Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
During the chase phase, does want to run in thick cover to help escape bucks. They had rather run through cover that doesn't poke their eyes out, which is why I think you see so many chases in NWSGs.
Is switch really the best bedding?
- Thread starter SD51555
- Start date
You are 100% right. I bow hunted only for deer from the age of about 45 to age 65. At age 45, I hadnt bought my land yet and was hunting mostly public and regularly shooting the first legal deer I saw. Also, since I was bow hunting, I was almost always hunting in woods where I couldnt see much over 50 yards. I hurt my shoulder when I was about 65 and started hunting with a crossbow - but also a lot with a rifle. Been a long time since I hunted with a rifle. I started hunting areas where I could see a lot farther. My favorite stand is an 8 acre food plot in a native pecan grove. I can see two hundred yards in several directions. We have a lot more deer now than we did twenty years ago when I last hunted with a gun. I have learned more about deer behavior in the last five years than I did in the previous twenty years - because I can see them a lot farther, a lot more of them, and them having no idea I am there. I see lots of fighting, a fair bit of breeding, bucks checking does and working the edge of the opening - on a regular basis - things I rarely saw bow hunting in the woods - I now see all the time. Rifle season is just an excuse to go. I have killed one deer in four years - but I could kill a legal deer every hunt. I have never hunted that pecan grove without seeing deer. You learn so much more watching sometimes 25 deer in a morning in an area they are visible - than seeing one or two in the woods. Sometimes I go sit at that pecan grove just to watch - with no weapon.
Was the you tube video that he is strongly suggesting sorgum/ Sudan grass over switch?
Cool Hand Luke
5 year old buck +
Anyone ever intentionally or (accidentally) plant large stands at a lower seed rate to get diversity for feeding/bedding? How well does switch stand if it isn't dense enough?
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I think it's generally thought nowadays that lighter populations / thinner stands are the most desirable end result. The best choices (RC, Kanlow, CIR) will stand just fine usually until repeated heavy winter snows lay them flat. Usually around here that's well past deer season's end. Seems guys have years of observations that deer prefer bedding in and travelling through thinner stands, plus forbs and diversity fill in better that way. That said, don't make it too sparse. Others can weigh in.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Up north where snowfall is heavier, I think that pure switch might be the best choice due to winter standability. However, even though we have a few snows, our winters here are not that severe. Because of that, I like a heavy forb presence in my planting rather than straight grass. When you mow shooting lanes in the early fall, you will get some good forb regrowth before hunting season, and the tender new growth is a draw for deer.
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omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Do you ever throw clover or rye in those lanes when mowing?
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
No, I think it would take some tilling for that to work. The already established grasses and forbs form a fairly thick mat and would keep the seed from reaching the ground and germinating.
Generally, in the afternoons the deer will filter out into the lanes and browse naturally occurring forbs as they work their way toward the plots.
Here is another thing to keep in mind - deer will also stand in the lanes and browse the un-mowed edges up high on the forbs. As I have heard Dr. Harper discuss, many forbs do not lose their palatability at the tips as they grow tall. Having a mowed lane just makes it easier for them to see what they are doing when they browse the tips higher on the plant.
When I mow lanes, I just want to get it over and get out as quickly as I can - because I cringe when I see all of the beds and hope I'm not disturbing things too bad. That's why I mow fairly early - I want to have plenty of time for things to settle back down before hunting season and before bucks start their fall transitioning.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Any issues with fawns in there in the spring time? Bedding when you are trying mow?
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
My summer plots get really thick. Late summer I mow lanes in the plot and I notice every plant next to those lanes is browsed.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I always do any mowing in the spring before May 15th, and so far have never hit a fawn. That seems to be a safe bet here and works well for my goals. The new NWSGs are just beginning to grow at about that time.
By the time I mow shooting lanes in the fall, fawns are mature enough that there is no danger.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Here is a native grass area right now (at a mineral site). I like about this amount of open ground beneath the grass.
How do you keep it that open. My nwsg becomes a solid stand very quickly. When I first got the place and was killing the pasture grasses and the forbs were the first to come in - deer were in the field everyday feeding. Within three or four years, it was pure stands of nwsg - and the only deer you see are walking through it to get to the other side. They are much more likely to bed in a pure wheat field than nwsg.
I sprayed cleth on about two acres - it thinned it - but still no open ground. I killed everything on another couple acres. Not positive what I am going to do with that yet - but probably a light seeding of millets and milo and hope some forbs come in. Another five acres of nwsg - I killed out with several sprayings of cleth and spread pollinator seeds. I am hoping to see some forb growth in there this year. I am going to keep it sprayed with cleth until the pollinator plants get going. My fields are pretty high maintenance.
I have about 8 acres of CRP that I planted with a blend that included switchgrass. I just used a broadcast spreader, so the seeding mixture varied depending on how well or poorly I mixed the seed before putting it in the spreader. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I'd estimate that about 1/3 of the grasses growing are switchgrass. The best looking areas in that field are the random patches in the fields that I somehow missed while planting. These little pockets filled in with weeds, which get quite a bit of use when they are surrounded by the switchgrass mix.
Does like to drop fawns in the CRP, but that's about all the bedding I see there. Very few deer bed there in the fall as they prefer to bed in the adjacent woods. I'm sure the switchgrass would get some use in an area with few other bedding options, but around here they prefer bedding in the woods by a large margin.
I don't know how Omicron keeps his ground open like that, but I have some crp ground that looks like that in a couple of small sections. It is the worst sandy soil that struggles to retain any moisture. The same seed blend planted 30 yards away in great soil grows plants that are much taller and thicker, with no soil visible.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
I plant it at very low rates. I also planted with Milo at time of planting which helps.