Resources for non-deer habitat

[Rally1148]

Hey folks,

Well I promised to start up a thread recently, and I got a little behind but here it is!


As you guys may or may not know, part of what I like doing on my property is general habitat "rehab". I say rehab because A/O has taken oven in MANY places, and I'm trying to make my land a much better spot, not just for deer but for all wildlife and specifically pollinators and songbirds. Call me a treehugger if ya wanna, but most of this stuff can be used to make our deer hunting better!
My reasons for doing this are:
1. My Mom LOVES songbirds. She loves coming down and seeing what I've been doing, and is starting to come around to the idea of cutting trees to let other "better" trees grow.
2. I'm surrounded by land that isn't the best for pollinators. State land is to my North, which is mainly old hardwoods. I have 2 crop fields that are sprayed every year. One to my North, and one to my South. While this is great for deer, clean fields certainly don't benefit wildlife as much as dirty ones. Everywhere else that is open, is usually filled with A/O, so there isn't much diversity with regards to bloom times and season long nectar sources.
3. I'm a huge bio nerd, and I loved ecology and entomology, so trying to improve this small scale system is a pretty neat and manageable idea to me!
4. Most of these efforts are also good for deer and turkeys as well.

I'll show you guys what I'm doing, and hopefully get some feedback, or inspire you to work this stuff in. In most cases, what I'm doing is also in line with what I'm doing for "property design" for deer hunting.

In this first installment, I'll focus on hedgerows/fencerows and their benefits.



So my main hedgerow that I'm building is right on/near my lot line with my bad neighbor. He has 100 feet between my other, good, neighbor and I. There is a corn/bean field directly South (down), so the main reason for putting this in is to be a screen for me while walking in. Also, I'm hoping that the deer will travel on mine into my foodplot, rather than crossing right at his blind.

I started last year by planting ~20 ROD red line. These were on sale at Meijer for $1.25. I put up fencing around them (just 4 foot welded wire). This year I put lumite over top of them, since many of them are in an extremely dry area. This year I planted ~40 ninebark (green line). 24 of these were from the GRIN program, and are part of my project. The other were from seed from Prairie Moon Nursery in MN. I've seen some browse on those that are uncaged, but all of those are from Prairie Moon. I also added one Prairie Rose from Hidden Savannah in MI.

Next year I've also transplanted a few spruce that were growing wild on my property. Next year I'll add some more natives to this mix. Elderberry, american plum, hazelnut, shrubby cliquefoil, serviceberry etc...

Here is a line of the ninebark. These are closer to the E (right) end of the green line. These are part of the GRIN project.

Here are some ROD that you can see next to my property line. Some of the leaves look off colored, I'm not sure why. They appeared to survive the lawn fertilizer I put on them! Most of these grew a good 2 feet this year. You can also see the field (facing south) on the right hand side of this picture.

This is an ROD that I started as a cutting this winter. It got a head start in my house this winter, and I then grew it in the garden this summer. It was ~3 feet tall.


This final picture shows one of the ninebark that has recieved browse. The MN ninebark got a bit of a head start on the GRIN ninebark, as I recieved the seed in January. Most of the MN ones are over a foot tall, while the GRIN ones vary in height from 3 inches to 16 inches. I'm not mad about them receiving browse, as it's what I'm planting them for! I might put cages around these just to get them established, and take them off next year. From what I've read, Ninebark does respond well to browse so I might leave them uncaged.

I hope you guys enjoy what I'm doing, and are able to work it in on your own land, OR give me feedback and suggestions! What I"m doing is relatively labor intensive, so it might not be for all of you, but later I'll get into some stuff that isn't nearly this big of a time commitment.

Here are some great links on the benefits and uses of hedge/fencrows, as well as one on habitat fragmentation, and a few just general ones on pollinators and helping them. Some are more sciencey while others are a bit less. Overall just good general info. When I focus on other areas of my property, I'll post links to related to those habitats.

http://www.michigandnr.com/publicat..._guide/Resource_Dir/Acrobat/Field_Borders.PDF

http://ohioline.osu.edu/w-fact/0014.html

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_015259.pdf

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/farming_for_bees_guidelines_xerces_society.pdf


http://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/pa/std422.pdf


http://dnr2.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/habitat/wahedgerows.aspx


http://extension.psu.edu/plants/mas...-native-fall-winter-fruiting-hedges-for-birds


http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/article/edible-hedgerows

 

[Turkey Creek]

Looks like you have done your homework and have a plan.

 

[j-bird]

Many habitat projects benefit more than just deer - My NWSG are actually a quail incentive program......but the deer use it too. The buffer strip along my stream is for erosion and soil and water quality......but the deer use it too. These are CRP programs where the area was ag field and I am not getting paid for them o be wildlife cover (within the limitations of the programs).

It's all interconnected and there is nothing wrong with wanting to help nature in general. If fact it would be sort of selfish to do something that was only, 100% for the deer in my opinion. This if from the Indiana DNR site to sort of show how different projects can help and support various critters.

 

[Rally1148]

Many habitat projects benefit more than just deer - My NWSG are actually a quail incentive program......but the deer use it too. The buffer strip along my stream is for erosion and soil and water quality......but the deer use it too. These are CRP programs where the area was ag field and I am not getting paid for them o be wildlife cover (within the limitations of the programs).

It's all interconnected and there is nothing wrong with wanting to help nature in general. If fact it would be sort of selfish to do something that was only, 100% for the deer in my opinion. This if from the Indiana DNR site to sort of show how different projects can help and support various critters.
View attachment 7506

My thoughts exactly!

 

[SD51555]

You're on the right track!

 

[Rally1148]

You're on the right track!

I'm hoping so. If nothing else, I'm creating some cover while converting other stuff.

Looks like you have done your homework and have a plan.

To be fair, a lot of the homework was stuff that was lightly touched on in my ecology classes. As for the plan, it's kind of an ever changing one without any real rigid rules other than improving stuff. I know I'll be taking a hit on my hunting in the next few years because I've been back on the property so much, but that's alright. I should still be able to get a doe.

Overall I'm just super excited to see what they do next year and how it changes the dynamic of the place.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

If you & your Mom want to attract songbirds / insect eaters - plant some Washington hawthorns. They do real well in open areas, along a fencerow, can take wet and dry weather - generally real tough trees. They put out red berries that are food for a variety of birds ( game birds and song birds ). The thick, thorny limbs make excellent nesting cover for small tweeters - thorns keep predators out. Many nests in our haws at my camp. Deer always seem to walk along and thru our hawthorns and sometimes bed in them. Grouse LOVE them !!
We have grouse flush out of them all the time in fall & winter. Thick limbs and red berries are the draw.

It looks like you have some spruce around there. That would be my other suggestion for thermal & nesting cover for the tweeters. Spruce, pine and hemlock are magnets for little song birds and insect eaters. I'm amazed at the variety of little birds that I see when sitting in my tree stands at camp. Some I don't see anywhere else. Pretty neat !!

Good luck on your project. Overall habitat improvement is a good idea anywhere. Diversity is the name of the game. WTG Rally.

 

[SD51555]

Rally, are you going to do a wildflower plot too?

 

[West Branch]

I remember reading that the "haw" in hawthorn originally meant "hedge". We have some old rock fences/piles that split up some fields and they are overgrown with hazelnut, chokecherry, hawthorn, plum, nannyberry, one wild crabapple, some acorn producing bur oaks and other random trees. Deer and turkey move up and down the fence rows.

 

[Rally1148]

Rally, are you going to do a wildflower plot too?

Yessir! That's my next installment! I put in 20 plugs this year, and almost all survived. I'll get posting that stuff either tonight or tomorrow

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Great job. Love it.

 

[Rally1148]

So, I started a light wildflower plot. This is all on VERY dry soil. I planted Leadplant, bush clovers, rattlesnake master, compass plant, and a few others. In this area I decided to use plugs since it is so dry. I've had pretty good establishment and almost all of them made it. They are all perennial, so they should just get stronger. These are all varieties that will get over 2 feet tall, with some reaching 4-5 feet. This is to add some security cover, and just to thicken up a fairly open area. You can see that I also transplanted a bunch of spruce here. I have a blind about 10 yards south of that location, so it'll make it easier for me to get to the blind unseen.





I also planted NWSG this spring on the West side of the plot. I sprayed with 2-4-D twice to eliminate (or at least knock them back) broadleaves, and I'll be broadcasting a wildflower mix this fall.




I looked for an overall diversity of flowers that were able to handle sandy soil and would be competitive with the NWSG. I'm still waiting to see how it all works out. I'm using this prairie mix to add some cover around my plot, and hopefully encourage them to travel in the plot, as well as use the plot earlier in the day.

I plan to keep on improving both of these areas.

Just general pollinator resources here.


http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GreatLakesPlantList_web.pdf

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/farming_for_bees_guidelines_xerces_society.pdf

http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/PollinatorsNaturalAreas_June2014_web.pdf

 

[rocksnstumps]

What I saw this weekend reminded me of this old thread. Have a small 1/3 acre plot of clover past its prime and due to out of town work have not been around to do much habitat stuff this year. So was just gonna mow when I can and plan on doing more for this fall. It has really being taken over by foxtail. Just as I was finishing up brushhogging, a friend showed up and I got down from the tractor and noticed the bucket I had kept kinda low just covered in dozens and dozens of tiny grasshoppers that would be fine munchies for new turkey poults. Another clover plot in better shape sure attracts the deer but didn't see many bugs and I bet I know where momma turkey heads for. Just a reminder not to get too narrow a focus on habitat thinking.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We watch the turkeys - poults and adults - chasing hoppers thru our fields in the summer. It's funny watching the young ones darting all over the place trying to catch their meal !! Deer not the only beneficiaries of habitat work - you're right !!