^^
Yea

And health on the fields is geared more for the deer

Trapping coons, possums, and coyotes has been a God send for our property. We have double the gobblers we once had. Maybe even triple.

So there’s actually a little more to it than just SOM…….Here’s something else that’s a problem for some folks……Again I’m using an extreme here to represent the concept while many stands may suffer from the same thing but to a lesser degree…..The stand below is not just out of balance from a grass to broadleaf ratio…..The carbon to nitrogen ratio is also likely out of whack as well. Proper decomposition needs a balanced mix of carbon and nitrogen no different than how a carburetor balances fuel and oxygen…..

This field is flooded with carbon which means the soil cycling from the chart above is probably pretty stagnant……The cycle isnt going round and round like it should…… This end product is not really that productive for anything other than being used as cover and even still its not the proper plant or stand structure you want ……You just cant imagine how thick the grass really is until you try to walk through it...Look at the bank of the creek and you can get some sense of the thickness.... What this field really needs is a dormant season cow herd run across it……Trample and poop….trample and poop…..crank up the soil…..stimulate the seed bank…….change the stand structure…..spread a little clover behind them…..Maybe even bring the cow herd back in later in the growing season…..Maybe even run a growing season fire through it……Anything other than just another dormant season fire like it probably keeps getting….. Fire is good……..Using it wrong is not…..This area would be way more productive as a more diverse native prairie…. Ironically this field borders right up to a neighboring cattle farm.

This is blackbelt soil for reference…….How many of these hunting properties in the black belt already have a “buffalo herd” living right next door??

Not to get too complicated with it but now lets say this landowner is shooting a bunch of does because he says he doesn’t have enough food for the amount of deer…..The picture above you have all cover and virtually no food……Before we start talking about having to shoot dozens of deer because we cant feed them…..Lets examine the balance of food to cover and see if we cant remedy the problem there first…. "Grass" is really only supposed to comprise about 30% ish of the stand..... Can you imagine the amount of prime food that could be grown in this field where this isnt any now……If we're holding more deer than we can feed then why not take it a step further and convert this whole field to shin high "food"?? A lot of these places that are hollering about over population are growing way more grass (cover) than broadleafs (food) due to frequent dormant season burning over and over

Moving on down the rabbit hole…….

The main food source supporting rodents is grass and grain seed………Rodents are the main food source of turkey predators like hawks, foxes, snakes, coyotes, and bobcats……How many excess rodents are we growing in our out of balance grass stand above??.....How is this landowner impacting turkey nesting/ poult rearing success by burning and releasing this rodent hoard in Feb and March just prior to nesting?? The broader point again here being that when you’re sitting around scratching your head pondering over why the outcome is what it is……I think there’s deeper things to consider past just fire, fire, fire……..