Ducks At A Distance

Fast Food For Wildlife: Planting Fruit Trees, Berry Bushes, Grape Vines And Oaks

Much inhabitant attention has been focused on the health and prospect welfare of wildlife animals and birds by wildlife management conservationists and hunters who want to preserve a valuable American resource: the populace of wild animals and wild game. Increased planting of inedible crops like cotton and tobacco has reduced wildlife food supplies. Urban expansion has rapidly reduced forests where wildlife food once grew, and very efficient grain harvesting has left only a small corn or wheat in fields for wildlife food browsing.

Until recent years, the feeding of wild game animals and wildlife game birds was done by either letting the animals feed on the native plants and flora or by supplementing the food supply by planting strips of land with food plots of various annual grains each year. Some wildlife management academics not compulsory planting small fruit trees, berry plants, grape vines, and perennials to avoid the expensive problem of replanting annuals every year. These suggestions worked sometimes except for the fact that planting small oak trees often required 10 years or more of growing to produce the first food supply of acorns. Many small trees died the first year, because of the small root systems, and the stress of transplanting into a hostile neglected environment.

Planting large fruiting size trees for quick wildlife food sources has become very well loved, because of the high rate of livability and first year fruit production, such as with large mulberry trees, Japanese persimmon trees, and blueberry plants. Planting huge fruit trees of impact size appears to be an enthusiastic way to get wildlife food quicker and less expensively in the long run.

The United States government passed a law, the Pittman-Robertson Act in 1937, to protect wildlife resources that collects an excise tax of 11% of the cost to buy any firearms, guns, or bullets. This 11% excise tax is sent to the Department of Natural Resources of each Disorder to protect the wildlife habitat and food plots. Over two billion dollars of funding to preserve wildlife habitat has financed wildlife welfare since 1937.

Animals and birds can only live if their energy levels are met to grow, to escape predators, to reproduce, to survive long migrations, or to survive severe chill temperatures. Wildlife animals and birds must have shelter to protect them from terrible weather or to hide them from predators. Dense foliage and vegetation are the most common shelter retreats, but some animals burrow in holes in trees, logs, and in the ground or in log or rock piles.

Serious competition to wildlife for food and habitat can only lead to overcrowding that weakens wildlife resistance to disease and wild predators. Wildlife cannot survive except sufficient water, food, shelter, and space is available. Migratory animals go from one place to another in search of food, better climate, or other environmental factors. Chill food shortage is the most vital limiting factor for many wildlife species. Wildlife food plots of nut trees and fruit trees are termed, “hard mast.” The fruit trees include apple, persimmon, crabapple, pear, plum, and quince; nut trees include pecan, hickory, chinquapin, walnut, oak, and beech. Wildlife browsing for food is termed “soft mast,” include fruit and berry food from dogwood, viburnum, mulberry trees, elderberry, blueberry plants, muscadine and scuppernong grape vines, raspberry bushes, and blackberry bushes. To establish deer food plots, wildlife undergrowth, trees, and vines are best planted along fence lines on the dense edge of woods, bushy pond edges, or near plots of thick grass.

Burning off pine forests helps to provide high-quality forage and cover protection for deer herd management. Native plants will regrow to establish natural food plots for wildlife nourishment and health. Pine trees, hardwood trees such as beech and oak trees provide brilliant nest sites. Plants, vines, bushes, and undergrowth offer natural feeding plots for birds and wildlife that browse and eat the foliage, bark, shoots, new buds, foliage, twigs, fruit, grapes, seed, acorns, flowers, and berries.

Hunting plantation wildlife food managers plant and grow a combination of species to supply food plots for wildlife all year rather than only during the hunting season. Wildlife food plots are planted and grown in strips of annual grains such as corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, sunflowers, clover sorghum, buckwheat, millet, and annual rye.

Corn seed is planted in food plots to attract deer, turkey, squirrel, raccoon, pheasant, and quail. Soybeans are game food for turkey, deer, pheasant, and quail. Wheat will attract Canada geese, doves, and turkey. Alfalfa attracts only deer; and sorghum plants offer limited shelter and food for deer, pheasant, quail, and duck. Sunflower seed are excellent food plots for deer, dove, goldfinch, and songbirds. Clover attracts only deer. Buckwheat grain is excellent game food for duck, turkey, waterfowl, pheasant, quail, and deer. Millet is an striking food plot grain for waterfowl and dove. Annual rye is an brilliant food plot grain for deer, Canada geese, turkey, dove, and rabbit. These wildlife food plots are best established near pine forests, pond edges, or near river bottom land where hardwood shade trees such as oak and beech nut trees grow.

These annual grain food plots are considered small term food sources for game birds, because the grain does not return to grow next year, and the process can be expensive and challenging to wildlife management farms and plantations. Some management for food plot growers prefer to plant seed of perennials, but often these efforts are complicated and only last a few years. Other management for establishing food plots prefer to plant small immature trees of fruit trees, grape vines, undergrowth and oak (acorn) trees of various sizes, but often fruiting is delayed for years except larger mature trees are planted.

Many managers of food plots plant tiny oak trees or undergrowth, but most oak trees require ten or more years to produce an acorn, even though more expensive, larger nursery grown trees produce fruit and acorns quick. Large crabapple, quince, mulberry, persimmon trees or blueberry bushes and muscadine grapevines will produce food for wild game animals and game birds after the first year, but small trees have small roots and tend to require many years for wildlife feeding purposes, and most small trees die the first year.

Berry bushes such as blueberry, blackberry and raspberry produce food early, and the thorny blackberry and raspberry bushes offer shelter and protection to game birds such as quail and pheasant. Chicasaw plum trees are a native plant to America and offer food promptly for wildlife and birds in the Spring, along with mulberry tree berries that ripen during turkey season. Late fall production of wildlife food is very desirable when most hunting seasons start. Nut trees such as hickory, walnut and pecan attract squirrels and game birds. Chinquapin nuts attract animals and game birds.

Wild game such as deer and bear can’t resist the aroma of ripening fruit in the fall, such as persimmon, apple, crabapple, pear and quince. Wildlife species have a sense of smell much more intense than humans, and some unethical hunters use picked apple or other fruit to apply the fruit fragrance on the ground near a deer stand, but this is illegal, just like baiting a dove field with cracked corn. It is advisable to plant and grow trees for this purpose, because it will attract game and wildlife for officially authorized hunting or viewing. Try planting mature trees, vines and bushes for wildlife feeding that requires no expense of yearly replanting or long waiting to produce a wildlife food fund.

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Anyone Wanna read my fantasy story?….Chapter 1?

As the birds sing and the trees flowed in the wind, a boy ventured out hunting with his father on his 17th birthday. “Father what’s the matter? Can’t you keep up?” He chuckled, “Your getting to ancient father! Ha-ha” He shouted, panting slightly.
“I may be ancient Alakai and you may be quicker but I have the wisdom!” his father shouted back.
“There is no wisdom needed to run father! I’ll get to the buck long before you!” He shouted with a small laugh as he ran quicker and quicker jumping and evading through the tall thick trees.
“What you don’t see is that your about to lose, son!” said his father with a sort of know-it-all smile.
“And whys that!” He yelled having just been confused. As it seemed to be not yet one second after he had answered he hit something with a giant THUD! He awoke with the pain of a thousand drums in his head..
“See boy, I told you that you were going to lose” chuckled his father as stood there staring down at him.
“It feels like I’ve been kicked by a horse, did you catch the buck?” He questioned, slowly getting up holding his throbbing head.
“No son, it seems that giant red lump on your brow must have frightened it away” laughed his father.
“Oh ha-ha father, you have jokes don’t you” He said. “Lets just get back home; mother will get worried if we don’t make it in time for breakfast”.
“Right you are son.” His father answered.
So they headed out back towards their farm. On the way, He noticed how the woods were getting smaller and smaller, there were hardly any fine dark auburn oak trees anymore, and in fact, they were the only trees left in his village. The king’s men had chopped the rest and burned them because of failure to pay for land. After a while of walking he had a sort of chill flow down his spine, like a slow but fierce burst of cold wind blew past them and on through the woods brushing the foliage of the giant trees as it went by. He chose to ignore it as he felt it was just a cold front coming down from the hills.
Soon enough they reached the opening of the woods where just beyond the sparkling duck ponds you could see their farm. He was especially excited to get back seeing as he was starving for some food, and maybe also a present from his mother. As his father and he kept getting closer and closer to our cottage, He noticed something extraordinary… there was smoke pouring from the seals and cracks of the door and windows! In a burst of gallop, He started running for the cottage only thinking of his mother’s safety.
“Alakai!! Where are you…?” His father yelled after him, only just realizing the smoke too, he chased after him. “Alakai wait! It’s too perilous! Let me handle this!” his father bellowed running right past him and into the burning household.
He stood there watching and waiting, hoping that any minute his father and mother would run out of the household safely but as a couple minutes went by no one came out.
“FATHER!!” He screamed…but subdue no one came out. “MOTHER!!” He yelled again…subdue nothing. Then, with a sudden burst, his father came rushing out of the household carrying what looked like to be his mother.
He stood there in shock only hoping his mother would be ok. His father placed his mother down on the grass which seemed to be covered in a thick layer of black ash. He watched as his father tried to wake his mother but her eyes did not open, his father slowly stood up keeping his head down as if he had failed. He looked up at him with a look Alakai had never seen before; it was of sadness and forgiveness. All of a sudden his father flinched and with a mere shudder spoke to Alakai.
“Alakai…run!” he muttered.
“Father… what’s incorrect??” Alakai questioned his father slowly walking towards him to see if he was alright. “Father! Tell me wha…”. But before he could close his sentence, his father collapsed face first into the black ashy grass. And it had been that day, the day he saw his father and mother die right in front of his eyes was the day he became a man.. There was nothing he could do but stand there and stare in horror at the arrow sticking out of his father’s back and his mother on the ground beside him. He stood for what seemed like 5 hours but really it was only a mere second, then he ran, ran as quick and as stealthy as he could. He only had a chance to look behind, and when he did, He saw 6 black hooded facts carrying giant bows that seemed to be made out of bone running towards his cottage where his mother and father lay dead. He promptly made his way through the brush of the woods until he found a dark but silent place to rest.

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