if even for short periods of time


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

Sorry, yes the woods is shared with a neighbor who also bowhunts. There is additional pressure from us cutting firewood. We do however try to avoid the center of the woods which is thicker thinking of it as a sanctuary. I take precautions to enter and exit stands and to hunt the wind. I have tried killing plots with clover and turnips plante in late August. The deer seem to hit the plants early but avoid them later. This August I planted a small 50 yd by 25 yd plot in the woods with clover, forage oats, brassicas, and triticale. The plants are currently knee high and green. My trail cam showed interest during sept. but has been hit very sporadically since. I've heard brassicas need a hard freeze to sweeten them up but never had deer eat them in years past. Hopefully this plot will come through this year as a late season plot.


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

Another observation I've made is the corn rotation is further away from the property. Next year the rotation should bring corn back closer.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Brassicas are something I was going to suggest as a late season plot. At my place, it&#8217;s amazing the number of bucks that they draw in. Not as many does for some reason, but it&#8217;s not unusual for 6-10 bucks to come in at one time. However, they don&#8217;t show much interest until late in the year, between mid December and mid January depending on the year. But once they decide to eat them, it&#8217;s like kids to candy until they&#8217;re all gone. Right now, I&#8217;m guessing most everything is gone in your plot except the brassicas, that&#8217;s why they aren&#8217;t showing any interest yet. It does sometimes take a couple years for deer to figure out how much they like brassicas. I&#8217;ll warn you, that if they take a liking to them they&#8217;ll wipe a plot that size out in a matter of days, so have a stand ready ahead of time. Soy beans would be another crop that will draw in deer better than about any other, but if you can&#8217;t plant 5+ acres you&#8217;ll need to protect the field with electric until season.


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

I've been told by others as well that deer sometimes need to get used to brassicas. I plan on incorporating them year round starting in the spring. I also want to put out a larger feeding plot on the west side of the woods in the spring(opposite direction of the neighbors). I think I can plant up to 10% of the crp to food plots but ill have to verify with the soil and water agent my dad deals with. So I'm planning on 2+ acres probably a mixture of clover, brassicas, and soybeans.


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## alan farver (Apr 9, 2005)

contact tim lemay at 330 897 4031 or 330 204 3804


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## CrappieTacos (Jun 22, 2010)

It sounds like your food and cover situations are good. Since there are so many crop fields in your area, and Im assuming most of them are corn and soybeans, I say plant something they cant resist: Sugar beets & apple trees. If there is little or no water supply on or around your property, you might think about digging a watering hole. Doesnt have to be huge, but if there isnt any water around there wont be any wildlife around.


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

Thanks for the replies fellas. I'm waiting for a call back from the district private lands biologist for the ODNR. Doesn't sound like there is any fee involved so I won't be out anything.


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## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

Met with Mark Witt, ODNR private lands biologist this afternoon.Very professional and great to deal with. He echoed much of what you recommended M.Magis. You're a genius! He said the property was in good shape from a cover standpoint but recommended hinge cutting and clearing out areas in the woods to create openings to allow light in and encourage "brushy" growth. I am still going to plant some spring and fall plots considering I have seed. I also plan on planting several apple trees in the spring and starting a mini orchard. Fencing will be installed around the trees, of course to keep them from getting destroyed right away. Sounds like my spring will be busy. It may put a strain on the fishin though!


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