Extremely Good Habitat For Deer And Wildlife
Deer eat 4-8 pounds of food per day. Times that by how many deer are in the area. Times that per day, per week, per month. It adds up very quickly. Does your deer hunting property have enough food?
When we look at habitat for deer and other wildlife its hard to find a good property that has it all. Some people think there land is the best when its really not. One way to easily tell is just by looking at the deer. If you see ribs showing most likely they do not have enough food to eat. Remember they consume 4-8 pounds per day. When this requirement falls short they lack nutrition and start to decline in health and body weight. They are also consuming low quality foods that is lacking digestible proteins (meaning more sticks to the ribs)
Most areas lack food to some degree. Another way to tell is to simply scout the land and look what the deer are eating. If the woody browse is consumed down to the dirt you have to many deer per square mile and not enough food. Again when this happens deer and other wildlife start to decline. You need to thin the herd out and or create more food. I remember a property I started hunting a years ago deer were eating pine needles. This is a extreme example of poor habitat and lack of food. You could clearly see the ribs showing and I knew it was going to be difficult to correct this. Little did I know it was not that difficult after all.
When you see this happen you can make a plan to correct it. the first thing people think of is food plots. But what people do not understand is that food plots are supplemental! Its almost impossible to plant enough food plots to feed the deer herd. After all when planting a food plot you will attract more deer so youll need more food. What we need to start looking at is how can I create more woody browse. Natural browse is the backbone to all healthy deer herds. Healthy deer herds have enough food to last through the time of need during the winter months.
So how can we create more natural browse?
select cuts are probably one of the most common practices that land owners do in order to create more food and I agree with that. Select cuts are a powerful tool to use.
hinge cutting can also be a instant food source for deer and also cover. Hinge cutting puts food at ground level. Although I am not a huge fan of hinge cutting I do like it in some cases.
Clear cuts is another tool sometimes used. I am also not a huge fan of clear cuts when removing to much timber. This really opens up the canopy and allows a lot of sun to hit the floor and in a few years it will be a jungle that you will have to maintain. This is why select cuts I believe is much better.
Edge feathering is probably one of my favorite techniques to use for creating extra food. By taking the woods line and cutting it back say 20-30 yards and removing the timber and also dropping some timber out into the field. This allows birds to land in the tree tops and poop. when they poop they are dropping seeds. These seeds will germinate and grow through the tree tops.
Food plots is also one of my favorite things to do to increase food value. Choosing the correct thing to plant to very important. some of my favorite things to plant is winter wheat, oats, and brassicas.
example of a clear cut. nothing left!
Good habitat is a mix of hard and soft mass. Acorns are only a short term food source. that is why is important to have a mix so deer have a choice. Hardwood regeneration, briers, bushes, shrubs, food plots, black berry bushes, poison ivy, honey suckle (yes deer eat it)
I remember a few years back a guy was told to eliminate every piece of honey suckle on his land. after 2 years he saw a decrease in deer on his land. He also saw a decrease in birds and other wildlife. He reached out to me for advice on why and I simply asked what changed. He told me and I said dude, you removed all the deer food! deer eat honey suckle. It may not be the highest on the food chain but its tonnage. Removing 60-70 percent would of been a better idea to allow more things to grow but not removing all of it.
Adding food to your land will not only attract more deer and wildlife it will also create a healthier deer herd! within the first year you should see the ribs disappear and deer starting to look healthier over all. You can speed up the process by paying attention to soil samples and increasing the soil health. soil gives the nutrients to the plants which give it to the deer.
For more information check out the video below!!