J-birds place

[j-bird]

I agree Bill - priorities shift, especially regarding the kids.

I had a lot of standing corn left this year, so I am toying with doing some different things as well. I tend to focus plots on corn or soybeans and then overseed in the fall. I may specifically make a fall annual plot this year just to see if it makes any real difference. I'm thinking of splitting my largest plot (which is only 3/4 acre) in half and plant the normal corn or beans in half and then plant a true fall plot of AWP, cereal grains and brassica. Been a while since I have done that and I like to shake things up once in a while. As for letting things go to grow cover - you hit the nail on the head in that cover is sometimes seasonal. That is why I am taking on the switchgrass expansion - it will simply provide better cover and for more of the year. What was there is OK in the fall, but slowly deteriorates as the winter progresses to being virtually worthless at this time of year.

 

[j-bird]

Well another forum had a link to a mapping program called "cropscape". It essentially measures land usage. In using the program I thought I would share both my county info as well as a more localized look at the 2 square miles my property touches. Habitat on a regional and localized basis can have huge impacts on deer numbers and can lead us to direct our habitat work in different directions.

My county:

So in general terms across my county - row crop farming and livestock pastures account for 70+% of land usage. What we would consider "deer cover" accounts for roughly only 20%, while development is between 5 and 10%.

On a localized basis, the 2 square miles my place touches - the numbers are only slightly better. Farming still accounts for 70+% of the usage, but the "deer cover" increases to roughly 25% as development is much lower.

So what does this mean? It means deer have lots of food in my area and county wide, but not much cover to support large numbers of deer. I knew this, but it took me some time to realize it. As such I have shifted my habitat efforts away form plots and focused more on improving the cover I do have and increasing the amount of cover where I can.

Here is the link that I used to find the info above.
https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/

I posted about this in the post where this link was originally shared, but I thought it was good info on my area as well so I thought adding it here may be helpful as well.

 

[TMIL]

I like that website. FYI, in my area, the old crop fields that have been ignored for 12-20 years and are grown up in thick, nasty, AO, blackberry, etc. are listed as grass/pasture but is the best deer cover you could imagine.

 

[j-bird]

I like that website. FYI, in my area, the old crop fields that have been ignored for 12-20 years and are grown up in thick, nasty, AO, blackberry, etc. are listed as grass/pasture but is the best deer cover you could imagine.

In my area - pasture is pasture - short grass for cows and horses. for the most part if it can be farmed around here it is and if it can't be row crops is pasture. Only trees are where it's too wet or too steep. Just the way it is. Not much of such a thing as a "fallow field" around here.....at least not in any amount. Even if all the pasture was cover like you see - I'm still 60-65% row crop fields.

 

[TMIL]

Right on j-b, I can see why you're interested in the switch grass. Certainly a good idea to give more cover! My situation must be unique. I won't clog up your tour with it, maybe I'll start my own?

 

[j-bird]

Right on j-b, I can see why you're interested in the switch grass. Certainly a good idea to give more cover! My situation must be unique. I won't clog up your tour with it, maybe I'll start my own?

if you think about it, each of our situations is unique. That is why these forums are so great. We see how other people have addressed the same issues differently OR used the same method to address different issues.

You want to talk switchgrass here - you go right ahead.

 

[Bill]

I have two types of switchgrass planted on my place. CIR and Don Higgins secret blend.
Don't usually endorse much and each is good depending on what you want. My CIR allows you to see deer here and there from a stand as the deer move through it. Don Higgins grass will completly hide the deer.

As a side note he recommends like 2 lbs per acre and I got a bit heavy with it.
Here is DH grass today. We had a mild winter but this stuff stays standing.

Personally, I don't think switch is as good as timber but I can't wait for trees to grow.

 

[j-bird]

I use the DH switch as well.....at least so far. Mine gets to about 5 feet tall (actual vegetation height, not the seed heads) or so and yes will entirely hide a deer. I am considering mixing some DH and CIR as well for my new project.....just to keep costs more under control. I plant switch because it still allows me to stay within the rules of my CRP agreement and then try to promote some shrubs toward the wooded edge that the deer use as structure to bed near. Sort of my plan with my cedar project. Switch also tends to be the cheapest I have found in the tall NWSG family. Bigbluestem and Indiangrass will make a guy go broke, and requires a drill! Switch I can just broadcast and no need for a fancy drill.

 

[j-bird]

Well I was out trying to get some work done today.

I was out today planting some of my sawtooth oaks (thanks to Catscratch). I direct planted some in a few clearings.....I marked there location with red flags - that way I can find them later!!!

Also put some in my small "orchard" in the north. These are direct seeded as well, but I took some additional precautions to hopefully ensure they come it. These cages are temporary - just for germination and I will grow the cages as the trees do.

These are 18" circumference and 18" tall. I decided to close the top to ensure the deer would try to nip the tops off. I put one acorn in the ground and left another on the soil surface. IF I get two to grow I will simply transplant or kill of the smaller of the two.

While I was out I cleaned up some of my chestnuts.....While I was at it it dawned on me how folks ask about cage sizes and the like. These where 3 gallon container trees and the yellow "stick" for reference is 48" long.


I make mine 5 feet tall....I figure that is tall enough - anything that reaches out after that the deer can have.

I make them 3 feet in diameter as well. I try to promote vertical growth instead of outward growth, so if the deer nip off anything that grows beyond the cage.....well long term it's going to get pruned off any way!!!

I also am sure other folks have figured this little trick out as well, but if not I will share as well. The 1x I use to support the cage I sandwich between the overlap of the cage. What this does it allows me to lift the cage up and over the tree to be able to access it while still being rigid enough to keep the cage in place. Works great!

 

[j-bird]

While I was out I saw a few other things I went ahead and took pics of....

This is why neighbors are important.....don't get me wrong I get along with them, but they have no idea or intention of addressing this issue. All the green shrubs you see are jap bush honeysuckle, acres of it.

I was surprised to see how much clover came up where I had planted a brassica mix.....I'm sure the deer are loving it. To be honest I never really considered the benefits before.....but it was a nice surprise.

I also saw some of my apples are waking up as well....

And found that at least something was using my small waterholes!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

J-Bird - It all looks really good. Except the Jap B.H. Clover has to be feeding deer right now. Water hole will see action as the season progresses and gets dryer. Thanks for the pix !!

 

[j-bird]

Had some help today! My youngest (nearly 13) helped with the last of the direct seeded sawtooths. Had several talks about the "how" and "why" of what we were doing. I told her with a little luck maybe in a few years she will shoot a deer coming in to eat an acorn from a tree she is planting. She helped plant acorns, hook up the sprayer and even with filling it. We had to have a talk about why we put the hose down in the tank to reduce foaming........after it was too late!

 

[j-bird]

Just some pics from my walk today.

My Chestnuts are waking up for their 3rd year...I think. I got catkins last year, but no spurs last year. We will see how things go this year.

A walk in the timber looking for sheds and morels.....none of either, but the timber flowers and may apples where there.

Also found some perfect examples of life from a dead tree.....here is a standing dead tree that wood peckers have just beat the crap out of.

I didn't find any morel's but I did find some other mushrooms and fungus. I found some of these....I have no idea what they are....but some where the size of dinner plates!

 

[j-bird]

Well got some work done on another project as well. I am working on digging an actual water hole in the north part of my property.

Here is what it looked like last weekend. This area tends to hold rain water as it is, and it was too wet to really do anything when this pic was taken. There is some grass growing here so I am concerned about that and what roots I may encounter.

Well this is this weekend. I had to use the tools I had. A backhoe would have been great but I don't have one and the bucket on my FEL doesn't "dig" real well. So I used my 2 bottom plow to help loosen the ground. The "hole" is about 2 feet deep and I finally got down to some clay....

Different angle. The hole is sort of triangle shaped and I hope to do a little more work next weekend and install a liner.....left over from our "red-neck" pool. I have not had any luck getting the soil to hold water thus far. With a 4 day weekend coming up I hope to finish this project then. I'll post final pics when I have them..... Anyway, spent a beautiful day in the woods playing in the dirt!

The nice thing is I can use one project to assist with another. I took some of the "spoils" from this project to help fix a bad spot in my access trail. So I sort of killed two birds with one stone.

 

[Bill]

Maybe if you hit enough clay you won't need a liner.
I'm no pond expert though.

 

[j-bird]

Maybe if you hit enough clay you won't need a liner.
I'm no pond expert though.

I'm not taking any chances. I didn't hit clay until about 2 feet down.....as such I'm not taking changes. Otherwise I fear I'm going to end up with a 2 feet deep hole with a small puddle in the bottom. I have the bottom of the 24 foot diameter above ground pool liner to use.....I can place it, cut it to size and then blend it in and it should work great and give me a much larger water hole.

 

[TMIL]

Maybe a silly question ... are you checking the level of the top bank of your hole? I can't tell from the pics if there is a grade to the ground there. You'll certainly want to level your liner.

 

[j-bird]

Maybe a silly question ... are you checking the level of the top bank of your hole? I can't tell from the pics if there is a grade to the ground there. You'll certainly want to level your liner.

I was still digging when the pic was taken. I will level the liner when I get it installed as part of the final process. Good call though......don't want part of the liner below where the final water level will be.....just leads to all sorts of problems. The liner is bigger than the hole so I can cut it as I wish.....including a small "spill way".

 

[TMIL]

Right on my friend. You'll end up with a water hole for sure!!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Deer are gonna love it in the heat of summer. Probably other visitors too.