BF,
I have a Natural Resources degree and we practice land management on our 65 acres. First I would check to see if the thick young growth has a browse line. If it is too high, you might want to clear patches of about 1/4-1/2 acre in size where you cut down all the woody growth. This will provide the deer with browse. Next go through your property and look for mast trees such as beech, oak, hickory, butternut, walnut, apple. See if they are healthy. You may want to remove some trees around these and maybe fertilize, lime or do both to the soil around these trees. Next look for raspberry and blackberry patches. Deer love to feed on the leaves of these plants. Look also for clearings and seed with a shade tolerant grass. You can also do this along skidder trails. For you clover field. Make sure it is mowed at least 2 times a year. You will also want to re-seed it about every 3-5 years with a grass, alfalfa, clover mix. Check also around the spruce and ceder stands. Deer probably winter in these areas so you may want to consider putting out trace mineral blocks (these can be purchased at farm stores) and setting up in these areas right after deer season. This will help deer through the winter. Also make sure there is enough woody browse around these areas for the deer to easily get to from the stands in deep snow. If the snow gets over 3 feet. Consider snowshowing trails in and out of these stands to areas of browse near by. It makes it easier for the deer to walk on the compacted snow. Think about planting apple, pear, and oak trees. We plant at least 5 apple or pear trees a year where we are clearing out junk sumac trees. Look around for trees that are 'junk' such as ironwood, hophornbeam, and sumac and cut them down. Finally designate an area as a deer saftey zone where nobody goes into other than to retrieve a deer that has been wounded and entered in there. You may want to do some of the above management work in there first. We have 2 areas on our 65 acres. one is a 5 acre abandoned apple orchard which is over grown but every spring we prune the apple trees and mow the trails once in august. the other is a thick cedar, pine, and pigeonberry area about 4 acres in size which is very thick and is connected to the apple orchard. Deer like thick areas like this to bed down and feel safe. Usually we get them as they walk out of the bedding areas to come out to feed. Finally look for any ponds or springs on the property. If you don't have any consider making a watering hole. Deer prefer to drink out of these. They also will be more likely to stay on your land during times of drought. I hope this helps.
