Other Species Foodplots?

[SwampCat]

Seems like most on here dedicate their foodplot work to deer. I plant right at 30 acres in the fall for deer and another 16 acres in the spring. But I also target other species with some of my plantings. I plant two, five acre fields of peredovik sunflowers just for dove hunting. Doves like clean ground for feeding - and the hardest part is keeping the fields clean. I dont use Clearfield variety - which would make clean fields easier to achieve - but the cost is really up there. I have to plant soybeans next to the sunflowers to give the deer something more preferable for them to eat, otherwise, they will eat all the sunflowers. I alternate the flower and bean fields every couple of years in an attempt to slow the weeds from becoming resistent to the chemicals. Early fall, I overseed the flower fields with wheat and till it in for organic matter prior to planting in the spring. I also dedicate one two acre WW plot to the summer doves. When the wheat ripens in June, I spray with Gly to keep weeds out and leave the stand pure, mature wheat through the summer. This gives the doves somewhere to feed on while they are nesting, building the population on my place during the summer before the sunflowers ripen.

I also plant quite a bit of millet for the ducks - about 18 acres in four plots. I plant Chiwapa, Proso, or Jap millet - depending on when the water comes off the plot. Chiwapa is planted in early summer - as it has the longest maturity date, proso next, and save the japanese milet for those areas that dont lose their water until August. I also plant one semi upland area with a mixture of millet. This area floods about every other duck season - giving us duck hunting opportunity - and if it doesnt flood, any hen turkeys with broods will use it - if there are any hen turkeys around.

Anyone else plant food plots targeting animals other than deer?

 

[yoderjac]

The primary two species we manage for are deer and turkey, but we also consider many other game and non-game species. For turkey, it is mostly proper arrangement of deer plots to form good brooding territory. Good bedding cover for deer equates to good nesting cover for turkey so we just adjust the arrangement so it is relatively close to the brooding cover. I always have to warn that it can be invasive in some areas, but we use bicolor lespedeza. It acts as a visual block to break up larger fields into smaller blocks to encourage more daytime use by deer. It provides vertical cover to protect poults from avian predators and provides millions of tiny seeds for quail and doves. We don't hunt doves much and sunflowers are a great attractant but weeds are a great food source for doves especially with some bare ground.

Good habitat for deer includes lots of edge habitat. That means having multiple ages of habitat in close proximity which requires rotation. This benefits a huge variety of species besides deer. I think of it more as overall wildlife management with focus on deer and turkey rather than planting a particular food plot for a particular species.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SwampCat]

The primary two species we manage for are deer and turkey, but we also consider many other game and non-game species. For turkey, it is mostly proper arrangement of deer plots to form good brooding territory. Good bedding cover for deer equates to good nesting cover for turkey so we just adjust the arrangement so it is relatively close to the brooding cover. I always have to warn that it can be invasive in some areas, but we use bicolor lespedeza. It acts as a visual block to break up larger fields into smaller blocks to encourage more daytime use by deer. It provides vertical cover to protect poults from avian predators and provides millions of tiny seeds for quail and doves. We don't hunt doves much and sunflowers are a great attractant but weeds are a great food source for doves especially with some bare ground.

Good habitat for deer includes lots of edge habitat. That means having multiple ages of habitat in close proximity which requires rotation. This benefits a huge variety of species besides deer. I think of it more as overall wildlife management with focus on deer and turkey rather than planting a particular food plot for a particular species.

Thanks,

Jack

I agree - I am excited when I see rabbits feeding in my “deer” food plots and bees working my clover flowers. And generally speaking - what makes a good foodplot for deer will also be used by turkeys - if there are any around. And on a rare occassion, we even shoot some ducks out of our soybean plantings for deer if the beans happen to flood during duck season. But a number of these species may be attracted in more huntable numbers when management activities are directed specifically at them.

 

[Telemark]

My overal plan is to provide for deer, grouse, and bears. I have all of them, but in low numbers. I'm hoping that if given enough fruit, nuts, and berries, I can increase the population of all three. There aren't any turkeys in that part of Ontario, unfortunately. The pheasants are so few that they have names. And the waterfowl tend to hang out on people's lawns in town. The only squirrels I have ever seen there are red squirrels, and I believe they are protected. Never seen a rabbit there either.

 

[JFK52]

I do not specifically plant food plots for other species, but I have a lot of other critters that use my food plots. I have seen grouse, turkeys, mourning doves, rabbits, and grey squirrels in my corn and soybean fields.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We've planted millet, dwarf sorghum and buckwheat in varying years. All these drew doves, grouse, turkeys, and loads of little song birds. While our goal was to plant a variety for deer and turkeys, these plantings also drew many other critters. With so many little birds flocking to our plots, sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks became frequent visitors as well. We plant buckwheat most years, and it feeds deer, turkeys and grouse - plus attracts lots of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

 

[yellowdog00]

Swampcat,
Excellent post! Part of the joy of owning your own land is being able to experiment with different habitat techniques and watching the wildlife’s response to it. I’ve started to utilize disking at different times to what types of native vegetation responds to it particularly moist soil plants. Doing the same with drawing down my small wetland.

I’m also going to utilize allowing some of my plots to remain fallow for a year before planting again. I frost seeded a corn plot from last year this Spring with some annual clovers and I’m anxious to see how it is utilized over this next year. I battle Reed Canary grass so I need to keep most of my plots in some type of disturbance every couple years.

I want to utilize fire more but I need to cultivate more helpers to bring that off safely. I enjoyed your comments on the planting of different maturing millets. I need to look into that more.