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Breaking up a field

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ollie085

Member
I have a few fields I'd like to break up and diversify so that I'm not heavy in one aspect or crop, i.e. alfalfa. So here's one of the fields I'd like to hit the reset button on.

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Its roughly ten acres of alfalfa with road frontage on the east and right of way on the south. Our group is generally focused on wildlife numbers on paper, but mentally we're all hunters and like chasing our favorite game, whether it be deer, turkey or upland birds. With that in mind, I've tried to add quite a few elements to the 10 acres but would like some opinions on their size, location, and any suggestions you may have.

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Quite a bit to look at here so I'll break it down. Working north to south, the small red outline piece is a small apple orchard that would be clear out in a shrubby area. Next is the green band, edge feathering, to create low cover for small game and funneling of deer entering the field. Yellow is NWSG/pollinator mix. I've gotten the most push back from another habitat guy on CRP strips. He's not a fan but I like the idea of extending the edge away from the mature oak woods. Finally the food, two blocks of Doubletree plots, one rye mix, the other brassicas. Orange would be a stand of summer annuals, like corn, sunflowers or sorghum, left up through winter. The areas not colored around the plots would be lightly seeded in clover but would be allowed to grow weedy. The lines along the road are thicket forming shrubs (plum, dogwoods, hazelnut, etc) to create a more secure, closed in field the deer could use all day with interruption from cars. They are very skittish of slowing vehicles in this field.

So what do you think? Thumbs up/down? Changes?
 
I would work on the most important part of the equation first and that would be the screening. Besides the shrubs I would add a buffer of switch grass like Cave In Rock to help with noise screening from the road. That may also give you a place to add blinds to get into and out of easily on the edge for gun hunting. I would also implement the Doubletree rotation like you mentioned 1 plot clover, 1 cereal grains, 1 brassica and rotate every year follow the clover with brassicas, brassicas with cereal grains and cereal grains with clover. I would also leave some alfalfa too it's hard to beat but as you know will need maintained as well as the clover. Edge feather the whole thing and it will all come together nice. You mentioned upland hunting on there, if it was me I wouldn't mix that into where I am deer hunting if you want the best results and daytime movement.
 
I'm not sure upland hunting will ever be in the equation but a lot of the guys like to at least see them while out hunting or scouting.
 
Sounds like this little piece gets a lot of pressure. With that much pressure realize no matter what you do it may not help that much for daylight movement.
 
Check out the mithcanthus thread for another (faster) screening option. That is a 3 year screen. You could also go Egyptian wheat for an instant screen next year.

So, if you wanted to do rows you could go Egyptian wheat, Mitchcanthus, and then your shrubs/bushes/trees. By year 3 you would be done with Egyptian wheat. Just another thought. Goodluck.
 
I like your plan. I would go with cedar or scotch pine along the road. Scotch pine would give you about 20 yrs of screening, and deer wont eat it off. Put shrubs inside that.
 
I've been thinking about EW as screening. Looking through Welters catalog, I don't recall seeing EW but similar crops like forage sorghum and Sudan grass. What's the difference?
 
How much do you own around it. What are the csr's on it. Possibly Sell it and add on to another side of the farm that is more secluded or better if possible.
 
They land is owned by my company that has given the employees permission to hunt and even tossed in some money for conservation. Its a pretty sweet deal. Right now we have access to 500+ acres with plans to open up more.
 
Be careful you don't get too big or have too much fun. Some grinch will surely complain &/or someone with the company will decide to capitalize on the whole idea. Good luck, and enjoy your good deal while it lasts.
 
It's all baby steps and good PR at this point. Last year we put 40 acres in pollinator and a couple of hedgerows in with a mix of hardwood shrubs and evergreens. Hunting started this fall, archery only with the prospect of a very limited shotgun season for spring turkey and fall whitetail. Several other company properties allow hunting. We just happen to be the last to open it up. I think so far we've been very good at dotting our Is and crossing our Ts. Hopefully our good fortune continues on for years.
 
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