The Shotgun Method for planting quickly and cheaply

Creating habitat for wild game can seem like a daunting task. Especially on larger properties where you are planning to plant many new species for forage and browse. On many properties a lot of the existing vegetation will need to be replaced with higher quality species that will provide better food and cover for wildlife. This may seem like an expensive and time consuming task even on smaller properties, but it doesn't have to be. One way to cut down on costs for new plants and the time spent on planting them is by using what I call the Shotgun Method.

The shotgun method is basically acquiring a very large amount of desired tree and shrub seeds and then spreading them across your property by digging small holes and planting the seed directly into the ground where you want them to become established. I call this the Shotgun Method because like a shotgun you're using a large quantity, in this case seeds instead of bullets, knowing that at least a few trees will survive similarly to knowing at least a few pellets from a shotgun shell will hit the target.This method if done properly will speed up the process of establishing tree and shrub species and do it in a way that is much cheaper and less time consuming.

In order to do this method properly you need to start with certain conditions. Most seedlings are going to need a certain environment in order to sprout and grow on your property. One major factor will be how much sun the seedlings are getting. While some will do well under shaded conditions most will need mostly to fully sunny conditions. This means you'll have to make sure there is not too much overhead cover from existing trees and shrubs. So basically you'll need a mostly open area such as a meadow or field.

The next factor will be competition from other low growing plants such as thick grass and weeds for water and soil nutrients. Using a tool as simple as a shovel it is best to till a small area of soil about a foot in circumference where you will plant your seed. This will kill the roots of the plants in the immediate vicinity and as they start to decompose in the soil this will add extra nutrients into the soil that your seedling can use. Once this is done then you can plant your seed.

When planting a seed a good general rule is to plant it at a depth 1 to 2 times the size of your seed. For example if you have a chestnut that is 2 inches wide then you will want to plant it 2 to 4 inches deep. Depending on the species, spring or fall will usually be the best times to plant, but do your research to figure out what is best for your selection.

Once your seed is planted I recommend pulling up some grass or weeds near your  planted seed and spreading it across the disturbed soil covering your seed to use as a mulch. This will help keep the soil moisture high and protect it from extreme temperatures. If the soil moisture is already fairly high at the time of planting then watering will usually not be necessary at the time of planting, but if you find the soil to be fairly dry then a quick watering will help the seed break dormancy and start to grow. Then your seed will be ready to start growing.

Once you get the hang of this process then you can plant a seed every 1 to 2 minutes and really cover a large area in a relatively small amount of time. This method will also save money because you will not need to buy expensive plants from nurseries. When it comes to acquiring your seeds I recommend getting them for free by locating a property with the right types of plants and with permission collecting the seeds yourself. In my area I put an ad on Facebook looking for anyone with an English Walnut tree that would like me to clean up all the nuts in their yard. To my surprise this worked very quickly and somebody contacted me and let me collect as much as I wanted mainly because the nuts were more of a nuisance for them because it made it hard to mow. I was able to collect 2 large grocery bags full of nuts and will be using them to plant on my property this spring. Another possible option would be to find public land with your species and collect them there. Usually this will not require any permission. I've collected many types of oak and hickory seeds this way. As you can see it is not hard to find free or cheap seed sources to use for your property.

Once you've collected your seeds and planted them then it's time to let nature take over. While it's true many might not make it, it is likely that only the seeds with genetics able to grow in your specific environment will do well and thus ensuring that they would be hardy enough to self propagate on your property. That's why it's also important to use species that are adapted to your climate. However, I'll also say that it doesn't hurt to use species that are supposedly borderline for your area that way you can add to the diversity and figure out what really will do well despite what other people may say.

As your seeds sprout and grow into seedlings it may be helpful to walk your property and see which seeds have survived. You can do some minimal care as these plants grow such as adding mulch and watering during droughts in order to give them that extra nudge. But other then that there will likely not be much else you need to do.

One exception to this will be if you have an overpopulation of game species in your area. If this is the case then your tree will likely be browsed on by deer or other game and if the browsing is bad enough then it could potentially kill them. Other than caging these trees until they can grow above the browsing height, which can be very expensive on large properties with a lot of trees, you could also try what I've done on my property and use the existing vegetation as a nurse plant in order to keep deer from reaching them. This basically consists of planting your trees next to or slightly underneath a shrub, especially a thorny species like rose or bramble, that will act as a natural tree cage by preventing browsing by using thorns as a deterrent. I have seen many feral apples and plums growing up through rose bushes and out the top on my property. By mimicking the natural way these plants are escaping browse pressure I can save a lot of money by not having to buy cages.

Other ways to decrease browse pressure include building an exclusion fence, using dogs to chase deer off your property (Done properly to avoid problems), and by increasing hunting to lower the population.

Planting a lot of trees and shrubs doesn't have to be an expensive or time consuming process. If you use the Shotgun method like I do then it can be relatively simple and cheap. And once you start to see your property begin to turn into a game magnet then you will be glad you put in the effort early on, because once established these plants will self propagate and do all the work for you and provide abundant wildlife habitat for generations to come.

A Vision for Wild Game as a Sustainable Food Source

I have this vision of what a possible future for wild game as a sustainable food source could look like in practice. In this future most people who owned property of more than 2 or 3 acres would be actively managing their land for a high calorie production of wild game. They would be using mostly permaculture techniques to do this. In Permaculture a property is usually divided into zones 1-5. Zone 1 is intensely managed for annual plants like a vegetable garden. Zone 2 is a little less intensely managed but still pretty high think generally livestock and some orchard species are managed here. In zone 3 it is common to grow what is called a “food forest” which is a forest planted with edible species, but grown in a way that mimics a natural forest so it can be self sustaining. Livestock can also be periodically ran through zone 3 areas for light grazing. And then zone 4 is usually a semi-wild area that is very lightly managed for various reasons and zone 5 is considered unmanaged wilderness. In my ideal system for wild game management it would be some zone 3, but mostly zone 4 that we would be using. On a property of 20 acres this area would possibly use about 15 acres the rest being used within the first 3 zones. On larger properties this could be up to 99% of the total land area. Any zone 5 areas would be places that either already contain ideal wild game habitat or they would be areas that haven't been managed yet.

In my vision most people in rural areas would have something resembling a small garden for vegetables, a small orchard, a food forest area with a more wild growth pattern for fruits, nuts and other plant foods, and also maybe a few livestock such as chickens for eggs and meat and maybe a few other livestock species. And then the rest of their property would be lightly managed wild game habitat mostly for meat production. Ideally this last area would be unfenced allowing wild game to pass through to other properties with a similar setup, while the other zones could be fenced to keep out game from browsing gardens/orchards etc.

If implemented on a large scale among most landowners this could have some interesting consequences. For example in the great plains region, vast areas managed for cattle ranching and monoculture crops could instead be turned into habitat for bison, elk and antelope. These game species would be free to once again roam across the plains unimpeded by barbed wire and each landowner would be managing their properties to draw in these animals by producing the best game habitat they can so that they could hunt them and acquire meat. To me this seems like it would be a way more sustainable system than the one we currently have with cattle ranching and monoculture crops being the dominant land use.  I believe that if a system like this were set up then everybody could potentially produce their own food fairly cheaply and easily. I think it would be easier, cheaper, produce healthier food, and be better for the environment than our current food production system. And best of all I think once people realized the benefits of managing land in this way then people would voluntarily decide to use this system on their properties. So no government would be needed to force people to manage their land in a way they wouldn't want to. There obviously would still be people who would want to manage their land for cattle or corn or wheat using more modern methods but if enough people decided to manage their property in the way I talk about then those people would be the outliers. Instead of bison being a rare meat, it would become as common as beef is today and beef would actually be the rarer meat. To me this system would be much more sustainable in every way you could think of.

While some wildlife habitat destruction today can be contributed to urban sprawl and the expansion of cities and towns, the vast majority of wildlife habitat has been destroyed through conventional farming and ranching practices. In places like Iowa more than 90% of the land is grown as monocrop of corn, beans etc. And many other states are in similar situations. Iowa used to be prairie and savanna that was habitat for very large numbers of wildlife such as bison, deer and elk, but now all that exists is a few pockets of steep wooded terrain along rivers that are home to white tailed deer.

Another huge benefit of this system would be it's resiliency. Once established this type of land management strategy would be able to go along with very few inputs. All that would be needed would be periodic disturbances such as cutting down trees or small managed fires to create a more early successional habitat. This would be an extremely easy system to maintain and would cut down massively on the use of energy leading to cost savings and an improved environment.  

This would also be a better system for meat production because the wild game would feed and take care of themselves and all you would need to do is harvest them. This would be opposed to raising livestock which is very costly because of the need for feed, shelter and other costs associated with taking care of domesticated animals.

In this future I think many modern problems could be solved/helped this way including malnutrition, obesity, wildlife habitat destruction, pollution, environmental degradation, etc. It would turn America into a giant eden with plentiful food and clean air and could even encourage people to move out of cities and back into the country to get their little slice of heaven which could help encourage better social environments and small communities.

There is obviously a lot of speculation here because nothing like this has ever been implemented before, but I'm excited to use this land management strategy on my property and encourage and help others to do the same and then we will see if a system like this could be implemented on a larger scale.

Podcast #1 (Test) Invasive Species as Nurse Plants

Taking A Close Look At Your Property

The first thing to do after purchasing your property in order to create better wild game habitat will be to take a detailed look at it to figure out your starting point. Is your property mostly wooded? Is it an overgrown field? Or is it a gravel pit or desertified type environment? Depending on what the habitat looks like from the beginning will determine what your first steps will be when coming up with a design for your property.

One of the most important first steps will be to see what type of plants are already growing on your property. If you’re lucky your property could already contain some desirable food and cover species that will help attract game. For example if your property contains a mature forest with large oaks scattered among other non- mast producing species then it would make sense to keep at least a few of the best producing oak trees so wildlife will have acorns to eat. Many other mature tree species that are not mast producing could be cut down, hinge cut,  or sold to a timber company for cash. Some species of trees when cut will sprout profusely from the stump and could provide valuable browse and cover early on after harvesting mature trees. In areas of your property where cut trees did not re-sprout you can plant desirable tree and shrub species or scatter forb and grass seeds to create a small meadow. If you can’t find any areas like this, you’ll need to continue to harvest and recut some sprouted trees in order to get areas to plant more desirable species.

Another possible property you could find yourself with is on old field or meadow type habitat with  early successional plants like grass, forbs, shrubs and sapling trees. This is usually a good point to start off with because structurally this type will closely resemble an ideal habitat for most game species. It will usually be somewhat brushy but still somewhat open at least in certain areas and will likely have a lot of browse and forage species already growing. In this type of habitat you will mostly be taking out a few non-useful tree and shrubs and replacing them with more useful species. Doing a thorough walk-through throughout the whole property is essential to see what plant species you are working with. Do your research and learn to identify all the species on your property that way you can determine which ones to keep and which to get rid of.

If you have acquired a property that has poor soil or has been desertified with few plants growing there then you will need to work the land more in order to create good growing conditions. One thing that I would recommend for these types of areas, especially in drier habitats would be to create swales on contour. This is a common permaculture technique that is basically just a ditch that will hold water after rain events or spring snowmelt and they will allow the water to seep into the ground instead of running of the property. This will increase the soil moisture and allow a wider variety of plant species go grow. Another positive aspect of creating swales is that they collect organic matter which will increase the nutrients in the soil and will especially help degraded landscapes like gravel pits and bare soil areas. Another technique i recommend when you decide to plant in this type of habitat is to mulch very heavily. This will also help increase soil moisture by slowing evaporation and the much will gradually decompose into a nutrient rich organic soil over time which will help your plantings grow. This type of habitat is definitely the hardest to work with but over time it can be turned into very productive game habitat if the right techniques are used.

Any property can, in theory, be turned into great wildlife habitat It is essential, however, that you do your research and determine the species that are already growing on your property, that way you will know which plants to keep and which to get rid of. Once you do this then you can move on to the next step of actually working the land, planting new trees and shrubs and spreading seeds and eventually you’ll have a property that will be very attractive to wild game species.

Creating Excellent Wild Game Cover

Just like when it comes to food requirements every game species will have it's own requirements for cover. There are two main types of cover we'll be looking at and they are screening and thermal cover.

Screening cover is what wildlife use to avoid predation. Good screening cover will block the view of predators so that prey species can hide and feel safe.  Different game species will have different requirements for screening cover. Some species, such as bison need practically no screening cover at all. Bison instead rely on their large size and their tendency to form large herds in order to protect themselves from predators. However other species such as whitetail deer generally will rely on dense screening cover as their main way to avoid predators. Most game species will need some form of screening cover unless, like the bison, they are adapted to wide open habitats. Good screening cover will usually consist of thickets of brush and trees that can easily hide wildlife. Deciduous and conifer cover work equally well for most of the year but conifers obviously win out during winter due to their evergreen foliage. When determining what kind of screening cover to use I would aim for planting tree and shrub species that double as a good food source. Some good examples may include roses, apples, hazelnuts, brambles, hawthorn, dogwood, serviceberry and pawpaw. Another great advantage of having a property with good dense cover is that you can more easily hide a homestead from wildlife, bringing them closer to you and allowing you to still have great wildlife habitat within close proximity to human settlements. This would help make use of more of your property especially on smaller parcels.

The other main type of cover is thermal cover. This type is especially important for areas that receive lots of snow and get very cold in the winter months. Again some species will require more thermal cover than others. Again for example the large size of the bison with it's wooly coat and thick hide will protect it from even the coldest winter weather. However other species like whitetail deer need thermal cover, especially in the more northern areas of their range. Good thermal cover consists mostly of thick stands of evergreen conifer trees. Some good species may include Cedar, Douglas Fir, Spruce and Juniper. Within their native range deer in northern areas will use what are referred to as “Yards” in winter where they can escape deep snow and still find some food under the thick canopy of these evergreen species. Unfortunately, most thermal cover species do not generally make the best forage for wildlife and will block out the sun so not much food will grow underneath the canopy. This means that these types of habitat should generally be reserved for properties that experience deep snow in winter and should be generally kept at no more than a few acres in size. Another thing to note is that this habitat type only works if it is grown as thick bunches of trees and will not work planted only as scattered individuals so keep that in mind when designing your property. In milder climates that get little to no snow I would recommend not planting traditional thermal cover because it is simply not needed. On another note if you can find plant species that could double as food and thermal cover and that could grow in your climate then it might be worth trying out. For example, there is an evergreen broadleaf tree called the Golden Chinkapin which is native to the west coast and is adapted to dry summer temperate areas, which I believe would make it adapted to my climate here in Idaho. This tree could provide screening cover, thermal cover as well as a food source since it produces nuts, similar to a chestnut to which it is closely related. This just goes to show you how important it is to do your research and figure out what plant species may be a good fit for your property and the game species that live there.

Not all game species will require dense cover, but most of the best staple game species we encourage managing for require at least some form of cover. After food, cover is generally the most important factor to consider when designing your wild game property and choosing the right cover plant species will help turn your property into a wild game mecca.

Food Sources for Your Staple Game Species

When looking at food sources to plant and manage for the staple  game species on your property it's important to know their feeding habits. The vast majority of game species will be either grazers, browsers or opportunistic omnivores.

Grazers are animals like bison or elk that mainly eat a diet of grass and forbs. Some are more strict like bison eating almost all grass whereas elk will tend to eat some woody browse plants as well. When creating a property geared mostly towards a grazing species you'll want to have a higher proportion of grass and forbs as opposed to woody species. This can be done by planting native grass and meadow mixes with species known to be highly palatable to the species you're managing for, as well as species that's adapted to your specific climate. There are many species of grasses and forbs that are unpalatable to wildlife so make sure to do your research to find the right mix of species. I would also always advise you have a high diversity seed mix. Some will naturally do better than others on your specific site so by planting a large variety you'll be ensuring that at least some will do well and self propagate. This type of habitat is usually considered an early successional habitat, which means that it has the potential to transition to more of a brushfield or forest if there are a source of woody plant seeds nearby. In order to manage this properly you may need to mow, clear brush or burn this habitat every so often to keep it in the grass/forb stage. But if managed properly this type of habitat could become a mecca for grazing game species.

The next type of game are browsers. These are species like deer, moose and beaver that mainly feed on the leaves, stems, buds and bark of woody plants. These will generally be broadleaf plants as opposed to conifers and will usually want to be kept short enough so that they can be reached by game. On most sites this will mean planting mainly shrubs and small trees with highly palatable foliage. Again do your research and figure out the best species for the game in your area and figure out which plants will self propagate on your site. Also remember to plant a large variety of species to add diversity to the ecosystem. With this habitat type the main concern will be keeping the new growth within reach of game. This can be done by one, selecting species that are naturally shorter and tend to sprout from the roots and two by every so often cutting back branches or trunks that have grown too high also known as coppicing. Burning might also be a good strategy after so many years but this will depend a lot on the specific plant species you are growing as well as your overall management strategy for the property. This type of habitat will likely be the main focus for most properties due to deer being the best species to manage for in most areas in America.

The last type of game we'll be looking at are generalist omnivores. These game species usually will have a very variable diet, but will tend to focus on calorie dense foods such as nuts, fruits and tubers. Some examples of game animals that fit this category are bears, pigs and turkeys. With these species you'll definitely want to do your research and figure out their preferred foods, but we still can look at some general rules that will apply to most omnivores. The most calorie dense wild plant foods available will generally be nuts also referred to as hard mast. Species such as walnuts, pecans, chestnuts hazelnuts and oaks are all great examples. These tend to be trees or shrubs and depending on the species could be a very productive food source for many wildlife species. The main downside for nut bearing plants is that it is a highly seasonal food source generally lasting only for a few months in the fall. This could be good because it will attract game during a time when hunting seasons are open, however it will generally need to be supplemented with other species that are available at other times of the year. Like nuts, fruits, or soft mast, tend to be a pretty high calorie food source. There are a huge variety of fruit bearing plant species ranging from tiny forbs like strawberries, to massive cherry trees and everything in between. Blackberries, grapes, rose hips, pawpaws, apples, plums, prickly pears and persimmons are all great examples of possible fruit species for your property.  Like nuts individual fruit species tend to have a narrow window of availability, but unlike nuts this could range throughout the year. The worst time of year for fruits is generally spring time but even then there are some fruits like rose hips that are able to persist all winter and into spring. I personally have noticed black bears in early spring gorging themselves on the last remaining rose hips and depositing their seeds around my property. So I would say fruits are a must have for most properties especially when focusing on game with omnivore type feeding habits. However I will also note that even browsers and grazers will commonly relish these food sources if available. The last food source I'll focus on are tubers. While for most game species these will not be a food source there are a few that are able to dig such as pigs and bears that can make use of it. Some tubers that might attract game are groundnuts, jerusalem artichokes, camas, wild onions, nutsedge, biscuitroot and cattails. So since omnivores will usually have a very varied diet you can attract them by planting a large variety of species that will attract them year round as well as attract other game species that are usually foliage eaters. And one last thing to point out is that many of the foods you'll plant for omnivores are also great people food and can be foraged for just like the game will do on your property.

Every species of animal will have its own specific nutritional requirements and feeding habits, but many plant species are able to feed a large variety of animals. That's one thing you'll notice when designing a property for wild game is that many of the best plant species will have multiple uses. Not only will they be able to feed multiple game species , but they can also act as great cover as well. And many even have the potential to be great human food sources. So do your research.  Figure out what the game animals in your area like to eat and then you'll be able to really start designing your optimal wild game property.

Choosing the right property

If you don't already have a property to manage then the first step to creating your hunting paradise is to obtain a property. Finding and purchasing the right property can be a daunting task. For most of us cost will be a major contributing factor on choosing a property. I would recommend getting the most amount of acres you can with a bare minimum of 5 acres. Depending on the wild game in your area though a larger property could be necessary. For example if you're buying property in an arid area with little vegetation then you will definitely want more than 5 acres. These habitats will generally support fewer game animals per square mile but on the upside they will likely be much cheaper than a property in a wetter region. And with the right management techniques you can increase the soil moisture in these drier areas and grow plants that would usually need a wetter climate. But if available i would try to find land in an area that would support trees just because it will be easier.

Ideally you'd want to find an area with a diversity of large game animals to hunt that way the land could support more calories per acre of wild game meat. Having property within the range of whitetail deer or blacktail deer is usually a great idea because these species can generally live in high densities, especially whitetails, and between the both of them cover most of the country. If there are neither of these species present then there would likely be mule deer, but these species generally do not live in high densities, but a management strategy could be adopted for them if necessary it just wouldn't be ideal. Other game species that it would be good to have within your area are black bears, turkey moose, feral pigs, elk and pronghorn.  The more species available the better. Some general areas with high game diversity include the Northeast, the upper midwest, the appalachians, the deep south, the rocky mountains (especially the northern rockies) and the west coast. I chose to move to the Northern Rockies because there are good populations of Whitetails, Mule deer, Elk, Black bears and Turkeys. There are even a few moose although they are generally not very common. You will have your own personal criteria when choosing a property, but choosing one within the range of at least of a few different species will definitely help you add to the potential calories per acre of your property.

If you're like I was when looking for a property then cost will definitely be a major issue. Some factors that make a property less expensive are being far from major cities, being poor farm land, having steep or rugged terrain and having an extreme climate. So in general a steep dry mountainside in the desert in the middle of nowhere would likely be the cheapest type of property you can find. This type would not be the best solution for the purpose of creating wild game habitat, but it wouldn't be impossible to do. It would just take a lot more work. Some of the factors like being far from population centers and being rugged terrain would not be a downside for our purposes and could even make the property a better choice. Being poor farmland is a potential negative, especially in drier climates, but wouldn't matter as much in wetter ones. And having an extreme climate is a mixed bag depending on how extreme we are talking. Very dry land is definitely something I would discourage unless you're really up for a challenge. Being really hot shouldn't be too big of an issue as long as it's somewhat wet. And being very cold is generally not an issue unless it's so cold trees won't grow like in tundra type areas or high mountain peaks.

In differing climates you will be planting different species of wildlife forage so keep that in mind when choosing a property. Factors such as your hardiness zone your annual precipitation and your seasonal precipitation patterns will all affect the plant species you choose. You're looking for species that will be hardy to your climate, enough so that they will be able to thrive and reproduce naturally. Generally speaking the wetter and warmer the location the more options you'll have for plant species.

One last important thing to look at when buying a property for wild game is water. I would say some kind of water source would be a requirement and if it doesn't have one on it already you would have to create one. This is even more crucial in drier areas. In arid regions if there is no water source than it would be nearly impossible to keep and hold game on your property. In wetter areas water would be less important because if there isn't a source on your property there is likely one nearby that the local wildlife are using, however I would still say it is a very good idea to have one on your property so that game have everything they need in one place, food, cover and water.

As far as the food and cover on the property you're looking at purchasing it would be a bonus if there already existed a good amount of species that were prime habitat, but this is not necessary. Most of you will be planting much of your own choices of food and cover species which will take some work but expecting a property to have everything on it you already want is a bit much to ask for.  But this is why I'm writing this blog. I want to help you manage your land by taking a heavy handed approach at creating great wild game habitat that once established could feed your family for generations.