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Post by antiwheeze on Sept 13, 2018 9:12:09 GMT -5
I talk my buddy into making a new trail on his 70. I went back yesterday to spray it in preparation for a new food plot. I noticed a lot of turkey sign for there's a newer on the trail that he just bushhogged. As I was praying the area I also noticed an increase number of crickets and insects and it flies were swarming the area. This caused me to do a Google search about Bush hogging for turkey habitat.
I just wondered if anyone else had purposely or accidentally had the same experience here ?
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Post by esshup on Sept 13, 2018 10:38:31 GMT -5
They do a lot of bugging in the food plots that are 6" or so high.
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Post by jbird on Sept 14, 2018 8:23:50 GMT -5
I can't say I have seen it on trails, but I have seen it in some of my plots where I let things get a little out of hand and then mow. The bugs seem to become more accessible to the birds then and they seem to take advantage. I try to only mow 1/2 of my plots at a time so the plants and weeds tend to be in different growth stages and this seems to help with the bugs and bugging activity as well. I have some plots that I don't intend on looking like the cover of a magazine, but instead look like a neglected food plot with weeds. I like the diversity and mow to prevent seeding, but the mowed strips the fresh growth the deer find and the easy of movement and access to bugs the turkey seem to like. Especially later in the summer.
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Post by antiwheeze on Sept 14, 2018 8:39:29 GMT -5
I can't say I have seen it on trails, but I have seen it in some of my plots where I let things get a little out of hand and then mow. The bugs seem to become more accessible to the birds then and they seem to take advantage. I try to only mow 1/2 of my plots at a time so the plants and weeds tend to be in different growth stages and this seems to help with the bugs and bugging activity as well. I have some plots that I don't intend on looking like the cover of a magazine, but instead look like a neglected food plot with weeds. I like the diversity and mow to prevent seeding, but the mowed strips the fresh growth the deer find and the easy of movement and access to bugs the turkey seem to like. Especially later in the summer. Have you ever attempted to optimize your mowing to bring in deer or turkeys to a specific stand? I have seen 6-8 inches listed as the best height for mowing clover but no discussion on the best height for native vegatation but expect its similar. Also curious about timing of fertilization for prime attraction. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2018 12:01:14 GMT -5
I cut my top field about 3 or 4 times a year. Mid summer to fall they come out every time I cut. It's like they hear the mower dinner call.
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Post by jbird on Sept 14, 2018 12:32:50 GMT -5
I can't say I have seen it on trails, but I have seen it in some of my plots where I let things get a little out of hand and then mow. The bugs seem to become more accessible to the birds then and they seem to take advantage. I try to only mow 1/2 of my plots at a time so the plants and weeds tend to be in different growth stages and this seems to help with the bugs and bugging activity as well. I have some plots that I don't intend on looking like the cover of a magazine, but instead look like a neglected food plot with weeds. I like the diversity and mow to prevent seeding, but the mowed strips the fresh growth the deer find and the easy of movement and access to bugs the turkey seem to like. Especially later in the summer. Have you ever attempted to optimize your mowing to bring in deer or turkeys to a specific stand? I have seen 6-8 inches listed as the best height for mowing clover but no discussion on the best height for native vegatation but expect its similar. Also curious about timing of fertilization for prime attraction. I have never went to that measure. Mowing and then fertilizing would be a good idea though. I just started playing with this "abandoned plot" concept. As such I keep the plot fairly clean in the spring from weeds. My intent here is to ensure the critters have green food coming out of winter. As the spring greens up I neglect the plots and only mow strips or the like in them. I try to mow only as short as I need to, and try to use my trail cam to see when fawns are up and mobile to avoid finding them with the mower. Then around labor day I mow paths to lead deer and areas to a shorter height and with the more regular fall rains these areas bounce back in clover and fresh growth in a week or two. this mowing tends to reset a lot of the native plants as well. I still try to leave some of the "neglected" areas as it provides the cover and food and the like - it just doesn't look "pretty". I am not sure there is an ideal height.....it's going to depend on what your trying to accomplish. Many folks try to mow clover to only 6 or 8 inches, but that is in an attempt to keep weeds suppressed with shade. Heck - I sometimes even spray established perennial clover with gly.....it looks like hell for a while, but with rain and the like....the clover bounces back just fine. |
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