Great article on alternatives to feeding

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Know These 7 Natural Deer Forage Species When You See Them

Deer eat dozens of different species of forbs, but Kyle Hedges has chosen seven you should know that represent a variety of species and are highly nutritious.

deerassociation.com

 

[BSK]

The desirability of ragweed is why I don't use Round-up Ready plants in my summer plots. If half the summer plants in the plots are ragweed, great!

Personally, I've seen very little browsing on giant ragweed. I think that is because it is a bottomland plant. And in my area, bottomlands mean agriculture, so the agriculture draws the most browse pressure.

Pokeweed is THE late summer plant in my area. Deer eat the snot out of it.

I've seen deer browse pretty heavy on partridge pea and bundleflower as well.

 

[knightrider]

Its unreal how viable ragweed is to whitetails

 

[mike243]

The desirability of ragweed is why I don't use Round-up Ready plants in my summer plots. If half the summer plants in the plots are ragweed, great!

Personally, I've seen very little browsing on giant ragweed. I think that is because it is a bottomland plant. And in my area, bottomlands mean agriculture, so the agriculture draws the most browse pressure.

Pokeweed is THE late summer plant in my area. Deer eat the snot out of it.

I've seen deer browse pretty heavy on partridge pea and bundleflower as well.

My brother shot a doe in Scott county during muzzle loader and she was loaded with poke berry's, always wondered if somebody got sick eating her lol.

 

[Snake]

Know These 7 Natural Deer Forage Species When You See Them

Deer eat dozens of different species of forbs, but Kyle Hedges has chosen seven you should know that represent a variety of species and are highly nutritious.

deerassociation.com

Good stuff thanks for sharing .

 

[TheLBLman]

Often, a 2-yr-old clear-cut is comparable to a field of soybeans as far as the deer are concerned.

 

[BSK]

Often, a 2-yr-old clear-cut is comparable to a field of soybeans as far as the deer are concerned.

Agreed. I noticed last summer, when my timber cuts were two-summers-old, that the feeding pressure on my summer plots was way down. Too much natural food available for deer to hammer the plots.

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Get your trees 40-60% basal area per acre then send fire in every 2-3 years in late growing season. You will see the magic happen and it'll feed deer way more than any food plot. Granted, it is still extremely important to have plenty of year around food in your food plots. Doing this just cuts down on feed cost and makes your entire property a honey hole.

 

[BSK]

Get your trees 40-60% basal area per acre then send fire in every 2-3 years in late growing season. You will see the magic happen and it'll feed deer way more than any food plot. Granted, it is still extremely important to have plenty of year around food in your food plots. Doing this just cuts down on feed cost and makes your entire property a honey hole.

I'm very wary of a late growing season fire, as well as fire at all on very steep slopes. Want to see a fire get out of control fast? Burn steep slopes.

That said, in many locations, I'm a huge fan of prescribed fire. The habitat it creates is truly amazing.

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Late growing season fire is wonderful for controlling your new hardwood growth without having to spray.
Don't be scared of fire, one of the greatest tools at our disposal.
On steep slopes, make sure it's a backing fire and have your fire line blacked out. After that, let it rip!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

On steep slopes, make sure it's a backing fire and have your fire line blacked out. After that, let it rip!

@BSK - yep….once you black out the perimeter up top and on the sides of the burn area, I'd just let it back down. Once you've got a good black area, send in a head fire. We have 2 planned for late summer if conditions get right

 

[MickThompson]

Get your trees 40-60% basal area per acre then send fire in every 2-3 years in late growing season. You will see the magic happen and it'll feed deer way more than any food plot. Granted, it is still extremely important to have plenty of year around food in your food plots. Doing this just cuts down on feed cost and makes your entire property a honey hole.

Have you had much success pushing fire under that much canopy in the growing season? I haven't

 

[BSK]

Late growing season fire is wonderful for controlling your new hardwood growth without having to spray.
Don't be scared of fire, one of the greatest tools at our disposal.
On steep slopes, make sure it's a backing fire and have your fire line blacked out. After that, let it rip!

Oh I have a great deal of experience with it. Especially it getting outside the breaks and getting WAY too hot!

 

[BSK]

We've got some three-year-old timber cuts (very heavy cuts, lots of wide-open areas with few trees) that we're going to spray this fall. Might burn them the following spring but I really want to see what the spraying alone produces. We don't care if we kill some of the remaining trees. Having the early-stage regrowth is far more important. We've got plenty of mature timber (all the rest of the property).

 

[knightrider]

Late growing season fire is wonderful for controlling your new hardwood growth without having to spray.
Don't be scared of fire, one of the greatest tools at our disposal.
On steep slopes, make sure it's a backing fire and have your fire line blacked out. After that, let it rip!

Fire is the best tool we have for wildlife (imho), smokey the bear was the worst thing to happen to conservation, scared the hell out of everyone!

 

[Fire_Medic890]

We've got some three-year-old timber cuts (very heavy cuts, lots of wide-open areas with few trees) that we're going to spray this fall. Might burn them the following spring but I really want to see what the spraying alone produces. We don't care if we kill some of the remaining trees. Having the early-stage regrowth is far more important. We've got plenty of mature timber (all the rest of the property).

That is exactly what I do. I will go in and spray the small sweet gums etc then run fire through the following year.

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Have you had much success pushing fire under that much canopy in the growing season? I haven't

Absolutely! Just have to wait on the weather, low humidity with a little wind and you're good to go!

 

[BSK]

That is exactly what I do. I will go in and spray the small sweet gums etc then run fire through the following year.

After 3 growing seasons, these cuts are already over-my-head impenetrable jungles of Poplar saplings and blackberries. We're going to aerially spray. Want to knock it back to starting over with forbs and grasses. We're spraying two cuts of about 25 total acres. Our total timber harvest was 7 cuts totaling 110 acres. Just trying to figure out the system that works best for holding these two patches in the 3 earliest years of regrowth forever. I strongly suspect fire will be part of that at some point. In fact, I would love to experiment with as many processes of "restarting" regrowth as possible. Who knows what will work best in each situation. Some areas are flat enough for fire now. Some areas are so steep you have to crawl up them on your hands and knees.