Switch Bedding Area near Food plot

[westonwhitetail]

Some of the shrubs we put in;

Pinoak
ROD
Silky Dogwood
Gray Dogwood
Purple osier dogwood
Buttonbrush
High bush cranberry
Winter Berry
Chokecherry
Elderberry
American plum
Hazelnut
Crab apple
Nanny berry
Indian current
Ninebark

All planted within days of seeding the pasture. Because of volume we planted pretty small stuff.
The grasses haven’t seemed to have been to restrictive on the shrub growth…the deer browsing definitely has though.
It just wasn’t practical or feasible for us to try and protect over a thousand little shrubs.
The shrubs have gotten ahead of the browsing now most are 3’ tall or better..just bushier than they would have been and I’m OK with that.
Goal was for them to kind of be like an old school thick fence row full of stuff for wildlife to eat. We planted most in four 400 yard long strips down one side of pasture then four more strips 250-300 yards long on one end. I think it is going to work out good it just takes longer than we had thought at the start.
You can see our progression with it and the pasture mix from start to now in my land tour The Big Woods.

I'll check out your land tour, thanks for the information. I was also thinking about some strips that lead by stand locations and possibly mix in some smaller food plot areas.

 

[Bassattackr]

strips that lead by stand locations

Funnels are nice like this shrub / EW corridor.. (Pic courtesy of Dbltree). Also great mock scrape locations, if you want a "stopping point" near your stand.



I have something similar on my farm (below). Mine is maybe 20 yards off the cover edge, further out.. Picture the cover strip being the edge of the field, with the rest being switch to the right. You can easily use switchgrass in lieu of the EW, milo, millet, etc. that I've done here.



Good example from Don Higgins below. Use switch instead of the harvested bean field here. Bring the edge of the switchgrass near the cover and stop maybe 20 yards or so short (like above and below), creating a great corridor, bend or inside corner for a foodplot.

- Dan
Food plot architecture nerd

 

[westonwhitetail]

Funnels are nice like this shrub / EW corridor.. (Pic courtesy of Dbltree). Also great mock scrape locations, if you want a "stopping point" near your stand.

View attachment 38055

I have something similar on my farm (below). Mine is maybe 20 yards off the cover edge, further out.. Picture the cover strip being the edge of the field, with the rest being switch to the right. You can easily use switchgrass in lieu of the EW, milo, millet, etc. that I've done here.

View attachment 38057

Good example from Don Higgins below. Use switch instead of the harvested bean field here. Bring the edge of the switchgrass near the cover and stop maybe 20 yards or so short (like above and below), creating a great corridor, bend or inside corner for a foodplot.

- Dan
Food plot architecture nerd

I really like that idea. There’s a couple ways I could us it at this location to encourage deer to travel where I want them too

 

[Bassattackr]

I really like that idea. There’s a couple ways I could us it at this location to encourage deer to travel where I want them too

Make sure you have good access to where you want your stands and it will be a great hunting spot for years to come!

As a bonus, the perimeter edges / plots create good buffers to burn the field if / when you do that.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Make sure you have good access to where you want your stands and it will be a great hunting spot for years to come!

As a bonus, the perimeter edges / plots create good buffers to burn the field if / when you do that.

Absolutely, its a tough area to hunt, I need some variation of an east wind. SE is fairly common here though, I should have an opportunity to hunt it at least once a week if I want.

Right now I am thinking a heavy seeding of switch on the access side as a 40-50 yard wide screen then transitioning to a mix with shrubs, apples, forbs, and NWSG on the back side, assuming the deer traffic will more often be in that area away from my access. Then use some linear plots to help direct traffic near stands like the photos you shared.

I'm not sure exactly where the stands and plots will land, so I'll have to draw up some options and think about it this winter. Here is my initial run through the layout.

Yellow is switch screen.
Blue is the mix of native grasses, forbs, fruit and nut trees, and shrubs. Basically a smorgasbord of bedding cover mixed with food.
Green would be the food plot.
Red dots are stands.

 

[westonwhitetail]

If I were to add conifers to the mix for added cover and bedding, what would be a good choice planted within native grasses? Do spruce or pines do better with grasses and which provides the best bedding?

 

[westonwhitetail]

It seems like spruce are best for screens cause they hold the bottom needles/limbs better but what about bedding? Pines or spruce? TIA

 

[Tree Spud]

If I were to add conifers to the mix for added cover and bedding, what would be a good choice planted within native grasses? Do spruce or pines do better with grasses and which provides the best bedding?

If switch grass, red cedars do extremely well. Other grasses will drop in winter and will smoother spruces, cedars, etc.

 

[Tree Spud]

It seems like spruce are best for screens cause they hold the bottom needles/limbs better but what about bedding? Pines or spruce? TIA

Fastest screen will be red pine. Can be planted 6' apart.

Both Norway & Blue spruce will hold their lower limbs if spaced 12'-14' apart.

Best to go with at least 3 rows staggered regardless what you plant.

 

[Tree Spud]

Absolutely, its a tough area to hunt, I need some variation of an east wind. SE is fairly common here though, I should have an opportunity to hunt it at least once a week if I want.

Right now I am thinking a heavy seeding of switch on the access side as a 40-50 yard wide screen then transitioning to a mix with shrubs, apples, forbs, and NWSG on the back side, assuming the deer traffic will more often be in that area away from my access. Then use some linear plots to help direct traffic near stands like the photos you shared.

I'm not sure exactly where the stands and plots will land, so I'll have to draw up some options and think about it this winter. Here is my initial run through the layout.

Yellow is switch screen.
Blue is the mix of native grasses, forbs, fruit and nut trees, and shrubs. Basically a smorgasbord of bedding cover mixed with food.
Green would be the food plot.
Red dots are stands.

View attachment 38087

Why are you putting stands on top of bedding? Seems counterproductive as you will not likely enter a stand without blowing the deer out.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Why are you putting stands on top of bedding? Seems counterproductive as you will not likely enter a stand without blowing the deer out.

Yeah that’s a good point, I might need to reevaluate those locations. The northern stand is better because topography, it’s isolated from the cover/bedding