I've recently been listening to some stuff from Craig Harper and his approach is pretty interesting. This is obviously a huge oversimplification but I'm intrigued.

"Greenfields" - He basically recommends an "old field" approach where you maybe cut it 1x per year or even less, and spot kill unwanted species with herbicide. Target 4-5ft tall cover with a lot of forbs. Potentially mow a strip out in the middle of it that you can only see from ground level via an elevated stand. Put a corn feeder out in the middle of it if you want to see a bunch of deer. Big focus on creating some structure to the field in order to create some level of cover along with additional food.

"Forest Management" - Leave mostly mast producing trees (Oak, Beech, Pecan, maybe Hickory, Fruit Trees) and then kill, hinge, or stump everything else.

Does anyone use an approach like this? Seems relatively lower maintenance.

Anecdotally - we had some greenfields at our old lease that were (mostly) plain grass with some clover and other things we'd planted over the years mixed in, though it was low effort planting and none of it really took off. Deer would stop by there but it wasn't really a "destination" location. My dad liked "playing farmer" and would brush hog the fields about once a month. The last year we had the lease, he got a bit sick, and it was barely brush hogged. We saw more deer in it that year than in other years where it was consistently cut.

Deer love to pick and choose if you ever get to watch them in the daylight when they are relaxed. Little of this, little of that. They got all the time in the world.

Dr Harper calls it recreational mowing. Likely the worst “habitat” treatment you can apply. Park the bush hog.

ANYONE have some of his books?

I have his Food Plot and Early Successional habitat book, which is out of print. Supposed to be an updated version released this year and it's worth every penny, just for the tables in the appendices if nothing else. I also have some of his publications in printed pdf's on old field management, NWSG etc.

There's nothing wrong with a disk or a bushhog.....Its the knowledge of knowing how and when to use them. I've grown great greenfields for years with nothing but a spreader and mower

Meh, sounds like he has no idea as how to bring deer in.

This cracked me up. I told my dad the term - he laughed and said "yep mowing fields is a lot of fun".

Yea I'm going to order the revised... it's ~$100 but seems like a great resource. Evidently the thing is 500 pages...

My dad is getting into his 80s, and I don't live anywhere near our hunting land, so he handles more of the maintenance. It seems like reshaping the forest a bit, mowing fields 1x per year, spot treating undesirable plants (I can handle), and hiring someone to do a burn periodically is a lower maintenance approach than mowing greenfields and planting.

what i belive hes talking baout is what i would love to do on our club. Safe haven and food for the deer so hopefully i can increase the number of deer i see and harvest..

What’s the difference between mowing a field vs bushog? I have been told multiple occasions lately to not bushhog but people talk about mowing etc? I figured they were one and the same?

im guessing the level of which you cut the fields? mowing you dont cut it all the way down versus what you would with a bush hog...

Same.

Buy him a hatchet and a spray bottle for herbicide. Remove the driveshaft from the bush hog and take it with you.

I'd say they're very similar in this case.

Bush hogging is cutting anything from larger brush to basically mowing grass, but you're using a tractor
Mowing is generally just grass, but you could be using either a mower or a bush hog

At least that's the context I've always understood it.

Yep - it seems interesting. Basically creating a something like a food rich bedding area that you can hunt from an elevated position. Theoretically deer should feel safer moving in it though I'm sure you still need to hunt the wind etc.

bingo!

If you are going to do that, why even bother having a green field at all, just let the whole place grow up.

I would rather have a green field that I knew the soil PH was good, and that I could plant specific species of forage in it. There is a reason deer mow down soybeans. And why they grow big giant bucks in the heart of american farmland.

I have a field that may be 2 acres at most.. I do plant it and it stays eat down. But it is in the center (dead in the middle) of about 80 acres. Surrounding the field is volunteer pine/gums/brush/briar thickets, I’d say 40 acres. Outside of the thickets are old growth hardwood, oaks and such, about 40 acres. I can see as many as 20 deer on camera there at times… get pics all throughout the day…if I ever feed anything they will be there before the wheeler gets good and gone of the field..

A deers world is 4 ft and down. Mast trees are great, and savannah type habitats are excellent. Biggest issue is keeping it a savannah.