Is a hedgerow a good solution

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I have about 0.8 of a mile county gravel road that runs through my farm. Along the entire length of the road there is a long strip of bottom land, about 45 acres total. I don't live on the place so there's nobody there much of the time to oversee the everyday happenings. My problem is poaching of deer, both in the daylight as well as nightime. Road hunting seems to be second nature to a lot of locals in the area. There is not a fenceline along the road and I don't have the inclination to spend the time or money to fence it in. I don't think that would curtail much of the activity anyway.

Here's a thought I have as a possible solution, some sort of hedgerow to block the view of the land from the road. What are your thoughts? If you concur that this might be a good idea, what would you suggest as a type of plant to use? If I go this route, I want something that grows fast and thick. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[RalphVa]

Forsythia or Abelia might be about the cheapest hedgerow and would look fairly natural when done, particularly if you staggered them a little bit.

Leyland cypress or other similar quick-growing evergreen trees would also work but would cost more.

How would trip wires and shot guns pointed at various places in the road would work? You'd want to be able to disengage them for when you wanted to go along it. I can see the headlines: "Truck load of deer snipers get shot back at by the deer"

Ralph

 

[Egon]

Would think a hedgerow would be a boon for the poachers. Give them something to hide behind.

Egon

 

[AntrimMan]

Egon,
the hedgerow presents many possibilities including hiding poacher bodies, birds gotta eat too /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Martin

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

<font color="blue"> How would trip wires and shot guns pointed at various places in the road would work? You'd want to be able to disengage them for when you wanted to go along it. </font>

Ralph is a thinking man, and I like his thoughts.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

<font color="blue">the hedgerow presents many possibilities including hiding poacher bodies, birds gotta eat too </font>

Another thinking man.....you guys are good.

 

[HuckBB62]

Oh man, all you need is an eager fishy game guy with one of those new fangled deer dummies with the moving head. Poachers locked up, vehicles and guns confiscated, game over.

 

[txhawg]

The bird and turtle sherriff's are pretty useless. I like the hedgerow, with some bear traps thrown in here and there. He obviously has a tractor so he can properly dispose of the bodies

 

[MossRoad]

So you just want to block the view of the land from the road to discourage drive by hunting? I think a hedgerow would be fine. You'd have to plant something tall enough. I'd go to your county agent and ask about hedge rows and windblock plantings. They will know what kind of plants will do best in your location. We have a windrow that is low shrubs, then small trees backed by two staggered rows of pines. Can't see anything through that. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[JimDixon]

I've been experimenting with hedgerows on my place. I have a type of holly all over and I'm beginning to train and trim it. I've also planted Hawthorne, which is widely used in the UK and they are experts on hedgerows.

Since I live in the deep south, I've also tried several local flowering shrubs as well as rugosa rose. Amazingly, they all seem to be viable for one purpose or another. The one thing that they all also require, is work! They also are pretty slow growing so it may take years to effectively screen off the area you want to protect.