Native plants for deer browse:

[Fish]

My eyes have been opened to cutting small trees off at ground level and letting them resprout for browse. Just depends on what my objectives are, but deer wont turn down hardly any species with fresh growth within reach. Ive seen great browsing on ash, maple, black locust, and elm. Add any oak to that list, but i seldom cut them. They have kept some sprouts in check for years.

 

[Gravel Road]

It does seem like a great way to make a little more browse available. I had to chainsaw an opening through a creek bottom this spring to fence off 4 acres of habitat. Later in the summer while checking fence I noticed 4 plants in a row had been browsed along the new chainsaw opening. Two stumps, one elm and one hackberry, a giant ragweed and a sticktight (beggar's ticks) had been hit pretty hard. That was really my inspiration for starting this thread...

This is the hackberry stump that was lightly browsed.

 

[Brushpile]

I've discussed deer browse are great length in my property thread, "The Brushpile". Fish is right, cut junk trees and deer will browse the new growth. TSI frees mast producing trees and creates browse and brushy cover, plus when Sun light hits the ground the woods will come alive!.

 

[Native Hunter]

Those are the wickedest green briers I have ever seen. My woods is full of them, but the thorns on the ones here are nothing like that.

 

[Gravel Road]

They are pretty nasty. I've seen them embedded and healed over in the front legs of deer when skinning them out.

 

[W33kender]

Okay, i need to commit to some pics. Deer keep greenbriar knee high at my block on the club.

Been wondering if i should prune some limbs at the club that the timber company doesnt value, like crepe myrtles and gum. I need to see if the regrowth or lower limb level of woody browse would benefit the deer.

 

[j-bird]

Another plant I was surprised to see that was HAMMERED!!! Virginia creeper. This was on a small branch that had gotten blown down in a storm during the summer. The first pic was the before and the second is a week later where you can see the deer eat every leaf right off of it and stripped it to stems.


I also agree that many new shoots off of stumps or saplings tend to get hammered as well - I have some that are essentially shrubs because of the repeated browsing - mulberry in particular near other feeding areas tends to take a beating. - sorry no pic.

 

[dogghr]

This list could go on for quite a length. And some depends on locale. I see browse of GB for sure. Also almost as much, MFR which I hate. Maple, they love. Ragweed, pigweed, dandeline, goldenrod,blackberry to name a few of the most loved. Jumped momma bear and her three cubs from pigweed thicket just this last fall. They love it also. Dogwood, young conifer another couple. Cedars in the dead of winter are really loved for bedding and browse.
As for hinging, in area that have high deer numbers, hinge or cut off tree at chest level, it allows the regrowth to occur before deer can browse it to death. When cut on the ground level, they tend to browse faster than it can grow especially in bad winters or low mast years.

 

[Murdog]

I like any of the viburnums - Theyre nice looking shrubs (white flowers in spring , big,bushy n green in summer and good fall color PLUS the deer love to browse them and I think they grow better when browsed - perfect !

 

[j-bird]

I honestly think that if it's actively growing deer will eat it. I have seen deer eat things like ash tree sprouts that are right at the edge of a lush green soybean field....why? I have NO CLUE. But they will. I have seen deer ignore things that are specifically planted for them while they prefer to eat the "weeds" in an unmowed clover plot.....why? I think that do that just to piss me off! I honestly think at certain times of the year the best food plot you can have you would create with a chainsaw!!!!

 

[Gravel Road]

This list could go on for quite a length. And some depends on locale. I see browse of GB for sure. Also almost as much, MFR which I hate. Maple, they love. Ragweed, pigweed, dandeline, goldenrod,blackberry to name a few of the most loved. Jumped momma bear and her three cubs from pigweed thicket just this last fall. They love it also. Dogwood, young conifer another couple. Cedars in the dead of winter are really loved for bedding and browse.
As for hinging, in area that have high deer numbers, hinge or cut off tree at chest level, it allows the regrowth to occur before deer can browse it to death. When cut on the ground level, they tend to browse faster than it can grow especially in bad winters or low mast years.

Luckily, no MFR here. Is the cedar browse pretty noticeable or is it just a few nips of new growth here and there? I've never checked any cedars closely to see if they've been browsed.

 

[dogghr]

Luckily, no MFR here. Is the cedar browse pretty noticeable or is it just a few nips of new growth here and there? I've never checked any cedars closely to see if they've been browsed.

It's mainly with mature Cedars. When it gets cold and nasty as it is now and thru parts of Jan-Feb, it looks like they shook the tree to browse on its new winter growth. Beds and tracks cover underneath them. I really don't like the cedars as they tend to take over south facing slopes but I tolerate them to an extent since the deer do like them for late winter browse. And bucks love to rub the crap out of them.

 

[momark]

Another plant I was surprised to see that was HAMMERED!!! Poison Ivy. This was on a small branch that had gotten blown down in a storm during the summer. The first pic was the before and the second is a week later where you can see the deer eat every leaf right off of it and stripped it to stems.
View attachment 5079

I also agree that many new shoots off of stumps or saplings tend to get hammered as well - I have some that are essentially shrubs because of the repeated browsing - mulberry in particular near other feeding areas tends to take a beating. - sorry no pic.

I agree that poison ivy does get a lot of use.....by deer, rabbits and a lot of birds eat the seeds. A good wildlife plant in general. But your pic is Virginia creeper, obviously also a good wildlife plant.

 

[j-bird]

I agree that poison ivy does get a lot of use.....by deer, rabbits and a lot of birds eat the seeds. A good wildlife plant in general. But your pic is Virginia creeper, obviously also a good wildlife plant.

You are correct - got my wires crossed - sorry about that. Any way - add that to the list as well! I edited the post - hate to spread wrong information.

 

[OkieKubota]

Osage orange browse over on our home 10. No livestock in here so the browse line you see is all deer...

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[Gravel Road]

Osage orange browse over on our home 10. No livestock in here so the browse line you see is all deer...

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Wow, they really did hammer it! Great example.


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[Gravel Road]

Roughleaf Dogwood

Dogwoods are a significant component in my habitat and it is supposed to be a choice browse. I have watched cattle eat it although they don’t put much of a dent in it. The thickets it forms provide excellent cover for deer and they will travel through it readily and bed in it year-round. It makes a very good summer cover for fawns and the quail use it too.

Berries/leaves



Thicket


Berry closeup


Cattle grazing on dogwood.Watched them for several minutes as they ate the thicket edges.

 

[Chainsaw]

You would have liked two threads I had on the now defunct QD forum - "Field of Weeds or Field of Dreams?" and "Plant of the Month." After seeing that work destroyed, I'm a little reluctant about starting again.

Since its cold as heck here this morning, I've got a winter browse plant for you - Japanese (vining) Honeysuckle. I know the purist types get their panties in a wad over this plant because it isn't native, but it:

• stays green all winter
• is highly sought out and browsed in the winter
• provides protein levels around 18%
• isn't invasive like bush honeysuckle or capable of doing the negative things that BH can do
• grows mostly at edges and fence rows
• can't take heavy shade so limited on what it can invade in a forest
• can't take mowing so no way to take over a field
• is aggressive enough in its limited space that you won't get rid of it even if you want to - so my best advice is join the party and enjoy the benefits. It's a great plant for old ditches and rough spots out in the sun that are otherwise wasted space. I push tree tops into these places to give it something to climb and the deer walk up and enjoy a fresh, green salad in January.

And, I might add that it was present here when I was born, so to me it is native. The native sweetgum was also present. Guess which one causes the most trouble.............and guess which one I am constantly killing............

Best wishes..........[/QUOT

Have you had the experience of the honey suckle vines climbing your wild fruit trees and causing them harm or worse killing them? Has this happened on any properties you know of? Do you need to perform any annual maintenance on them to keep them in check?

 

[Native Hunter]

Have you had the experience of the honey suckle vines climbing your wild fruit trees and causing them harm or worse killing them? Has this happened on any properties you know of? Do you need to perform any annual maintenance on them to keep them in check?

Chainsaw, I have never seen that happen, and I think it's because I do perform annual maintenance on any fruit tree. Perhaps it wouldn't have to be done annually, but that's my practice. In this part of the country there are no "wild" fruit trees, except for persimmon, serviceberry and similar trees. In my entire life I've never seen a wild apple tree, and all of the wild pears I see are the offspring of ornamental pears.

Without maintenance, any fruit trees here will eventually be taken over by large, climax canopy trees like oaks, poplar, sweetgum, maple, sycamore, etc.... So, maintenance on some schedule is needed for fruit trees. Even persimmons in fence rows are receiving maintenance indirectly when someone mows a field, whether anyone realizes that it is maintenance or not.

I do see vining honeysuckle climbing trees in fence rows where no maintenance is done. I would say I've seen it climb maybe 15 to 18 feet high at some places. So, I can visualize that it could possibly climb and perhaps shade out a fruit tree under some circumstances, but if that's happening, the fruit tree has something worse to worry about than the honeysuckle. The big aggressive trees that will come up from the seed bank will eventually get it anyway. So, the same maintenance that stops natural succession will keep the honeysuckle in check as well.

 

[Chainsaw]

Thank you Native, that's very helpful. Here as well natural tree growing succession kills the wild apples if left alone long enough.