Carolina Outdoors brings you an informative interview discussing land leases and management with our resident biologist Brian Chatham.
Carolina Outdoors-What do you look for when you start looking for land to lease? How many acres?
Brian Chatham-The First thing i look for is an areas potential, such as Ag land, River bottoms, forage Ops, Habitat and history of big deer. I keep record of bucks taken in this area so i kinda know what we are up against. I also look at the neighbors and what kind of people/hunting styles they have. Anything around 50 acres or so, i can attract deer to land like anything, but i need an area to hold them as well.. i try to shy away from smaller tracts
CO-What is a decent rate for lease land per acre in our area?
BC-The worst thing we have effecting this is the media, yes the media. We get a lot of city people and low landers as we call them up here leasing out our farms for high prices, but i would say anything in the $8-$15 dollar range is decent, depends on the size of the acreage.
CO-What would be the first thing you do after you signed the paper on your lease?
BC-Before i signed i would be sure to ask and obtain in writing from the land owner that i could plant any available lands. Then when i signed i would spend about 2 days scouting and setting up trail cams. i would take my GPS and or Topo maps and log in information about scrape lines, trails, rub lines, potential bedding areas etc. Then take a soil sample.
CO-How do you determine how much land you need in food plots?
BC-I will do a browse assessment, then look at topos, i want my food plots near bedding areas.Then based on the assessment, i would try to do as much as 10% of the land, i know in alot of areas that we hunt here in NC this is not feesable, but look at avaialble browse thats the biggest key.
CO-What equipment would you need for a food plot? (soil,seed,equipment, basically generic how to)
BC-Well unless you know what the deer need, and have studied on it, i would recomend going with a consultant. Because planting food plots is so much more than just busting a bag of seed rye with clover mixed in. Its about unlocking the nutritional door and making more out of less. The equipment really depends on what scale your working on. If youve only got an acre to plant then you might get by with a 4wheeler and some simple tools, But anything more than that , your gonna need a tractor with some implements.
CO-Could you hire someone for food plot planting?
BC-Yes, I am a consultant, with literally thousands of acres of food plots under my belt.
CO-What is food plot cost per acre? is this yearly?
BC-This is really an open ended question, it all depends, on what you want, im a strong proponet of Annual plots, i know that deer get more out of annual crops than perrinnal plots, but you also need them too. i would say $350-500 an acre would be safe, but there are multiple componets that can add into this. Yes some of these costs are yearly.
CO-What is the maintenance like on food plot?
BC-Perrinnals are alot more maintence, you have to worry about weed control more than with anything else and unless you have the equipment it can get expensive. Annuals have some maintence, but not as much, you also have to realize that not all weeds are bad. So lime, fertilize, chemicals and time.
CO-Is there anything else you can plant to improve my food sources?
BC-I love plating fruit trees, and soft mast crops. Apples, plums, pears, oaks, and also vines, and shrubs. I like to keep things natural too.. Plant what we have in our area. Any fruit tree is good, i am experimetning with Paw-paw trees. I like persimmons too. And also the honeysuckle vine is great too. Never can hurt to add to that natural browse, and pick early, mid, and late fruiting crops, as well as trees that will serve as dual purposes, ie stand trees, shelter trees, forage trees, and hedgerow trees. For example, i love chickasaw plums not only for the fruit but for the hedge they create. And i like to look into the future, where my kids might hunt and use stand sites.
CO-Is there anything you can do to improve natural food sources also?
BC-Fertilize! I fertilize briars, poke weeds, hedge rows, oak trees, apple trees and field borders.
CO-Thanks for the info Brian, I will definetly utilize it on my property