Limiting Factors and Learning Curves
Filed under: Ask Grant, Deer Biology, Habitat Management
Dr. Grant, Great information! I live in a very heavy agricultural area. Should I focus my farm habitat efforts on creating interior areas that are thick or should I focus on providing standing crops (corn & soybeans) on the interior of my property? Also, why does it seem that some deer have to develop a “taste” for foods like brassicas? Jason (Ohio)
Jason,
You’re on the right track! It’s a great technique to identify “the low hole in the bucket.” By that, I mean to identify if food, cover, or water are in limited supply in the area. In areas that are predominately agricultural, cover and food are usually in short supply during the winter as most crops are harvested. If you can’t dedicate some land for permanent cover, standing corn will work for cover during the late season. Standing soybeans are a great food source for deer during the late season. By providing the “limiting factor” you help the herd and create some outstanding hunting opportunities!
As for deer needing to develop a taste for brassicas, most deer don’t recognize plants they haven’t seen before as food. For example, there are no soybeans grown near my place. The first two years I grew soybeans I don’t think deer consumed a single leaf. About year three I started noticing some leaves missing. Now, deer readily consume soybean forage and pods at my place. The same learning curve applies to any new forage planted in an area. Now if I could just get my daughters to eat spinach!
Growing Deer together,
Grant
