Pine plantations; can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em. To the deer hunter and manager, planted pines don’t offer a whole lot, except perhaps cover in younger-aged stands. Deer don’t eat pines, and about the only reason they travel through them is because it’s often easier than going around. Yet in many parts of the country, the Southeast in particular, planted pines dominate the landscape. They are the primary land use and management priority on what, in many cases, is the only available hunting land. It’s a dilemma for anyone who hunts deer.
For those of us who also like to grow and manage deer by manipulating their habitat for the better, it can seem extremely frustrating — but only if you let it. Even where pine plantations dominate the land and management, there are ample opportunities for establishing food plots to increase both deer production and huntability on the land. You just need to know where to look.
INSPIRATION
Jon Cooner, Whitetail Institute’s director of special projects, described how he discovered one example. “I was driving on an 800-acre lease with the landowner,” he said. “It had a few fields but was mostly planted pines, real thick stands about 15 to 20 feet tall and so choked with briars you couldn’t walk through them. Then I noticed an area where the pine trees went back off the road for a ways and then came back up.” He asked the landowner why. “For some reason, they just didn’t take there,” the landowner said.
That’s when the lights came on for Cooner. “I started thinking, if they didn’t take there, I bet there’s some spots way back in that didn’t take too,” Cooner said.
He was right. After donning some briar-proof gear, he rode his ATV into some of the more remote areas on the property, where he found two types of areas he deemed ideal for food plots. “The first were small circular or oval spots where pines didn’t take,” he said. The second were spots “where a row or two didn’t take.” With a quick application of Imperial No-Plow or Secret Spot, he was able to create some back-lot honey holes.
DON’T BUG ME
Like most deer hunters in the Southeast, Whitetail Institute Vice President Steve Scott leases his hunting land from a paper company. “They tell us, and rightly so, they make their money growing trees, not deer,” Scott said. Their goal is to maximize profit and if they could, they’d have every possible square inch of land in production. But they can’t, for a variety of reasons that can sometimes be a boon to the deer manager. Scott cited beetle kills as a prime example. Foresters regularly fly over their managed lands looking for telltale brown spots that could indicate beetle infestation.
“If they find an infected stand,” Scott said, “they’ll drop all the trees in it, and usually enough around them to prevent spread.” It’s not cost effective to remove the trees so you end up with a tangled mess of anywhere from 1/4 acre to an acre or two. At the very least, it becomes good bedding cover.
It can be much more though. According to Scott, “They (timber companies) will leave it be, but are often willing to let you go in these spots and plant a plot.” You can go in immediately, but Scott suggests letting the stumps rot. “Then, it’s easier to work the ground,” he said. Mini hurricanes or micro-bursts sometimes create the same conditions and the same opportunities.
SIZE MATTERS
Remember, it doesn’t take a lot of acreage to have a measurable effect. Many wildlife managers recommend planting between two percent and five percent of your property in food plots. Even on property that’s intensively managed for softwood production, you can usually find at least that much that has the necessary conditions. You just need enough sunlight reaching the forest floor to promote plant growth, and the right soil conditions, in terms of disturbance and pH (see sidebar on soil testing). In fact, sometimes smaller is better. Cooner noticed his back-lot honey holes offered something conventional plots didn’t.
“Deer would filter in and out all day long because they felt safe,” he said.
SUNLIGHT
The first condition — sunlight — is met anywhere there’s an opening, be it man-made or natural. We’ve already mentioned a couple of the latter. “It could simply be soil conditions where pines just don’t do well,” Scott said. In that case, he suggests you talk to the forester and see if they’d mind you planting there. “I’ve got to salute the paper companies,” he said. “To a large degree, they’re very receptive to ideas for improving the property for wildlife habitat while at the same time running their business.” Here again, soil testing is important. There may be a good reason pines won’t grow, but if the soil is really poor you can treat it, or try something like Imperial Extreme, which can thrive even in extremely poor soils.
Some of the side effects of softwood forest management can also benefit the deer hunter and manager. Remember, we’re looking for adequate sunlight hitting the forest floor, which occurs on skid roads and fire breaks. In the latter example you can actually be a benefit to the landowner.
“Most anyone wants a fire lane around their property,” Scott said. But it costs money to maintain. Turn it into a food plot and you’re effectively maintaining it for the landowner, a step Scott said “will usually make the landowner smile.” He does caution planting along the property line as it could create a temptation for the neighbors, unless you’re involved in some type of cooperative.
Another good example is skid roads. While turning them into food plots might not benefit the forester, he usually won’t object. And like Cooner’s back-lot plots, planting logging roads can extend your hunting day. “Most conventional plots are better for afternoon hunting,” Scott said. “Roads are good for morning and evening hunting because you catch deer crossing them and/or feeding along them.” For gun hunters, he especially recommends straightaways where you can see further. Skid roads can also be among the least labor intensive plots to build. The loggers do most of the work, clearing down to bare soil in the process of skidding out logs. At most all you have to is make a few passes with an ATV disk before planting.
Even some silvicultural practices can create food plotting opportunities. For example, a fifth row removal, done in conjunction with removal of the substandard trees in the remaining rows, opens the canopy and allows more sunlight to reach the forest floor. Establishing plots in the fifth row can actually benefit a pine stand by preventing establishment of sweet gum and other non-merchantable and undesirable species, which would otherwise compete with pines for nutrients and water.
MONEY TALKS
If all else fails, you could buy a variance from the landowner. According to Scott, “Sometimes for about $100 per acre, per year, they’ll take the land out of production and let you plant it.” It’s may seem like an extreme step, but for $300 a year you can build enough food plots to improve a couple of hundred acres.
CONCLUSION
Whitetail deer are one of North America’s most adaptable species. They have learned not only to survive but thrive in a broad range of habitats, including a landscape dominated by planted pines. If we want to be more successful as hunters and wildlife managers, we should take a lesson from the game we pursue and learn how to make the most of existing conditions.
Soil Testing
Proper soil pH is vital to plant production because it increases the ability of plants to take up soil nutrients. This is particularly important when working in and around pines as soils tend to be particularly acidic. That’s why soil testing is one of the most important steps in building food plots. It is not, however, the first step. Before testing, Jon Cooner recommends you decide what forage you’re going to plant on your site. “When you send your soil to the lab for testing they can make specific recommendations for that forage on that site,” he says. Which type you choose will depend on both site conditions (slope, aspect, soil moisture, etc.) and objectives (year-round nutrition or fall hunting).
For more detailed information, check out: "How to Select the Right Forage" by Jon Cooner at http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/
SMZs
Streamside management zones, shoreland zones, resource protection areas — they’re known by many names. Essentially, they are buffers along the margins of wetlands, waterways and water bodies where habitat is left undisturbed in order to preserve and protect water quality. They can also be a very valuable asset to the deer manager, particularly if they contain mastproducing hardwoods. Be sure to factor them in when calculating your “productive” acreage, and when setting your bow stands.
