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Providing cover

cornfield

cornfield

New Member
I was wandering what types of grasses are best suited for providing bedding cover for deer. I used to pheasant hunt some crp that was probably 5-6 feet tall and the deer were thick in there. I am trying to establish more bedding cover on my property in an effort to hold more deer there. I have heard that "big blue stem" is good. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Either would be a good one......I might even go to the extent of planting native prarie grass in the ditches, setaside, and field edges.
 
silvertip...besides the grasses, there are other ways that can enhance your available bedding cover that are easy to do. TSI or timber stand improvement can be done on a small scale by dropping undesireable trees and creating more bedding cover. This will also let more light in to the forest floor creating more brouse for the deer.
 
You can't go wrong with a three grass mix of big blue, indian grass and switch grass. That way at least one of them will do well. All three will provide good cover for deer, and pheasants.
 
You've gotten great advice. I'm continuing with tsi. As Kat wisely suggests, I'm going from straight switch to mixed natives. Different grasses do better in different spots and in different years so a mixture will provide something adapted to each situation.

Cover and food are key so I think you are on the right track. Combine that with qdm and you are really getting somewhere.

Old Buck
 
Switch Grass is great until you want to hunt. My grandpa's farm has about 100 arces of switch grass on it and when there's a little hunting pressure that's where all the deer head. Problem is once the deer get in there they are impossible to see and really tough to get out. Switch is great, but I would use it in small areas. We have done TSI on a couple of are farms and that adds a lot of bedding cover for deer. The bonus is that you can also to paid to do it.
 
MY WIFE AND I HAVE PROPERTY IN PA ON THE PA/OHIO BORDER. WE HAVE ALLOWED MANY OF OUR FIELDS TO "GO NATIVE". LOTS OF GOLDENROD AND REDBRUSH HAVE COME UP AND THESE AREAS HAVE BECOME HEAVY BEDDING COVER AND TRAVEL CORRIDORS BETWEEN WOODED TRACTS. WE ALSO SEE ALOT OF 2ND GROWTH TIMBER AS THE WOODS START TO GROW OUT INTO THE FIELDS. WE HAVE SOME AREAS THAT ARE SO THICK THAT YOU HAVE TO CRAWL THROUGH ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE DEER LOVE THESE TANGLES AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THEM OUT. WE LIKE THE IDEA OF SANTUARY AREAS AND TEND TO LEAVE THEM ALONE.
 
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