More grass is more of the same and more conifers are just plain more conifers. In a flat, Northern Ohio ag region you may be able to stuff 40 deer into a 10 acre field of switchgrass plantings because they have no other bedding choice. Hardwood regeneration areas following major timber harvests, lowland diversity mixes of red osier dogwood, red maple, conifers and aspen provided the perfect blend of "food with a view". This is the first time I have planted conceal. Than I encourage you to follow along, because I am excited to discuss these easy, strategic methods for getting the job done. Does Love to Bed Near Their Afternoon Food Source Doe family groups are very efficient groups of deer in the world of whitetails. We even had one customer plant 450 acres of it on his Iowa farm. On our own properties we never plant plots of these grasses smaller than 5 acres. Warm Season Grasses Native grasses such as switchgrass, Indian, big and little bluestem, and gamma grass once covered much of North America. In others, theyre increasing. To order full pallets, please contact your local dealer found here (CLICK HERE FOR DEALER LOCATOR) or Real Worlds corporate office at 217-994-3721, _____________________________________________________________. Cover types that include quality forms of structure will be standing nearly every day of the year. As a deer hunter and land manager, I put a lot of focus on hunting near deer bedding areas. I have been pleasantly surprised. He or she will be able to come in and guide you on what trees to harvest and which ones to leave. After the Spring mowing a year after frost seeding, you can let your switchgrass planting take over. This is also available for the whole year. That might mean relocating to safer bedding areas or only coming out at night when human pressure is high. Here are a few examples: *Quick Growing Pines (Red and Austrian)*Various Non-Food Shrubs such as Alder and Autumn Olive (if already existing)*Quality Perennial Grasses including Switchgrass*Ornamental Grasses such as Miscanthus Giganteus. Lifetime supporter. They usually reach 9 feet tall. 7lbs/Acre. A good bedding area will be thick enough to hide deer from predators and also reduce the social pressure that deer put on each other. For example, a switchgrass field can be an excellent bedroom for deer, but its not preferred deer food. To make sure that you are on track with your bedding cover planting and habitat strategy, check out, "The Most Important Cover for Whitetails". Click the link to learn more about that. 5. Over the past several years customers have planted thousands of acres of this special blend containing Indian Grass, Big . Your goal should always be to hide deer within ther preferred hotspots of food and cover, and a switchgrass planting is a great way to accomplish a very high quality screen. This blend contains a total of 6.25# PLS (pure live seed) per acre. Oldfield Aster This one thrives more in the old clover fields which are in open woodlands, along the roadways, or in areas that are dry. Peas work great when mixed with other food plot seeds. Theyll be more apt to use it if they dont feel trapped. Sometimes bedding areas have lots of food for deer within them, and some bedding areas offer no food at all. It usually grows as much as 10 ft and in some parts of the country, they are known to be as tall as 16 feet. Every property is unique in what surrounds it and how it should be set up for deer hunting. This one is a native to North America and grows well along the roadsides, the prairies, and in native grass pastures too. Dont give deer a reason to leave an area and they will be more likely to stay close to the bedding area. On the flip side, bucks during the rut will be looking for does to breed, so a good bedroom will offer enough room for both bucks and does to coexist at all times of year. Its important to strategically place entrances into and exits out of bedding areas. Seeds Peas (1 lb.) Learn to recognize these differences to use that information to your advantage. *Designing and creating high quality diversity bedding pockets is just a fraction of what WHS can do for you! Or worse, it can tempt poachers. I would rank the bedding canopy/buck bed/buck bed vs. doe bed as the most commonly misused timber cutting for deer, but that is a completely different topic discussed in The "Top 10 Whitetail Habitat Management Myths", as well as "The Mystery of Building Buck Beds". Mature buck hunting, herd and habitat techniques. Conceal has provided the cover we were missing and we're holding deer on our small property for the first time. Our bedding blend contains a mix of browse tolerant native species selected for their ability to make deer and other wildlife feel comfortable and safe on your property. Surrounding pockets of early successional growth with an amount of switchgrass that totals roughly 50% of the acres of your field, can provide all-season cover for many critters, including whitetails. Note When planting warm-season native grasses for bedding cover always remember that bigger is better when it comes to plot size. Now, whenever shrubs and tall grasses grow in the right area they turn into cover and bedding areas. But today, it seems were on the downtrend throughout much of the country. The one thing to remember create an escape. Those same conditions that repelled deer within the setting, were actually the same conditions that could make a switchgrass planting great for other uses on the land. Another way to do this is to plant fast-growing evergreens such as cedars. If you keep in mind that deer need to feed twice during the daylight hours, you will be well on your way to matching the local conditions to your planting. Use a cultipacker or a light drag after a broadcast planting to ensure that the seed gets good soil contact. This plant is only 3 ft tall and has a width of 3ft too. -Long term deer screening cover plantings are some of my favorites! Click the link to learn more about that. *The February 2013 frost seeding picture above is from July 22nd, 2013, and the picture below is of the same planting as of August 22nd, 2013. There are a lot of deer cover forms but the three main types are the screening, the summer thermal, and the winter thermal. Strategically plant Barricade so the buck will travel past your stand or blind. This 'Growing Regions' section showcases where this species works best. They love areas where different types of habitat meet. Additionally, a variety of food sources will help prevent deer from relocating to new bedding areas since different foods peak in attraction at different times throughout the season. Deer feed 5 times in a 24 hour period, including twice during the daytime bedding hours. Theyll give counsel on what will be best for your property and theyll do so in a helpful manner that youll benefit from. The deer chose the CRP most of the time. These grasses will not establish well in areas with lots of shade or when in competition with other vegetation. When the mid term planting takes shape, you can convert the EW area into additional food plot space, and you may elect to do the same when the spruce planting begins to offer enough screening cover, to be effective. Plan on $50 to $80 per acre, depending on the amount and price of the seed that you purchased, as well as the cost of the chemicals used. Slow, light burns will just remove whats on the forest floor. If deer have been bedded all day during warm and dry conditions, or if they have a fever, they will want to drink water to cool down their body temperatures. Do NOT use more than 4 oz of Plateau per acre! Double Nickel Outdoors food plot seed mix is guaranteed fresh for the best germination outcome and guaranteed to be recorded accurately on the bag labels. which would improve the bedding value of the 7 acres. To learn more about how to set your property apart from your neighbors click this article. We will be planting it again next summer and enlarging some of the Conceal. In most cases, creating deer beds is necessary when habitat is subpar or you dont have the ability or permission to make big-scale changes. RWWP Bedding-IN-A-Bag $ 149.99 - $ 449.97 SIZE: Clear Add to cart Description Planting Instructions Description BULK SALES AVAILABLE To order full pallets, please contact your local dealer found here (CLICK HERE FOR DEALER LOCATOR) or Real World's corporate office at 217-994-3721 _____________________________________________________________ Best Shrubs for Deer Cover Witch Alder This one is a south-eastern shrub and is known for growing very slowly. Asylum - Insane Deer Bedding Mix is an absolute must if you are wanting to maximize the potential of your deer herd! This herbicide application is extremely important for getting your grass stand established quickly. So anytime you can legally hunt or trap, do so. Another strategy is to plant 10' wide with switchgrass, and 10' wide with Egyptian Wheat, eventually converting the Egyptian Wheat to switchgrass, to create a 20' wide pure switchgrass screening within 2-3 years. Bonus Read:The Ultimate Deer Hunting Property. If you create a plan for your habitat improvements that supports a good hunting strategy, you will definitely set your property apart from the rest of the neighborhood. The mix of big bluestem and Indian grass should be used in the native grass box which should be set ata seeding rate of 4.5# per acre. Its hunters, too. It provides both food and bedding cover. bedding areas for deer cover for deer around food plots cover for deer travel funnels travel corridors across open ground connect two heads of woods cover for hunters while traveling across open areas to and from stands divide large food-plot areas shield food plots from visibility from roads or neighboring property Healthy body size. It usually only grows 3 feet tall. PLANTING RATE. This usually have arching branches and is a round shape. For immediate screening cover I love to plant Egyptian Wheat as seen in the picture below. If you want to learn more about my strategies for accessing a deer bedding area, read my article called Should you enter a deer sanctuary. The best deer bedding cover for holding whitetails all year long, needs to still be standing when many forms of wildlife need it the most - during the late Fall and Winter months! DO NOT PLANT TOO DEEP! Do you need to screen something this year? Most filler seed types would include any potential deer forage plantings, as well as potential screening products that do not hold up to typical Fall weather patterns. Plants are 10 feet tall and standing up to our winter in Wisconsin with several inches of snow on the ground. It isnt good. When you blend various grass varieties together to create "diversity", you have still created a mono culture of grass. Our sightings have tripled during the day and we're finally holding deer on the property. If you arent able to manipulate the habitat or install a screen where you hunt, you might need to get creative on how, when, and where to access the bedding area. They'll be more apt to use it if they don't feel trapped. "The Most Important Cover for Whitetails". HIGHLY Recommend! However, turkeys will especially benefit from the seeds created by the winter wheat when it reaches maturity. Is your focus purely for deer? This is probably my favorite and likely most difficult to achieve. Perfect to float a deer across the terrain and haul gear with its specially contoured hull. In fact, one of my personal favorite trees, the White Pine, can often hold it's lower branches for 100s of years, if surrounded by open canopy to allow for full sunlight exposure. The best part about this is in most cases, if going through a government agency, there will be little to no cost when getting their advice. This one is a south-eastern shrub and is known for growing very slowly. Shorter grass to eat and longer grass that provides the coverage they need to sleep. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Learn everything you wanted to know about seeds, get helpful planting tips, access to expert advice and more! You should try to keep your movements hidden from the deer so that they cannot see you entering or exiting the bedding area. Once you know all of the traits of a good bedding area and you learn how to recognize them, youre ready to go hunting. Our Real World Wildlife Seed "Bedding in a Bag" blend includes select varieties of warm season native grasses which grow up to 8-feet tall. Real World Wildlife Products co-founder Don Higgins has worked for many years as a conservation contractor where he has planted thousands of acres of warm-season native grasses. In ideal situations, bedding areas will be large enough to hold both bucks and does while being small enough so that a hunter can effectively hunt the deer using that bedding area. It can even make for a good spring turkey food source. You want tall grasses to grow in between shrubs and tall grasses. If weeds become too bad during the year of planting you can spray the field with 2-4D herbicide which will kill all broadleaf weeds and plants but will not harm any grasses. Establishing the warm season native grasses contained in the Real Worlds Bedding-in-a-Bag mix can require some extra effort compared to other crops. Thats part of the natural cycle of life. If you can discover places where humans arent pressuring deer, or pressuring them less frequently, you will have better odds of success hunting those locations. These seeds will put all their energy into producing forage during that time. The switchgrass seed should be placed in the small seeds box and it should be set at 1.75# per acre. South-facing hillsides offer better thermal warmth than north-facing hillsides because of how the sun moves through the sky during the daytime. So specific situations will vary from location to location. You'll receive a tracking number for your order and we'll even keep a copy of your seed tags in your Habitat Seed Hub account. That might mean relocating to safer bedding areas or only coming out at night when human pressure is high. Copyright 20 Hunting Bow Lab Broadcasting Planting by broadcasting can be done however additional steps will be needed. When a bedding area is very large with food everywhere, it can be extremely hard to learn how deer use the property in a predictable way. The number of potential uses for Conceal deer cover seeds are limited only by your imagination. The key to this blends success is not the species of grasses that are included but instead the specificvariety of each grass species. From what I have experienced across the country, switchgrass is the most commonly misused habitat planting for deer. If you choose not to use chemicals, you can mow the field 3 times the first year when the weeds and grasses reach a height of 8-12" high, and then once the following Spring. Youre helping the deer herd and some of these options might even help make you a little cash. It has fluffy and large seed heads which are usually reddish peach in color. It probably is not a shock that the most common long term deer screening cover plantings are conifers, including: *White Pine*Red Cedar*White and Norway Spruce (determined by soil and shade tolerances)*Shrubs and fast growing trees such as hybrid poplar can also be an outstanding choice for long term deer screening cover varieties. Luckily, you dont need to in order to see the same effect. The northern MI client's switchgrass offered a fairly quick solution: Take the tractor with a disc attached, and create the desired maze and pocket effect within the planting. Bedding Shop All Bedding Bed . Getting a bow into the tree is one of those simple tasks where people can sometimes overcomplicate it. 1st time planting conceal grows very quickly can't wait to see how tall it actually gets! Switchgrass, as well as most native grass blends, contains zero food. Use Barricade to build blind cover exactly where you want it. Furthermore, planting tall native grasses will also help provide that buffer that deer love. The same can be said for combining various conifer varieties as well. -Like mid and long term deer screens, short term plantings come in many shapes and sizes. If you are creating quality deer bedding cover that includes the shrub, grass, conifer and hardwood regeneration diversity needed for adequate use, then don't be suprised if you create one of the best small game hang-outs in the neighborhood! Depending on where the plant is located, it could grow from 2 to 5ft. This one grows either in bunches or individually, it also grows as tall as 5 feet. You can also check this out if youre looking for the, This one grows either in bunches or individually, it also grows as tall as 5 feet. HIGH PROTEIN/HIGH ENERGY Late/Post Season Annual, No Till/ Minimum Till Clover Perennial/Annual, Use to block views/secure walk-in routes, funnel deer, Fast to establish; plant in summer, lasts into winter. Improved antler growth. But whenever its dry or warmer days, deers would feed less. Planting Site RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix works best in open field areas with lots of sunlight and well to moderately well drained soils. Good luck! To help the seed flow through a broadcast seeder, mix the seed with pelleted lime. Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review. As hunters and landowners, we need to try and make deer feel safe. There needs to be more information on this website planting the Barricade product other than a video. Small game, whitetails and game birds are in desperate need of quality cool season cover. As I mentioned before, some bedding areas offer lots of food for deer to eat within the bedding area itself. It all depends on what you want out of your burn. Be sure to check with your local NRCS/USDA office before using this mix on a CRP project or your funding could be in jeopardy. That is one hundred feet square or 8 feet wide by a quarter-mile long. When broadcast seeding is used, it is recommended that the seeding rate be increased 1 1/2 to two times the recommended rate to make up for seed that is not planted at the proper depth. Thats why many people hinge cut the perimeter of bedding areas it provides a visual barrier. And that's it, with four guys we had 300 trees planted in 3 hours. -how much sunlight is needed for maximum growth? Is that a bad thing? Plant BARRICADE in the summer and it will be ready for hunting season and last into the winter. This can make hunting extremely challenging. Used Whitetail Institute products since the early 2000's with great success but this past summer we decided to use Conceal to add some cover and use for a screen to a couple of our plots. Make it so that deer will want to use it. The switchgrass actually had the opposite outcome from what the landowner had originally intended, but those results were easy to reverse with a little additional work. Tips - Areas planted in RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix make ideal bedding cover for deer and other wildlife but there are a few things to keep in mind to make them more attractive to wildlife . Making these adjustments will help you increase your odds of achieving your whitetail and land management dreams. This one doesnt just grow up to 6 feet, it even provides as much as 6 feet coverage in width. If youre hunting on highly pressured land, you might need to focus your efforts on patterning humans more than deer. You will likely need to add a small amount of other grasses and/or forbs to get a mixture that is acceptable to meet CRP specifications. Barricade allows you to plant a wall of sorghum that blocks the view of your entry to and exit from your stand. A combination of all 3, is often the way to go! Very pleased with Conceal. For example, . You should also aim to create a mono-culture which should be a combination of: Your must have at least 3 of them, but the more the better. It isnt just predators you have to watch out for. Although the importance of using deer screening cover for whitetails hasn't changed throughout the last decade, the availability and marketing of the various forms of screening plantings, surely has. This summer we planted 3 acres of conceal as a bedding cover since our property is only 44 acres and not many trees. Also, doing these things around food plots and other food sources will help deer use those more during daylight. For some areas it has even reached 8 to 10 feet which means more width as well. The leaves are usually narrow and short so it wont be a good spot alone. . This grows as tall as 10 feet and it even stands up very straight while being large. This one grows as much as 15ft and is known to be a very good deer cover. Because these are annual plants, they'll only survive 8 or 9 months. When deer are cold, they want exposure to direct sunlight and an escape from harsh winds to conserve their energy. When its planted in hedgerow it becomes a more ideal deer cover. Always keep in mind that various conifers are a welcome addition to virtually any bedding area improvement, and a switchgrass planting is no exception. This is one of the most popular methods these days. Site preparation and Planting A good stand of RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix can be achieved without any tillage of the soil provided the ground is free of other vegetation and a no-till drill is used for planting. Woodlot edges, bedding areas, hunter access routes, ponds, orchards and food plots are all very good habitat features to plant switchgrass along side. Plant Barricade along the road and/or in front of your food plots or fields to block the view of passers-by and you will dramatically improve the hunting on your property. Try to establish a goal of turning at least 30-40% of the bedding area into non-switchgrass growth. We won't accept any free evaluation units from manufacturers. Like any plant, these grasses will grow better in more fertile soils. Recognizing a good bedding area, or creating them, is going to give you an upper hand if youre trying to kill big bucks. Bonus Read:Declining Deer Numbers Lead to Public Land Hunting Reduction. Copyright 1999-2021 Haas Outdoors, Inc : Nativ Nurseries. Proper Planting Time RWWS Whitetail Bedding Mix should be planted in mid to late spring when soil temperatures approach 60 degrees. Bonus Read: 7 Ways to Kill Bigger Deer on Small Properties Photo credit: Bruce MacQueen/Shutterstock Read More. Round-Up will kill any weeds growing on the site and Plateau is a herbicide specially designed for native grass plantings. Keep this in mind when planning your planting. Deer love this prairie-style of habitat. Create corridors and openings where you want deer to travel. Despite the misuse of switchgrass plantings, the seed variety is also one of the most widely appropriate plantings for deer that landowners can make. Thanks Antler King. The timing for frost seeding would typically take place at least 4 weeks prior to the typical Spring green-up in your area. Finally, the last slide included screening illustrations of each habitat and hunting feature, with the word "EVERYTHING", in bold text across the top of the picture. Planting Barricade is a fast and easy way to improve your hunting property. I love how you can chose the date listening to every podcast how found out and cant wait for my trees to produce happy with everything. And remember, always keep the wind in mind when planning these things. *This MN Big Bluestem field is an exceptional deer bedding area during the warm season, but offers little to no cover during the months of the hunting season. We wanted to plant barricade on the edge of our property that lines the road to keep people from being able to see into our fields driving by. Holding up well with our snows. This blend has been tested and tested again . However, that doesnt mean they dont enjoy taking a drink of water. $17.95/lb. The 3 year old planting was tall, strong and at first appeared to be the perfect deer bedding creation; but it was not. Advertisement You could find this in areas that are moist. Utilizing Switchgrass as a base bedding structure is one of the most effective forms of cover for whitetails that you can create. (verified owner) March 14, 2021. My favorite tactic is to plant Egyptian Wheat along side the switchgrass planting, so that in 2-3 years when the switchgrass reaches an appreciable height you will eliminate the need to plant, for up to decade or more. Use Barricade to create funnels that strategically direct deer movement. When using a native grass drill there will be multiple seed boxes. If your favorite CRP or pheasant mix is laying flat during any month between November and March, the wildlife that counted on those fields of waving Summer green, are either displaced or dead. Although the % of conifers were a little light, the area was still a fairly decent form of Northern MI daytime habitat mix, while being the preferred bedding acres for a handful of deer. Location is also important for hunters who dont have the ability to make habitat improvements on the lands where they hunt. Species Amount / Acre; Indiangrass (VNS) 3.00000 Pounds: Switchgrass (Alamo) 1.00000 Pounds: . "It's a great deer forage and the seeds are good for upland game birds and others too." It has deeply lobed leaves and can grow as tall as 7 feet. -The list of potential mid term deer screening varities is very long, and includes many forms of grasses, shrubs and conifers. When deer feel safe it will increase our opportunities of seeing them move around during daylight hours. However, there are clues that can help us understand when deer bedding areas are too small or too big. -will it grow in mountainous terrain or on the side of hills or in bottoms? If not, it may be time for a change that not only benefits your whitetail dreams, but for all wildlife. For example a 10 acre planting may use 8 acres of RWWS Whitetail Bedding mix and a few pounds of other seeds to be acceptable to USDA requirements. If you only have tall grasses then thats just adequate coverage. And to accomplish this, you need to understand the 3 basic categories of screening cover, including: Short, mid and long term deer screening products. In April spray Atrizine at a rate of 3-4 quarts per acre during the first 2 years. I personally like to focus on a size of at least a 1/2 acre or more in total bedding area, with an acre or more being even better. When broadcasting you may need to use more seed per acre. Herbicide It is very important to spray the planting site with a combination of Round-Up (glyphosate) and Plateau herbicides. Find those unique bedding areas that are different from the majority of bedding areas on the landscape and focus on hunting there. A well prepared seed bed should provide adequate seed to soil contact. Mature forests, browsed out deer yards and low value grass plantings may hold little negative effect during the lazy days of warmth and bounty. So I dont want to tell you not to hunt a small bedding area. -will it grow in or around wetland areas and swamps? It offers a good scent and it grows from 6 to 10ft. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Have questions? Im trying to shoot the biggest buck I can, and I know that my odds of seeing a mature buck is much better within cover than in an open field like a food plot. However, not matter what your cover combination includes, you have to provide a base form of bedding cover. If you are a landowner, create bedding areas that are different from your neighbors and make sure your bedding areas fit in with the rest of your habitat improvements. If you are planning to plant a single type of plant then this one should definitely be the one. Even though that Northern MI bedding creation wasn't appropriately matched to the conditions, there were still very good reasons to use switchgrass plantings on the property. Deer Bedding Cover Failures Getting ready to start 2022 spring in Michigan. All Rights Reserved. The first category includes annual varieties such as: *Egyptian Wheat*Sorghum*Spring Planted Winter Rye. Deer need food, water and cover. Fire not only stimulates these grasses but also sets back weed competition and kills woody sprouts and seedlings. Deer feed 5 times in a 24 hour period, including twice during the daytime bedding hours. It also grows in rocky upland forests as well. For example, how many bedding areas there are available to deer, how much food is in the area, how small/big the deer population is, how much hunting pressure is in the area, and the list goes on. Think about which sides deer will want to remain open based on typical wind directions, direction of approach, direction of departure, etc. The switchgrass planting was recommended to my client by someone who has had great luck in a large agricultural settings located in Southern MI, where switchgrass can sometimes be an adequate bedding option. You can also mow the plot to help with weeds but do not mow lower than 12. This blend contains a total of 6.25# per acre. My first year with Conceal but it has improved the number of deer we're holding on our property. And that includes switchgrass plantings. Short term plantings are nearly all annuals, so they need to planted each year, as needed. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Poor forms of "wildlife cover" are numerous and seem to be taking over a wide variety of private, corporate and public land holdings. It can also be used to "steer" deer towards your stand location.