A Land Management Schedule for the North Provide Maximum Nutrition 365 Days a Year 

By Charles J. Alsheimer

Managing property for wildlife is one of the most fulfilling things a landowner can be involved in. It leaves you with a sense of accomplishment, a feeling that you’ve given back more to nature than you received.

Our 200-acre farm in western New York is in an area called the Finger Lakes Region. It is a beautiful part of America, picturesque and quite hilly. We have the potential of experiencing severe winters and hot, dry summers. In some years, it’s not uncommon to go a month in the winter without seeing the temperature rise above freezing. The extremes that Mother Nature throws at us pose unique challenges for both man and wildlife.

In spite of what some would call harsh seasonal shifts, we have worked diligently over the years to build and sustain the best possible whitetail property. Though I love all wildlife, I’d be kidding if I didn’t tell you that everything we do on our farm is geared toward deer management, from caring for them to hunting them.

Nutritional Formula

Whitetails are what they eat. Meeting their nutritional needs requires planning for 365 days a year. Because our winters can be very harsh, both natural and supplemental food offerings are essential to meet our deer’s nutritional needs. This cannot be accomplished without a well-thought-out plan, one that looks at what needs to be done each month of the year.

Balance is the Key

The bulk of this article will address the chronology of our food plot practices and all that goes into them. You cannot, however, have a great food plot program unless you address the natural habitat needs of whitetails. Food plots and natural habitat go hand-in-glove. If food plots are not available to deer, they will over-browse the natural habitat. In the North, if natural habitat is not available, deer will be severely stressed during the mid-December to mid-March time frame. Therefore, if whitetails go without adequate nutrition in the winter, they will not be able to take full advantage of food plot offerings during the months they are available. So, the key to our program is making sure that food plots and natural habitat offerings are available so they can work in concert with each other.

With this in mind, I offer the following plan/schedule I’ve used on our farm for the past decade. It insures that both natural habitat and food plots provide deer the maximum nutrition possible – 365 days a year.

January/February

By the time December blends into January, snow begins to accumulate. When this occurs, our food plots become buried under snow, causing our deer to switch to browse species. It’s during this time that natural browse becomes the whitetail’s staple.

Browse creation: To meet deer’s browse needs, we begin to selectively cut cull trees for fire wood and leave the tops for deer to browse on. Though the browse isn’t high in protein (2 to 8 percent) it does supply deer with energy and enough nutrition to keep them healthy.

Pruning: We also begin pruning our apple orchard in January. This is hard work (sometimes in single-digit temperatures) but critical for both the deer and apple tree’s well being. The pruning helps insure that the apple crop will be good the following fall (for the deer), and by leaving the prunings on the ground, deer have apple browse to feed on.

Timber cut: We have a professionally prepared forest management plan for the farm and on two occasions have made a selective cut of the mature timber. Each time we insisted that the logging be done in January or February to keep forest scarring to a minimum. This is something you will want to consider if a timber cut is in your future. 

March

March is a transitional weather month in New York, along with most of the Northeast. We can have a blizzard as easily as 50-plus degree temperatures.

Soil test: At some point after mid-March, I attempt to do soil pH samplings. This is something that can be done at any point in the spring, summer or fall. For me, testing in March works best because it helps me plan my course of action the rest of the year.

Seed purchase: March is usually when I sit down and order what I’ll need for the upcoming season. Even though snow may be on the ground and planting season seems a long way off, I’ve learned (the hard way) that it’s better to have the seed on hand than not be able to get it when you want to plant it.          

April

By the time early April rolls around, days are getting warmer and most of the frost is gone from the ground. By mid-April, with planting season fast approaching, I put our food plot process in motion.

Frost seeding: During April, I apply a light cover seeding to my perennial food plots. This practice, which I learned as a boy growing up on the farm, has served me well over the years. I’ve found this very beneficial for my Imperial Whitetail Clover plots. Frost seeding insures there will be clover plants wherever plants have expired due to age or other circumstances. The overall benefit is greater tonnage and longer-lasting plots.

Liming: By the time late April rolls around, my soil tests are back from the lab and I’m ready to lime where needed. Due to the inability to get lime trucks to our property, I must do all my liming with bagged lime. Though more expensive and labor intensive, it works for us.

May

May is a real hustle for us, with most of the work confined to the last 15 days of the month. This is because spring green-up usually doesn’t occur until around May 15. From mid-May to the end of the month, I spray, plant and do supplemental fertilizing.

Spraying: The first step in spring planting involves spraying Round-Up on food plot locations to kill any unwanted grasses and weeds before tilling.

Tilling and Planting: Once the Round-Up has had a week or so to work, the vegetation begins to die. A few days later I till the plot with a commercial grade three-point hitch tiller. The beauty of this piece of equipment is that I only have to disturb the top four inches of soil. This type of tiller also allows me to get into tight places and sculpt the plot exactly to the shape I want. Once the seed bed is complete, I might plant Imperial Whitetail Clover, Chicory Plus (which I tested before its introduction) or Extreme, which are the top three perennials I use in our food plot program. Of course, fertilization and proper planting techniques are incorporated into the planting process.

Supplemental Fertilizing: Any existing perennial food plots get a “drink” of fertilizer around the end of May. Although once is usually sufficient, I believe it’s important to do supplemental fertilizing at least twice a year to give the forage a boost in its production. We do this the end of May and August. The fertilizer blend and pounds per acre vary, depending on the plant type and soil conditions and soil test recommendations.

June

Spraying: When unwanted grasses are 6-8 inches tall I spray the Imperial Clover, Chicory Plus and Extreme plots with Arrest. If the grasses are more than 10 inches tall, mow the plot back to six inches before spraying, otherwise it will be difficult to kill the grasses. For broadleaf weeds, we spray Slay once the weeds are 4-6 inches high. Unlike Arrest, Slay must have a surfactant mixed with it. I use both Arrest and Slay on Imperial Clover. However, due to the nature of the Chicory Plus and Extreme blends I do not use Slay on these plots because it will kill portions of the blend (like chicory). If grass and weed problems are not severe, regular mowing can often control the invasive plants without the use of herbicides.

Mowing: Most years I will do my first mowing of the season at some point in June; it all depends on sunlight, ground temperature and rainfall. I usually mow my perennial food plots when they get 12 inches tall, mowing them back to eight inches. Also, if the plot is more than one acre in size, I do not mow it all at once. Rather, I mow half of the plot then wait and mow the other half two to three days later. The reason for doing this is because plants get stressed when they are mowed, and stressed plants do not have as high a nutritional level. So, by mowing half the plot at a time, deer will still have unstressed plants to eat while the other half of the plot is recovering.

The rate at which mowing is done throughout the summer will depend on rainfall. I make it a point to refrain from mowing if dry conditions persist. Once rain arrives or is in the forecast, I mow accordingly.

July/August

Spraying: During many years, I spray for grasses and weeds in July. Whether I have to spray is contingent on the growth of the grasses and weeds.

I also spray Round-Up for fall plantings around the middle of July so that I can do my fall food plot plantings before July ends.

Mowing: In years of ample rainfall mowing will be required at some point in July; it all depends on the growth of the forage. When it gets more than 12 inches tall I mow.

Fall Planting: Around the end of July, I till the food plots that will be planted into annuals and perennials. I do the fall planting at this time because here in the North it takes about 45 days before deer can utilize what is planted. This is the time that I plant WinterGreens, which is an Imperial blend of brassicas that I have been testing for several years and will be introduced this summer (Oops, should I have said that?). Brassica plants provide a great food plot offering in December when my other food plot offerings have gone dormant or are covered with snow. I’ve also had great success planting Imperial Clover at this time.

Mowing: Under normal conditions, I will mow in mid-August for weed control and to keep the forage’s nutritional level high. It’s important to periodically mow plots so that weeds are not allowed to go to seed.

Fertilize: Near the end of August, I give my perennial food plots their second “drink” of the year. As with the first application, the type of fertilizer and pounds per acre will be dependent on the plant and soil type and soil test recommendations.

September

By the time mid-September rolls around, my food plot practices for the year are winding down. My last operation of the year is to mow the plots one last time. This mowing is more for weed control than anything else. My mowing height this time around is about 10 inches.

October/November/December

With the work done, it’s time to sit back (in a deer stand) and enjoy the fruits of the labor. It’s also a time to reflect and plan for the future because when it comes to food plot farming, change and discovering new ways of doing things are inevitable.

Epilogue

One additional thing I do is to try and stay abreast of what is going on in the industry. Each year better-engineered forages are being developed for deer and wildlife. So, by staying abreast of the trends, I’m able to offer our deer the best possible food choices. An example of this is Extreme, introduced by the Whitetail Institute two years ago. For years, I was a clover, chicory and brassica guy. I followed the development of Extreme closely and decided to add it to our tried-and-proven way of doing food plots. I’m glad I did. It didn’t take me long to see how much our deer loved Extreme.