Sumac
- Thread starter buckdeer1
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Deer will eat the berries. It's not preferred, so it's still there late winter when other food sources are gone and they kind of need it.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Isolated patches are nice, especially on hill sides. I have seen deer bed under it a lot in the summer. Shade with good air flow.
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
I had a patch of Sumac in the back yard in an area I wanted to convert to fruit trees so I cut them down in early spring. It only took a few weeks and there were fresh shoots that were several feet long. I was drinking coffee one morning watching several deer ripping off the new shoots and eating the whole thing. Like watching the movie Coneheads, they bit it in the middle and the whole thing folded forward and they ate the whole friggin thing. Strangest thing I have ever seen a deer eat, prior to witnessing this I would have guessed they might eat the new tops but never would imagined they would eat the whole thing.
Sumac and wild plums are tough to beat. They are great cover for both deer and small game.
The sumac can be thick like that when they are young, but as they mature and get taller there will be more space between the plants. I've never seen sumac too thick for deer to use though, but if you can get a couple patches of grass growing in there that would probably offer some good variety as well.
The sumac can be thick like that when they are young, but as they mature and get taller there will be more space between the plants. I've never seen sumac too thick for deer to use though, but if you can get a couple patches of grass growing in there that would probably offer some good variety as well.
b116757
5 year old buck +
I’ve got a couple areas of ridiculously thick plum patches with some other stuff mixed in for good measure on the new farm I’m spraying a portion of it to reduce there sizes but will leave some as super heavy cover areas. I’ve seen rabbits and pack rats galore in those areas a couple nice bucks boiled out of them, a bobcat headed into it and I’m pretty sure I had a coyotes den in one this spring kept seeing a coyote in the same area repeatedly for a month or so. Also seen a mother turkey and her chicks on the edge of one so they definitely have high wildlife value. One is an 1.5 acres the other is about 2.5 acres.
Attachments
Gravel Road
5 year old buck +
I try to keep it under control, as it will spread too quickly; but I wouldn't want it to disappear. The quail and deer do use it for thermal cover in the summer and I've witnessed bucks eating the seed heads within 100 yards of a corn feeder. There are usualy quite a few runbs in the sumac patches.
T-Max
5 year old buck +
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I’m jealous of the sandhill plums, I just planted twenty along edge of woods this spring next to where I planted twenty American plums last spring.
I can’t say much on the sumac not a thing here, closest we have that grows like that is bush honey suckle. The deer browse it hard and it grows like crazy and grows thick in woods…I don’t like it in pastures, in a smaller woods it doesn’t seem to hurt the wildlife. Probably pretty bad for the native understory though.
I can’t say much on the sumac not a thing here, closest we have that grows like that is bush honey suckle. The deer browse it hard and it grows like crazy and grows thick in woods…I don’t like it in pastures, in a smaller woods it doesn’t seem to hurt the wildlife. Probably pretty bad for the native understory though.
bueller
Moderator
Yep. When mature they will get a sticky substance on them that will taste sour but not bitter. Harvest them at that time and not after a rain as you don't want the goods washing off.
I have planted thousands of sandhill plums and though with late freeze I wouldn't have any this year but they are just starting to ripen.I started planting 3 ft apart in rows that were around 8ft apart.They were just starting to produce when neighbor burned them up this spring.If you need to buy anymore check with Kansas forestry or give me a shout I will dig some
RestoringtheGround
Yearling... With promise
I have a ton of sumac on my place in Mississippi. The property was clear cut 5 years ago and it regenerated with vengeance.
I’m brush cutting areas to create old field habitat and when it sprouts out, the deer are hammering it. Saying that, I have way more habitat/food than deer currently.
I’m brush cutting areas to create old field habitat and when it sprouts out, the deer are hammering it. Saying that, I have way more habitat/food than deer currently.
