July 2009 Updates page 7
15 July
Wildlife Feed
From your Association staff's time on the land and recognizing many Association hunters live in other than wheat country this one snap shot does well to show wheat grain left in the field after harvest.
Pictures sent in through the years by honest, good, Association hunters who find fun in taking and sharing their pictures with others. Your Association staff remembers each hunter who sent in each picture. Thank you to Jeremy, Mike, Doug, Kevin and Matt.
Deer and turkey feeding during the depth of winter on a soybean field that was not fall plowed.
Bobwhite Quail on a soybean field allowing them to be seen for picture. Any bird dog hunter would never pass on any milo field regardless of how minimal the cover may appear as milo is a feed magnet for coveys.
Late spring/early summer deer feeding on soybeans.
Pheasants foraging grain.
Milo head with grain intact breaking through the melting snows of late winter/early spring. The milo combine residue holds much of the grain above the ground and wetness keeping it mold free and available for wildlife in this case in abundance to that which had been consumed months earlier from harvest time.
Turkey in corn stubble in December. The central mid-west's grain fields along with a mild winter allows for fat stores through spring making for stronger breeding/reproduction.
These turkeys allow us to show how seemingly clean a crop field may be and still has feed attraction into spring as the bachelor nature of this flock illustrates.
These deer also show how minimal a crop field may appear and attract wildlife to feed.
Combines always leave more grain behind than any farmer desires for wheat, soybean, corn and milo giving back to nature. Starting with wheat in June at the earliest, followed by soybean and milo generally after first hard frost in October and corn that continues to December some years carries wildlife from summer browse and bugs through winter's leaner to find food times. By the time March rolls around most grain has been consumed or been beaten into the mud by rain leaving a fraction left over for volunteer growth frequently seen on crop field edges come spring to include after that field has been tilled for the subsequent planting. Most that hunt out this way for upland birds, fall turkey and deer frequently note the fat reserves stored up as seen while cleaning game. These observations fit well that our best hunting is within agricultural regions rather than such big woods areas like Missouri's Ozark Mountains. Most hunters agree that wildlife does best in grain farm country. Those from northern states offer this observation more frequently than others often so about central mid-west deer having far greater body weight than what they are accustomed to in their home state. Others from both the northern and southern USA tell how grain fed central mid-west deer meat has a better taste than woods browse fed deer.
Some of the volunteer growth in this pictured wheat field included soybeans presumably from the previous season. The wheat stubble plus weeds in this field are higher than dove, quail and while pheasant heads show above most wheat fields when they crouched down they are covered. Cover and food in the same locality equals high survival rates. On this day this field showed plenty of dove and some quail while being crossed by turkey and deer tracks.
The cerebral outdoor enthusiasts will describe in presentation and text how wildlife can survive on mono-cultures or near mono-cultures while varied foods will allow the same populations to thrive beyond averages. It is the combined nutrient value of different food sources that provide that balanced intake we often hear about in human diets. Each grain type has different mineral, vitamin, starch, base sugar and other content that augments that found in native nuts, berries, forbes, and other browse and grazing vegetation. For those that have livestock or watched wildlife often note both domestic and wildlife seek variety over what is often believed to be more desirable single food types taking some of that which appears to be a desirable and abundant food type, move on and seek out other less readily available food sources. Horses will take some high protein alfalfa then move onto grass, then clover and such with an occasional stripping of lower tree branches clean of all leaves in reach. The pet Eastern Turkey one of your Association staff had in in his barnyard would pass on shelled corn for a bug, then move on to white clover and that evening on the way back to the barn take a sampling of greens, every bug to be found, several pecks from the feeder with corn and settle in on her favored roost. Throw out some wheat or milo and that same turkey would pass by the corn. Somehow domestic and wildlife know to seek a variety of food sources and rarely have we seen gluttony type behavior to one food source inclusive of that of the brief interval deer will spend on acorns. During the first week in mid to later September when the acorns drop there is a concentration of deer in the wood edges where the trees produce the most acorns. However, long after that first dropping, viable acorns are found on the ground in the woodlots seemingly passed on by turkey, deer and squirrel. That is how grain farming augments nature that while farming takes up 45-55% of our local land use it creates a concentration of food variety serving to make larger and stronger local wildlife populations.
The significant's of this discussion has is that we have enough discussions with many good older and newer Association hunters that share their observations reminding the Association staff of the varied viewpoints.
In the discovery learning side are those that find that Kansas in the Great Plains has few trees, much farm land and scrub along with tall grass not found in many states. These hunters find that deer do not require large wood lots to grow big or be hunted.
Big woods turkey hunters learn their time honored run and gun techniques fail to provide the results that setup and call does. These same big woods turkey hunters soon find that special enjoyment and frustration of being able to call in a tom and to watch that tom for 20 minutes to sometimes over an hour. Such observation an impossibility in the big woods.
Woodland and mountain grouse hunters find the tighter to hold and more points on quail over our easier to hunt terrain make a woodcock or chuckar hunt less desirable.
For those with more agricultural land hunting experience that share their pictures and observations comes that special satisfaction of picking up on the nuance to be found on nearly every trip a field. Capturing that in a picture becomes as enjoyable as a day filled with dog on bird points, getting eyes on that true trophy buck, being able to dry land set and call in greenheads, or finally getting that tom we often see every spring with a noticeably longer beard and larger body size to finally come into call. These mature hunters share regularly their pictures of such observations knowing there will be a handful of others who will pickup on what the value of that snap shot holds making the day a bit better than it was.
