Just back from the ranch where we celebrated a birthday party for my sister, cousin , and Aunt...70-80-and 90 respectively. Big fun spending time in some of the most wildlife rich country in North America. Can we all agree that spending time with family and friends together in nature is good stuff?
I started this thread to propose the idea that where available planted crops can provide a material portion of a deers diet on an annualized basis. Is it 30%? 40% 50% More? I don't know. But I believe there is abundant evidence that planted crops provide far more than a fraction of a deers diet and have a material impact on the nutritional plane and carrying capacity of the habitat. We , in our unique situations, have to decide if its worth it.
From this central intention, considerations pro and con have been explored with one idea that seems to me worth examining a bit more. Jack [ I promise I'm not picking on you but you have worked your positions harder than anyone else ] has proposed that scale and cost are major impediments to crops achieving any meaningful impact dietarily.
His quote:
I completely agree, that if one has an unlimited budget and sufficient land for scale, we can do a lot of manipulation to benefit deer whether it is food plots or native habitat management. My contention that an unlimited budget is a rare exception not the rule. Given that, food plot scale is limited and they represent a small fraction of a deer's diet. So, for most of us, food plots will be a strategic tool applied in the 10's of acres at most. Timber management on the other hand can commonly be done on the 100's acres scale providing profit and the necessary resources for food plots while positively impacting the quantity of quality native foods via sunlight.
I would rephrase you statement a bit. I'd say that food plots can only provide a LARGE fraction of a deer's diet if a huge budget is available and they are planted on a very large scale like agriculture.
I have a couple of thoughts. First scale for managing a herd of deer is a different subject than scale for effectively feeding deer. I completely agree it takes AT LEAST 1000 acres to manage a deer herd and in most cases much more. However it doesn't take a lot of food plot acreage to feed a reasonable number of deer. Most biologist I know suggest that an acre of food plot can feed about 5 deer while it takes about 20-30 acres of well managed woodland to support 1 deer. Arguable ratios but a starting point. Lets look at a hypothetical 1000 acres as well as the costs involved in planting year round food plots.
If we plant 5% in plots thats 50 acres which could support about 250 deer. The remaining 950 acres beyond cover and security would provide food for about 48 deer. manipulate that back and forth as you like but 1000 acres with modest acreage in year round food plots will support a lot more deer than without food plots. But what about cost?
I went to Hancock Seed Company and looked at cost for 4 cultivars that can create year round forage in the south {There are similar strategies for the north } : wheat- I used my own source and can get 50lbs for under $20, radishes- $96 per 50 lbs, crimson clover- $72 per 50 lbs, and soybeans- $31 per 50 lbs. Personally I can get all these seeds cheaper but this is a starting point. So to plant 1 acre of year round food plot the cost and process looks like this:
wheat; 50 lbs/acre costing $20, radishes [ unnecessary but relished ] 3 lbs acre costing ~$6 crimson @ 15 lbs acre costing $21 . Thus a fall acre of food plot ~ $47. Appreciate the crimson will re seed itself for years thus that cost can be amortized over multiple years but I will stay with upfront cost. The crimson is done late April as a food source and that is when you can begin to plant the soybeans directly into the same field. Multiple ways to do that. One acre of soybeans @ 35 lbs/acre cost ~$ 21 acre for seed and will be available from May till August as a plant and the seed as forage longer. Around Sept-October you plant the same small grains and radishes back to the soybeans [ Crimson unnecessary cause it re seeds ] and the process repeats itself . There are multiple other ways to accomplish the same approach-----small grain, radish, clover rotations for example that may even cost less. Nonetheless that combo provides high quality forage almost all year!
Total seed cost of that one acre-$68. Add fuel, herbicide and fertilizer { I no longer use fertilizer and herbicides only sparingly } as necessary as a variable cost and round up from there. I'm not adding time as candidly there are few things I would rather do ....this is a forum for folks that like habitat work right? So what is a realistic cost? $75/acre ? A bit more? All for a year round food source that could feed 5/deer acre. Multiply that time 10 acres---$750 to feed 50 deer vs one deer per 20 acres. Or $3750 to plant the hypothetical 50 acres in the hypothetical 1000 acre management unit.
I appreciate different folks have different approaches. My only point is to show realistic costs and scale to provide food sources that can become have a material impact....I'm getting the popcorn to see where the show goes from here.
