Cycling through Plant Succession

When I think about designing and managing a property for wild game one of my main considerations is doing so in a way that is efficient and gives me the best results for the least amount of time, money and effort. Having this mindset has helped me keep costs down with my habitat projects and has led me to finding some unique and inventive ways of getting things done.  One idea I have been thinking about for a while is the concept of cycling through succession.

When I say cycling through succession what I mean is managing a plant community in a way that mimics nature and the natural momentum of plant succession in an ecosystem. Succession when talking about ecosystems is basically just how one plant community naturally transitions into a different plant community. For example, after a disturbance such as a forest fire, the forest could be completely burned and it would be replaced by herbaceous forbs and grasses, but over time this plant community will, under normal circumstances and without further disturbance, succeed back into a forest dominated by woody species and the herbaceous plants will eventually die out because they are outcompeted by the trees. 

If I were to mimic this natural cycle on my property I would look at the current existing plant community and figure out what the next stage of succession would naturally be, and then design my plan for that area to resemble that next successional stage to take advantage of the natural successional momentum of nature. An example of this would be looking at an overgrown pasture dominated by perennial grasses and forbs with some scattered shrubs and small trees and then determining that the next stage of succession will be a thicket made up of woody shrubs and trees. So for this area the logical strategy would be to focus mainly on planting shrubs and small trees, especially species that do well competing against grass and other meadow vegetation. So some species I might choose are raspberries, blackberries, roses, plums, apples, hawthorns etc. because all of these species would naturally establish themselves in meadow type environments. These shrubs and trees would be the best choices because they are adapted to compete in this environment and would do better than trying to convert a perennial meadow backwards in succession for example to a plant community dominated by annual grasses and forbs. If I were to decide to transition it back to an annual forb dominated community then it would be necessary for me to create a disturbance such as through tillage or a controlled burn in order to create the conditions that could support those annuals. This would take a lot more time and effort than if I were to just plant some shrubs and small trees that were adapted to compete with the meadow vegetation.   

Another example of implementing this strategy would be to cut down a small area of closed canopy forest to establish a community of annual plants. While this would take more work, it would still be relatively easy. This is because the trees over time would have shaded out most herbaceous plants growing beneath them. Then once the canopy was removed you would be left with a mostly blank slate underneath the trees and if you were to immediately seed in your mix then you would be able to get your desired plants established before competing weeds could come in and establish themselves.  

Last year I saw this first hand when I helped a neighbor clear a large shooting lane for a tree stand for deer hunting.  It was in an area that was largely forested and we took out many trees and shrubs. Once we were done I realized that the ground was almost completely devoid of plants as well as somewhat broken up from our activity in the area.  I then got the idea to experiment with seeding it with a food plot mix of mainly clover to attract deer to the spot.  I seeded the area not long after we cleared it out and now almost a year later the shooting lane is dominated by the clover and other forbs that were in the mix and they are being heavily browsed by the deer.  There were some “weeds” that came up, mostly perennial grass, but these were relatively scattered compared to the thick mat of clover that exists across most of the plot. This area took almost no effort to establish the mix because once the canopy was removed we mostly had a blank slate of bare soil, which was perfect for establishing annuals and perennial plants. Another thing to note was that the soil was very rich and black because of all the decomposed plants and forest debris that had built up over the years. I think this indicates that cycling through succession like this would over time also help improve the soil quality.

This experiment taught me a valuable lesson in cycling through succession, because during that same time I had been trying to come up with a simple and affordable way to establish the same kinds of food plots on my own property that is mostly covered in grass. I learned that the best way might be to instead focus on establishing shrubs and trees into the grassy areas and then to find areas that were already mostly tree cover to establish my food plots after clearing out the trees. If I really wanted to establish an annual food plot into the grassy areas of my property my only real choices would be to create a disturbance such as through tillage, which I would prefer to avoid due to the cost and effort involved, or to instead establish trees and shrubs into the area and let them grow and shade out the grass over time and then eventually come back in and remove the canopy and establish my food plot into the bare soil.

I believe using nature as a template to manage a piece of ground really helps with keeping down costs and effort. And I believe that cycling through succession and using the natural momentum of nature is a great example of this. I think when you do this over time on a property then you can especially create a sustainable management system that could possibly even lead to a management strategy where there is almost no work because nature has taken over all the processes.

I’d like to paint a potential picture of what that could look like.  Let’s say you have all the right plants growing on your property because you were able to design an ecosystem that completely mimicked nature and you decided which species of plants filled in all the niches of that ecosystem.  You also have the right proportions of different plant communities, such as meadows, thickets and forests based on what wild game species you were focused on managing for and they have abundant food, cover and water in every season.  Once you have this paradise established a few years go by and natural succession leads to the proportion of forest on the property becoming too high compared to the other types of plant communities. Well you notice this and decide to cut down some trees to create an opening in the forest and then you walk away.  What grows back in the area first are a diversity of annuals and then quickly followed perennial herbaceous plants, but they are not just any plants. The plants that grow back after you open up the canopy are highly nutritious forage plants that are descendants from seed you spread many years earlier that are either germinating from the soil seed bank or are being spread by animals and wind from adjacent areas that are currently in earlier stages of succession.  Yeah you may have a few undesirable “weed” species growing, but these are few and far between because of your sound management using a diversity of plant species and types that fill all of the available niches in the plant community.  Because of this you do nothing, but observe and let nature continue to progress this area through succession. This spot continues to be dominated by highly productive and nutritious forage plants for many years until eventually it starts to transition into a thicket of woody shrubs and small trees. But once again these are not just any shrubs and trees, these are highly beneficial species such as fruit and nut producers as well as species that provide excellent woody browse for game animals. These highly beneficial species are growing because they are the descendants from the trees and shrubs you've planted in the past and have been spread mostly by animals that are bringing in seeds from the adjacent areas you are managing.  This area continues to produce lots of food as well as great cover for many animal species and for many years being composed almost entirely of highly beneficial species.  Then eventually, many years later the spot once again becomes a mature closed canopy forest and you, or possibly your children by this time, decide that it’s time to cut it down and begin the cycle of succession once again. 

While this is a pretty ideal scenario I don’t think it is too far off for what is possible and I think it illustrates pretty well what could be accomplished if you are able to create and implement a design for a fully functioning ecosystem made up of a diversity of plants that are not only highly beneficial to wild game, but also fill in all the ecological niches of the plant communities.

My 2020 Food Plots: Year in Review

  

   This year was the first year that I started experimenting with "food plots" or herbaceous forage species for wild game. While the first few years on my property I mainly focused on planting woody browse species, including fruit and nut bearing trees and shrubs, this year I wanted to focus on finding out what species I could plant on my property that I would be able to use for my "wild game meadow" idea. I learned a ton this year about different species of plants and I feel very confident that I have a good foundation of knowledge about where I would like to start next year's food plots. 

    I started this past January by frost seeding several varieties of seeds into several different plots. On the dry south facing road cut on the southern side of my property I had really good success with Small Burnet, but not much else grew well in any quantity.  The Small Burnet is known for being extremely hardy and will stay green year round. I also think the steepness of this plot was able to keep the deer pressure off and allow the burnet to thrive, while in some of my other plots it was continually eaten to the ground. Other than the burnet it looked like some chicory, sweet clover and a handful of crownvetch plants were able to survive, but most did not seem to thrive. As most of these are perennials it will be interesting to see how well they do next year and if they will spread over time. 

    On some of my other plots the chicory, burnet, plantain, sweetclover, crimson clover, hairy vetch and blue flax all seemed to do fairly well, however because the plots were so small the deer pressure was very high and most were eaten close to ground level. However, despite the severe browsing most plants seemed to survive so hopefully they will come back next year. Also the hairy vetch and crimson clover, which are annuals did seem to reseed themselves so I will likely continue to use these in my future mixes. 

    The big circular food plot I seeded with Cereal Rye and Winter Wheat was almost a total failure.  I think because the seeds of these species are relatively large and the fact that the area was still mostly sod, even though it was severely weakened from scalping, made the seeds not able to germinate well and in fact almost none were able to germinate. With this one I abandoned it as a food plot and continued to scalp it during the growing season to help kill off the grass. As of now it is largely bare soil although there are still a fair amount of widely spaced grass plants that would likely fill in if I let it. I think for this one I will continue to use annuals to eventually shade out and kill off the remaining sod and then after several seasons of annuals I will seed it with a perennial mix like in some of my other plots. 

    This past May I experimented by creating another plot where I chose summer annual cover crop species that I could cycle between cool season and warm season species to build up the soil and help shade out any perennial grass trying to grow in the plot. I planted sunflowers, buckwheat, grain sorghum, lablab and cowpeas. The buckwheat did really well early on and went to seed within a couple months which is what was expected. The sunflowers did the best and grew up to 6 feet all the way into September when they flowered, but were killed by an early fall frost in Mid September.  The grain sorghum only ended up growing about a foot tall and did not do very well probably from the summer drought and the lablab and cowpeas both did very poorly most likely because I did not inoculate them with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Because of this from now on I've decided that any legumes I plant must be inoculated before I plant them. After this mix died in September I broadcast Cereal Rye onto the plot then used a handmade foot crimper I built to crimp down the dead plants, mostly sunflowers, on top of the seeds to give them some cover and increase the seed to soil contact. This worked very well and I got good germination as soon as the first fall rains came near the end of September.  I will also likely plan on frost seeding some annual legumes such as crimson clover, balansa clover and hairy vetch into the plot in late winter so it has some more diversity and then in May I will again plant a warm season mix and crimp down the cool season plants on top of those seeds.

    During mid summer I mowed and weedwhacked some areas that were mostly starthistle and medusahead grass, both annuals, in order to control the starthistle and to experiment with planting annual clovers and cereal rye into the dead annual weeds. I figure converting these areas into food plots will be much easier because the annuals are easier to control than the perennial grass growing on other areas of my property.  I seeded these areas in late August and September and most of them seemed to have germinated fairly well. I'm hoping the rye and clovers are able to shade out a large portion of the annual weeds and over time eradicate that vast majority of them. I will likely frost seed these areas with more rye and annual clovers this winter as well as adding some hairy vetch.  I also might experiment with planting summer annuals in these spots and mowing or crimping down the cool season annual growth to cover their seeds like I did in the previous plot. 

    This next year I think I will focus mostly on using annuals because they are much better at handling weeds. And then once I have good weed control hopefully after only a year or 2 then I could start adding back in perennials that would be able to thrive without any competition from weeds. I also would like to experiment this year with using large sheets of black plastic to kill off the sod and create a great spot for planting my seed mixes. And eventually, maybe in a few years, I would  like to get pigs to use as tillers to uproot the perennial sod grass and create more bare areas to plant my mixes into. 

    I learned quite a bit this year and my experimentation will definitely continue next year and on until I'm able to develop a system of planting and with species that will thrive in my area. I will continue to learn and make mistakes, but these will only help me in the future while I am attempting to create an amazing wild food property. 

The Implications of Biomimicry in Food Production

 

    Lately I have been listening to a lot of podcasts about wild game habitat management.  A new one I have recently found is Jason Snavely's "Droptine Podcast".  In this podcast he describes his method of habitat management as Regenerative Wildlife Agriculture, which as the name implies, applies Regenerative Agriculture, practiced by farmers like Gabe Brown, to wildlife habitat management.  I recommend everyone who is interested in these ideas check him out as he provides a lot of great ideas and information. Something he talks about a lot in his podcasts is the concept of biomimicry in relation to food production and wildlife habitat management. To me this is an extremely important concept to understand when thinking about where our food comes from and how it is produced and it is what I will focus on in today's post.

    Biomimicry is the simple idea of people mimicking nature and natural processes in the things they do. For example, airplanes came from watching birds soar through the sky and velcro mimics the burs of some plants such as burdock that stick to animals as the walk by. Biomimicry shows us that we can observe nature and come up with some amazing ideas that help us in our daily lives. I believe that this concept is especially important in regards to our food production systems and that in general the closer we get to mimicking nature the better off we'll be.  Today I'd like to look at different levels of biomimicry in the various ways we produce food in order to understand what each has to offer.

    In my diagram above I detail 5 different levels of biomimicry in food production.  These levels are not set in stone and there is a lot of overlap, but I think they can help demonstrate these ideas pretty well. On the diagram the amount of biomimicry increases from left to right.  On the far left you have the least amount of biomimicry, which would be our system of conventional modern agriculture. Then on the far right you would have the highest amount of biomimicry with subsistence hunting and gathering. I then split the diagram into 2 halves with one side describing animal production and the other plant production. Then below that I describe some basic management characteristics of each level. 

    On the far left is our system of conventional modern agriculture. This is characterized by factory farming for meat production and conventionally grown crops for plants. This level has the least amount of biomimicry and in my mind is probably the type we would want to avoid the most. At this level we see a very high amount of inputs such as tillage, heavy chemical fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide use, the use of feed lots and large warehouses where livestock are kept and prevented from going outside. These are very unhealthy systems and produce very nutritionally poor food compared to the other levels. This is because the animals are fed an unnatural diet that makes them sick, such as corn fed to cattle and the plant products are grown in very poor soil that is degraded from years of abuse. This is also the least sustainable system because it leads to ecosystem degradation through soil loss and pollution as well as requires chemical inputs from products like petroleum that are non-renewable. Over time if this was the only food production system used then there would eventually be a collapse from one of the links in the chain breaking. The one potential positive aspect of this system is that is it highly efficient for the modern industrial economy and up until this point has been able to lower food prices and bring many people back from the brink of starvation. However, over time the inputs and environmental degradation will only become more costly and eventually we will not be able to sustain this type of production. 

    The next level is characterized by production systems like pastured livestock and no-till and/or organic crop production. These systems differ from the first in that they tend to produce much healthier food.  Livestock are fed more natural diets and they are able to experience fresh air and sunlight. Plants at this level also improve in nutrition because the non-tillage leads to healthier and intact soil that does not degrade as readily and organically grown plants do not suffer the consequences of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, which have been shown to, at least potentially, have health risks for people as well as the soil that they are applied to. At this level we see less environmental degradation and pollution, but it is still not an optimal system and over enough time will still cause some degradation.  Livestock at this level are often rotated on a handful of pastures at best or at worst spread out over a single pasture. This type of grazing alters the plant communities on the pasture and leads to the most palatable and nutritious species dying out from overgrazing, which gives an advantage to unpalatable weeds and over time can poison livestock if all that is left is poisonous weeds.  To combat this many livestock producers have to perpetually replant their pastures, which over time becomes very costly and labor intensive.  In drier more extreme environments this overgrazing leads to desertification as talked about by those like Allan Savory who promote a more holistic approach that can actually reverse desertification and regenerate soils and plant communities. The plant production at this level also can contribute to some environmental degradation and non-optimal nutritional quality because they do not integrate animals into the system or plant poly-cultures, which both improve the soil and contribute to higher nutritional quality. This is what people like Gabe Brown have talked about and improved upon with their more regenerative approach to crop production. 

    The middle of my diagram is characterized by food production practices that not only are sustainable, but that can regenerate degraded environments. These types of systems are able to produce even healthier food than the last because they mimic nature to an even higher degree. The livestock at this level generally are fed a much healthier diet because they are rotated through many more pastures than more conventional systems. This mimics wild herds of herbivores constantly moving to new pastures due to the presence of predators that push them out of recently grazed areas which helps prevent the over grazing of the most nutritious plants. On the plant production side at this level regenerative farmers use techniques such as cover cropping and animal integration to heal the soil through keeping living plants in the ground as long as possible and maximizing the collection of solar energy as well as providing animal impact and natural fertilization that can help to quickly build up the soil. These systems are very sustainable and regenerate landscapes over time, making them more productive.  However, these techniques still require fairly high inputs such as the perpetual need for tractors on the regenerative agriculture side and the need for fencing and livestock rotation systems for holistic livestock management, which both still require a relatively high amount of labor. In my mind these techniques are very valuable, but I still think they could be improved upon with the practice ecosystem design. That being said I think the practices at this level could be used perpetually and would be pretty optimal if they were the most common practices in existence. 

    The next level is what I refer to as ecosystem design. At this level wild and/or feral animals are used as the main source of meat. This would be the system of meat production that I developed on this blog which I refer to as the "Hunter's Eden" system. In this system one would design an ecosystem that would provide optimal wild game habitat and manage it for a high production of diverse wild game animals. The major benefit of this system would be that once the habitat was established then almost the only labor that would be needed would be to harvest the game. There would be times where one would have to make slight alterations to the habitat, but this would be relatively rare compared to the holistic management of livestock for example. Livestock still need care and infrastructure from people in order to be a productive source of food, whereas wildlife can survive and thrive without any human interference at all. For plant production this level would be characterized by the permaculture concept of a "food forest" For this system one would design an ecosystem with plants that are edible to people including the different levels of a forest such as the tree, shrub, vine, ground-cover and root layers.  These ecosystems would be comprised of mainly perennials and self seeding annuals that would continue perpetually with only minimal maintenance such as trimming plants that are blocking out too much sun on the lower layers. While these systems probably couldn't match the production and efficiency of the previous level I think most would probably be surprised at how productive these systems could be and if needed I think they would be able to feed the current global population and then some. Ultimately I believe that a mixture between the systems at the previous level and this one would be optimal for society as a whole. 

    On the far right of my diagram is the level of subsistence hunting and gathering.  The obvious major benefit to this level is all you would need to do is harvest. No maintenance or management required.  This is the food production system that humans are designed for. If modern civilization collapses this would likely be the most viable option for one to survive. Hunting and foraging is the last option we have if we lose everything else.  It is the foundational food system if all else fails.  Obviously, however, if everyone were forced to hunt and forage all their food then we would wipe out many plants and animals pretty quickly. This is because our influence around the globe has led nature to be pretty unproductive.  The bison were nearly wiped out. The fish in the ocean have been severely over-fished. And wild plants have been destroyed through agriculture an urban expansion. And even if we were able to restore wild plant and animal populations, we would still end up wiping them out again if we were to stop our maintenance and management of the natural world completely. That's why ultimately living off a pure hunter-gatherer lifestyle would be unsustainable. Luckily we know how to maintain and manage natural ecosystems. It is some of the knowledge that we have learned over our long existence on this earth and if we put those ideas to practice I think we can create a bountiful world that eliminates starvation and maintains an eden-like level of abundance perpetually into the future.

    

 

Seasonal Forage Availability for Deer and Elk in My Area.

For many wild game species, forage availability will vary drastically according to the time of year.  Deer and elk diets are closely matched to what is the most abundant and most palatable in any one season. So anyone who is managing for these species and many others should pay close attention to the seasonal food sources in their area.  This will help determine any limiting factors in seasonal forage availability and help to determine a management strategy for their property.

In my area during the early to late winter time period the staple forage type is woody browse.  These are the dormant twigs and buds that grew on woody shrubs and young trees the previous growing season. At this time of year this is one of the few available food sources and during periods of deep snow cover it is possibly the only source. At times during the winter the snow may melt in some areas such as on south facing slopes, exposed ridges and lower elevation areas. In these areas there could be green cool-season grasses available, although it is rarely abundant. Cool season grasses are very hardy and will sometimes grow very slowly during the winter or stay green from growth in the fall providing a source of green forage for deer and elk. Also if there is snow on the ground, but it isn't too deep and it is light and fluffy then wildlife may be able to dig through it to reach the green grass underneath. One more possible food source during the winter months are winter persistent fruits. In my area wild roses will hold onto their rose-hips all winter long and can provide a very good supplemental food source during a time of year when forage quality is rather low. This is generally the hardest time of year for wild game so making sure you have a large variety of woody browse, open areas with grass and possibly some winter persisting fruits will really help game populations maintain themselves.

After the winter snows start to melt the next important time period is early through mid spring.  During this time the most utilized food source will be the fresh growth of cool season grasses. This is when grass will be most utilized in my area, because it's new growth will contain a relatively high density of nutrients compared to other times of year. It is also the dominant forage type because most other plants have yet to start growing during this time.  In some areas you will start to see some cool season forbs starting to increase in prevalence, but during this time growth is very slow so they will usually only make up a small part of the diet of deer and elk. Also during this time woody browse will still be available and utilized to a lesser extent, but it is still important in case a large early spring snowstorm buries lower growing forage.

The next time period of forage availability is mid spring through early summer.  During this time cool season grasses will start to grow more course, less digestible and contain fewer nutrients, especially for deer, so use will decline.  Elk, however, will likely still utilize grass as a moderate percentage of their diet because they are better adapted to digest more mature grass than deer. The main staple for this time of year, however, will switch to cool season forbs. Cool season weeds like prickly lettuce, clover, and salsify will be the most nutritious forage type available at this time and will be heavily utilized. In most areas this will be the most important time of year for deer and elk because at this time forage is at it's highest nutrient density and it's highest abundance. This includes the new green leaves and stems of woody plants, however in general forbs will still contain higher nutrient concentrations than browse during this time of year. At the end of this time period around early summer some species of soft mast such as cherries and some warm season forbs will become available, but they will make up a relatively small percentage of deer and elk diets until mid summer.

Once the summer heat and drought hits most cool season forbs will go to seed and die out or go dormant. During the time from early summer to the first frosts in early fall the green leaves and stems from browse will become the dominant food source. The green growth on most shrubs and trees will usually maintain fairly high nutrient densities throughout the summer especially compared to cool season forbs, which usually dry out by this time. This is mainly because woody plants generally have deeper root systems than forbs and can reach deep soil moisture late into the summer that allows them to continue to photosynthesize until temperatures dip below freezing in the fall.  Also during this time warm season forbs will likely be available, but rarely are they abundant in our area. Some warm season weeds such as ragweed, lamb's quarters and amaranth make excellent and highly nutritious forage, but they are rarely abundant due to our dry summers, however if they are available they will likely provide the most nutritious forage around during this time. Also, this time of year is the best time for soft mast species. In our area we have cherries, plums, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, apples, pears and many other wild and feral fruits that provides a great high energy supplemental food source to deer and elk during the summer months. While deer and elk generally won't subsist off of this fruit it can make a relatively high proportion of their diets until about the middle of fall.

After the first couple of hard freezes in the fall most vegetation will turn brown and go dormant. However, their is a short period of time in mid fall after the first fall rains begin and before the really cold temperatures set in when cool season grasses and forbs have a short period of growth. During this time there might be just enough growth to provide a decent amount of forage for deer and elk, but it will still be a relatively small percentage of their diet. Once the leaves fall off the shrubs and trees deer and elk will again start to browse on the dormant buds and stems and this will usually make up the majority of their diet through the winter. Most of the summer fruit will be gone by this time as well, but some like apples and pears can persist for awhile until winter really takes hold and can provide a valuable supplemental food source for the last few weeks of fall.  While not common in my area, hard mast, if available, can make another excellent high energy supplemental food source during the fall.  In my area, although rare, some hard mast species include hazelnuts, walnuts and acorns from oak trees. Because of their rarity in my region I have decided to plant a large amount of hard mast producing trees and shrubs on my property and I'm hoping they will mature and produce abundant crops someday in the future.

Monitoring the different forage types as the seasons change can be an important part of developing a management plan for your property.  Making sure wild game have abundant forage year round can really help populations expand, while neglecting forage in any one season can create a bottleneck in food sources and lead to lower numbers of game. As you can see, in my area browse from trees and shrubs make up the majority of the forage during most of the year.  It would only make sense then for me to try and manage most of my property for an abundance of this forage type. So if your goal is to create excellent wild game habitat, research and monitor what the game are eating on your property on a seasonal basis. Then once you have a good understanding of these patterns you can figure out your limiting factors and plan accordingly and hopefully it will lead to abundant game populations in your future.

First Seeds in the Ground!

After a lot of planning and waiting for the right conditions I've finally started planting seeds in order to establish my "wild game meadow". I used the seed planting technique of frost seeding in order to plant seeds without needing any heavy equipment.  Basically I just broadcast the seeds with a handheld seed spreader over the planting area while trying to time it so the ground was bare, but right before a heavy snow. In theory the snow will cover the seeds helping to protect them from birds as well as help to push them down into the soil providing good seed to soil contact when it eventually melts. Also as the ground cycles through freezing and thawing over late winter and early spring the heaving action will incorporate the seeds even deeper into the soil further improving the seed to soil contact.  

In my first plot area I decided to only plant cover crops of winter rye and spring wheat. This is because for this plot I was experimenting with cutting the existing grass short multiple times with a weed eater to weaken it. Then I'm hoping the cover crops will be able to outcompete and shade out the existing perennial grasses eventually killing the grass and allowing me to plant my main mix of species that are part of my wild game meadow. In this plot I planted a third in winter rye, a third in spring wheat and a third in a mix of both species for experimentation.

My second plot area is actually an area of eroded soil on a cut bank for the main road leading to my property.  This plot is quite steep and after heavy rain will tend to break apart and erode into the ditch. There are some weeds already growing here, but it is mostly bare soil. This plot is also south facing and receives a lot of sunlight which makes it an especially hot and dry site so it is a good test plot to see which plants will survive these harsh conditions the best. For this plot I planted crown vetch, small burnet, sweet clover, purple salsify, forage chicory and forage plantain.  

My third plot is an area where I dug up a small area of sod with a grub hoe. I took out large chunks of sod flipped them upside down and placed them on top of an area of existing sod adjacent to where they were dug up. So on one side of this plot you have an indented area where the sod was removed and on the other half is the overturned sod placed on top of existing untouched sod. For the sod half I planted cover crops including spring wheat, winter rye, crimson clover and hairy vetch. I used these cover crops to shade out any of the sod that tries to regrow and then next year I will plant my main wild game meadow mix. On the bare non-sod half of this plot I planted crimson clover, hairy vetch, small burnet,  sweet clover, purple prairie clover, lewis' flax, purple salsify, forage plantain and forage chicory.

My 4th plot area was another small plot this time in an area dominated by mostly annual weeds such as medusahead grass and yellow-starthistle as well as the perennial sulfur cinquefoil. For this area I used the grub hoe to scrape the weeds off the soil surface until I got to bare soil. For this plot I decided to plant crimson clover, hairy vetch, small burnet,  sweet clover, lewis' flax, purple salsify, forage plantain and forage chicory.

Later into the spring I will be planting a 5th plot of just sainfoin. This plot will likely be made with the grub hoe ripping up the sod similar to my 3rd plot. Then lastly I will plant a few seeds of each species into my fenced garden area where I can monitor their growth and provide optimal conditions such as regular waterings and protection from deer and other herbivores. This will allow me to compare these pampered plants with their counterparts in the plots to see how well they are able to handle our summer drought as well as grazing pressure.  Also once the seeds begin to grow in the spring I will also likely create small exclusion cages in the plots themselves to again monitor grazing pressure.

It feels really good to have finally started the planting process. I am really excited to see how the plots do in the future and to see which plants do well and which don't as well as which plot creating techniques work the best.  It will be a lot of trial and error over the next few years, but eventually I will be able to develop a streamlined system that others will be able to recreate on their property in order to create their own wild game meadows and will be an important part of my hunter's eden system for creating optimal wild game habitat.

Potential Plant Species for My Wild Game Meadow

When I came up with my idea for a "Wild Game Meadow" I did so with a few requirements in mind. First of all it would have to contain a large diversity of plant varieties that could provide great nutrition and be highly palatable to multiple game species throughout the year. It also needed to be made up of perennials and self seeding annuals that would be adapted to my local climate and be able to self propagate and compete against weeds so that it would need minimal maintenance and last many years without needing to be reestablished. And finally it would need to be made up of different plants adapted to different ecological niches such as grasses, legumes and broadleaf plants, cool and warm season plants as well as annuals, biennials and perennials. Once all of the niches in a meadow ecosystem were filled then I could reasonably assume that it would be able to keep out the vast majority of undesirable weeds because they would have no place to establish. So as of now,  after months of research, I have compiled a fairly extensive list of different plant species that I think will meet most of these requirements and I am now ready to start testing them on my property. And while I will likely continue searching for new species to include, I feel my list as of now is sufficient to go into the trial stage as I can always add new plant species later on.

Cool Season Perennials:

Cool season perennials are probably the most important types of plants I can establish on my property. This is because these are the types of plants that naturally dominate wild meadows in my area. Being perennial means they will persist for long periods of time and being cool season means they will grow during our wet season which is late fall through early summer. Some species I would like to test out include:

Legumes -

• Alfalfa
• Sainfoin
• White Clover
• Red Clover
• American Vetch
• Crown Vetch
• Cicer Milkvetch
• Palouse Milkvetch
• Utah Sweetvetch

Broadleaf -

• Small Burnet
• Little Sunflower
• Arrowleaf Balsamroot
• Common Camas
• Forage Chicory
• Forage Plantain
• Winterfat
• Forage Kochia
• Sticky Geranium
• Rocky Mountain Penstemon

Grasses -

• Idaho Fescue
• Bluebunch Wheatgrass

× I am deciding to not include common cool season perennial forage grasses (such as Meadow Foxtail, Smooth Brome, Orchardgrass, Timothy and Tall Fescue) because my property and surrounding properties are already dominated by these species, however they may make good recommendations for other properties in other regions depending on a land manager's goals. ×

Warm Season Perennials:

Warm season perennials will likely be of less importance, however they could provide green food during the summer when cool season plants have dried out and gone dormant. In order for warm season perennials to be able to grow in my area they will need to be particularly drought resistant in order to handle weeks without any precipitation during our hot dry summers. Some warm season perennials include:

Legumes -

• Round-headed Bush Clover
• Purple Prairie Clover
• Western Prairie Clover
• Birdsfoot Trefoil

Broadleaf -

• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Lewis' Flax
• Fireweed
• Western Goldenrod
• Missouri Goldenrod
• Perennial Sowthistle
• Cup Plant
• Showy Goldeneye

Cool Season Annuals/Biennials:

Cool season annuals and biennials could be of relative importance as long as they self seed relatively easily. One of the most common weeds in my area is a cool season annual called yellow-star thistle so it would be convenient if I could find some options that could outcompete this species on my property.  Some cool season annual and biennial options include:

Legumes -

• Sweet Clover
• Crimson Clover
• Hare's foot Clover
• Black Medic
• Hairy Vetch

• Balsana Clover

Broadleaf -

• Yellow Salsify
• Purple Salsify
• Forage Radish
• Forage Turnip
• Canola/Rapeseed

Grasses -

• Cereal Rye
• Winter Wheat

Warm Season Annuals/Biennials:

Warm season annuals and Biennials will probably be the least important type of plant for my area. This is because of our very dry summers. Even so, there are a few species that may be viable options.  These include:

Legumes -

• Cowpeas
• Lablab

Broadleaf  -

• Prickly Lettuce
• Lamb's Quarters
• Common Ragweed
• Annual Sowthistle
• Burdock
• Moth Mullein
• Buckwheat
• 
  
Sunflower

These are some of the plants I would like to experiment with on my property.  I do realize there is a high chance that some of these will likely not do well on my property,  however that is one of the main reasons for trying out a large diversity of different species. I believe that through trial and error I will be able to develop a seed mix that will be able to provide a very nutritious forage for multiple game species throughout the year as well as require very little maintenance over time. This is my main goal for my Wild Game Meadow and this idea fits perfectly into the rest of my Hunter's Eden system for creating the ultimate habitat for wild game.

The Case for Ending the Prohibition of Market Hunting

Most people who are aware of the term market hunting will generally connect it to the early days of America when hunting was completely unregulated and took place on unowned land especially in the American west. Back in those days settlers moving west largely wiped out most large game animals mainly for food as well as to sell on the open markets back east. The tragedy of near extinction of game animals like the bison led to strict game laws and banning the sale of wild game meat. I agree that for this time period these laws were probably a good idea that were helpful in protecting the vanishing herds of wildlife across the continent. However, I believe that for modern times i think legalizing the sale of wild game meat could actually help wildlife populations to thrive even more and potentially lead to a massive voluntary restoration of vital wildlife habitat.  I realize that this will be a very controversial idea to both hunters and non-hunters, but I ask that you hear me out and just contemplate what I am about to say.

To me it is all about the incentives. Most of America is made up of private lands, especially the most productive areas that could support high amounts and diversity of wildlife. These lands are used for many different reasons. People manage some to grow forests for wood products while other land is turned to urban lots and housing developments. The single largest private land use in America, however, is agriculture.  

Vast fields of corn, beans and wheat take up huge portions of America. Then there are also the pastures, cattle ranches and rangeland that seem to stretch on forever in areas that are not suitable for crop production. All these areas combined make up the vast majority of the private land in America.  These lands do still contain some wildlife, but these are only very hardy species that are adapted to the constant disturbances of the agricultural system. Species like whitetailed deer and raccoons do ok here, but this is despite the way the land is being managed, not because of it. These lands have the potential to be way more productive and support not only more wildlife numbers, but also a much higher diversity as well. But as it stands now most landowners, have no incentive to provide wildlife habitat.

The majority of landowners today make their money from selling the food that is grown on these properties and many would probably go broke if they tried to manage it just for wildlife. There are some people who make money by selling hunts for deer and other game, but there are only so many hunters willing to purchase this type of opportunity.  Most people would rather buy the food products grown on these lands so that is what most land owners focus on. However, I believe that if private landowners were allowed to sell harvested wild game then that would give them a huge incentive to turn their property into some amazing wildlife habitat. I believe most people, if given the option, would eat wild game more if it was as available as domestic meat sources are today. If one could go to a grocery store and grab a big, free-ranging elk steak off the shelf the same way they can do for beef, I think that would be an intriguing option. I think wild game meat could potentially be a very popular option for a lot of people. Wild game meat would be able to check off a lot of markers that people care about. It can be local, organic, free range, fed a natural diet, hormone free and encourage the restoration of wildlife habitat across the country. The fact is that wild game is a very healthy food and one could argue that this is exactly what humans are designed to eat.

Now some people might be concerned about an idea like this because they might believe it would lead to the decimation of wild game like what has happened in the past. However, if you think about the circumstances around wild game hunting today vs early in this country's history then you will notice some important differences. For example, back in the day hunting was completely unregulated and took place mostly on unowned lands. What this lead to was a common economic effect called "tragedy of the commons". This effect happens when a shared resource is depleted because people have little to no incentive to preserve it. In fact, the incentives are to deplete the resource as quickly as possible because if you don't use it then somebody else will. Today this is prevented from happening on public lands by strict regulations that only allow a predetermined amount of game to be harvested through the distribution of game tags. However on private lands, especially larger tracts, one could theoretically manage and control game populations the way they see fit because of property rights, allowing for the preservation of a renewable resource that can be harvested sustainably without having to worry If someone else will deplete it.

Another reason why market hunting would work much better in modern times is because much of the population has a value of wildlife conservation. Long gone are the days of the pioneer whose main value was to conquer nature instead of preserving it. Today most people would agree that more wildlife would be good for society and good for the earth so these ideas could be sustainable.  People today could encourage private landowners to manage their property for wildlife by buying wild game products and thus create additional acres of needed wildlife habitat, which could lead to more intact and productive ecosystems across the country. The incentives would all be in place. I would probably advocate for the ending of prohibition of market hunting only on private lands as I do believe the incentives wouldn't line up as well on most of the public land in the country. But either way that would open up much of the country to market hunting and could provide a new sustainable food source that could alter land use practices to benefit all wildlife. I believe if we really want to help increase wild game and nongame wildlife populations then people who are non-hunters need to see a direct benefit from intact ecosystems, otherwise hunters will have to carry the burden of conservation largely on their own as they have for the past 100 years or so.