• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Thursday, May 22, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home How-To

How To Turn Your Homestead Into A ‘Mini-Game Preserve’

by Zach Dunn
in How-To
Print Print
How To Turn Your Homestead Into A ‘Mini-Game Preserve’

Image source: Wikimedia

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article
How To Turn Your Homestead Into A ‘Mini-Game Preserve’
Image source: Wikimedia

Many hunters often wonder how they can increase game and resources on their own land. In short: How can you make your own land, farm or homestead a “mini-game preserve”?

It won’t happen overnight, but there are some practical steps to increase game numbers on your land.

Here are some tips:

Abandon Clean Farming Techniques

Put aside the modern way of farming. Replant native grasses and shrubs on field edges to provide cover for turkey, quail, deer and other wildlife. Over the past decades large companies have urged farmers to clear grasslands on farms to reduce the chance of crop contamination — the belief being that rodents and critters living in shrubs and grass will contaminate fields with bacteria. In truth, there are just as many rodents in a field after you clear your grass and shrubs away. Grasslands prevent erosion, stop fertilizer and pesticides from reaching waterways, and provide cover and forage for wildlife.

When you harvest corn, soybeans and other similar crops, leave three to five rows standing along the edges of fields, and 10 rows in the corners. To prevent soil erosion, leave one to two rows standing down the center of the field. These are old practices that have only recently been abandoned.

Mowing grass and hay should be done after nesting season for game birds is complete, and after deer fawns have dropped. Where I live in Tennessee, deer fawn and birds nest in April and May. By mid-June, it is safe to start mowing hay and grass for maintenance of grassland. For haying, consider not mowing the 30 feet along the edges of the field. This tends to be the least productive part of a hay field anyway, and can be used for wildlife cover.

Learn The Secrets Of A Veteran Hunter As He Demonstrates How To Quickly Field-Dress Game

In some places, prescribed burning of native grasses allows for healthy regrowth, and elimination of invasive species and weeds.

Improve Water Access

How To Turn Your Homestead Into A ‘Mini-Game Preserve’
Image source: Pixabay.com

Water is a must for wildlife. Improving water sources is imperative to any conservation effort. Cleaning up streams from garbage and trash left by years of neglect is a first step. Planting trees along streams that have been stripped of cover is the next. A stream should have at least 20 feet of hardwoods on either side; this improves stream cover, water and fish quality, and protection for wildlife. Keeping cattle away from streams goes a long way toward cleaning them up.

Clean ponds are another source of water. If you are planning to add a pond, try to place it as deep in your property as possible, smack dab in the middle. This attracts wildlife and keeps it on your land. Be sure the edges of the pond are well-planted with grasses and shrubs to prevent erosion.

Add Food Plots

Adding one food plot on a small piece of land, or several food plots on larger land tracts, provides forage for your game animals. Different areas of the country require different grasses and clover, and you will need to research your particular location for recommended forage.

Amazing Breakthrough In Compact Portable Backup Power — Charges Your Phone, Laptop And Even Jump Starts Your Car!

Typically, a food plot should be between half an acre to 10 acres in size. It should be a cleared area in the middle of a wood lot, situated near good cover for wildlife. A good water source should not be far off.

Manage Forests

Younger hard mast-producing trees such as oak and chestnut produce more forage than older trees. It is a well-known fact that younger forests are healthier for wildlife than old forests. No, I am not advocating chopping down old growth trees. However, woods management is important. Thinning out thick hardwoods and occasionally clear cutting a few acres is very healthy for forests. As new trees populate the woods, the amount of hard mast that hits the ground every fall will increase for wildlife.

Grow An Orchard

In addition to hard mast, soft mast is a favorite of wildlife, especially deer. Planting apple, pear, cherry and peach trees will actually improve game forage. Don’t harvest every apple, and leave around one-fourth or more of the produce from these trees for wildlife if possible.

What tips would you add to this story for attracting wildlife? Share your ideas in the section below:

Learn How To ‘Live Off The Land’ With Just Your Gun. Read More Here.

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Make Your Own Natural Flea and Tick Spray for Pets

Make Your Own Natural Flea and Tick Spray for Pets

by Bill Heid

It’s Time to Ditch the Toxins Fleas and ticks can turn your pet’s summer into a season of scratching, discomfort,...

Safe And Effective Ways to Defend Your Home From Ants Without Using Poisons

Safe And Effective Ways to Defend Your Home From Ants Without Using Poisons

by Bill Heid

As warm weather rolls in, so do the ants—marching through your kitchen, marching along baseboards, or trailing across patios and...

The Secret Lives of Ticks: How They Find You and Natural Ways to Fight Back

The Secret Lives of Ticks: How They Find You and Natural Ways to Fight Back

by Bill Heid

It's a common experience to return from a day outdoors and discover a tick nestled in your skin or your...

Next Post
The Healing Power Of Essential Oils -- For Livestock

The Incredible Healing Power Of Essential Oils -- For Livestock

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Witnesses Testify to Congress that Current Non-deportation Rules Would Have Freed 9/11 Hijackers

Witnesses Testify to Congress that Current Non-deportation Rules Would Have Freed 9/11 Hijackers

How To Make A Mini Metal Foundry For $20

How To Make A Mini Metal Foundry For $20

The Dangerous (But Hidden) Impact of Cell Phones On Blood Health

The Dangerous (But Hidden) Impact of Cell Phones On Blood Health

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.