It is a widely accepted fact, with plenty of research to back it up, that high quality protein is essential during antler growth and fawn rearing season for your deer to express their genetic potential. However, one area that is often overlooked for year-round nutrition is during the late winter and early spring. Hunters have a tendency to hang-up the rifle when the season is over and not think about their deer again for months. The late winter/early spring time period can be stressful for your entire herd, not just the rut weary bucks. Having a dependable, quality food source during this critical time is a must if you wish to make sure worn out bucks, as well as does that are now pregnant, can enter the spring in great health and body condition. I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone that a deer entering the spring antler growing period still playing catch up, is NOT going to grow his best rack or increase in body size. Providing late season food is not all about antlers either, but rather the overall health of the entire herd.

Cold Weather Plants

As the hunting season winds down and the cold weather sets in, whitetails are on their feet and in need of a high energy, high carbohydrate food source. Planting a late season annual such as brassicas can help carry your herd through the tough months. One of the most effective ways to keep deer on a property is to have a destination feeding field that is seldom if ever hunted. Brassica blends such as Maximum, Deer Radish or Winter Bulbs & Sugar Beets, containing plants with staggered maturity and palatability dates are ideal for this task. After your cereal grains and clovers have been browsed down and covered in snow, brassicas are very attractive and highly preferred by whitetails. Seeing deer dig through heavy snow to reach a plot filled with thick-leaved greens is a sight any food plot farmer loves to see.

Why Brassica?

Brassicas are a genus of plants containing many cultivars that whitetails love. These include rape, sugar beets, radishes and turnips to name a few. They have the potential to provide a lot of forage in a short growing season and can yield many tons of forage per acre. Brassicas offer great browse tolerance since they are not usually preferred by deer until cooler weather changes the chemistry of the plants to their most palatable stage. Many hunters say that after their first or second hard freeze, their brassica plots become the preferred food source, even over corn or beans. Planting brassicas at the right time of year is critical to get the most out of the plant from a tonnage standpoint, but not planting so early that the plants get too rank and mature making them less attractive and palatable, and possibly bolting to flower and seed.

Proof is in the Green

Throughout the year we get many communications with great stories from managers with a new found love for brassicas. The weekends and long days on tractors and ATV’s are greatly rewarded with a field full of lush green plants that their deer are ravaging. Many of the same people talk about increasing the amount of acreage they will plant in brassicas the following year. While cereal grains such as wheat and oats are highly attractive to deer, if they are the only plot available on your property there could be a gap in available food late in the season.

If your plots are eaten down to almost bare dirt by the end of the season, less deer or increased plot acreage is in order…maybe both. Read more

WASHINGTON-As tens of thousands of African elephants and a record number of Africa’s rhinos are killed by poachers each year, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has established a US$10 million Urgent Response Fund to stop the killing of Africa’s wildlife, stop the trafficking of wildlife parts abroad and stop the demand for ivory and rhino horn products in Asia. The announcement of the Urgent Response Fund comes on the eve of Wildlife Conservation Day, established two years ago on December 4 by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to draw attention to the wildlife poaching and trafficking issues. Read more

Hunting, fishing and existing public access would also continue as is, while future inColorado Sportsmen Applaud Renewed Effort to Protect Browns Canyon

SALIDA, CO – After more than 15 years of bi-partisan efforts to protect Browns Canyon, sportsmen are pleased by the prospect that more than 20,000 acres in Browns Canyon could finally be conserved as a National Monument under the Antiquities Act.

On December 6th Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet join key officials from the Obama Administration for a public meeting aimed at gauging public support for a National Monument Designation for Browns. The meeting will take place at 1:00 PM at the Salida Steamplant.

Browns Canyon is well known by sportsmen for its gold medal fishing waters and mid-elevation elk, mule deer and bighorn sheep habitat.

“As a backcountry hunter, angler and outfitter I admire greatly those rare mid-elevation corners of our state that offer stunning landscape, chances for solitude, and extremely important habitat for big game,” said, Paul Vertrees of Canon City. “The momentum to protect Browns Canyon for generations to come has endured a long and winding process. Now is the right time to give this special place permanent national monument status.” Read more

Upper Peninsula – Delta & Menominee Counties

Several locations in Delta and Menominee counties will soon be a bit fruitier. Over 4,000 fruit-bearing trees were planted, providing a great food source for deer. A variety of trees were planted, including black cherry, elderberry, high bush cranberry and serviceberry, to name a few. The trees were planted along the edges of maintained openings, and along hunter walking trails where adequate food was lacking for wildlife. Many of the trees were sheltered to provide protection from deer browse, and they will be a great benefit to deer for years to come.

The winter can be a great time to take a look back on how your season has gone and make a checklist of things you would like to improve in the coming year. Call it a new year’s resolution for wildlife management purposes.

To ensure you can grow the best food possible for all the critters you are trying to manage, late winter can be a great time to soil test. Getting the areas that you plan to plant in food plots or mast producing trees tested and properly amended with the recommended lime and fertilizer will be the best money you can spend. I encourage land managers to get their lime spread in the late winter for a couple of reasons. Ag lime can take months to begin to break down and neutralize the acidity of your soil, the finer the mesh that the lime is screened through at the quarry, the sooner it will break down. If you usually use the local co-op to spread your lime or rent equipment from them to do it yourself, late winter is a good time to get it done before the row crop farmers begin their planting season. Getting your plots amended with the proper amount of lime will increase the effectiveness of your fertilizer which will positively impact the growth and palatability of your spring and fall food plots. Read more