About five years ago we accidentally created a great sanctuary and at the same time a great food source. We had enrolled our farm in the Federal Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP), and one of the practices was creating warm season, native prairie grass plots for quail and other wildlife. At the time we didn’t suspect the five-acre plot we created would become a great deer sanctuary, especially for big bucks. The prairie grass plot lies on a flat Ozark hilltop, with a fringe of woodland all around it. Pasture land lies on two sides beyond the woodland fringe, and on one side the hillside drops down to a bottomland three-acre Imperial Whitetail Clover food plot.

We have a house stand on the plot that my daughter, Jodi, has hunted for the past four years. Year before last she took a dandy 10-pointer that dressed 220 pounds from the stand. My wife, Joan, has a house stand in the opposite timber edge, alongside a smaller Imperial Whitetail Clover food plot. She has taken numerous does as well as a 10-pointer from her stand. All the deer bedded in and came out of the warm-season grass sanctuary.

Some of the grasses, such as big bluestem, grow as tall as eight feet. Yet the grasses grow in clumps or bunches, as opposed to a grass such as fescue, which creates a thick mat. That’s the reason for the use of the native warm season grasses for quail habitat. The birds can run around through the grasses, yet have overhead cover so predators such as hawks can’t get to them as easily. In winter the grasses sort of fall over and “lodge” creating excellent winter cover.

Turkeys love to nest in the fields, and the poults have a great survival rate because of the abundance of seeds, plus the overhead cover. We discovered, in addition to the great turkey and quail habitat, deer love to bed in the prairie grass plots. They can stand up, walk around and watch all around them without being seen. The sanctuary lies near a farm road that leads to one of our cattle pastures, and I use the road quite often. Many times I’ll go check the cattle, come back along the road and if I stop, have deer stand up and slip away through the grass. They know they can’t easily be seen and they feel safe, usually simply lying still until I drive by. Sometimes a glint of an antler is the give-away.

Even as beneficial as native warm-season grasses (NWSG) are, I decided to “sweeten the pot.” A long-time tester of Imperial Whitetail Clover, I interseeded the grasses with clover. This was done for several reasons. First, native warm-season grasses are extremely slow to start. It may take a year or two for the grass to establish a plot. In the meantime the ground is pretty barren. I decided the Imperial Clover would not only provide good ground cover, and prevent soil erosion until the native warm-season grasses started to take hold, but would add nitrogen to the soil. Of course, my major reason was the attraction to deer and turkeys.

For the first year or two the Imperial Clover was the main plant, and then the NWSG planting began to take effect. We achieved the best of both worlds, high-quality protein food in the form of Imperial Clover for deer and turkeys, and great bugging areas for turkeys and quail. As the grasses began to take over, turkeys began nesting in the field, as did quail — and deer began bedding in the area. It was just about like eating cookies in bed. Wildlife didn’t have to go very far for food and cover.

Native warm-season grasses are best managed by controlled burns in the spring. This not only cuts back sprouts and other successive nuisance plants, but increases the vigor of the NWSG. For the first couple of years the undercover clover did great, then a drought killed it back. We discovered if we overseeded the plot with Imperial Clover immediately after burning, then cultipacked the seed in, we again created a great undercover Imperial Clover planting. Gobblers love to strut in these burned-over areas, and hens readily begin pecking on the new clover and grass.

Another factor in the success of this plot is a management technique used to control the burn. A controlled burn is managed by several means and one is a green-plant strip around the NWSG planting. This allows the NWSG to burn, which the dry grasses do vigorously, yet the green grass keeps the fire from spreading, usually! Guess what? We keep a three-disk wide strip of green burn control using Imperial Whitetail Clover around the field. Joan has explained many times she looked up to see a deer magically appear out of the tall prairie grasses and start feeding in the clover strip.

Again, you can enjoy the Imperial Clover plot while waiting on your prairie sanctuary to grow. I also have a couple of other NWSG sanctuary plots, one a half acre and one an acre-and-a-half. Both are also created on Ozark hill tops with timberland surrounding them. These grasses are great for covering pond dams, established in odd pasture corners or other areas where they can create mini-sanctuaries.

Establishing native warm-season grasses does take some expertise, some special tools, quite a bit of work and a lot of patience. Some state wildlife agencies may be able to offer advice and help. The WHIP and EQUIP wildlife programs, run through local NRSCS and Soil Service offices, are also available for advice and help in eradicating fescue, and/or turning old overgrown fields into native warm-season grass fields.

Native warm-season grass seed is fairly expensive. Some types of NWSG include big bluestem, one of the most nutritious of the grasses, and one of the tallest, growing five to eight feet. Indian grass is another tall grass with excellent nutrition. Switchgrass is better for lowlands and has the ability to stay upright even in ice and snow, making it a great cover plant. Little bluestem and sideoats grama are both shorter prairie grasses. It’s a good idea to plant a mixture of grasses and you can add some prairie forbs as well for even more variety and food for deer and other wildlife.

Probably the single most important factor in establishing a planting is killing back persistent vegetation such as fescue. This can be done with herbicides such as Plateau. This is a better choice than glyphosate, such as RoundUp. I’ve had the best luck combining the two, but that’s more expensive. The suggested method is to burn tall fescue residue in the spring, wait for an average regrowth of six inches, and then spray. Then plant in late spring or early summer.

For Missouri where I live, the best seeding dates are from mid-May through July. A proper seedbed is also extremely important. The seedbed should be firm, not packed and extremely smooth. The seed can be broadcast by mixing with fertilizer, but the results are not as good as using a rangeland grass seeder designed specifically for seeding NWSG. Seeders are sometimes available for rent from wildlife departments as well as county soil service offices. Of course a soil test is necessary and the required phosphorus, potassium and lime applied. In most cases nitrogen should not be applied, especially if you use a mix of legumes such as Imperial Whitetail Clover in the plot, which provides the needed nitrogen. If broadcasting, the seed should be cultipacked to provide good soil contact. 

You will need to manage the plot fairly extensively the first three years, keeping weeds out by mowing in the summer, but not after August, which allows the NWSG plants to regrow. Herbicides designed for broadleaf weeds can also be used to control successive weeds and brushy growth. By the second year, if there is enough growth, a controlled burn around the first of April should be done. By the third year the stand should be well established, but you will still need to do regular weed control. Yearly or every-other-year burning will provide some control, especially of brushy species. 

Eventually, the native warm-season grass in our plantings may take over and need some management, but after five years we still have a great bed-and-breakfast for deer and other wildlife.

Captions:

1. You can create a “bed-and-breakfast” for deer with the use of native    warm-season grasses intermixed with Imperial Whitetail Clover.

2. The grasses grow in bunches and are extremely tall.

3. They provide great bedding and sanctuary areas for whitetails.

4. Planting clover with the native warm-season grasses adds nutritious   food and is a great deer attractant.   

5. A good time to seed clover is after a spring controlled burn of the native warm-season grasses.