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Dances With Weeds
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Dances With Weeds
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 29,376 Likes: 95 |
Deer browsing sweet gum and wax myrtle? I noticed it being browsed heavily at some of the property I�ve been tracking on and it really makes me question what the rest of us think is �overpopulated�. Despite the deer browsing plant species so far down the preference list�.the deer are still very heavy and healthy. I've changed my perception about how many deer most people need to shoot to keep things from being "overpopulated".
Last edited by CNC; 01/20/16 05:36 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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Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
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Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 27,316 Likes: 252 |
I've seen deer walk straight through a Greenfield and stop and eat blackberry briars more than once. Seems to me they'll eat about anything.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 6,778
ALDEER SPONSOR
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ALDEER SPONSOR
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 6,778 |
You gonna open a big can of worms if you start the overpopulated/shoot more does thread again...no matter what side of the fence you're on. I swear, just browse through the LFTT threads over the past few days. Some of the best weather of the year, bucks should be chasing like crazy and so many 0's, 1's and 2's. Overpopulation is NOT an issue.
Ya'll are just overthinking it now
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Joined: Jan 2015
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spike
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spike
Joined: Jan 2015
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As 3FFarms said, overpopulation is certainly not an issue. Quality of food and habitat is, esp. in the pine plantations of the south. While I've never personally witnessed deer eating sweetgum leaves, I have a friend who has a captive deer herd that he uses for study in sculpting mannikins for taxidermy use and he says they love sweetgum leaves.
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Joined: Feb 2007
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10 point
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10 point
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,231 |
Some people call them pine goats for a reason. They will eat about anything they have available but they definitely have an order of preference if all other factors are equal. Take hunting pressure for example. If the hunting pressure is high around the food plots, I would not be surprised to see browsing evidence on sweet gums well away from the plots.
Lastly, body weights are good indicators but they are the best indicators with respect to age. Sure, 190lb buck is a good buck but what if he's 6.5 years old and all the bucks on this property never reach 200 lbs. More data is needed before making an assumption about the population level. It's not a coincidence that some of the largest deer seen on this site this year come from counties with lower densities.
"When there was no fowl, we ate crawdad, when there was no crawdad, we ate sand."
"YOU ATE SAND!" - Raising Arizona
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Joined: Dec 2015
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Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
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Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 27,316 Likes: 252 |
Not overpopulated here. Less than there were. 10 years ago. I don't kill does. Did let my son kill 2 the past 3 years. He killed 2 bucks this year. He wont be killing any more does either. Does are the best bait you can have.
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 7,130 Likes: 9
Picker
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Picker
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 7,130 Likes: 9 |
I've seen deer eat fallen sweet gum leaves. I've also seen them eat the tops out of seedling pines. Those jokers will eat pretty much any plant. Maybe not in large quantities, but they do sample everything in nature's "buffet".
GO NOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Dances With Weeds
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Dances With Weeds
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 29,376 Likes: 95 |
It didn�t really look like they were browsing the leaves. It was the little buds at the end of the twigs. I just can�t help but think of all the does I�ve shot the chit out of in the past because �we needed to shoot does�. I�m not sure looking back on it if I was ever in a situation where I really did need to.
Last edited by CNC; 01/20/16 06:08 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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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,425 Likes: 16
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,425 Likes: 16 |
Deer are browsers. I don't know why it surprises some people.
83% of all statistics are made up.
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Joined: Oct 2013
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10 point
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10 point
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 3,170 Likes: 6 |
Never seen deer sign around sweer gum trees. They claim up north when a tree falls deer will have a feast on it. Honeysuckle is great protein just need more wide spaces that are not sprayed on forest land to grow it. Seems like on state managed land the management companies are trying to cut all the oak trees down. Could use a mix of it all along with agricultural supplement in some areas. Never seen any eat pine combs, needles, or bark!
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Dances With Weeds
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Dances With Weeds
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 29,376 Likes: 95 |
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.
Last edited by CNC; 01/21/16 03:14 AM.
"For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" .....Mark 8:36
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Joined: Jan 2013
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Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 20,371 Likes: 36 |
When we used to dart deer in an enclosure, we would cut a big sweet gum branch and drag it to where we wanted the deer standing to dart and within 30 minutes deer would be all around it eating the leaves. They love sweetgum
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Joined: Sep 2013
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10 point
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10 point
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,616 |
Yes. I hunt some thinned and pines and just walking 100 yards through the woods reveals deer will eat pretty much everything within reason and within easy reach of their mouths. Twigs, anything green, tender growth off of any plant, briar, etc.
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Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
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12 point
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12 point
Joined: Jun 2013
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Yes they do! Never witnessed deer brosing sweet gum. As invasive as it is, deer should have plenty of food. I'm with you crimson, seems like it would be way down the preferred list. Deer will browse anything, but i would think if you had a lot of honeysuckle,greenbriar,blackberry, poke salad, and black tupelo, that the deer wouldn't browse sweetgum near as much. If they love it so much, why is everyone trying to rid there property of it?
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Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,425 Likes: 16 |
If they love it so much, why is everyone trying to rid there property of it? Are you serious?
83% of all statistics are made up.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,425 Likes: 16
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 15,425 Likes: 16 |
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.
83% of all statistics are made up.
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,473
10 point
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10 point
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,473 |
I've seen deer walk straight through a Greenfield and stop and eat blackberry briars more than once. Seems to me they'll eat about anything. This. In my yard, the deer eat my fruit trees to the bare stem, my monkey grass, my Indian Hawthornes, etc. I gave up on trying to plant camellia bushes. They'll also mutilate evergreens such as cedars and Leland cypress trees in the rut. And as far as that little deer resistant stamp they put on the tags at the nursery, that doesn't carry much weight either.
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Joined: Jun 2013
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12 point
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12 point
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5,711 |
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.
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Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 40,042 Likes: 135 |
Yes they do! Never witnessed deer brosing sweet gum. As invasive as it is, deer should have plenty of food. I'm with you crimson, seems like it would be way down the preferred list. Deer will browse anything, but i would think if you had a lot of honeysuckle,greenbriar,blackberry, poke salad, and black tupelo, that the deer wouldn't browse sweetgum near as much. If they love it so much, why is everyone trying to rid there property of it? They love sweetgum and young stump sprouts are ice cream. I'd say it ranks up there with those others you listed. Far as I know, pine managers are the only folks that have a hard on for sweetgum. If you're managing for deer , you want some young sweetgum on the salad bar, at least I do. But, I have hardwoods, maybe 1% pines and that's 1% too many.
"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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