Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Sea of Grass

Here's a few things concerning grass clumps that I think will hold true……You could probably make a couple nice slides for the slide show out of it …..You are going to have…..1) the density of grass clumps the system is able to efficiently support at any individual site……..and…… 2) the density needed to meet the landowner objectives……

The first one #1) is going to be dictated by the soil type (sand, silt, blackbelt gumbo, etc)…….the location (on a ridge top, in a bottom, on a north or south facing slope, etc)……..and the fertility and management of the topsoil………In general the drier and less fertile the site, the lower number of grass clumps the system can productively run…..I think it's probably a matter of not having the water and nutrient capacity to grow and cycle a high tonnage of carbon naturally…..

Then there’s #2) the number required to meet the landowner’s objectives……..I think this density is way, way lower than most people realize when it comes to turkey and deer……Even if we throw in quail I think the ideal density is still way lower than we envision and manage for in many situations…..What I’m getting at is…..Even if the site quality from #1 allows for much higher grass density like the picture I posted the other day from the blackbelt stand of nearly pure 6ft tall grass…..we don’t necessarily need the extra grass production for deer, turkey, quail management…..In fact it only works against us to produce more and more by feeding the wrong wildlife…..