11-13-09 WT on public land...

These are pictures of the mount of this deer that I just got back this weekend. Although they're not very good pictures they give a better idea of the size and character of this buck. 1-18-10

Here's some pictures of the cape of a deer I bagged on 11-13 in the Caddo National Grasslands about an hour west of where I live. This area uses prescribed fire as a management tool almost exclusively w/ great results.
This deer is a 140-class, 22 in. wide, 11 pt. estimated at 4.5 years old. He's a main frame 10 pt. w/ a crab claw on the rt. side. He chased a doe over me at about 10:30 that AM. Pretty solid evidence that good habitat and healthy herds can be obtained w/o high priced food plots or feeders.
I'm not saying that food plots are bad... just not altogether necessary. They provide food, but native grasses and forbs do as well w/o the high costs involved w/ food plots. Feeders? I'm not a fan of feeders because they concentrate game and propagate disease. They can be useful in late summer droughts or hard cold winters to help wildlife through tough times. Otherwise, their use is simply to make animals more easily visible...

Disking to regenerate the seedbank...

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, but I've been doing a lot of turkey hunting this year. I'm not getting any younger, and I figure I had better do it while I can.
I just thought I would relate some things about an ongoing project I have on my own property. I'm in the process of trying to eliminate tall fescue and create a better habitat for birds, including quail and doves, utilizing native grasses and the natural seedbank. The first part of this project is no easy matter. In fact, I may not be able to eliminate the fescue since the neighbors property has it, and it's a very stubborn adversary at best.
Anyway, since I decided to do this beginning last winter, I realized I needed to wait till late fall when the fescue is entering senescence to spray with herbicide (roundup). I could have sprayed the herbicide last winter, but it would have come back. Consequently, I decided to mow the field low and then cut it up with a disk (disc)to regenerate the seedbank.
I realize the fescue was regenerated as well, but I now have crimson and white clover and other natural grasses sprouting throughout the field along with the fescue. When I do spray with herbicide in late October, I will have had the benefit of putting some nitrogen back into the soil via the clover, and providing forage for wildlife as well.
At the same time I reclaimed some old fencerows and piled the brush out in the field for burning later. These brushpiles have provided nesting areas for numerous birds this spring that would not have been here otherwise.
I have been careful to monitor nesting areas in the field so as not to mow over them. Keeping the fescue from going to seed is a goal, while at the same time allowing the clover and other beneficial grasses to reseed. Since the fescue seeds are produced on a long stem, this can be done by adjusting the mower height. It's not a perfect plan, but it's working fairly well so far.
After I spray and cut the field up next fall and winter, I will reseed some areas in food plots and some in natural vegetation. But in the meantime, I am trying to get the best use out of the area as I can.
If any of you have any suggestions on how it might be done better, please feel free to comment. This blog was designed to share ideas, but so far, they have mostly been mine. I would welcome some feedback.

Does prescribed fire displace wildlife?

I think not, and I'll offer you some first hand proof. And maybe I'll even brag a little bit too.
This AM was the opening of spring turkey season in NE Texas where I live. Being a passionate participant in the activity, I was up early and headed for the Caddo WMA on the Caddo National Grasslands about an hour from my home. I had scouted the area a couple of weeks ago, and I knew the birds were where they usually are this time of year.
When I arrived at my chosen spot to hunt, I found that the Forest Service had chosen to light a prescribed burn of about two sections the day before opening day and right where I planned to hunt. As I arrived at the registration station there was another vehicle just ahead of me, but he didn't stop. Since the woods were still smoldering, he drove down the road and turned around and left.
I stopped and registered, then listened closely to the sounds of the dawn breaking before leaving my truck to hunt turkeys. I knew the turkeys would be active in spite of the fire; and, sure enough, before daylight I could hear turkeys gobbling in the distance. I made my way to where I wanted to set up initially, stumbling on to a coyote on the way, and hearing more gobbles as I slipped into position.
When I got my decoys out and daylight was right, I began calling softly to let them all know where I was. I had turkeys gobbling back from three directions, but all were quite a distance away. However, by 07:45 I had called a nice longbeard into range and bagged my bird with smoke rising from numerous stumps still on fire. When I tagged my bird he had black feet on the bottoms from walking in the soot. It was a great morning and life was good.
As I was coming out with my bird to go to the check station and record my harvest, I passed several FS employees heading to work tending to their fire. They asked if I had any luck, and I told them what had happened. Then I thanked them for firing the woods and scaring off all the other hunters. I had the woods all to myself this morning, and it was great.
They laughed, and then they asked if I had bagged the bird in the burn area. They seemed elated that I had bagged the bird in spite of the fire.
So don't let anyone tell you that prescribed fire will cause wildlife to leave the area. It just ain't so... why even the songbirds were having choir practice this morning.

Switchgrass in large CRP fields and wildlife habitat...

Not having seen a lot of tall grass prairie up close in my lifetime, I was overwhelmed the other day by some large CRP fields of head high switchgrass in N. TX. I had seen the large bunches scattered about in gulleys and crevasses before, but I was not familiar with it in such a large and thick environment. It was beautiful, and I'm sure it did a wonderful job as erosion control. But I question whether it was effective as wildlife habitat when sown so thickly without much plant diversity to compliment it as habitat.
Switchgrass is, indeed, an excellent forage for wildlife and especially noted for game bird seed forage and cover. But it has a very thick carpet underneath, much like other erosion control plants, and would be hard to navigate by young quail and turkeys... IMO. And without plant diversity and bare ground in between the bunches of switchgrass, I would think it's benefit as wildlife habitat would be limited.
That thinking was initiated when I asked about quail on the property and was told that you would never hear a quail calling on this property. It started me asking myself: Why? Not being personally familiar with the switchgrass prairies (only heresay), it just didn't make a lot of sense to me, at first. But after thinking it over, the lack of diversity in the fields has to be the reason.
But then, I am convinced that biology is an evolving science, and I never professed to have all the answers. But this issue deserves considerable study on my part. Maybe some of you have some helpful information or experience on the subject. If so, your input would be greatly appreciated.

Edge feathering is creating transition zones...

When people talk about edge habitat and the edge effect, most people picture a field edge bordering a woodland area. Usually there's a fence there, but the edge is usually pretty abrupt. The field or pasture may be mowed regularly to keep it looking ever so neat. But this is not the best situation when it comes to wildlife.
Wildlife prefers the gradual transition that nature provides as it encroaches into the field from the woodland. Wildlife utilizes this transition zone for both food and cover. Edge feathering simply helps to provide this transition zone more rapidly, and possibly, more effectively.
When attempting to feather the edges of a woodland, there are several ways this can be done. You may simply leave an area of varying width to grow naturally from the drip line of the woods edge. Or you may artificially create a feathered edge by aggressively cutting or girdling unwanted trees along the immediate edge, keeping in mind to preserve any larger mast producing trees. You may want to cut the larger trunks up into firewood and stack the smaller stuff into brush piles for cover and nesting areas. Or you can fall the trees side by side and let them lay where they fall, which will create a much thicker underbrush tangle. Either way will work, but I prefer the former, so I can lightly disc around the trees and brush piles to create less fire hazard and to generate more early successional growth from the seedbank. You may even want to plant food plots there as well.
Many times you will see a fence row or firebreak that has been created with a dozer where the downed timber and stumps have been piled along the wood line leaving an ugly row of fire fuel to either rot or create a very hot fire someday. Sometimes good land stewards will come back later and clean up the brush piles and burn them, but all too often, they are left where they are. Granted, they will be overgrown in time and provide habitat for wildlife, but I prefer to clean up the debris as I go. Piling the larger debris in the open for burning at an optimal time and piling the smaller stuff for cover and habitat, makes much more sense to me. And it looks much better too.
All in all, the objective is to be good stewards of the land for whatever your goals may be. But having wildlife habitat and agricultural or ranching interests coexist is a very manageable goal. And it does take planning and effort, but those things don't necessarily have to be shelved... even in tough times...

Strip discing? Makes sense to me...

Yesterday I was spending some time watching some of my favorite shows on the Outdoor Channel including The Management Advantage and Get in the Game. In case you didn't already know, both are how-to shows that talk about land management and conservation issues a lot of the time.
Coincidentally, yesterday they both were talking about strip discing, a method of generating wildlife habitat that is relatively easy to do and much less expensive than extensive clearing of land, amending the soil, and planting expensive seeds. You might recall I mentioned something similar in my post entitled, "Properly amending the soil first...".
One landowner was discing strips throughout his property wherever he had natural openings or trails. The other was alternately discing and burning areas in an old over-grown pasture. But both were utilizing the existing seed bank and generating early successional growth without the expenses involved with clearing and planting large food plots.
There is still labor and equipment involved, but the cost and effort is considerably less when using this approach. There may be some manipulation necessary by daylighting or edge feathering with a chainsaw and piling the brush with a tractor; but if you can find a way to scarify the soil and get sunlight and moisture to the ground, something will sprout and grow. It may not be anything but weeds (sometimes called forbs by the biologist), but that could be a salad bar to wildlife.
So don't let hard times and high prices on seeds and fertilizer deter you from improving your property's habitat when there are alternative methods to get things done. And yes, Edge Habitat can help with this type of approach as well. In fact, it might be our preferred method because it is so close to the natural way.

Is the Greenway the best way?

Last week I attended an orientation meeting for the local chapter of the Master Naturalist program administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife. This is a statewide program whereby members can complete a training program to become a Master Naturalist complete with all the advantages thereof.
There was a sense at this meeting that the Greenway was the best way to manage the land and improve the habitat. But is the natural way the best way? Or can a collaboration of naturalist methods and agricultural methods be a better way?
There is no doubt that the natural way to improve habitat is an effective way. God has been managing the habitat quite well with fire, floods, wind, ice... just to name a few of his tools. Of these, fire can be one of the most effective ways of improving habitat, especially a controlled fire that doesn't destroy everything in its path. Fire not only removes the fallen leaves that acidify the soil, but their ash becomes a fertilizer to accelerate early successional growth. The same goes for many other things that are transformed in the process. Some seeds rely on fire to break down their husk so that the dormant seed can germinate. The benefits of prescribed fire are too many to mention them all here.
However, due to the USFS terrific job of selling the public on Smokey the Bear's opinions, the vast majority of the American people look at any kind of fire as destructive and dangerous. Consequently, controlled burns are far too difficult, politically and financially, to conduct. There are substantial conditions that must be met and even more substantial insurance to be paid, especially for a private contractor, before a controlled burn can be undertaken.
We know that agricultural methods, when used properly and with the intent of helping wildlife habitat flourish, can be very effective at accomplishing similar goals. We also know that agricultural methods can destroy the habitat when they are not managed for the benefit of wildlife.
My contention is that mankind is smart enough to figure a way to improve the habitat for all living things... But will stubbornness and greed continue to keep us from it? Or can we combine science with common sense and make things better? Please weigh in and express your opinions...

Now is the time...

A few days ago I was talking to a local wildlife biologist about habitat improvement, and she made the comment that now was the time to get started. She didn't elaborate as to what she was specifically referring, but she could've been talking about a lot of things.
Considering it usually takes 4-5 years to see an optimal effect from habitat management, the landowner/ lessor or lessee has a lot of planning to do before any ground can be broken. The first thing that is needed is an initial assessment of the lay of the land and the goals that might be accomplished. No matter what this assessment reveals for each individual property, there are certain things that have to be done at specific windows of opportunity during any given year. From the clearing of land to the harvesting of game, timing can be crucial to success.
Whether you manage the property as a naturalist or employ agricultural methods to improve the habitat, now is the time to begin. Prescribed fire has to be implemented when conditions are within specific parameters. Clearing land for firebreaks or food plots needs to be done before heavy spring rains begin... and so does seed bed preparation so that seeds can be planted at optimum times.
So if your considering any of these projects, that initial assessment is the first step and may take a few days depending on the size of the property. But in most cases that part is free... So why procrastinate? The first, and most important, step to solving a problem is to determine the problem. Then you can decide whether to throw money at it or not, and how much...

Why so much tall fescue?

Having to battle tall fescue in order to bring back native early successional grasses can be a tough fight. Glyphosate (Roundup) will kill it, but it has such deep roots that it may take two applications to get rid of it. The best time to spray is late fall when senescence will allow the plants to best carry the herbicide down into the roots. But you still may need to spray again in the spring. You certainly will need to spray in the fall, if you spray first in the spring.
This particular type of fescue is so hardy because it sometimes develops a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with a fungus which makes it a much more hardy grass. The fungus attaches itself intercellularly to the above ground portion of the grass which makes the grass less attractive as food to insects and mammals, more drought tolerant, and more disease resistant. Consequently, this non-native (originally European) species maintains some 35,000,000 acres in the U.S., mostly in the southeast.
Tall fescue also has a very high stem component full of lignin, which makes it hard to digest and not very high in nutrients. Cattle will eat it, but there can be problems... especially when the fungus is involved. Horses will eat the fresh tender leaves, but once it gets stemy... they leave it alone. Mares can have reproductive problems from eating infected tall fescue resulting in death of the foal, the mare, or both.
The grass is so thick near the ground that quail chick and turkey poult mobility is severly limited. There are fewer invertebrates inhabiting the grass so there is less for the young birds to eat. And when quail do eat the seeds, they lose weight and suffer cloacal swelling and increased mortality.
So why do we have so much of this non-native grass growing in our countryside? Who plants it and why?
It is hardy, especially when it is infected with the fungus. It does create a strong resistance to erosion. But what other good reasons do we have for its widespread growth? There are better choices that will accomplish the same goals without the problems.
We need to eradicate this grass and plant native grasses and forbs that will benefit our wildlife... and our livestock.

Properly amending the soil first...

Recently I have talked with several people who have expressed their frustration with unsuccessful attempts at planting food plots for wildlife. Almost all have stated that the wildlife eats it as fast as it comes up.
Upon asking more questions: 1) these folks failed to test their soil, 2) if they added any lime or fertilizer before planting, it was pure guesswork, 3) they chose a place to plant that was marginal, at best, for sunlight, 4) they didn't plant enough area to prevent overgrazing, and 5) they didn't prepare the seedbed sufficiently before planting. I didn't ask them about the use of herbicides... there was no need. They never gave the effort a chance to succeed.
If the soil is not properly amended before the seeds are planted, you are wasting your time and money trying to plant anything at all. You would be better off just lightly discing the area a couple of times a year to regenerate the existing seed bank and forget about planting a bunch of high priced seeds.
Mama used to say, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing right." That old saying applies very aptly in this situation.

WHIP funds from Farm Bill...

WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) funds may be available to landowners in a partnership arrangement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the USDA. The NRCS may partner with as much as 75% funding for wildlife habitat improvement on some private lands. They may fund as much as 90% for certain critical habitat preservation.
There are three types of private lands eligible since the Farm Bill '02 was reworked last December: agricultural lands, non-industrial private forest lands, and tribal lands. Previously, these funds were not so restricted in their application. To clarify the non-industrial private forest lands specification, it refers to private forest lands that are generating income for the landowner, as do the agricultural lands. They must be income producing properties not owned by corporations or by the government.
The NRCS is asking for feedback from landowners on the new regulations provided since last December. In talking with the administrators in the NRCS, they are very ambiguous about the parameters that these new regulations imply. If you are interested in such matters, you can read more about it on the NRCS website.
Providing the hoops that the NRCS will require to be negotiated are not too difficult, this might be a way to help pay for habitat improvement on private lands. But, to date, these hoops are relatively undefined.

About Edge Habitat...

The existence of edge habitat marks the boundaries between ecosystems. The more edge effect that exists, the more biodiversity that exists. And the more the diversity, the better the habitat for wildlife.
Edge Habitat is a conservation contractor recently formed to develop wildlife habitat for landowners. We specialize in developing food plots and early successional growth for hunting and sanctuary properties. A unique idea born from the increasing interest in food plots and wildlife habitat improvement.
Many people have properties that need habitat improvement, but they don't have the equipment, or the expertise, or the time to develop the habitat themselves. That's where Edge Habitat hopes to fill the need, providing custom habitat management practices for whatever the landowners goals might be. We are biologist owned and biology motivated. And no job is too small for Edge Habitat to be of some service.
We hope to discuss pertinent issues with fellow bloggers while developing a network of colleagues in the science. We also hope to learn as much as we can from fellow bloggers on what may be better ideas, or possibly, prospective clients. Please feel free to ask questions... We don't profess to know everything, for science/biology is an evolving science. So let's kick it around...