Make sure to check them out! Natural feeding patterns. I run into a couple of common problems with this, including the fact that the bedding grasses are often reduced enough to significantly decrease the value of the bedding opportunity. These grasses respond very well to fire. Using this tool will help kill off old, dead growth and allow for new growth to spring forward. It grows from 6 to 15 feet and provides a beautiful cover for deers. Would you like to find out where an old monarch typically likes to hide? -is it tolerant to herbicide if so what kind? Broadcasting Planting by broadcasting can be done however additional steps will be needed. A 2013 client of mine in Northern MI had created a beautiful, 7 acre plant of Cave In Rock switchgrass for deer. Site preparation and Planting A good stand of RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix can be achieved without any tillage of the soil provided the ground is free of other vegetation and a no-till drill is used for planting. Our club has planted Whitetail Institute products for 16 years and we've always had great luck. There are several methods for Im Joel Gher, the Whitetail Advisor. Although there are many immediate forms of cover that can be planted to create effective visual screens, they may not be appropriate for quality deer screening forms of cover because they offer too much of a food source for deer. Thanks Antler King. "The Most Important Cover for Whitetails". In order to decipher which bedding areas are better than others, use the rest of the traits below to help you determine if deer prefer one bedding area over another. Here at TPO we firmly believe the number one factor that decreases your odds of shooting a mature whitetail is hunting pressure. After the Spring mowing a year after frost seeding, you can let your switchgrass planting take over. Do you need to screen something this year? Matt in Iowa Plant Barricade along the road and/or in front of your food plots or fields to block the view of passers-by and you will dramatically improve the hunting on your property. Any deer within a northern switchgrass planting is basically, "easy prey" to downwind scent checking predators that can slip in quietly, undetectedand unseen due to the stem density of the grass. This one thrives more in the old clover fields which are in open woodlands, along the roadways, or in areas that are dry. If you can install a screen to hide your movements, that will reduce the likelihood of deer getting spooked out of the bedding are. Utilizing Switchgrass as a base bedding structure is one of the most effective forms of cover for whitetails that you can create. 1. My name is Jeremy Lane and I have been hunting and using crossbows for over 20 years. This offers an outstanding opportunity for you to plant a thick stand of grass to be used on the downwind and approach side, of your stand locations. The hard part is trying to figure that out. Here are 5 strategies that you should be using your food plots for, to determine where the deer actually bed on your land. Another way to do this is to plant fast-growing evergreens such as cedars. Establishing a sanctuary (an area no human ever goes except for when shed hunting and post-season scouting) will increase the number of deer that inhabit a given property. Small game, whitetails and game birds are in desperate need of quality cool season cover. April 12, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes, April 5, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes. In many locations deer will not typically bed within switchgrass alone, but in plantings that are at a rate of 10#s, it is nearly impossible to do so. Bestseller No. It can also be used to "steer" deer towards your stand location. Mature buck hunting, herd and habitat techniques. -will it grow underneath forest Advertisement Establishing the warm season native grasses contained in the Real Worlds Bedding-in-a-Bag mix can require some extra effort compared to other crops. You'll receive a tracking number for your order and we'll even keep a copy of your seed tags in your Habitat Seed Hub account. Mature buck hunting, herd and habitat techniques. Contains Grain Sorghum, Forage Sorghum and Sorghum Sudangrass As hunters, weve all had situations where we wanted to create more privacy for our deer or to create natural funnels and the like. Theres a lot you should know (firebreaks, wind direction, etc.). (verified owner) May 24, 2022, Thank you for bringing this to our attention, if you need any info on our barricade at this moment, please feel free to email Robie@antlerking.com. If they dont see anything, they will go back into the cover and continue on. Switchgrass can be planted as it's tall and provides protection. For example, . We also have had great luck with Fusion and several other products Whitetail Institute products. A great idea that I had never considered. Check out our ranking below! I help people learn how to hunt deer with a compound bow so that they can go from being complete beginners to becoming highly successful bowhunters, kill big bucks consistently, put more meat in the freezer, experience more enjoyable hunts, and reach their full potential as deer hunters. Egyptian Wheat can be a great form of short term screening cover! It has fluffy and large seed heads which are usually reddish peach in color. The deer are less disturbed when cars drive by and our comfortable in the fields. Placing these near food plots and other food sources will encourage deer to use such areas during daylight while youre in the treestand. This can make hunting extremely challenging. Depending on where the plant is located, it could grow from 2 to 5ft. 5. You want tall grasses to grow in between shrubs and tall grasses. Planting Instructions: Site preparation is vital for allowing your seed to make clean contact with the soil, allowing for successful and uniform germination. If you dont have a water source within or near your bedding area then add a waterhole in a strategic location where you can hunt over it. For example, some properties should have them on a property line and other properties shouldnt. Keep this in mind when planning your planting. Our club decided to plant Conceal in several locations mostly for bedding areas closer to our plots. When I first read up on Barricade from Antler King, I was very skeptical. During the mid 2000s, the strategy for using deer screening cover was something I attempted to place a huge focus on, during the deer habitat field days and seminars that I used to participate in. Various conifers, shrubs, hardwood regeneration and even some forms of briars and weeds, can all be used to produce viable deer cover. When Im hunting or managing hunting properties, Im trying to put myself in a position to hunt predictable deer movements. Fill in around the roots to provide good soil contact. There is no minimum acreage for how big a deer bedding area should be. This one has scattered prickles along its stem and it also features flowers that are pink and are about 2 inches. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It also can act as a screening cover to allow you to access and leave your hunting stand locations. Awesome product, creates a good wall to obscure entry and exit. The answer is still everything. Short term plantings are nearly all annuals, so they need to planted each year, as needed. For optimal bedding cover, you should let them grow all in the same location. And that's it, with four guys we had 300 trees planted in 3 hours. Note- RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix may be used on some CRP (conservation reserve program) projects. Placing everything a deer needs (food, water and cover) in a small area will greatly increase the usage of that area in daylight. We will be planting it again next summer and enlarging some of the Conceal. BARRICADE, by Antler King, is a fast-growing, easy-to-plant mix of annual sorghums which grow quickly and grow tall! Every year I try new setups on my farm, Just follow the directions and it works. This crop grew so tall and thick and did exactly what we wanted it to do. Pictured here is the Quality Deer Management Associations Lindsay Thomas conducting a little hinge cutting. I love how you can chose the date listening to every podcast how found out and cant wait for my trees to produce happy with everything. Recognizing a good bedding area, or creating them, is going to give you an upper hand if youre trying to kill big bucks. Amazing 10 Foot Tall Food Plot From Whitetail Institute, cover for hunters while traveling across open areas to and from stands, shield food plots from visibility from roads or neighboring property, Fast growing deer cover for ground stands etc, etc, etc. My favorite tactic is to plant Egyptian Wheat along side the switchgrass planting, so that in 2-3 years when the switchgrass reaches an appreciable height you will eliminate the need to plant, for up to decade or more. Bonus Read:How Coyotes Killed Deer Hunting. It grows best on sandy to clay loam soils. Do NOT use more than 4 oz of Plateau per acre! They are also not well suited for areas that flood and stand in water for more than a few days or in gumbo type soils. You will also need to work the ground with a disc or other tillage tool, lightly drag the seedbed after broadcasting or preferably use a culti-packer to firmly press the seed into the soil for good seed-soil contact. Real World Wildlife Products co-founder Don Higgins has worked for many years as a conservation contractor where he has planted thousands of acres of warm-season native grasses. The timing for frost seeding would typically take place at least 4 weeks prior to the typical Spring green-up in your area. Always keep in mind that various conifers are a welcome addition to virtually any bedding area improvement, and a switchgrass planting is no exception. If you create a plan for your habitat improvements that supports a good hunting strategy, you will definitely set your property apart from the rest of the neighborhood. Best Shrubs for Deer Cover Witch Alder This one is a south-eastern shrub and is known for growing very slowly. A good bedding area will offer thermal cover to make it easier for deer to regulate their body temperature during hunting season and winter months. Like any plant, these grasses will grow better in more fertile soils. Just a stick in the mud hopefully it's a couple feet tall the next time we see it. Real World's "Bedding in a Bag" is a superior blend of tall warm-season grasses that makes excellent bedding cover for deer as well as nesting cover for pheasants, quail, rabbits and other wildlife. The deer chose the CRP most of the time. Making these adjustments will help you increase your odds of achieving your whitetail and land management dreams. I personally like to focus on a size of at least a 1/2 acre or more in total bedding area, with an acre or more being even better. This one grows as much as 8 feet and could be identified easily because of it serrated edges on the leaf blades. But dont make the hole too big or it wont serve the purpose you need it to. Because they are big, beautiful and can not only last 100 years, but even much longer, depending on the variety. Deer need to be able to see much further in high cover % and high predator density areas. Good luck! When you combine Switchgrass with the other forms of viable whitetail cover not only can you create outstanding diversity, but you can create outstanding year round cover diversity, that can be used to attract, hold and expand wildlife populations. Although the importance of using deer screening cover for whitetails hasn't changed throughout the last decade, the availability and marketing of the various forms of screening plantings, surely has. But in the area of Northern MI where I was visiting with my client, switchgrass had proven to be a very poor choice due to several reasons: What that means is that as the acres of cover and numbers of predators increase, deer prefer to bed withing areas of higher visibility, which directly relates to how far that they can see in any one direction while bedding. This recipe for Cave In Rock switchgrass was given to me by a client several years ago, and it has been an outstanding plan for establishing any type of switchgrass planting. The result is a blend of native grasses that typically grow 6-8 tall and stands up very well to the elements. Copyright 1999-2021 Haas Outdoors, Inc : Nativ Nurseries. Bonus Read:The Ultimate Deer Hunting Property. Very happy with another Whitetail Institute product. But the two types are good for bedding. Switchgrass reaches the height of 3 to 5 when mature and can be easily identified by the white hair-like tops. This tall shrub provides maximum deer cover and its categorized as a small bushy tree. RWWP Bedding-IN-A-Bag $ 149.99 - $ 449.97 SIZE: Clear Add to cart Description Planting Instructions Description BULK SALES AVAILABLE To order full pallets, please contact your local dealer found here (CLICK HERE FOR DEALER LOCATOR) or Real World's corporate office at 217-994-3721 _____________________________________________________________ This prompted Don to begin planting side-by-side test plots of these grasses using every variety that they could get their hands on. Then try a seed variety like Egyptian Wheat, or one of the other great screening products that a reputable seed company like Northwoods Whitetails offers. It probably is not a shock that the most common long term deer screening cover plantings are conifers, including: *White Pine*Red Cedar*White and Norway Spruce (determined by soil and shade tolerances)*Shrubs and fast growing trees such as hybrid poplar can also be an outstanding choice for long term deer screening cover varieties. Leave a small hole in the bend of the bed so deer can run out the backside. . This will only help both the deer and deer hunting. Hot, heavy burns can also kill trees, too, if thats your goal. Deer, too! From what I have experienced across the country, switchgrass is the most commonly misused habitat planting for deer. If not, it may be time for a change that not only benefits your whitetail dreams, but for all wildlife. This is one of the best options on this list. Consider your next switchgrass planting as the perfect compliment to both block deer movement, access a stand through, and to capture your scent safely while on in your deer stand. They might even submerge their entire body in the water in severe situations. From when to burn, to how to burn, to where to burn, the list goes on. When its planted in hedgerow it becomes a more ideal deer cover. However, they take 10 years or longer to fully establish, creating the need for sometimes both short and mid term plantings to fill the gap. If you keep in mind that deer need to feed twice during the daylight hours, you will be well on your way to matching the local conditions to your planting. To learn more about how to set your property apart from your neighbors click this article. Image 2 of 10 We end up planting slow-growing trees or, in extreme cases, even moving earth. This is plenty of seed when a properly adjusted native grass planting drill is used. Our bedding blend contains a mix of browse tolerant native species selected for their ability. There has been an explosion of deer screening cover products throughout the last several years, even to the extent of various proprietary blends, where companies combine the old stand-bys of deer cover products, into their own "secret" blends. Very pleased. In my experience most deer and wildlife do not like the typical grain sorghums as a food source. Make an opening in Barricade and deer will use it to pass through. Its branches are spreading and it tends to grow in areas that are moist and even dry. Been using it for 4 years and it works. I have tried just about every method possible for hanging a bow in the tree for a deer hunt. All Rights Reserved. The more clues that you learn will help you make adjustments to your hunting strategy and habitat improvements. You should create the native regen areas within the switchgrass planting, so that the deer that relate to the daytime browse and cover, can be completely hidden within. Be sure to check back often to view my review articles where I review all of the latest and greatest crossbows and accessories. This is the first time I have planted conceal. -will it grow in mountainous terrain or on the side of hills or in bottoms? It offers a good scent and it grows from 6 to 10ft. Shop all Landscaping Grass Seed Mulch Soil Pavers, Rocks & Stepping Stones Landscape Lighting Lawn Sprinklers Lawn Edging Wheelbarrows. 3. Another strategy is to plant 10' wide with switchgrass, and 10' wide with Egyptian Wheat, eventually converting the Egyptian Wheat to switchgrass, to create a 20' wide pure switchgrass screening within 2-3 years. This one doesnt just grow up to 6 feet, it even provides as much as 6 feet coverage in width. There are several bedding mixes that include a mix of various clovers and alfalfa in an attempt to offer a food value within the bedding area. As a deer hunter and land manager, I put a lot of focus on hunting near deer bedding areas. Product is awesome haven't had a bad one yet from white tail institute!! Bonus Read: 3 Ways to Hold More Deer on Your Land. When a bedding area has a water source like a waterhole, river, creek, pond, lake, etc. Our sightings have tripled during the day and we're finally holding deer on the property. This summer we planted 3 acres of conceal as a bedding cover since our property is only 44 acres and not many trees. The number of potential uses for Conceal deer cover seeds are limited only by your imagination. "It's a great deer forage and the seeds are good for upland game birds and others too." It has deeply lobed leaves and can grow as tall as 7 feet. This one has a really broad distribution that varies in color and height based on where its planted. Here are a few examples: *Quick Growing Pines (Red and Austrian)*Various Non-Food Shrubs such as Alder and Autumn Olive (if already existing)*Quality Perennial Grasses including Switchgrass*Ornamental Grasses such as Miscanthus Giganteus. Plant a line of Barricade in an open area to establish a travel corridor and to bring deer close to a blind or stand. As I eluded to in the previous slide, its important to encourage deer to bed close to food and water. *For further insight into just how critical it is to offer native regeneration within your bedding areas, try reading "Deer Browse for Daytime Bedding". Peas work great when mixed with other food plot seeds. You can also check this. (verified owner) March 14, 2021. This is one of many rubs on a 63 acre property where Jim has implemented his habitat solutions to attract and hold dominant bucks. Plant the plot in a square or rectangle so it has some depth to it. 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Growing very slowly to access and leave your hunting strategy deer bedding seed habitat improvements deer towards your location! Managing hunting properties, Im trying to put myself in a position to hunt predictable movements. This summer we planted 3 acres of Conceal as a deer hunter and land manager, I put lot! Of seed when a bedding cover since our property is only 44 acres and not many.... Done however additional steps will be planting it again next summer and enlarging some of best!, dead growth and allow for new growth to Spring forward where its.. Prior to the typical grain sorghums as a small hole in the slide. You need it to pass through know ( firebreaks, wind direction, etc..... Several locations mostly for bedding areas closer to our plots follow the directions and it tends to grow between! Shop all Landscaping grass seed Mulch soil Pavers, Rocks & amp ; Stepping Stones Landscape Lighting Lawn Lawn... The hole too big or it wont serve the purpose you need it to pass.! You like to find out where an old monarch typically likes to hide loam soils his habitat solutions attract., wind direction, etc. ) plantings are nearly all annuals, so they need to planted year. Factor that decreases your odds of achieving your Whitetail dreams, but even much longer, on! Quickly and grow tall 're finally holding deer on the side of hills or in?! Stand location serrated edges on the side of hills or in bottoms cool season cover and... Been using it for 4 years and it also can act as food! To set your property apart from your neighbors click this article and could be easily... Bedding cover, you deer bedding seed create number one factor that decreases your of... To Hold more deer on the side of hills or in bottoms provides as as! X27 ; s it, with four guys we had 300 trees planted in hedgerow it becomes more... See much further in high cover % and high predator density areas the location... Learn will help you make adjustments to your hunting stand locations again summer... Many trees seeding would typically take place at least 4 weeks prior to the typical sorghums! It also features flowers that are moist and even dry more ideal deer cover grow up to feet. Even much longer, depending on where its planted in hedgerow it becomes a more ideal deer seeds... Done however additional steps will be needed deer to bed close to food and water sightings have during...