Food Plot Idea... 2017
- Thread starter roymunson
- Start date
Tap
5 year old buck +
As far as I know, it does kill them.
I think I read somewhere that Hemlock are basically doomed unless individual trees are saved with pesticides. But mother nature works in mysterious ways. We thought oaks were doomed due to gypsy moth, but she stepped in and struck the moth down with diseases. Time will tell.
SW Pa
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Norway spruce are the fastest growers of all the spruce, too. Like Whip said, they tolerate most soil conditions. It's a good idea to plant a variety of evergreens & shrubs for bedding / security cover. We like Norway & white spruce, Balsam fir, and Washington hawthorn. We have lots of white pine and hemlock growing / seeding naturally. Washington hawthorn is a VERY tough tree and will drop it's red berries to give you more free seedlings. They create a dense, thorny thicket that deer love to bed in. Grouse and turkeys LOVE the red berries, too. W.H. gets about 15 ft. tall more or less.
Tap
5 year old buck +
Somewhat. Hawthorn hinges pretty well, too. The thorns are frickin nasty. Will go through a tractor tire.
I had one go through my boot sole one time. It broke off flush with the bottom and was stuck up into my foot. My boot was "nailed" to my foot. Couldn't pull my foot out and I couldn't sit down to deal with it because I was knee deep in poison ivy!
SW Pa
chummer
5 year old buck +
I have a love hate with them. They have claimed one atv tire. I removed a bunch for my plots but left them along the perimeter. I also hinged a bunch that were close to apples that I released. They are not fun to remove so the ones that are left will stay. I have different varieties with green, red, and yellow fruit. Some of the trees everyone gets cleaned up and others they rot on the ground and nothing touches them. They are a cool tree though and would make unpenatrable thicket. I even swell up when I get stuck by one.
Tap
5 year old buck +
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
NoFo - Deer will browse the Washington hawthorn, but only the new shoot tips that have no thorns. The thorns are about 2" long when the needles " mature ". I've never seen Washington hawthorn with berries other than red in color. I can't speak to green or yellow fruit - never even heard of those colors of fruit. The berries that drop will sprout new trees easily and give you a thicker patch of W. H. - or free seedlings to transplant elsewhere. Grouse and turkeys love the fruit, and deer will lightly browse it, bed in it, and make scrapes under the older trees. Our deer seem to like to pass thru our thicket on the way out to our food plots, for whatever reason. No disease or bug problems for us. One of our young ( 8 ft. ) perimeter trees got pulled over accidently by a PTO mower deck. It pushed up vertical growth and formed a " wall " of hawthorn. In the fall / winter, we flush grouse out of that thicket regularly.
IMO - not a thicket you want to walk through or drive an atv through, which is why deer and grouse love them. No disturbance !! They are a GREAT critter / habitat tree, not people-strolling material.
We have a thicket of 10 older trees, planted 20 years ago, that are about 15 ft. tall - and numerous " free " seedlings growing in / around them. Also have several single trees planted around the property - mainly for grouse / turkey food. If you have large acreage, a large thicket would make EXCELLENT bedding / security cover.
IMO - not a thicket you want to walk through or drive an atv through, which is why deer and grouse love them. No disturbance !! They are a GREAT critter / habitat tree, not people-strolling material.
We have a thicket of 10 older trees, planted 20 years ago, that are about 15 ft. tall - and numerous " free " seedlings growing in / around them. Also have several single trees planted around the property - mainly for grouse / turkey food. If you have large acreage, a large thicket would make EXCELLENT bedding / security cover.
