In the last installment, we laid out the steps in making a Management Plan. We itemized setting goals, doing a property inventory and seeking the advice of conservations organizations and governmental agencies. Now let’s look at implementing that plan.

First, always keep in mind that the plan is a guideline – it is not set in stone. Fortunately for us, there is a constant effort by many organizations to develop easier, more efficient and less costly ways to improve our habitat for game and nongame animals. Further, whatever is done to better the habitat for one species will always benefit numerous other species at the same time. So, be flexible and always be open to new ideas to improve your Management Plan.

If your plan includes planting any type of field crops or developing food plots, either in open or fallow field settings or inset into a forest setting, the first and most critical step is to take adequate soil samples of the intended sites and then adhere to the recommended amounts and types of lime and fertilizer to be added. Take time now to secure your order of lime and fertilizer so that you don’t get caught behind the eight ball when everyone else is getting ready to plant. At those food plots in fallow fields, you could use a brush hog to clear out the intended area for the future planting. When doing so, consider expanding the size of the plot to allow for planting the sides with hard and soft mast producing trees and shrubs.

Woodland food plots will need additional considerations. Unless you plan on locating it along an existing logging road, you will need to clear a trail or roadway for the equipment you will need. The actual site itself should be clearcut, eliminating all trees and undergrowth on the site. This is the perfect time of year to drop the trees by hinge cutting them. At a height of 1 to 4 feet, cut the tree – but not all the way through – so that it pivots and topples to the ground – still leaving a slab of bark and tree where sap will still flow. Any deer in the area will quickly browse on the buds and the section of live tree that is still attached will allow the tree to live to produce more feed for the deer. If you are in a hurry to develop the plot, you can merely cut the tree completely down and the deer will still browse on the tops.

As you are clearing a roadway or making your clearcut, you might want to create numerous brushpiles along the roadway or outside the edges of the future foodplot. These brushpiles will be used by rabbits, songbirds and possibly by hen turkeys for nesting.

Over the next few months, especially on those days when the weather keeps you inside, take time to contact your sources for seed for your foodplots and touch base with the nurseries where you plan to purchase seedlings and shrubs. This time of year there may even be some price discounts for early ordering. Along with the seedlings, make sure you order tree guards to protect the trunk of the seedlings for their first few years, and also purchase tree tubes that will create a greenhouse effect and aid in seedling growth as well as protect the young seedlings from damage from deer. Two 6 foot rebars that can secure each of the seedlings should complete the materials you will need for planting the seedlings.

Finally, take time during these winter months to contact local sources for equipment purchase or rental or to be put on their waiting list. Very often, much of the heavier equipment you may need will be in high demand once the weather breaks and spring signals the time to be working in the fields and woods.