| In this part of this article we are highlighting a portion of the continuing habitat project on John Wenzel's farm just for the benefit of the hobby that it is. The benefit to the reader/bird hunter is that John's habitat effort above that of training and hunting his own bird dogs extends into study and practical application of upland bird habitat within a Kansas region that allows for both pheasant and quail reproduction/survival. This level of effort is reflected in the lease contracts we acquire and recommendations where our hunters should hunt.
Pictured above is pasture in the process of being reclaimed by chainsaw and tractor. The green grass is the area where the scrub trees were cut last winter and scrub in the background the point where we ran out of cool weather required by such work. This spot has another winter's worth of cutting ahead. This total pasture clearing effort, some 30+ acres is now in its fourth year.
The next step for the grass area is chemical spray down and planting with an annual grain that will allow us to have some "crop farm" habitat this year, easy cut down next spring followed by a second chemical burn down that the fescue in our area requires, then followed with nesting grass and less row crop. To simply attempt a brush cut, one time chemical burn down and planting in nesting/brood cover will leave too much fescue behind and defeat our earlier efforts.
The heart of each reclaimed pasture piece with good soil is cleared of trees. Brush is tractor pushed to the heavier woody cover in this case a dry drainage where it will stay. This page illustrates well how the many magazine and website articles promoting ATV food plots and habitat development equipment falls far short of reality. Our effort in this series is to first show what we did and then the results. The idea is that if we build the right cover the quail and pheasants will return, and return in stronger than previous experienced numbers. The next time a plot master picture is seen in a magazine take note the ATV pulled device is on worked ground. How did that ground get worked before the plot master showed up. The next thought is what farmer is willing to give up worked crop ground for wildlife with grain prices hitting all-time highs?
|
