Bush Hog or not to Bush Hog.

Deer are more comfortable when they have cover. Cut a few lanes.

Bush hog it now while it's still in the middle of the summer instead of waiting til after the second frost (if yall have frost?). That way you can find all the yellowjacket, ground hornet, and bumblebee nests. Bush hog gets em real excited... In all seriousness, though, I would wait til after growing season on this ground. You don't know what kind of stumps, logs, holes, ditches,rolled up barbed wire, etc. that might be in there if you're not familiar with the ground. For the first time bush hoggin it, I'd wait til winter so you can see better what's out there. Bush hoggin is one of the most dangerous things you can do on a tractor. Learned this lesson the hard way many years ago.

I'd cut it all now. Then cut some lanes in a couple of months.

quote:

---

If your sure it's not any stumps or such I'd bush hog now. Would probably wait till the end of September & disc the whole thing up & plant wheat & oats.

---

This..I would definitely walk it over first before putting the tractor it.You can clip it again right before disking.

quote:

---

If your sure it's not any stumps or such I'd bush hog now. Would probably wait till the end of September & disc the whole thing up & plant wheat & oats.

---

This. An acre or two is not big enough to require lanes. I'd cut now to keep it in check, then again in September when you disc and plant

I would bush hog in the middle and leave a tractor width or so of stuff along the edges of the woods, don't cut it. Deer really like a transitional edge cover (sort of a medium between big trees/woods and wide open field. It makes the deer feel much more comfortable with that strip of edge cover. It improves daylight usage in your field, even with mature bucks.

As far as planting, it depends on your area and soil composition. I would say for fall/winter planting, use a blend of clover, cereal grain and brassica. For the clover, you can either go annual or perennial; I recommend a mix of both. Cereal grains - go with oats and winter wheat. Brassicas can be any type of forage rape, turnips, etc. Look online and in the hunting stores for some pre-mixed blends and see what they've got in them. A mix like that will carry you from September-May. The clover might last through the heat of the next summer if there's plenty of rain, but it won't produce alot this time of year.

Love the idea of leaving a buffer of rough. Thanks guys.

quote:

---

What about planting trees like pear, etc. along the edge? Or hickory?

---

We plant alot of fruit trees on our property for deer, mostly different varieties of pear and plum. We also plant chestnuts and honeylocust, as well as lots of species of oaks. Anything you plant now will benefit your wildlife and hunting in the future, but its not gonna do much for 5-10 or maybe more years. If you're gonna have the property for a long time, I suggest to do it. Just know that its basically an investment and you're not gonna see a return for a while, but when you do it will be good.

Right now I would focus on your field layout and planting, though.

Fawns are dropping now and the does leave them in the weeds for protection. Bush hogging make get some fawns. You may want to wait 30 days.