80 acres of improvement

[goopslaw]

Try to get hold of any bush you can to make piles for winter. TRy to throw them around areas where you might have honeysuckle already. Weeds up there probably wont be enought to handle Michigans hard winter. Because weeds are thin and flaten with snow. Serecia lespedezia is great most places but up there you may have trouble growing it. Bluestem and tall thick vegestation planted in strips or plots wil help a ton. If there are any treees.. cut them! tree tops are great winter cover. Red clover is a big help. Remember, Rabbits like tall thin vegetation as escapeways next to thick protection cover. So put bushpiles next honeysuckle. then maybe some bluestem ,etc. then maybe a heavy strip of serecia. then just a plain weed pactch( goldenrod ,etc) then your foodlots etc. then start over.
Try as many differnet covers as possible. Rabbits like edge and different things at different times of the year. If you plant evergreens plant low growning strains. This will give you good heavy snow cover.

[tbb37]

I think I will talk to the dnr; they may have a tree sale this spring. Anyone knows where I can get some Blackberries and honeysuckle cheap. Food plot seeds are easy to get but I would like to find something for fast cover, that’s cheap, and can handle Michigan winters, like the Blackberries and honeysuckle, and why is Multi-flora rose bad for cover?

[WSRandy]

Multi flora roses will grow out of control......you'll end up with an 80 acre multi flora farm. Multi flora is so dense that it cuts off sunlight to other vegitation and will kill off your food plots. If you plant multi flora someday you will not have a food plot and just a big bunch of thicket you cant even walk thru. Dont get me wrong......multi flora provides excellent shelter and cover from predators.......but you have to have the food and cover to hold the game Having shelter without food wont work and food without shelter wont work.....you have to have both. Multi flora is a full time job to keep contained in 1 area. If you have a bush hog it may not be that bad....but they are tough to kill off once they have started.

Just my thoughts,
Randy

[goopslaw]

!thng I would not do is disc or till it. This invites Foxtail which can drown out your food plots. And it gets Knocked down very easily in the winter.

[Hatfield]

Fox tail and broom sage are signs your ground needs lime. Clover does better in less acidic ground being a legume not a grass. Some mineral may be your second step after a soil test. Trust me weeds will not hold through the winter, you will need somthing a little hardier. I will be going with milo and sugar cane mixed in my clover this year. I like lespedeza, I am going to trya Korean version in a couple of areas on my farm this year. I also pan on going with a ton of soybeans nothing better for the young rabbits. Don't forget about winter cover it is really hurting me right now. I have a ton of weeds and even a 50' grown up edge I gave back to nature and weed plot and food plots incuding corn. None are tick enough to suit me! My milo and cane plots re still holding up. Along with some 3yr. old edge comprised of Mulifloral Rose, Honysuckle and Red Briars. Ths edge has taken to long to get good for me I expected twice the population I have now.

[tnbeagleman]

Go with recomendations from your DNR or Soil Conservatoin Service or National Resource Conservation Services. They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and years of labor and research on these projects in conjunction with the National Wild Turkey Federation, Quails Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and other hunting organization . The research and results are done and proven. If you don't want to sign your land up and get free help still go get the info that you need to do it yourself, This is a great service that goes unused, if people would go to a field day and see what these services can do there would be a three or four year waiting list, A lot of us that know of these services are not allowed to sign up because we are employed with providers and that is the only thing would even slow me down from those services. I was on a farm in sring that was on this progran there were rabbits and quail every where because that had the right habitat, Cover alone will not help much, food plots will help very little but when you balance cover, food plots, water and brooding enviroments there is a huge improvement in wildlife. The balance of these things and their locations are important. Most of the things suggested to you will help alittle but if you want a big improvement do it right and you will see a HUGE difference. Here is an example you can put a wheel on your car and drive down the road with one lug nut on and eventually it will fall off, or you can put all the lug nuts on and tighten them and drive until the tire wears out. Hope this helps.

[Jim Woods]

You might want to check out the leaflets at this site:
http://www.whmi.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/leaflet.htm

jim