By Glen Wunderlich

Creating and planting wildlife food plots over the years has been a learning and rewarding experience. In most cases, the plots have been from less than an acre to multiple acres, allowing the use of my trusty 1948 Ford 8N tractor. While some may consider the little tractor under-powered – and, it certainly would be for larger work – it’s what I have. It has just enough horsepower, utilizing half of Henry Ford’s V8, to pull a 6-foot disk harrow under most conditions and has done an admirable job. However, creating a new plot site, much too remote and small such as this, would mean even the diminutive tractor would be too much.

 

The project actually began years ago, when I decided a tiny knob overlooking a swamp would be the perfect location for a secluded hunting hideout. The challenge was complicated by the fact that an old truck frame, complete with wheels and flat, dry rotted tires was discarded precisely on top of the tiny hill. Since it had been left there for so long, woody shrubs, vines, and trees had proliferated the area.

 

Rather than making a project out of removing the old iron, it was decided to build a hunting shack on top of the aging frame. Doing so meant a working path would have to be created to merely get to the location. With the laborious chore behind me, the functional shack was constructed and looks like a doodlebug right out of the Beverly Hillbillies – except for the non-functioning satellite dish.

 

Now it was time to tackle the menacing poison ivy, autumn olive, wild berry bushes, and anything else that was green. Fortunately, a few good friends were willing to battle the brush and when the chainsaws and perfectly capable DR mower were put away, the plot site had been cleared.

 

That was last fall and since then, the wild plants grew back, as big and bad as ever, making visibility from the shack impossible, once again. As good as the DR mower is, it only mows brush down to about 5 inches or so, leaving problematic, tire-poking stubby growth everywhere. Since a clover mix was to be planted, it would be necessary to mow it throughout the years necessitating the removal of the tire spikes.

 

Back for another attack – this time with the Stihl KombiSystem hedge trimmer – the brush was busted right down to the ground and treated with a strong mix of Roundup (41 percent glyphosate.)

 

With a hand-spreader, fertilizer and pelletized lime has been applied and during the first week of August the clover and brassica seed will be broadcast to finish the remote ground-cover food plot. After that, it’s sit back, hide and watch for the years to come.

Several factors added to decline; wildlife managers working on improvements

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently issued a Michigan Deer Harvest Survey Report on the 2014 hunting seasons indicating that roughly 615,000 hunters statewide harvested a total of roughly 329,000 deer. The harvest represents a drop of 15 percent from 2013.

Wildlife managers report that regional declines in deer harvest were greatest in the Upper Peninsula, where the overall harvest was down by nearly 36 percent.

The DNR said several factors – including back-to-back years of severe winter weather that depleted the deer population in some parts of the state – contributed to the decline. Read more

GW:  Predictable, but depressing, nonetheless.

The Michigan departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) have confirmed a second free-ranging deer in Meridian Township (Ingham County) has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurological disease that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. This second case is a 2-year-old male found less than a mile from the initial positive female deer, confirmed this past May. Genetic testing is being conducted to see if the two deer are related.

“Finding this second positive deer is disappointing, however, not unexpected,” said DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason. “We will continue with our aggressive surveillance throughout the summer and fall. With the assistance of hunters, we hope to determine the distribution of this disease.”

To date, 304 deer have been tested in the Core CWD Area. Only two have tested positive for CWD.

Upon the finding of the initial CWD positive deer, the DNR established the CWD Management Zone consisting of Clinton, Ingham and Shiawassee counties.

Additionally, the Core CWD Area consisting of Lansing, Meridian, Williamstown, Delhi, Alaiedon and Wheatfield townships in Ingham County; DeWitt and Bath townships in Clinton County; and Woodhull Township in Shiawassee County, was created. Feeding and baiting of deer and elk are prohibited in the CWD Management Zone. Mandatory checking of deer will be required in the Core CWD Area during hunting seasons and restrictions will apply to the movement of carcasses and parts of deer taken in this area.

“Michigan has a long tradition of hunter support and conservation ethics. Now, with these CWD findings, that support is needed more than ever,” said Steve Schmitt, veterinarian-in-charge at the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab. “Because hunters are often familiar with the deer herd locally, one of the best things they can do to help manage this disease is to continue hunting and bring their deer to check stations this season.”

In the Core CWD Area, there is an unlimited antlerless deer license quota and the deer license or deer combo licenses may be used to harvest antlerless or any antlered deer during firearm and muzzleloading seasons. Additional deer-check stations will be established in the Core CWD Area and the CWD Management Zone to accommodate hunters.  Read more