NWSG Mix for Bedding Cover
Filed under: Ask Grant
Grant, I have 2 acres of food plot ground that I need to turn into a bedding area. Do you recommend the normal little/big bluestem/indian grass, monoculture of switchgrass, or something new that I can experiment with? I don’t mind being a guinea pig with something you might want tried. I’ve always worked with the philosophy nothing ventured, nothing gained. I have over 400 acres (200 woods, 15 water, 100 normal prairie mix, 30 food plots, and 55 farmed) in west central Indiana with lots of ground around me being farmed. I’ve been working with this land about 10 years. Any ideas are much appreciated. All I want is for the bucks to reach their full potential. A Brother in Christ, Percy
Percy,
It’s sounds as if you have a wonderful habitat management program in place! I also like to experiment, but I think we’d both be better served experimenting with something that isn’t as proven as the native warm season grass mix that you discussed. That mix, or maybe that mix plus 20% switchgrass is a great recipe for creating bedding/escape cover. The only suggestion I would add is that I like bedding areas a bit larger. Coyotes can probably smell every deer in a 2 acre area when they are downwind. The other experiment might be different varieties of the same species you mentioned. For example, I’ve had great success with Cave In Rock switchgrass. However there are gads of other varieties. With the habitat you described and allowing bucks to reach maturity, they should be able to express their full potential! Let me know what you try and learn!
Growing Deer (and learning) together,
Grant
