Habitat condition and management idea (Phone app)

[j-bird]

Ok - I 'm not the sharpest tool in the shed - so just here me out.

A habitat condition app. Since true management is based on habitat condition - what if you had an app that allowed you to complete a checklist of different plant types available in your woods and it told you if you had too many or too few deer?

What if you combined our love of habitat, modern technology and a simple game like a scavenger hunt?

The app - uses you phone GPS to know what state your in. You tell the phone the type of habitat you are in (hardwood forest, conifer forest, mixed forest, grassland, swamp, farm area, ect). Based on that information the phone pulls up a picture and says - find this and shows a picture of a plant. When you find it you enter a 1,2 or 3 for if you found it easily, you looked for a while or you never did find it. You could complicate it and have the GPS track how far you walked before you found it as well. Anyway it then moves on to the next plant. You do this for a certain number of plants and then the app generates a score based on the good things you found and how much of it as well as the bad things you found and the amount. It then simply specified your have too many deer, you have a decent balance of deer or you had too few deer. You can then grade each of the different habitat types you have to at least have a clue as to your habitat condition. You could even use it to possibly score things like food, water and cover availability. You could spin this in many different directions as well where you tell it what you have and it generates a score or the like - anyway you get the idea.

Now for those of you that are WAY smarter than me - is this even a remote possibility?????

 

[nwmn]

I definitely believe it is a possibility. You'd have to have a vast library for plant ID's for all the different areas that it would encapsulate. YOu'd also need to be able to pinpoint the geographic and geologic composition, for which plants should be in certain areas as well as the soil capabilities based on the web soil survey. I think one could tap into the USDA database and give each plant a ranking from like 1-5 on whitetail significance plus a ranking on how prolific or abundant it is in an area as well like mentioned.

Would be a cool app do rate a persons land. Would also be really cool to have a plant ID guide in there as well for those of us (myself) that might have the best habitat but don't know the difference between plants.

 

[sandbur]

I am old enough to question accuracy of this and who really set it up.
We see a wide range of tolerance of deer by the area managers in our state.

I would like to play with something like that and compare it to what I see before I would believe it.

A wintering area in the north is bound to look like we have too many deer, while an area 1 mile away or more would appear differently. There are also significant differences just over small distances-the soil map idea would help.

 

[Rally1148]

I think that it would be interesting. I'm not sure I'd use it just because I personally love my old Rite in the Rain notebook. That being said, it would be very helpful for a lot of people. I also really like the idea of a traveling plant ID, although I'm not sure that it can replace a smartphone with internet, OR a trusty pocket manual. I definitely love being able to take pictures of leaves and bark so that I can ID when I get home. IMO, I think that it would be the MOST useful as a simple habitat log. For me, the barrier to use would be what advantage does it have over a field notebook.

As far as rating the land and plants, that would be hard because each parcel and deer preference is so difference. There are ALWAYS things that deer loves (apples, oaks etc...) but as far as browse I think that even within the same region it can vary a lot. Another limitation would be, if it ties to the USDA, a positive confirmation on the ID of the plant species. I know that there are relatively few plants (probably 25+... but that's out of 100's that I see) that I can ID at first or second glance, even if I've seen them 10 times before.

I think that it's definitely an idea worth investigating, but I think it'll take a lot of whittling down and tinkering to find a good balance between something useful, and something that mike complicate things.

 

[wiscwhip]

It could work, that said, it would be a huge undertaking to develop an app like this. Tons of data and complex algorithms and a very smart developer or 3 and you just might get something useful. I do agree with Rally though, it could easily become cumbersome.

 

[Jim Timber]

Trilliums look a lot different before and after deer eat them. You'd need two different images - with and without flower. With flower = too few deer. :D

I don't know how practical such an app would be. You have 10,000 plants to index and rank for desirability, and then you need to quantify preferred browse based on the residual that's left after it's been consumed.

Another example - my hostas. Depending on which week you look for them they may or may not exist. :p

 

[wiscwhip]

Another example - my hostas. Depending on which week you look for them they may or may not exist. :p

Sounds like all my neighbors across the street who's backyards are up against the bluff, good luck keeping hostas in the ground anywhere around those homes once the does drop fawns and they become mobile.

 

[j-bird]

I don't have even the remote technical abilities to create something like it - I just thought it would be an interesting tool. It was sort of a "light bulb" moment when I was looking at another simple visual to evaluate habitat. I think true information based management on a localized level is going to be very difficult moving forward as many folks simply on't have the knowledge/tools to do it. Many of us are habitat nuts and that is different - lots of other folks simply see trees and shrubs and want to see and kill deer. Simple works best and until we can find a way to do it - balancing deer and habitat is going to remain a complicated task and a difficult sell.

 

[Jim Timber]

I transplanted the hostas with the intent of feeding them to the deer. I used marker flags to indicate the areas where plants were so I'd know where to look to see if there was remains or a plant. My mom has hostas behind their house and the local suburban deer wipe them out annually or more often, which is what gave me the idea to grow them up North. Deer leave the neighbor's giant hostas alone 1/4 mile from my lot line, so there is a preference to the smaller plants (they love them!).

Some of the smaller plants were uprooted before taking hold in the new soil (was like finding chicken bones when I checked on them), but some of the bigger plants that had a better chunk of dirt survived 2 years. I'm not sure if there are any living hostas left because I didn't happen to be there the right week to find them last year. :)

 

[wiscwhip]

The deer on the bluff across from our place will tear them completely out of the ground and eat the root and all. One of the neighbors planted a few hundred dollars worth a few years back, and had nothing left 4 weeks later. I saw the area where they were planted a few days later and it looked like the guy had wild pigs come through, save for the bambi tracks, you wouldn't have known the difference.

 

[wiscwhip]

The guy that develops a tall, ultra cold hardy, browse tolerant hosta will become a rich man!;):D

 

[Jim Timber]

I'm telling ya, they don't touch the giant ones at the neighbor's place. 4' tall or better. I don't know if the old lady sprays them with anything, but they've been there as long as I've been around the lake (8 years).

 

[wiscwhip]

Maybe it would be easier to breed some palatability into those varieties!

 

[tooln]

My wife has about a dozen different varietys of Hastas around the house in town. We have city deer going through our yard all the time and they will eat only certain one's. On the rare night I get off of work I like to sit and watch for them to come into the yard at night, then sneak outside and see how close I can get to them or if I can get them to come to me. No luck yet.

 

[Jim Timber]

Try it without the bow. :p

 

[j-bird]

My wife has about a dozen different varietys of Hastas around the house in town. We have city deer going through our yard all the time and they will eat only certain one's. On the rare night I get off of work I like to sit and watch for them to come into the yard at night, then sneak outside and see how close I can get to them or if I can get them to come to me. No luck yet.

So your sneaking around outside in the dark in a neighborhood.........sounds like a misunderstanding with the local neighborhood watch just waiting to happen - or a run-in with a suspicious husband next-door! Your defense: What you said, "I was trying to touch a deer." What they hear "He was trying to touch a DEAR"........GUILTY!!!!!!!:D