Habitat Tips

by Dan Eastman for
Vermont Sporting Journal
August 2005 Issue

Work is over, let the fun begin – Fall Observation

Fall is here and in my opinion is the best time of year. The nights become cool and crisp while the days still remain warm and enjoyable. Animal patterns change as they gear up for the winter that is just around the corner. With all this change it is time for you to stop working and become aware of what is happening around you.

Managing habitat for wildlife is as much of an art as it is a science. Creating food plots, apple orchards, and browse openings takes a vision. To have a clear vision you need to understand the unique qualities your land possess and how animals interact on your property. I will cover some things that I find useful so next year I can tailor my plans on this years outcome. It’s important to understand the ideas and plans you put in place might not follow through like you expected.

This time of year, many of your summer plants have slowed down or almost stopped growing in the Northeast. For the first time, you can get a real sense of use because the animals are eating more and slowing of new growth doesn’t hide the signs. During this time you will get very clear indications from your property what is working and what isn’t.

The first thing I look at is my food plots to see how well they are growing. I will ask myself questions like: How are my perennials holding up? Do they look healthy? Are my annuals mature? Do I see sign? Are they eating my late season plants already? How is the edge cover around them? The answers to these questions will tell me whether I need to plant more or change the products I am using next year.

From my food plot I will then move onto my apple trees. This time of year is a great time to mark each tree so you know which ones produce. This is a pretty important step if you have a lot of apple trees on your property. This will save you a lot of work this winter when you start to prune the trees. Not all apple trees will respond by producing fruit when released so you can target your work this way. This also works well on beech and oaks too.

While I am moving through the woods checking on my mast producers I also look at existing trails and what I have for cover around them. During this time I look to see if there is some way I can encourage more undergrowth to strengthen travel corridors. I like to see waist high under growth everywhere I walk. This year I can see first hand the difference between forest harvesting techniques. We cut our property to promote undergrowth while trying to maintain some timber for future harvest. Our property now has two and three foot high growth all over, even where there was none last year. In contrast our neighbors property was cut at the same time using a different selection method and only some small maple seedlings are growing at a height of four inches. Many taller trees were left because they were not marketable, shading the ground below. All the extra growth not only is providing food to this generation of deer, it is providing the needed protection from predators for fawns, grouse and our rebounding rabbit population.

You should question everything you see at this point. You will have plenty of time during the winter months to research these questions. I highly recommend writing all these questions down in a journal so you can recall them this winter. This will make your future work more enjoyable and will give you new insight to how these animals live.

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