Is switch really the best bedding?

[SD51555]

I saw a YT video tonight that questioned the effectiveness of switch as a top choice bedding medium. Now, for context, let's say we're talking about the big woods, and not farm country that has one tree per 4 square miles. I will concede, where there is no cover in plowed field country, switch will likely do outstanding. But let's talk about other places.

What are the elements of a first class bedding location? I don't know for certain, but here's what comes to my mind:

*Complete visual seclusion
*Gives the deer a vantage point to see danger coming from downwind
*Multiple escape routes in the event of ambush
*Reliable winds enable scenting danger from behind

I wonder if there are really vantage points in tall switch, and multiple escape routes. Am I way out in left field on this?

 

[Bill]

Even in farm country I don't see it used like I thought I would. Not that it isn't. In my switch bucks will use it to bed sometimes, almost always on the edge and if there is a cedar or other tree to give them overhead cover. Does do hide in it during the rut. which is a plus in MO when the rifle season falls smack dab during the rut.

My last planting I went with 2 lbs per acre because I didn't want a rank stand of switch. So far its not taking over the entire field, plenty of clover and natural forbs mixed in. That field gets used way more then my earlier planted gung-ho solid stands of switch. I have about 10 acres of Indian grass that all but gets ignored. But like you said it all beats the heck out the hayed fields I used to have.

Also my observation could be skewed because in all the timber around my switch grass I made big messes with a chain saw. So I could have torpedoed my switch grass because that might be better cover for them.

 

[Mortenson]

Same as Bill's 1st paragraph. Not a bedding mecca (at least in 5 acre size patches on down), but when blending a patch of switch adjacent to otherwise lesser used areas, it can make them explode in usage. Edge habitat. Compartments. I mean no one is bulldozing forest land to plant switch. It's usually used to improve open ground. Good deer will definitely bed in there if it checks off those bullet points you mentioned for premier bedding. Tiny elevation change, or edge of a ridge. Native Hunter is on a hot streak and he loves what his tall grasses do for him.

 

[hillrunner]

My experience is similar to bill's. I rarely see deer bed in switchgrass ,however does do hide in it in November. Ehd deer really like to die in it for some reason. That's where I find the most of them.

 

[Mortenson]

My experience is similar to bill's. I rarely see deer bed in switchgrass ,however does do hide in it in November. Ehd deer really like to die in it for some reason. That's where I find the most of them.

I know you guys got hit pretty hard also. Have you found many? We are at 18 carcasses on our land, having covered maybe 35-40%. Haven't looked in the switch yet.

 

[Bill]

I know you guys got hit pretty hard also. Have you found many? We are at 18 carcasses on our land, having covered maybe 35-40%. Haven't looked in the switch yet.

Me either snow covered now so I’m holding off.

 

[buckdeer1]

I have seen tons of deer bed in CRP but only in large fields of it.At least 40-80 acres.They rarely bed in my strips and smaller areas.They probably bed more in fall and times when not as hot but with little snow.I almost always some drag tree tops out in areas I think they might bed with some structure and you can do this with CRP as it's not living

 

[bwoods11]

The best bedding I’ve ever had was a mix of Switchgrass & cedars . In Iowa.

I’d see 20 deer come out of it during a December deer hunt. Found lots of sheds in there .

In Minnesota, switch is great for early season use, rut action, some bedding. Location of a key and a mix of trees, willows, cattails , low spots … that all helps !

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I've moved to mostly using switch for screening. I have planted a few multi-acre blocks of it. I think people make the mistake of planting pure blocks of it to gain instant cover. It works and is sometimes better than just cool-season pasture or reed canary grass. I think it works best if you plant it amongst cedars, softwoods like river birch, or thickets.

I had one section that was the dead center of the property that was reed canary grass with a few cedars scattered throughout. It wasn't used at all by deer for really any part of the year. I killed the RCG and drilled in Kanlow switch around the cedars and thickets. There are beds against every tree now. Admittedly, it is too tall and thick to hunt, but it works better than we could have imagined.

I think one of the problems with some of the taller NWSG is that their seed is too viable and they eventually choke other herbaceous plants out.

This photo is of the Kanlow after 6 inches of snow. That is a 5 ft tree tubes in the foreground. You can't even see the other tubes that are just 5 yards into the switch.

 

[SwampCat]

I had a buddy that planted switch down here in the south. The deer ignored it and the hogs love it. I have very little use of any nwsg - by anything. I worked years to get it - now starting to get rid of it. Gonna keep a couple acres maybe

 

[hillrunner]

I know you guys got hit pretty hard also. Have you found many? We are at 18 carcasses on our land, having covered maybe 35-40%. Haven't looked in the switch yet.

I found 18 last year on one property. This year I'm up to 7 on a different property. Both properties have a pond near switchgrass. They seem to prefer laying down in that as opposed to going back into the timber. It might just be that it's easier since the timber is uphill and the switch is in the bottoms.

 

[Native Hunter]

My place is in an area that is neither farm country nor big woods - It's a hybrid between the two. We have lots of farm crop field and lot of woods, but the farms are nothing like Illinois and the woods are nothing like the mountainous areas of the country. The crop fields surrounding my place range from 10 acres to 50 acres, and it's hard to find a woodlot within a 5 mile radius of more than 200 acres.

I have 58 acres of NWSGs (a mix of Switch, Big Blue, Little Blue and Indian), and the forb component stays pretty strong without the grasses being able to completely take over. This is not just one big field - it has many old fence rows with massive red cedars and other big trees to break it up and provide overhead cover as mentioned above by @Bill. This combination makes for the best bedding and daylight travel in my area - especially during the rut. Actually, my total acreage at this place is 100 acres, and I know that bedding also takes place in the woods as well as the NWSGs.

Around August 15th of each year, I go in and mow my shooting lanes with a tractor and bushhog. Deer travel these lanes, and the mowing allows sunlight to reach the ground. Tender forb and tender grass regrowth starts happening, and the lanes become food plots. By hunting season it's not uncommon to see deer just suddenly pop out into the lanes of an evening and feed for more than an hour without moving 100 yards. Lot's of times they may not make it to my actual food plots before dark.

I will generally have the biggest and most dominant buck/s in the area on my place during hunting season. Keep in mind however that the biggest, baddest buck isn't always one I will want to shoot. Shown below is a deer I estimated at 150 which I watched for 40 minutes tending a doe, and he eventually walked one of the lanes giving me a 24 yard bow shot. (It was during gun season and I had both a gun and bow in the blind.) I could have also taken several other bucks in the 135 to 145 range but decided to give them a chance to make it one more season. All in all, I would say the NWSGs are working out well for me considering the heavy hunting pressure in the area.

 

[BenA]

My Kentucky farm is in the same general area as @Native Hunter (albeit, without the giants yet). I don't have switch, but I have a good bit of little bluestem and broomsedge bluestem in my old field area. It wraps around two wooded draws that jut out into my property. I have beds all through it. I can walk 100 yards after the season and find a dozen or so beds. These areas are on slopes that drop down to the draws. I have some species coming in like sumac, eastern red cedar, and blackberry briars that I welcome but will keep in check to make sure they don't take over too much of the area. I've done some edge feathering where the draws meet the old fields and am impressed by the bedding response there as well. So, I will be doing some precision bedding enhancements like that just at the tops of these draws before this summer. I did all this because of what I saw growing up. On our small "farm" in south Louisiana, we didn't have deer when I was very young. It wasn't until I was a teen that deer began to appear. And, the first place they honed in on was our neighbors pasture left to fallow that started growing up in briars. I kept trails opened by riding my horses through it. But, the sign was glaringly apparent that the deer in that low, low density area had an affinity for that type of habitat component. So, that's what I'm trying to mimic in my old field areas. It seems to be working.

 

[bigboreblr]

Deer gravitate towards confier trees. Deer need cover from rain too. I see bucks n does almost like clockwork in the PA forests in january while hunting on foot. The only problem I have is getting flintlock range to them. I can do 300 yards ok with my feet, but not my 1800fps roundball.

Bedding itself, they love pine needles. Combine that with a path of water, you got a perfect reciepe. Converting a bend of a stream to an island with year round rain cover, you got a good spot. Plant whatever grass or shrubs you like.

My mom backyard would be perfect for deer hunting, Edge of a swamp with plenty of pine. About 10 years ago at the end of the swamp, the home owner changed hands and dug out the stream lowering the swamp by almost 2 feet. Now you see much less bucks in that acre or two past the yard.

 

[omicron1792]

Agree with above. My bucks like bedding with overhead cover. I think the grasses are great but I believe you have to have some trees mixed in to hold the bucks.

 

[SwampCat]

By far the most used area for bedding on my place. Ash tree overstory with an open understory and sedge ground cover that is tall enough to hide a deer but short enough for them to see over. In the summer, it provides thermal cover - the opposite of what northern land owners think of thermal cover. Our thermal cover provides shade from the sun and with the open understory, allows a breeze for cooling and reducing insects.

 

[Native Hunter]

Even though deer will bed at times in a prairie, I see the fact that they use it as daylight travel cover as more important than bedding. I don’t care where they sleep as long as they come by me in daylight. And mature bucks can be really picky about daylight travel places.

 

[bwoods11]

I can tell you from experience, bucks to chase does in switchgrass/native grasses . It’s not all about the bedding.

It’s fun to sit next to a big native grasses field on a cold evening in late October or November. It doesn’t always result in a filled tag, but it’s sure fun to watch .

 

[SwampCat]

Around my place, bucks like to chase does in nwsg, in food plots, in the woods, in the water - I dont know anywhere at my place bucks dont like to chase does - they even chase the does around in my neighbors eaten to the ground fescue pasture. My favorite place to hunt them is near the edge of rising water - not a flood that covers the entire bottoms, but a rise that puts water in the low spots. You can hear those bucks running does through the water 200 yards away on a clear, calm morning

 

[BenA]

My favorite place to hunt them is near the edge of rising water - not a flood that covers the entire bottoms, but a rise that puts water in the low spots. You can hear those bucks running does through the water 200 yards away on a clear, calm morning

Does that ever bring back memories! That water is like an alarm system, both from seeing the ripples and hearing their steps. You can hear them moving through it and coming your way or just out of sight. It's an awesome experience on a clear, still morning to hear that sploosh and see those ripples. The difference I've seen in old field/prairie/savannah type areas is the distance you can see them. You can learn a lot about deer behavior when you can watch them for long periods of time and they feel comfortable.