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Clover is getting ate to the ground

BSK said:
Over-population and the beginnings of a browse line are very, very difficult things to see. It takes a very trained and experienced eye. That's isn't to say you have either, just pointing out they are hard things to see.
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With the lack of mast in the area that they would normally be focusing on eating, I just wonder if they have overbrowsed a particular plant that has been their preferred food source in the past month or so and are now focused in on food plots since they were basically nonexistent until the rains of the last couple of weeks put a burst of growth onto them. I know that deer are browsers and generally chow down on a variety of plants, but I wonder if this year has been so strange that their normal browsing behavior is altered somewhat.

I know that there is still a strong deer population this year, but I doubt that it is any higher than it has been in the past few years when I have not observed this behavior.

I would probably not recognize a weak browse line, but I have seen some browse lines in Michigan years ago that looked like someone sprayed a defoliant from the ground up to about 6' high.
 
My food plots are receiving much more browse this year than in years past. AND much earlier. Usually my cereal grains are taking a beating at this time, and the other stuff holds. BUT,.. due to ZERO mast,.. and myself experiencing still a tuff drought year( plots started slow and remained that on growth) i'm not very concerned. Its just a tuff year in my area. And i will alter my doe harvest alittle higher to compensate for it..
 
hambone said:
As of last Friday they were hardly touching our plots. The does we have taken were full of browse. All of our logging roads are full with honeysuckle and greenbriar right now. I read somewhere that from a management standpoint having your plots not worn to the gound is a good thing. That the plots should act as a supplement to natural browse mainly late summer and late winter providing the necessary protein. However it is nice to see all of your hard work pay off when you come back to find your plot looks like a carpet.
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Also,.. don't forget that oak tree that was LOADED in acorns. Its very possible that you had more or neighboring tracks had acorns also. This will greatly influence browse on plots. Your natural forbs are good ,.. but mixed with acorns on the ground ,.. thats more than likely the lack in plot browse.

Be ready though,.. its coming. You will want to look into getting that 34-0-0 on them plots in the coming weeks. That will help them hold throughout the winter into spring.
 

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