Bedding Hullabaloo

[Hoytvectrix]

Talk me out of/into creating more bedding in the middle of our property

I'm looking for some guidance on what to do with the middle portion of our property. For some context, we own essentially a ridgetop to a ridgetop of a valley in Northern Missouri. Total property size is 160 acres. This is what the surrounding area looks like: You'll notice the ridgetops...

habitat-talk.com

Here is a thread I started a few years ago on this same subject. I went ahead with this plan and we have incredible cover in this area now. I think our area in particular (the low lying flat ground with cedars and switchgrass) primarily gets used in the summer and during the rut. I find a lot of beds and rubs if I ever go into the area. We went from Reed Canary grass for most of it that wasn't more than 3 ft tall or so, to Kanlow switchgrass, which is probably around 7 ft tall.

I tend to think that the most mature bucks bed in the best spots for an area. Best could be defined as security from predators, proximity to food and water, and just the right amount of social pressure. I have seen on a few different properties where the most dominant buck will tend to have the best bedding area. Once that buck is killed, other bucks will eventually move in.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Talk me out of/into creating more bedding in the middle of our property

I'm looking for some guidance on what to do with the middle portion of our property. For some context, we own essentially a ridgetop to a ridgetop of a valley in Northern Missouri. Total property size is 160 acres. This is what the surrounding area looks like: You'll notice the ridgetops...

habitat-talk.com

Here is a thread I started a few years ago on this same subject. I went ahead with this plan and we have incredible cover in this area now. I think our area in particular (the low lying flat ground with cedars and switchgrass) primarily gets used in the summer and during the rut. I find a lot of beds and rubs if I ever go into the area. We went from Reed Canary grass for most of it that wasn't more than 3 ft tall or so, to Kanlow switchgrass, which is probably around 7 ft tall.

I tend to think that the most mature bucks bed in the best spots for an area. Best could be defined as security from predators, proximity to food and water, and just the right amount of social pressure. I have seen on a few different properties where the most dominant buck will tend to have the best bedding area. Once that buck is killed, other bucks will eventually move in.

Hoyt,

You have me thinking about a spot on my land that is overgrown field habitat. It’s 2-4 acres with some low ground with red osier and willows and high ground with some light brush, raspberries, goldenrod, some grasses, but mostly broadleaf plants - basically a diversity dream plot. I haven’t mowed or messed with this location at all the last 3 years. This field is hard to access so no pressure/intrusion. I have a hard sided blind (see my blind build post) that’s reasonably air tight, and don’t hunt on improper winds.

Here’s the rub - when I have gone out there in the summer - I’ll flush deer out of that field like doves, I’m talking 4 - 6 deer that will get up and run separate directions. Yet during hunting season deer are NOT in this field. They pass through this field very quickly and are most often observed in my neighbors cut hay field, coming from hemlock and open hardwoods (no known TSI).

The grass is lower, but there is still a large amount structure with the brush/brambles. This appears to be opposite of what I read on deer habitat, and differs somewhat from my experience hunting Ohio coal country. My deer come from the “woods” and go right to the food/field.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Brian662]

Hoyt,

You have me thinking about a spot on my land that is overgrown field habitat. It’s 2-4 acres with some low ground with red osier and willows and high ground with some light brush, raspberries, goldenrod, some grasses, but mostly broadleaf plants - basically a diversity dream plot. I haven’t mowed or messed with this location at all the last 3 years. This field is hard to access so no pressure/intrusion. I have a hard sided blind (see my blind build post) that’s reasonably air tight, and don’t hunt on improper winds.

Here’s the rub - when I have gone out there in the summer - I’ll flush deer out of that field like doves, I’m talking 4 - 6 deer that will get up and run separate directions. Yet during hunting season deer are NOT in this field. They pass through this field very quickly and are most often observed in my neighbors cut hay field, coming from hemlock and open hardwoods (no known TSI).

The grass is lower, but there is still a large amount structure with the brush/brambles. This appears to be opposite of what I read on deer habitat, and differs somewhat from my experience hunting Ohio coal country. My deer come from the “woods” and go right to the food/field.

Anyone else experience this?

Here is what I've found in MN/WI..Early successional habitat with forbs and other broadleafs are great summer cover/habitat for deer and a variety of wildlife. Once the forbs go dormant, there needs to be enough woody species (in the north, and I'd consider Ohio to be the north) to sustain cover and food into fall/winter/hunting season. You could focus on expanding the ROD and willows to form thickets, hinge a few trees for additional side cover, maybe stab a few conifers in there as well. Every few years you can set the woody stuff back with fire to prevent it from being a closed canopy forest if you desire to keep it early successional.

 

[omicron1792]

Here is what I've found in MN/WI..Early successional habitat with forbs and other broadleafs are great summer cover/habitat for deer and a variety of wildlife. Once the forbs go dormant, there needs to be enough woody species (in the north, and I'd consider Ohio to be the north) to sustain cover and food into fall/winter/hunting season. You could focus on expanding the ROD and willows to form thickets, hinge a few trees for additional side cover, maybe stab a few conifers in there as well. Every few years you can set the woody stuff back with fire to prevent it from being a closed canopy forest if you desire to keep it early successional.

Good stuff.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

With our hot, muggy summers here, shade is a big draw for bedding - at least in those hot months. Holding deer here is easier in the warmer times of the year for us, because we have miles of hardwood forest. Winter bedding is what we try to improve. Hemlocks, pines, - but especially spruce seem to block the cold wind best. Evergreens on north slopes add to the shade & coolness in summer heat. Planting some spruce in clusters or staggered lines on sunny mountain sides / slopes / benches seem to work well. Woody browse close to bedding is a key, IMO, in the event food plots don't get enough rain & are thin / spindly.