3 year old clover plot-Statement/Question/Input

[gnu]

Hello, this goes out to all the experienced food plotters or farmers out there. I have a 3 1/2 year old clover plot and over the past 3 years I have been diligent to mow at least twice a year, however I have a dilemma, I typically mow it mid June after a careful inspection that there are no nesting turkeys or newly born fawns in the plot, this year the quack grass has really taken over and it's looking pretty nice actually (about 36" tall and really thick). I know the deer are using it as a bedding area, so my dilemma is do I leave it or do I mow it down? I don't know if the deer will use it during hunting season as a bedding area because the grass dies in the fall/winter and may get too thin to use as a bedding area. My first thought is to leave it up this year just to see what happens. My second thought though is to mow it down and let the clover grow. This plot is about 1.5 acres and the only equipment that I use to mow it is my lawn mower, so it takes a pretty good beating. Any input on this dilemma would be appreciated.

[koz bow]

Do you need more bedding cover or food on your land for the deer and other wildlife?

It sounds like it is good bedding cover now, during times of abundance. Will it be good bedding cover and provide thermal protection when they really need it during the winter?

[Anderson]

I agree with Koz. I'd add that if you need cover then I would consider planting something to add better cover. (switchgrass, trees, etc.) If you need more food then I would consider spraying the quack to increase your clover quality. Right now it appears you may be caught in the marginal middle ground between cover and food

Tim

[gnu]

Koz Bow and Anderson thanks for your replies. Yes I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place! This location is on the east side of the woods between a creek and fence row. It's protected from the wind but only half of it gets sun by noon and there after. Koz, this property lies 1/4 of a mile from a nature preserve which is where most of the deer bed during hunting season and then come to my food plots in the evening. Most of the property is comprised of worn out cool season weeds (CRP not managed well), which most is undesirable for deer to bed in although some will in certain locations, like hills and at the top of a little valley where they can get a vantage point. The entire property is about 125 acres (15 woods, 5.5 + 1.5-the clover field-are food plots, and the rest CRP). This is not my property but I lease and put the food plots in. So?????????????????

[koz bow]

If it were me, I would focus on using it for food production, and look to work the CRP program to gain more bedding cover, and see if the owner would be willing to work that 15 acres of woods into bedding cover as well.

Quack grass is not going to provide you with ideal bedding cover in my opinion, and it would be my goal, with that much land to have the deer bedding, eating and living on the property.

I also realized you are limited by the fact that you do not own it, so creating other bedding cover and staying within the guidelines of the CRP program may be a challenge. I don't know about CRP as I have not been a fan of living within guidelines.

I will tell you that my goal on my land is to make every inch of my property useful. If it is not a food plot, bedding cover, fawning cover, a stand location, travel lane or crop land that pays the bills, I have to do something different with it.

If I were you, I would be mowing it down, next time we get a good rain, to about 6" tall.

If I wanted to control the grass, I would be spraying it with Poast, Arrest or some other grass control herbicide that will not hurt the clover. But do it soon before we get drought conditions.

I would also learn more about the CRP program and see what you could do to spruce up that ground for bedding cover.

Good luck to you!

[gnu]

Thank you Koz Bow for your input. You have me convinced that mowing it is the right thing to do. It's frustrating because I have put a lot of work into this plot over the last 3 years to have the grass take over. I even sprayed it with arrest last year but too soon in the season. The woods on the property has been logged out the last 2 years, which I would have thought would have created a lot of bedding areas but the trees did not fall where the deer wanted to bed. That 80 acre nature preserve has strong pulling power...no intrusion and dense cover. I here what your saying about what you do to optimize the land to your advantage and believe me if I could do what I wanted to do on this property it would be a different ball game as well.