Tolerating weeds

[yoderjac]

I am only speaking for myself - in the south - where we dont have harsh winters. To be honest - I dont feel my deer “need” my food plots - I am the one that needs them. Maybe the high protien bean and clover plantings really help the does and fawns - but my deer are not going to die if I quit planting my food plots - but a lot of them quit using my land if I dont have food plots. So yes, they can well subsist off native vegetation - what a lot of us food plotters refer to as weeds if they grow in our plots. In my area - deer use food plots because it is easy pickings - and I guess it tastes better to them than native vegetation. Deer use will decline during heavy acorn drop - but the rest of the year - I dont notice a decline in use of the food plots. When my grandkids come - I will often put out corn in front of a ground blind along the edge of a food plot - and many times, actually more often than not - the deer will not even go to the corn. I differentiate between food plotting and habitat management. I am first and foremost a food plotter. On my ground, I have found that the quickest way to increase my deer population - which is of prime importance to me - is through food plots. And I have even noticed in my food plots, all things are not created equal. My deer much prefer wheat over rye. But maybe if I quit planting wheat and only planted rye - they would use the rye just like they do the wheat. Deer did not use my brassica plantings - but maybe if I planted for several years, they would - but I dont consider that the best use of my time and money. Deer come to my property for my food plots - not for my native vegetation. On my 300 acres, there are about thirty acres of my plantings and 270 acres of native species. I have two or three times the surrounding deer density on my place because of my food plots - not because of my weeds. And deer density is what is most important - to me.

I'm in zone 7a and with our climate here, I'd say summer is a slightly higher stress period than winter but they are fairly close. In 8A I would expect summer to be a significantly more significant stress period than winter. In that kind of environment if deer density was a goal, as far as food plots go I would focus on warm season plots like soybeans to cover the period when nature is the most stingy. In many areas of the south the heat and lack of rain significantly reduce the quality of native foods during this period. I would say fall plots in that kind of environment would be more focused on attraction rather than winter food.

It sounds to me like you are more in a situation where you are trying to improve harvest opportunity of any deer through attraction rather than doing QDM. Nothing wrong with that, but it has different objectives which require different techniques. I'm not doing full QDM either. I'm trying to strike a balance between objectives.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SwampCat]

I'm in zone 7a and with our climate here, I'd say summer is a slightly higher stress period than winter but they are fairly close. In 8A I would expect summer to be a significantly more significant stress period than winter. In that kind of environment if deer density was a goal, as far as food plots go I would focus on warm season plots like soybeans to cover the period when nature is the most stingy. In many areas of the south the heat and lack of rain significantly reduce the quality of native foods during this period. I would say fall plots in that kind of environment would be more focused on attraction rather than winter food.

It sounds to me like you are more in a situation where you are trying to improve harvest opportunity of any deer through attraction rather than doing QDM. Nothing wrong with that, but it has different objectives which require different techniques. I'm not doing full QDM either. I'm trying to strike a balance between objectives.

Thanks,

Jack

Exactly what I am trying to do. I try to provide beans and clover for summer - high value food source that might actually benefit the does and fawns and maybe even add an inch or two of antler. I also feel if you can keep the bachelor herds on my place during the summer, more bucks will likely stay through the fall. Cool season plots are basically wheat - used to attract the deer to our land for fall and winter hunting - not to maintain them. QDM in its true sense is not really a possibility on my 300 acres because of neighboring hunter non-selectivity. But - the more bucks we attract and hold, the better the chances are one of them being a larger buck and the better the chance the smaller bucks have of making it through season.

 

[yoderjac]

Exactly what I am trying to do. I try to provide beans and clover for summer - high value food source that might actually benefit the does and fawns and maybe even add an inch or two of antler. I also feel if you can keep the bachelor herds on my place during the summer, more bucks will likely stay through the fall. Cool season plots are basically wheat - used to attract the deer to our land for fall and winter hunting - not to maintain them. QDM in its true sense is not really a possibility on my 300 acres because of neighboring hunter non-selectivity. But - the more bucks we attract and hold, the better the chances are one of them being a larger buck and the better the chance the smaller bucks have of making it through season.

Seems like a well reasoned approach.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[JFK52]

If you read my thread carefully, I said that I counted that many deer in the winter in my over winter food plots that "YARD" on or near my land. It is because my area and areas directly adjacent to it has the thickest thermal cover and available food. Yarding does not occur until January when the snow starts to get deep and the temperatures stay below freezing. I pull in deer from quite a distance as there are no other areas of thermal cover or food plots available for them in the winter. I do not have that many deer during the regular season. Deer use the same areas for winter yarding for years on end. They also migrate a distance to get to their preferred winter yards.

I shoot a good number of antlerless deer on my land each season to keep the herd in check. What other hunters or lack of hunters do on land that is not mine is impossible for me to control. After winter is done the deer disperse to their regular ranges. If deer are eating my white pines it is because there is nothing else available for them to eat. Winter deer yards are not something that many hunters or land managers get to see in person. I drive my Kubota around the road system on my land when the snow is deep just to break trails for the deer so they can expend the least amount of energy to get around.

 

[jsasker007]

Deer love white pine where I'm at in Minnesota---I gave up trying to grow them anywhere except in my yard.

 

[Barndog56]

I harvested 3 wheelbarrows full of slow release fertilizer today and spread it around the drip line of my fruit trees.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

My deer love that stuff. I honestly thought of collecting the seeds to plant a plot of it. It's getting hit just as hard as my soybeans.