Need some input on how der use NWSG

[j-bird]

I am new to NWSG, but I am already working on expanding and wanting to make something good even better. For those of you that have NWSG habitat have you seen anything to shed some light on how the deer use it? My intent is for them to use it for bedding as well as cover to and from my plots. My thing is - is there anything I can do within the NWSG to encourage bedding in a particular area? Will the deer relate to say fallen trees or even groups of saplings and shrubs within the NWSG - or is it pretty random? I like the cover it creates so far, but I am affraid I am going to spread out where the deer will bed and as such create more chances of educating them.

 

[sandbur]

I feel NWSG on light soils in the northland are not worth much. Just my two cents. I prefer willows and conifers.

You are in a much better area for them.

 

[sandbur]

I see bedding in areas of reed canary that are intermixed with willows and conifers.

I feel the reed canary gives much better bedding that the NWSG. The NWSG is just too short from what I have seen on our lighter soils.

I do see some nice NWSG stands on better soils, especially after fire. One stand I have been watching looked great the year after the fire. This is the second year and I am not impressed by what I see.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

I feel like deer mainly feel comfortable bedding in large acreage plots of crp. NWSG offer limited cover but that also gives deer the advantage of escape. I see deer use crp for bedding in SW MN but rarely see it in the north unless it's mixed with taller/heavier cover.

 

[sandbur]

I feel like deer mainly feel comfortable bedding in large acreage plots of crp. NWSG offer limited cover but that also gives deer the advantage of escape. I see deer use crp for bedding in SW MN but rarely see it in the north unless it's mixed with taller/heavier cover.

It seems like Lickcreek once posted on the dark side that about a minimum of 10 acres of NWSG is needed for good bedding use.

 

[dipper]

I don't think there is a real concrete answer. I would think topography has a lot to do with it. Even in my hay fields it is apparent how much a little knoll or knob will attract bedding.
I don't have a whole lot of experience with nwsg. My buddy owns a 30 acre field. I can tell you it is hard to walk through it. Deer avoid predators in it: I found a wolf kill a few years back. The wolf was obviously chasing this deer through this field. It was December and there was snow, so you could tell what happened. This young buck decided to leave the nwsg, and the wolf nabbed him within 50 yards. It appeared to me that deer was avoiding the wolf in the grass. I would imagine their ability to bound above the thickest portions of the grass, gave the deer the upper hand. I think this observation is worth the weight in gold. We have to remind ourselves we aren't the only predators out there. I don't know exactly what a deer thinks, but I'd guess that young buck would have had a better appreciation for that grass if he stayed in the grass, and lived. I don't know?
He also shot a massive 170" typical on a drive in a smaller patch of nwsg. This buck had large thick and nasty swamps and cutovers nearby, but he chose to wait out wi gun season in that grass. Someone had to pretty much step on him to get him going.
I've become sold. Just like all the stuff we do, it's a case by case basis. There is no magic wand like some in the deer industry convey. I'm converting 20 acres of field next year. It has just as much to do with protecting my soil, as adding cover to a part of my farm that lacks it.
I also like the way it looks. So to me, it comes down to more than just deer.

 

[Bill]

I have 10 acres of switch surrounding a 2.5 acre bean plot. I hate to admit this but I have no clue if they bed in it.

It's just to hard to walk through to look for beds. But they do just "appear" out it into the beans. Don't know if they are traveling through it or coming from it as there is small fingers of timber on both sides.

I also have 6 acres of big blue and Indian grass. I wish I never planted that as I hardly ever see deer coming out of it, it's just way to dense.

It is pretty grass though

 

[Native Hunter]

I am new to NWSG, but I am already working on expanding and wanting to make something good even better. For those of you that have NWSG habitat have you seen anything to shed some light on how the deer use it? My intent is for them to use it for bedding as well as cover to and from my plots. My thing is - is there anything I can do within the NWSG to encourage bedding in a particular area? Will the deer relate to say fallen trees or even groups of saplings and shrubs within the NWSG - or is it pretty random? I like the cover it creates so far, but I am affraid I am going to spread out where the deer will bed and as such create more chances of educating them.

The spot in my NWSGs where I am certain that lots of deer bed is where a small pond and little thicket lays between two NWSG fields. I stay out of that spot all year except for doing some grass maintenance in the spring, but I can see the edge of it from 250 yards away at one of my stands. The dusk/dawn traffic into/out of that spot is great. On the other end of it I have a trail cam and see the same thing on that side via pictures.

Below is a pic of the little pond. This is surrounded on 3 sides by native grasses and drops off on the lower side to a branch which also has native grasses on the other side of it. The other place that I know lots of bedding is going on is in a 12 acre tree planting on the other side of the farm.