You only sow a few pounds per acre as there are about 360,000 seeds/lb. As already mentioned, switchgrass is very good deer cover and in areas with limited timber it can become an important bedding area. The seeds are eaten by turkeys, pheasants, quail, doves, and songbirds. Our Real World Switch Grass will get 7’-8’ tall. They may bed in valleys to avoid extremely windy conditions, etc. Mature bucks generally choose beds that provide some sort of advantage over predators. Share Thread. By: Father Habitat. Date:01-Sep-16. Jan 5, 2012 #5 . General Discussion. I have read a few threads on here that talk about different things that can be done to enhance and add diversity to switchgrass and make it more appealing to bed in. Deer bed in different areas to meet their needs. How do you pattern deer when they can realisticly bed down anywhere in the switchgrass. T. TimberPig Active Member. It takes a few years to establish it but it is tough as nails. If either method is used properly, they both should result in similar establishment under similar environmental and management conditions. Switchgrass is a great and fast way to create visual barriers for better hunting and for more isolation that deer like. Messages: 43 Likes Received: 1. One exception is during periods of the rut when bucks are on the move searching for estrus does and defending their hierarchy. Ive tried runnnig them next to the ditch and usually get 1000 pics of switchgrass and 5 pics of deer. For example, bucks frequently bed at the end of a ridge on a point. Real World variety switch grass is the same switch grass that we use in our Bedding-In-A-Bag. Deer are creatures of habit and may bed in the same location repeatedly. Bedding is more than a time to relax, groom and chew a cud. homegrownbucks. The best time to plant switchgrass is in the winter. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a vigorous warm season, native perennial grass adapted to Wisconsin and planted for many purposes including livestock grazing, wildlife cover, and as a biofuel crop.Switchgrass begins growth in late spring and continues through the summer if moisture is available. I have watered my 2-year-old plants only twice since June, and they still look fabulous! Variety and edge are the keys to producing good deer habitat. Deer naturally use prairie for security cover, but to direct deer movements near treestands, we mow paths in the prairie grass where the prairie meets the timber, and the paths lead into food plots. Deer tend to emerge from the cover of the prairie or timber onto these paths and use them as highways. Just a small piece of your total acreage will serve good as a sanctuary. I have land owners next to my land that have slash and clear cuts, and you can see in them good,deer do use them a little and this helps, but it is still to open. Therefore, we recommend a “rough” conversion factor of 1.2 when figuring out how many pounds to order. Planting switchgrass for deer habitat does make some sense, but I have never been a big fan of it. What should the strategy be when hunting deer on farms like this. Please note that “Bedding in a Bag” includes 2.5# each of Big Bluestem and Indian Grass and 2# of switchgrass per acre, This calculates to a total of 35.6 seeds per square foot; broken down by species the figures are 18.4 switchgrass, 7.5 big bluestem and 9.8 Indian grass (seeds per sq/ft). Define the food source and you define where the deer bed. Farmland deer may bed in woodlots, protect their fawns in cattail marshes, and feed in corn fields. Our Real World Switch Grass will get 7’-8’ tall. What’s interesting about how deer decide where to sleep are their strategies? A grid of these rising out of a gravel bed would bring a contemporary flair. After the seedlings are established, there's no need to water them. Sometimes the most effective improvement may be to do nothing at all. Creating a weed free seed bed is key to establishing switchgrass, and once established, a stand of switchgrass can last a hunter many years. It is very difficult to spot deer in a thick stand of switchgrass and deer of all ages will use it as a secure bedding area. 2. This switchgrass variety is the same switchgrass that we use in our Bedding-In-A-Bag. Switchgrass has numerous roots reaching to ten feet deep, as well as underground rhizomes making it an important grass for use in conservation programs. Deer — does and young bucks — will often bed much closer to food sources than mature bucks. They much prefer the brushy/woody cover at my place - especially later in the season. Switchgrass Establishment: Switchgrass seed is often dormant and may not germinate unless stratified (exposed to a period of wet chill). IQDM, Jan 5, 2012. switchgrass to a height of 4 inches in May or 6 inches in June or July. As deer managers, it is important to understand the preferred forages where you live and/or hunt, and while learning everything deer eat in your area is a daunting task, the QDMA has just made it a little easier. It is best seeded in late winter (February or March) although very late fall/early winter will also work well. I have not seen that the deer use it much in my hunting area, but I assume in areas with limited cover, they would use it more. Try it out, you will know in 2 to 3 years how it does. I have cut bedding spots for the deer to bed,hinge cut trees,cut stumps high. I just need something differant to help keep deer on my land. Alamo switchgrass seedling emerging in somewhat dry conditions. Natural Deer Cover – Just Do Nothing. Spring and Summer. Leave 12 inches (30.5 cm) of space between them. When spring arrives, deer are looking for green growth to help them recover from limited and low-quality winter food. The deer like to come out into my property and bed right in the switchgrass. In a garden setting, thin out once the seedlings grow 2 inches (5.1 cm) tall. Stumbled into a worthless deer habitat stand of monoculture switchgrass and found a bed. Let the sun and rain take care of the switchgrass. Switchgrass as well as many other NWSG's will take 3 years to reach "fully grown" status... although I have some 2 year old switch grass that is 6' to 7' tall and is pretty much fully grown. Next year they may not need even that. I jump them regularly when I am mowing trails and firebreaks. A sanctuary should never be stepped foot on unless it is to recover a wounded animal. It is highly adaptable to a wide range of soils and growing conditions. Deer/Wildlife Politics. Don’t take our word for it, Dare to Compar Homesteading/Home DIY. Cave-n-Rock switchgrass is a perennial, warm season native grass that grows an average of 3-5 feet tall, but in some regions, can reach up to 6 feet tall at maturity. Switchgrass rules, is not too invasive, and does not go down in the winter which makes it ideal for pheasant and whitetail deer. Switchgrass prairies are favored nesting sites for pheasants, quail, greater prairie chickens, and sharp tailed grouse. Switchgrass is the earliest maturing of the common native warm-season grasses and it is ready to graze in early summer. MN/WI/National Deer Issues. I don't have switchgrass but I do have fields of 6-7' tall goldenrod and other weeds that provide similar cover and the deer rarely use it for bedding. Whitetails eat a variety of plant types such as trees, shrubs, herbaceous forages (forbs), and agricultural crops. Planting switchgrass for deer bedding areas has become an essential tool that I commonly use for holding those big mature bucks on my property. On your own parcel, this is very easy to do. Yes! Politics - non hunting. It grows to a height of 3 to 8 feet tall, depending on the variety. For a deer to want to bed in any area, it has to feel safe to the deer. This is often directly related to the terrain type. Switchgrass is a perfect candidate for xeriscaping. General. Ex: If you need 21 PLS pounds of switchgrass (3 acres at 7 pounds per acre), multiply 21 by 1.2 for the total number of bulk pounds you should order. It can also be used as a thick base of cover when trying to create bedding on your hunting grounds. They could bed there, but I have better bedding cover and no other way to get to my woods and I thought the more cover I'd have walking across the field the better. Reply; Switchgrass locations? Switchgrass holds up well under heavy snow and provides good fall-winter cover for rabbits and other small mammals, ducks, pheasants, and quail. Jokes. Previous Thread; Next Thread; Please make a selection first; new « Prev ; 1; Next » Catscratch Legacy member. Natural cover procreates and spreads without the aid of anyone. Suburban deer may bed in cemeteries, graze on golf courses, and seek cover on a brushy hillside behind a shopping center. A properly Spring-planted switchgrass field can be used as a high quality form of deer bedding cover structure in 15 months or less. Typically in mountainous terrain deer bed on slide slopes where the wind swirls so they can detect predators from all angles. Fawns are usually left to sleep under camouflage areas for added security. Keeping natural woody vegetation trimmed away from the edges of your food plots may improve the overall appearance of the plot, but may in fact hurt its appeal to wildlife. Create eye-catching combinations by repeating the deep red notes in a companion plant. IQDM, Jan 5, 2012. Switchgrass enhancement: Depending upon the details of your specific contract, you may be able to enhance some or all of your existing CRP by replanting it to switchgrass. Planting straight switchgrass is the better option on wetter sites where other grasses do not do as well. Switchgrass commonly referred to as a NWSG, which stands for native warm season grass is a type of grass that starts growing later in the season usually around the end of April to mid May depending on location and climate. Last deer season I watched them move into the switchgrass just after sunrise and disappear - assume they were bedded there. There are few definitive comparisons on whether a seedbed prepared using clean tillage or some form of minimum tillage is the better method for establishing switchgrass. Within a few hours of birth, a fawn sleeps and stays in the bedded area for up to 95 percent of the time. Facebook; Twitter; Tumblr; LinkedIn; MySpace; Email; Go to. Switchgrass can be successfully established using several seeding practices. That means you need to try three different types of habitat: switchgrass, shrubs and oak seedlings. Alamo Switchgrass Seed - Switchgrass, a warm season, vigorous perennial can be found growing throughout the United States. I have 1 small swamp on my land and it is brushey next to it. Sports. Planting more seed than needed may make this practice cost prohibitive. Even newborn deer are kept in a safe place to sleep or bed by their mothers because of this hunting pressure. In our side by side tests this switchgrass stood better than any other variety including the well-accepted Cave-In-Rock variety. How would you go about running trail cams for find out where their core area is. In our side-by-side tests, this switch grass stood better than any other variety we tested including the popular Cave-In-Rock variety. Currently, Deer Creek Seed sells our switchgrass in bulk pounds. Do deer bed in it much? This is best done by creating a sanctuary. I just wonder on small acreages if it is worth dedicating an acre or two to it? Aug 18, 2006 #31 I would agree with jnrbronc about the bedded deer problem. You can get very specialized in how you lay out a property, but to keep things simple, here are the basic choices you have to make and methods for creating the habitat. However, given my unique property layout I figured I would start my own thread. In many cases, they bed in locations that provide much less security, too. Option 4 is the establishment based solely on germinable seed. Depending on the seed test, the seeding rate may be different than the recommended 5 pounds PLS/acre. Grazing is generally not recommended the first year, but a vigorous stand can be grazed late in the year if grazing periods are short with at least 30 days of rest provided between grazings. You might be ok if you kept the switch in a narrow band like 20' wide. 4. Where a deer beds is key to its survival. 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