My savana

[thayer]

This is the Turtlesprings habitat plan. If you start at the NW and call that quadrant 1 and then the NE quadrant is 2, 3 is Mid West quadrant, 4 is the Mid East quad, and the yellow spot is quad 5.

 

[thayer]

Quads 3 and 4 were burned originally. Quads 1 and 2 were then next. Quads 3 and 4 followed by an oops burning of quad 5.

The results have been tremendous. We have gone from dead zone to vibrant understory growth that has allowed the deer and turkey to meander throughout the place.

 

[thayer]

We did mainly February burns, but then turned our efforts into burning during green up, spring time. Wow, what a difference. The sapling kill has been awesome.

This is actually quad 2 with 4 to your left.

 

[thayer]

Here is a pic looking east at quad 4 from the bottom plot.

 

[thayer]

I also have made an soft mast orchard.

 

[thayer]

Chestnuts, elderberry, wahoo, strawberry bush, mulberry, button bush, sawtooth, persimmon, and some pears are in the plan for this area.

We frost seeded some clover in here for a soil cover, food plot.

 

[thayer]

We have a great age class of bucks. Good antlers for a Ozark hills area. I really would like to have more does, but we call food plot 1 the boxing ring. We are at a 3 to 1 bucks to doe ratio...all bucks get broken...sad.

 

[dipper]

Thanks for sharing

 

[kabic]

Where is your land Thayer?

 

[Native Hunter]

Very cool habitat. I've got to believe a savanna would be a good setting for a lot of plant diversity.

 

[bueller]

Probably won't be hearing anymore about this.....

 

[Jim Timber]

Probably won't be hearing anymore about this.....

Maybe, maybe not. Hopefully we can move forward from the past and bury our hatchets in some cambium instead of each other's backs.

I thought it was cool seeing the project and photos. I don't think it's quite a savanna yet, but it's certainly a different ground cover than was there.

 

[Greta&Gus]

What constitutes a savanna and how do deer use it?

 

[Jim Timber]

Savanna is primarily grass, sedges, and forbs with dappled large crown mature trees (typically oak). The vegetation is good for bedding deer, the trees are good sources of mast. It's what is supposed to compromise the edge between prairie and forest, but since people wiped out that transition with crops, it's missing from much of the Midwest.

The large trees sustain the understory fires which keep the other trees from filling in and shading out the grasses, etc.

It's also good for birds and small mammals as there's ample cover for nesting and dens, with plenty of bugs and seed to live off.

 

[tooln]

Looks good, how many acres & location?

 

[wiscwhip]

Savanna is primarily grass, sedges, and forbs with dappled large crown mature trees (typically oak). The vegetation is good for bedding deer, the trees are good sources of mast. It's what is supposed to compromise the edge between prairie and forest, but since people wiped out that transition with crops, it's missing from much of the Midwest.

The large trees sustain the understory fires which keep the other trees from filling in and shading out the grasses, etc.

It's also good for birds and small mammals as there's ample cover for nesting and dens, with plenty of bugs and seed to live off.

The oak savanna natural community is very closely related to and in some cases hold a symbiotic relationship with the pine barrens natural community common to parts of central and NW WI. The 2 habitat types share many of the same species of both plants and animals.

 

[sandbur]

We have a great age class of bucks. Good antlers for a Ozark hills area. I really would like to have more does, but we call food plot 1 the boxing ring. We are at a 3 to 1 bucks to doe ratio...all bucks get broken...sad.

Welcome, Thayer and please keep posting!

Some of us on this site have taken the philosophy that we have killed too many does. Perhaps that is your situation if you have that many bucks. Kill lots of does and hit a bad stress season and populations can drop quickly. For us it is a bad winter, for you it might be drought or disease like EHD.