Dr. Craig Harper - Manage Your Fields for Bigger Bucks and Better Hunting

[356]

Well, I'm jealous. Deer Steward course?

You would think it has something to do with what they have available and how good their local plants are. Like, a deer in a sea of soybeans may not go after pokeweed, but I've seen that to be false. Even what would seem to be low quality browse can be gobbled up by even the most well cared for deer. When I worked at the deer research facility at LSU, we did a little curiosity experiment by bringing in limbs of different trees and plants to see what was preferred. These were deer that had the best diet you can think of. When they defoliated a sweetgum branch along with privet, I came away thinking those deer just needed more roughage. Who knows. It just went to show that even the boujiest of deer will eat the lowliest of plants sometimes.

Yes, it was the three-day Deer Steward Habitat Enhancement Module.

Deer, like humans, have taste preferences. I prefer an excellent ribeye to hamburger, but will enjoy hamburgers weekly, while the ribeye is a special treat. There are times I order fish, even though that is not a preferred food for me. Periodically I'll crave a slice of dry bread. Same with deer. We may never know exactly why deer chose one browse over another, but what is clear is that access to variety, quality and quantity goes a long way towards health does, fawns and bucks.

 

[Gravel Road]

The deer on my place enjoy giant ragweed. Most go untouched but anything near a trail is hit hard. I never noticed it until this year but in one area they ignored the giant ragweed and clover and destroyed any prickly lettuce plant.

 

[Brian662]

He talks at great lengths about large antler gains on properties that have implemented this strategy, what scale in acres do you guys feel is necessary to complete an increase like that? The one property he mentions has 9,000 acres, what a ridiculous amount of land. I'm dealing with a 46, 60, and 70 acre parcels in different herds and I'm skeptical about the impact I can have within those areas, especially given that only a portion of those properties is set aside ground where this could be implemented. Oh, and I live/hunt in MN/WI where it's questionable whether this is appropriate usage of acreage anyways..

At this point my plan is to maintain areas of native grasses/forbs with woody browse pockets on some portion of my properties and early succesional woody browse on others in an attempt to have the all season diversity. We'll see if it works out, I'm about 2 years away from making a judgement(although early indications are promising).

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

He talks at great lengths about large antler gains on properties that have implemented this strategy, what scale in acres do you guys feel is necessary to complete an increase like that? The one property he mentions has 9,000 acres, what a ridiculous amount of land. I'm dealing with a 46, 60, and 70 acre parcels in different herds and I'm skeptical about the impact I can have within those areas, especially given that only a portion of those properties is set aside ground where this could be implemented. Oh, and I live/hunt in MN/WI where it's questionable whether this is appropriate usage of acreage anyways..

At this point my plan is to maintain areas of native grasses/forbs with woody browse pockets on some portion of my properties and early succesional woody browse on others in an attempt to have the all season diversity. We'll see if it works out, I'm about 2 years away from making a judgement(although early indications are promising).

In my opinion size is everything the rest is luck. There’s a guy in my same county with 6x the land I have. He has absolute giants. Zero habitat management outside of feed and crops/food plots. He can protect. I can’t.

 

[Brian662]

In my opinion size is everything the rest is luck. There’s a guy in my same county with 6x the land I have. He has absolute giants. Zero habitat management outside of feed and crops/food plots. He can protect. I can’t.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "luck" because I think you can have premier habitat that the biggest/oldest buck in the area is attracted to even on a 40 acre chunk. In regards to the topic af hand about gaining antler inches I do believe large scale operations have a considerably better chance of seeing those gains than the guy with the 40. I do believe the guy with the 40 can harvest a big buck every year if he hunts right and has some rut funnels or excellent habitat.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I wouldn't go so far as to say "luck" because I think you can have premier habitat that the biggest/oldest buck in the area is attracted to even on a 40 acre chunk. In regards to the topic af hand about gaining antler inches I do believe large scale operations have a considerably better chance of seeing those gains than the guy with the 40. I do believe the guy with the 40 can harvest a big buck every year if he hunts right and has some rut funnels or excellent habitat.

Right, maybe he can make his place more attractive but a mature buck can cross 40 acres in 5 minutes and will. They are not sedentary. They need to roam, obviously some more than others but that is where scale matters. Anything less than 4-500 acres i get puckered up when I see one in late Oct through Dec on his feet in daylight.

But yeah I love that old field management stuff. Heck I’m super close to pulling 60 acres out of rotation to manage like that. Not cause I think I will add inches over beans (that’s ridiculous) but because I believe ag monocultures leave much to be desired for the landscape. Just the loss of erosion on my place would be a major victory. I have corn growing 500 yards from a crop field because it was washed away after planting. Also I love quail! I want more of those than deer and I don’t even care to hunt those.

 

[Turkish]

In my opinion size is everything the rest is luck. There’s a guy in my same county with 6x the land I have. He has absolute giants. Zero habitat management outside of feed and crops/food plots. He can protect. I can’t.

This. I view it as a numbers game. All things being equal, say a mature buck is on a given 40 5% of the time. By making these improvements and managing pressure, could you make that 10-20%? Maybe. Depending on the attractiveness of the neighbors. Doubling or quadrupling is a big increase in your odds.

 

[omicron1792]

It really varies a lot by location. The best example I can think of is pokeweed. This is one that Dr. Harper and many others see as a highly preferred forb, but at my farm, deer will barely touch it at all. However, at my home (20 miles away) they will come up in my yard at night and devour it where it grows in the fence rows.
Another factor is the time of the year. A good example is Black-eyed Susan. I see it browsed in the early spring but seldom touched later in the year.
Another factor is availability. Giant ragweed and common ragweed are both browsed well at my farm, but I think I see Giant is browsed the hardest - but that could be because I have less of it and notice it more.
Below is the top browse forbs on my place:
Chicory
Clovers
Common Ragweed
Giant Ragweed
Tick trefoils
Jewelweed
Fleabanes and asters
Partridge Pea
There are others, but I think these are the primary ones. I just checked and it looks like my prairie thread has come back to life with the pictures reappearing. You can find some good forb info there:

Take a walk with me through the prairie

First of all, this is not a property tour thread. It about plants that grow in a prairie. Most of you are aware that I manage roughly 60 acres of NWSGs and forbs on my farm. I'm going to start a thread using some old pictures, pictures I took this spring, and some pictures I plan to take...

habitat-talk.com

Great stuff native. Different species browse different stuff too. So if managing for turkey and quail and dove partridge pea goes up the list. It also is great bedding for deer.

Tell me if you think similar. I want as much nutritious stuff on my property with cover (grass) that deer feel safe. BUT I want the most ice cream crops or areas I have specifically set to pattern deer movement and bring them into shooting positions. I never want my native areas to be so palatable that deer never leave the bed.

 

[omicron1792]

Right, maybe he can make his place more attractive but a mature buck can cross 40 acres in 5 minutes and will. They are not sedentary. They need to roam, obviously some more than others but that is where scale matters. Anything less than 4-500 acres i get puckered up when I see one in late Oct through Dec on his feet in daylight.

But yeah I love that old field management stuff. Heck I’m super close to pulling 60 acres out of rotation to manage like that. Not cause I think I will add inches over beans (that’s ridiculous) but because I believe ag monocultures leave much to be desired for the landscape. Just the loss of erosion on my place would be a major victory. I have corn growing 500 yards from a crop field because it was washed away after planting. Also I love quail! I want more of those than deer and I don’t even care to hunt those.

I guess if you pattern that 40 acres so the bucks likely walk a specific path, with different attractions for them to stop and browse, then you could do well as they pass through. Especially if area links bedding to say a soybean field.

Friend of mines family owns like 30 acres in a highly desirable hunting area. Both sides have huge ag fields and food plots. His land is mainly woods with a small green field in middle. Their walls are covered with huge bucks. If you sit at right time the bucks will transition between the big fields and maybe stop for a snack. And vetted popped.

They never will be able to control genetics or nutrition for herd qualities with their parcel. But damn they have collected great deer over the last 30 years.

I personally like the habitat work as much or more as shooting deer. But I think most would take a wall full of booners over the time and money I have spent on plants!

 

[Native Hunter]

Great stuff native. Different species browse different stuff too. So if managing for turkey and quail and dove partridge pea goes up the list. It also is great bedding for deer.

Tell me if you think similar. I want as much nutritious stuff on my property with cover (grass) that deer feel safe. BUT I want the most ice cream crops or areas I have specifically set to pattern deer movement and bring them into shooting positions. I never want my native areas to be so palatable that deer never leave the bed.

Your thinking is spot on. And they will come to the ice cream unless they are feeling highly pressured. But, even that isn't bad. They may be holding up in your cover and food where you can't kill them - but no one ese is killing them either - if you get my drift.

On the partridge pea, be aware that not all of it gets tall enough to hide deer. The native stuff on my place only got about knee high, but what I bought from Roundstone in my CREP mix is what gets tall enough to hide deer and compete well with other species. The same with Little Bluestem and a few others.

 

[omicron1792]

Your thinking is spot on. And they will come to the ice cream unless they are feeling highly pressured. But, even that isn't bad. They may be holding up in your cover and food where you can't kill them - but no one ese is killing them either - if you get my drift.

On the partridge pea, be aware that not all of it gets tall enough to hide deer. The native stuff on my place only got about knee high, but what I bought from Roundstone in my CREP mix is what gets tall enough to hide deer and compete well with other species. The same with Little Bluestem and a few others.

Thanks Native. You’re such a resource.

I buy most of my stuff from roundstone. Best I have found. I will often buy cheaper as filler and mix in the roundstone stuff I really care about.

 

[Turkish]

Your thinking is spot on. And they will come to the ice cream unless they are feeling highly pressured. But, even that isn't bad. They may be holding up in your cover and food where you can't kill them - but no one ese is killing them either - if you get my drift.

On the partridge pea, be aware that not all of it gets tall enough to hide deer. The native stuff on my place only got about knee high, but what I bought from Roundstone in my CREP mix is what gets tall enough to hide deer and compete well with other species. The same with Little Bluestem and a few others.

Fwiw, Lashley and Gulsby mentioned the other day that they routinely see purchased PP eventually get ‘too tall,’ while they don’t see this from native seed. They were speaking from a turkey mgt standpoint. Seems maybe in line with what you described.

 

[Native Hunter]

Fwiw, Lashley and Gulsby mentioned the other day that they routinely see purchased PP eventually get ‘too tall,’ while they don’t see this from native seed. They were speaking from a turkey mgt standpoint. Seems maybe in line with what you described.

From a turkey perspective that would be true, but everything I do is from a deer perspective. However, I still have good turkey hunting, because part of my management plan is to mow lanes for them in March just before season. Works great. I get them in hunting season and the neighbors can feed them the rest of the year.

 

[b116757]

I’ll have to do a little discing down the rows of my tree plantings to try and get the early sessional plants started.

 

[Triple C]

Disturb soil and provide sunlight down south and you gonna have pokeweed. I find it interesting in that some plants are constantly browsed down to the stem on my place and yet other plants a few feet away may not be touched at all. Same with yellow crownbeard.

Pokeweed

 

[Turkish]

Disturb soil and provide sunlight down south and you gonna have pokeweed. I find it interesting in that some plants are constantly browsed down to the stem on my place and yet other plants a few feet away may not be touched at all. Same with yellow crownbeard.

Pokeweed
View attachment 54799

Is that stilt grass in the background?

 

[BenAllgood]

I pulled these two screenshots from that video as I thought they were pretty interesting.

 

[MadMadHoosier]

I pulled these two screenshots from that video as I thought they were pretty interesting.

View attachment 54802

I did also. Now, does anyone have a list of the plants we should get rid of? Then all I have to do is learn to identify them.

 

[Native Hunter]

I did also. Now, does anyone have a list of the plants we should get rid of? Then all I have to do is learn to identify them.

Yes, someone does. You can find the good, the bad and the ugly in this thread:

Take a walk with me through the prairie

First of all, this is not a property tour thread. It about plants that grow in a prairie. Most of you are aware that I manage roughly 60 acres of NWSGs and forbs on my farm. I'm going to start a thread using some old pictures, pictures I took this spring, and some pictures I plan to take...

habitat-talk.com

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I have quite a bit of Lambs quarters coming up in the yard at home and its seeming to get browsed pretty hard. I hear all of the pigweed horror stories and wonder if I shouldn't be cautions about encouraging it adjacent to food plots?