Vet Judy

            Because we’ve all been trained to keep fire out of forests, prescribed burning can be a controversial topic.  But well-managed “burns” are one of the professional wildlife manager’s best tools in the control of habitat.  They might also be an option for you in planning for your deer food plot.

            Like you already know, I’m a vet.  So let me issue a little disclaimer here that, if your local regulations allow you to choose to use prescribed burning, be sure to notify the appropriate local authorities.  If you’ve never performed any large scale burning for your food plots before, it’s also a good idea to get a land management professional to help you devise a plan.

            A plan is essential for a prescribed burn, and it’s crucial to the success of your food plot (or other land management goal) that you have an adequate goal in mind for the burn and a plan that helps you meet that goal. 

            A quick search of the Internet reveals other benefits to prescribed burning.  Burning can help reduce invasive trees and shrubs, manage grassland, and remove excessive leaf cover.  It can also help in diversifying the species on your ground and aid in controlling some kinds of plant diseases.

            For deer food plot establishment, especially a design that is seeking to intersperse natives with supplemental plantings, burning offers another benefit.  There are some native legumes and grasses that are beneficial to deer where the seed actually benefits from the seed coat being burned (called scarification).  Burning can help “open up” these seeds for better germination.

            Always, always do any kind of open burning under appropriate weather conditions and with the proper authorities notified.

            Okay, I have a confession: besides the broadcast seeder and your disk, you really should also have some sort of cultipacker to help you plant your deer food plot.  And no—this is not just another excuse to purchase another piece of heavy equipment.

            If you’re unfamiliar with farming equipment, a cultipacker is a type of heavy roller that is used to go over tilled ground where a broadcast seeder has sown seed.  “Cultipacking” pushes the seeds into the soil, while also breaking up any small clods or clumps of soil that the disk might have missed.  The end result of cultipacking is increasing the amount of seed-to-soil contact.  Better seed-to-soil contact results in better germination, resulting in a better deer food plot stand and a better return on your investment.

            Okay, so you probably don’t need to go buy a cultipacker to seed an acre or two of deer food plots.  But you should consider borrowing one from a neighbor, or renting one from a local farm or landscape store, to help make sure that your hard work in seeding the food plot results in a crop.

            Of course, if you’re direct seeding crops like wheat and soybeans, the grain drill or planter puts the seed well into the soil, where seed to soil contact isn’t a problem.  And if you don’t have access to a cultipacker, there are all sorts of harrows and drags that you can drag along disked ground to help prepare a finer seedbed.

            But if you’re going to go to the trouble of properly preparing a deer food plot, especially for those plots that are heavily seeded with grasses, don’t forget the cultipacker.