Wildlife Food Plots

[Norm]

I have an area I cleared last year that runs right next to a small stream. The crick floods a couple of times a year on average so it has no value as farm land. I don't think trees could handle the frequent flooding so I'm kicking around planting it into a food plot. Something that deer wouldn't eat so fast that the rest of the wildlife such as turkeys and pheasants can get some would be best. It's about 2 acres in size and I have farm equipment to do the dirt work with and a seed drill to use for planting. I'm thinking that an annual will do better as we have canary grass thick in that area and will out compete any perineals I'd plant. Any suggestions?

[Jeff]

I really don't have enough experience yet to offer suggestions, but I'm here wifya!  The only thing I can say that my first attempt on my powerline this past year I consider a success, that included killing the canary grass through the spring and summer then planting in august. I planted several clovers along with rye, oats and rape.  Later on I planted in some Austrian Peas.  This year I will try to spray something that only kills the grasses in attempt to promote the clover, and add more clover seed which I got for Christmas. ;D Later in the year I'm going to inter plant more rape, turnips and also a much larger amount of Austrian winter peas as the deer go after that like crazy.

  I also plan, after the grass poisoning, to plant several rows of corn mixed with Sudan grass as a screen to ward off prying eyes from the road.  I'll plant two more screens to divide the food plots that will go 3/4ths the way across the powerline, one originating from the northwest, then other from the south east. The purpose of those screens will be to keep the bucks from looking the length of the power line to survey the does. I want them to have to check each area. The longer I can keep them on my property, the better.

[LOGDOG]

I have a few clients/friends that manage/own large tracts of land. From 2000 acres to 10,000 acres. They've been doing it for years. This last year one of them was telling me about "chufa". You'll have to do a search on it. He says it's literally like cocaine to turkeys. Not so much for the deer though. Another good one for the turkeys is chickory. They love it. Also, the clover that has the red top on it. I can't remember the name it goes by here. Up north in WI a friend of mine did a combination of clover and rutabagas. Those deer positively tear up the rutabagas. That may be a problem if your ground has a high water table in it though - being a root vegetable. I have some ground that I plant - 15-20 acre patch. I tried BioLogic and Tecomate mixes - waste of money. I put soybeans in there and BOOM like a magnet. My ground holds a lot of moisture since it's bottom land that I cleared. Gets dry in the summer though. Those soybeans grow about 3 feet tall or better and will be just loaded with beans. A guy told me that  beans were better than peas because when the deer browse the peas it prohibits new growth. He said when the beans are browsed, they will branch out at the point of browse and create even more new growth. I'm not sure if it's true or not but a walk through my place to see the huge tracks and all the rubs is good testimony to something. I'll be interested to see what you try and how it works.

Good Luck,

LOGDOG

[Onthesauk]

LOGDOG ---  Maybe crimson clover?  I planted that on my hillside after the house was finished to kind of hold everything in place.  Didn't come back like a lot of the clovers will do.

[Jeff]

The big red flowered clover we plant is Canadian mammoth.

[farmerdoug]

Clover will do poorly in soil that is flooded often.  I would aim more for annual crops for the feed plots.

[LOGDOG]

It wasn't Crimson. I'll ask the ranch manager when I go back out there to saw. By the way. The owners grandson shot the new No. 1 Non-typical buck in LA with muzzleloader. It scored 249 and 7/8 B&C. Last year they found one dead that scored 229 and change. Whatever they're doing it's working bigtime. This latest buck weighed 265 pounds. Anyone who knows southern deer knows that's a behemoth for down here. In the U.P. it's a good deer but they're more common up there.

One thing about that clover though. It's HIGH! $$$ I'll let you know on what type of clover they use.


LOGDOG

[Corley5]

Birdsfoot trefoil does well on damp sites 

[Jeff]

Birdsfoot trefoil does well on damp sites 

No need to plant that for me. It'll appear eventually as invasive as it is. Drive around the eastern U.P. in late summer when everything else is burned up and you see it everywhere. Nice and green with yellow flowers.    The deer do like it though.

I see it starting to pop up down here in places along the roads as well.  Ya ever see how the seeds spread from the pods on that? Like little seed grenades.

[Norm]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. Because of the flooding and the runoff being polluted with farm chemicals much of the perineal plants are out. I thought about alfalfa but was told the atrazine in the runoff would kill it in just a couple of years even if it got established. With the price of seed for it I don't want to risk it. I had thought that something that has small seeds would be nice so the deer would not eat it and deprive the bird life of forage. We already have too many deer and they are eating field crops so encouraging them is not desirable. One of my favorite pastimes while hunting down there is watching the various birds that winter over.

Jeff I'll be interested to see how you do with keeping the canary grass away. Are you going to overseed the area this year?

Logdog the chufa is interesting stuff. Unfortunately they said southern Iowa was it's northernmost range. All the wildlife really likes soybeans and I had thought about trying some down there but I'm concerned unless I spray they'll get choked out by weeds.

[Jeff]

The Canary Grass will be a perpetual battle I am afraid. Lou told me what product he used last year to spray and just kill the grasses but I forgot what it is.  My plan this spring is to do that as soon as I see any canary grass immersion. I'm confident I will.  Then I will over seed. I had very good luck last year using my ATV Knobby tires as a pseudo cultipacker. Thats what I'll do again this year. Seed, then drive over every inch of it. 

[Corley5]

Poast is a selective for killing grass in broadleaf plantings

[Jeff]

Yep, that was it.   Lou showed me an example in one of his larger clover fields where he purposely did not spray the Poast in spots so he could compare results later on. The difference was significant.

[LOGDOG]

I get a magazine called the Whitetail News published by the Whitetail Institute. The produce Whitetail Clover as well as some other seed mixes. They have been sending it to me free since I inquired about their products. They have a product called ARREST for grass control. Their phone number is 800-688-3030. You could call them to pick their brain about what some good options are. You'll be ahead a step if you know the p.h. of your soil before you call. They've been very courteous in the past when I've called.

Are you intending to dedicate this site to deer and turkeys? If so, it may pay to plant a nut bearing or fruit bearing grove of trees long term. Just a thought although it's longer term plan.

LOGDOG

[LOGDOG]

FYI ... I read somewhere - maybe Whitetail News that Food Plots were now qualified in many areas for CRP soil stabilization and revenues. That may be a way to offset your costs for seed and planting along with maintenance in the following years.


LOGDOG

[Ron Scott]

Norm,
Maybe contact your Iowa DNR. They have a network of area wildlife biologists that may be of help in suggesting appropriate plantings for your area to meet your objectives. Also any cost sharing opportunities.

[Norm]

Thanks Ron I'll look into that. I keep forgetting to use what my tax dollars pay for.

Logdog if I could plant something to keep deer out I would, that's how big of a pest they are. We routinely lose a portion of our crops to them. Our DNR has been very lax on managing the deer herd in our state and landowners are getting taken by their practices. I enjoy deer hunting as well as the next guy but I'm tired of feeding the DNR's deer for them. Let me own them and profit from them and my opinion would be different. ;)

We do have the ability to turn this area into a buffer strip and be paid to do so but it comes with regulations that I'd just as soon not deal with. Prior to cleaning this land up it was nothing but a canary grass jungle with no trees of any value growing there. I cleaned it up with the track hoe and scrapped it with a dozer. Then mowed it to keep the major weeds down until this spring. Even with that little work the wild life population exploded. While hunting this fall I saw more bird life in this spot than I'd ever seen before. I would like to make it a wild life area for the birds mostly and each year expand it a little up and down each side of this crick.

I do appreciate everyones comments nice to see how others are doing things.

[LOGDOG]

I guess I misunderstood. I was thinking deer you were thinking birds. I'd be interested in coming up and helping you thin the deer herd if you'd like.  Non-resident license can't be that much.

You know there was a tree that we had in WI ... almost like a big bush. Maybe some of our WI guys can help jog my memory. Amazing how you forget after a few years of being gone. This tree has red berries on it and long thorns. In the fall I made it a point to know where every single one of them in a 2 mile radius was. THe grouse loved them. If you could find one you best approach it with your shotgun shouldered because those grouse would be under it gorging themselves. Good times, good times. 

LOGDOG

[Norm]

We have a lottery for non-residents that is real restrictive. Usually the first year you apply you don't get one, next year maybe a doe permit, and then next year if you're lucky a buck tag. If it seems ridiculous for a state that has an over abundance of deer welcome to our dnr. :D

Iowa has a reputation for producing big bucks and keeping the number of out of state permits only perpetuates that. There is no public land to speak of so seeing the dnr make money off the landowners gets old fast. We should be allowed so many tags per acres and sell them to whoever for whatever without their bs. You can see it's a sore subject with most of us here.

[LOGDOG]

I take it you're a farmer. Don't they have crop damage permits? Up in WI they can get a ridiculous number of doe tags per farmer that he can let others fill. At least that's how it was when I left.

Had a thought about the bird food too. Have you looked on the Audobon Society's website? I would think there would be some good info there as well.

LOGDOG

[beenthere]

Red-Osier Dogwood Cornus stolonifera

Has white berries...might be the one you refer to....

http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/red_osier_dogwood_cornus_sericea/

[LOGDOG]

Actually this is the one: http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/trees/crachr01.htm

We used to call them thornapples but I guess it's Hawthorn. If you look at the branch pic enlarged you'll see the long thorns. Then the fruit pic is well ... the fruit that the birds love. I wouldn't want to walk through a bramble of it but they could be planted in rows. I bet the pheasant would love them.

LOGDOG

[stonebroke]

Don't plant thornapples  unless you want them to take over everything, and they are heck on tractor tires too.

Stonebroke

[LOGDOG]

They never seemed that prolific up north. you'd find 1 or 2 here and there but that was it. To me it was like a honey hole when you did find one. I kept notes on where they were for grouse season.

LOGDOG

[OneWithWood]

Norm, in addition to the Iowa DNR check out your local Soil and Water Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Ask specifically about warm and cool season grasses.  I am glad to see you are willing to put in the time and effort to create a buffer strip.  You do not have to enter a program to get the advice from these folks.  The NRCS will send out a field rep to check out your site.  Be sure to be present.  You will learn all kinds of useful info just conversing with them.