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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 40,042 Likes: 135
Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 40,042 Likes: 135 |
Deer are browsers. I don't know why it surprises some people. Not surprised about that at all. I�m more surprised in seeing how this property is so far past anything else I�ve ever been on yet the deer population nor the habitat seems to be crumbling like the notion was presented. I�m just saying that the property I hunt (my home property and hunting club) seems to be able to carry a lot more deer than we have even though we have a good number. I�m just not sweating that we are anywhere close to needing to thin out deer due to population now. It seems that the habitat will keep taking a hit long before the deer suffer. At what point the habitat is toasted due to overbrowsing I�m not sure. I suppose it depends on how the understory is managed. I know we�re not nearly as close to that threshold as I once thought�..or at least that�s my current perception. I would think a browse line to the vegetation is a late indicator. There will be other indications well before that one. However, if you're waiting on that one, your herd will be in bad shape. Spot on Brad, as a deer manager, a fellow would be very lax if he waited to see a browse line to make changes. Very late by that time and will take much time and work to bring the habitat back.
"Why do you ask"?
Too many people spend money they don't have , on things they don't need, to impress people they don't know.
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,303 Likes: 1
8 point
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8 point
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,303 Likes: 1 |
My son climbed a tree this that had some type of vine with green leaves. He pulled it down and climbed. Then a doe comes out and goes straight for this vine and eats the leaves off it. I had pet goats that loved sweetgum leaves. Yes deer are somewhat of a goat too.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 13,354 Likes: 24
Booner
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Booner
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 13,354 Likes: 24 |
They got taste buds just like us. Back several years ago, I saw where a deer herd had bypassed a soybean field and absolutely destroyed a 15 acre cotton field.
The harder I practice, the luckier I get.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,426 Likes: 16
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,426 Likes: 16 |
If they love it so much, why is everyone trying to rid there property of it? Are you serious? Yes Nighthunter, i'm serious about the sweetgum. Everyone i know hates the tree's and wants to get rid of them, but if deer love them, that seems crazy. Sweetgums are fast growing trees. There's not much time for browsing before they grow out of reach of the deer. Deer will browse on the coppice sprouts of a sweetgum stump, but eventually, they too will outgrow the reach of the deer. I guess you could keep cutting the apical meristem out of the tree to keep it low and bushy.
83% of all statistics are made up.
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5,711
12 point
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12 point
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5,711 |
I have a bottom that is loaded with young sweetgums. There about 10' tall. I was going to hack and squirt them, but now ya'll are convincing me to just cut them down and let them resprout.
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Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 6,278 Likes: 30
12 point
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12 point
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 6,278 Likes: 30 |
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,611
Bright Eyes
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Bright Eyes
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 7,611 |
The browse line can be an indicator of the type of plant in the area that you are looking at. Privet can have a browse line very early in the year. Green vines with green leaves, this time of year, may be smilax. They love smilax (green briar.) Yep, they love honeysuckle. They go nuts over it if it is fertilized with the proper PH in the soil. I believe it was Mr. Earl Kennamer that told me that honeysuckle was a deer's ice cream. I noticed that the tips of sweetgum were nipped off, today. Our deer love fescue even though the nutrition value isn't great. Saw some cedar trimmed today, which is usually something that northern deer eat as a last resort.
Also, met a fine man that has a great young'un named Otis.
Was a good day and I learned a little more that I didn't know yesterday.
Long winded tonight. Have a good one tomorrow and maybe this has a little relationship to the topic.
Last edited by Gotcha1; 01/21/16 03:59 PM.
Matt Brock wears knock-off Crocs.
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 29,376 Likes: 95
Dances With Weeds
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Dances With Weeds
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 29,376 Likes: 95 |
Also, met a fine man that has a great young'un named Otis. 
Last edited by CNC; 01/21/16 04:25 PM.
"For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" .....Mark 8:36
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