With the hot summer ahead of us, it is time to dust off the seat on your old farm tractor and begin cleaning up the food plots on your hunting land. Durana clover being my preferred choice of greens that I have planted over the past several years I have gotten some truly amazing stands of three leaf gold. This being a perennial clover I like to be sure and keep what weeds may be in my plots under control. This can be done by spraying particular herbicides as well as bush hogging, both of which keep any weeds from choking out some of your most prized green possessions.

-Hinge Cutting

Throughout most of the country, everything has pretty well greened up by now meaning that it is time to begin hinge cutting.  Land improvements have been taken to a different level within the past few years and some of the improvements are just too basic for you not to be doing yourself. With very little equipment required I believe this land improvement should be one of your most important priorities this spring no matter the acreage of your particular tract. Hinge cut small trees by cutting them a little more than 50% across and pulling them down, hinging on the spot that was cut. This creates more cover for deer on your hunting land.

-Scrape Trees

The scrape tree is new to some and extremely old to others but will work in any part of the country and once again can be done with or without large equipment. Often times we find ourselves searching for that perfect scrape line that a mature buck has been working and we cannot get in the right position for the correct wind or if we do we have absolutely no shot. When creating your perfect scrape tree you can set it at your desired distance for whatever wind you would like, this is typically the number one problem that we have when finding scrapes.  When running a trail camera on your scrape trees you will not believe the amount of mature buck activity that you see.

-Fertilize soft mass

Muscadines can make for some fantastic wine, but it’s an ever better attractant for early season deer.  Persimmons and crab apples are also among some of my favorite soft masses to target while hunting for that early season buck. I have found over the years that there is a way to improve just about any and every feature of your particular piece of land. With a truck full of fertilizer I set out in the spring to go fertilize some of my choice soft masses which are often within shooting distance of my favorite early September stands.

We hope you use these tips to improve your hunting land this spring so you’ll be ready for deer season!