[TRex18]

Hey Guys,

Been on AT for a few years now and learned a lot about Bows and Arrows and Releases.....but this question is about my land. I hunt in PA and we have problems with Poaching at the farm (300acres), was going to start planting a natural screen for the fields in the spring.....I was thinking Eastern White Pines staggered, but wanted any and all ideas you might have tried or seen that worked well...Also planning on leaving some standing corn rows beside roads....any recommendations would be helpful thanks....

 

[cterbow]

I know a lot of people who do this. You want to think about creating an wall to veil the property. Autumn Olives worked on our property. they grow in together so tight that it creates a fence.

 

[Nturp]

Frigid forage has a plot screen that looks like it would work good.

 

[BC archer]

Leland Cyprus

 

[dtrkyman]

Frigid forage has a plot screen that looks like it would work good.

this, likely cheapest and quickest. call dnr and have them set up a decoy!

 

[GVDocHoliday]

Egyptian wheat grass

 

[buck thwacker]

Sometimes, unfortunately poachers stoop to new levels to illegally harvest animals. A healthy relationship with the local Wardens is another step I would take in this situation.

 

[I like Meat]

There is a property not far from me where the front of the property goes a well traveled road...he went in with a bulldozer and backhoe and dug a trench/ditch/moat along the length of it....its at least a 1/4 mile or longer...it now holds water and he piled the dirt up to the inside edge and planted pines with low hanging branches to the ground along the top and a low fence on the other side of the ditch.........you can no longer see back into the property at all.....it took him a year or so to do it...I can see the reasoning behind it....deer can still cross back and forth, but ahole trespassers can no longer go thru his front field nor shoot from the road into it.............

 

[primal-bow]

this, likely cheapest and quickest. call dnr and have them set up a decoy!

agree this dtrkyman. ask the gw to do a sting.

 

[just recurvin]

I like northern white cedar (thuja occidentalis) but if you plant really small ones they'll need to be protected from the deer. Or you could plant eastern red cedar (juniperus virginiana), the deer won't eat that. Eastern white pine will only work when young, but they aren't a very dense screening tree.

How long of a screen do you need?

 

[GVDocHoliday]

Also blue spruce trees are great. Plant 2-3 rows then plant another 2-3rows in 5 years then another 2-3rows in another 5 years. After that cut the first rows planted and replant then repeat.

 

[TRex18]

I like northern white cedar (thuja occidentalis) but if you plant really small ones they'll need to be protected from the deer. Or you could plant eastern red cedar (juniperus virginiana), the deer won't eat that. Eastern white pine will only work when young, but they aren't a very dense screening tree.

How long of a screen do you need?

1000 ft .....then another 800 ft on the other side.....

 

[stork64]

Leaving rows of corn or sunflowers along the borders is probably the easiest way. Could do that while your trees take several years to grow in.

 

[pro38hunter]

Forage Sorgum is pretty cheap and will grow 6-8 feet by deer season, I use it until the lines start to block the view.

 

[sticknstring33]

Depends how much you want to spend I suppose. The correct (imo) approach would to be stagger rows of cedar or spruce, maybe couple with hybrid popple. Something that will screen long-term. For the next few years, I'd consider planting egyptian wheat. It's inexpensive, easy to plant, & effective as it'll reach 12'.

 

[3doesdown]

just my 2 cents here but leaving corn next to the road will make it easier for the poachers to pop them at night when they are 30yrds from the pavement.

 

[Beendare]

Some of the Cypress[leylandii] are relatively short lived, some of the spruce are slow growing- tricky. I'm thinking something prickly like Osage [hedge trees]

What about this; put up a wire fence for support and plant rasberries and blackberries- should fill in one year...

 

[sticknstring33]

Yes, excellent point. DO NOT plant a food source (corn & sunflowers) close to the road or you'll make the problem even worse.

 

[LetThemGrow]

Get started immediately on a conifer screen. Until it is sufficient augment with Egyptian wheat.

 

[Pittstate23]

Egyptian wheat grass

yep , this stuff rocks. have a buddy that planted a couple acres for bedding and i want to say it was at 6 foot tall in like a year and a half.