spectr17
02-21-2003, 02:24 PM
Setting the groundwork for creatures
One of the best ways to attract animals to your property is plants
Dean Fosdick, Associated Press
February 16, 2003
MOUNT JACKSON, Va. — In many areas of the country, Bambi is a cash crop. Landowners are modifying their fields and woodlots to attract wildlife — for hunting or for viewing.
There's nothing unlawful about it as long as you appreciate the difference between planting and baiting.
"You can feed wildlife on private property, but if you hunt over it, it's illegal," says Fred Frenzel, a wildlife biologist assistant with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Yet you can plant things, apple trees or an acre of corn and not pick it. That's not illegal for hunting."
Fred Garber, who sells large stocks of pre-blended wildlife seed, describes it another way: "Anything you do that is not considered a normal agricultural practice is baiting."
That definition would cover something like dumping a load of cracked corn on one of your fields a week before deer season opens and then taking a stroll within riflescope range. While armed.
Garber is owner/manager of Mount Jackson Farm Service Inc., which is affiliated with the Southern States system. Southern is a Richmond, Va.,-based, farmer-owned cooperative with a 26-state reach. It markets a half-dozen seed mixtures aimed at attracting wildlife species, ranging from deer to turkeys, ducks to rabbits.
"We're near the mountains and we have a lot of habitat," Garber says. "Managers of plantations catering to (paid) hunters are trying to attract deer to the smallest areas possible. We have fewer row crops now, so they're trying to compensate for that."
Southern's wildlife seed mixtures contain what you might expect: millet, sunflowers and corn, among other things, for wild turkeys; clover, grain sorghum and alfalfa, in part, for deer.
These plants provide browse along with some four-season cover and nesting sites. They also add a degree of erosion control for landowners.
The seed blends are proving very popular, Garber says.
"The economy might be down, but people still have a lot of discretionary income," he says. "You can spend a lot. To plant an acre plot, seed alone can cost from $70 to $100."
But animals don't respect boundaries. What you sow, so, too, shall your neighbors reap. And your neighbors may not be so wild about wildlife — particularly if they invade their gardens or orchards.
"Deer are our No. 1 pest problem for the ornamental trees, shrubs and perennials we sell," says Randy Fogle, a manager at Fort Valley Nursery in Woodstock, Va. "It's a big problem for us because we're losing a lot of livelihood. It hits us in our paychecks.
"I also know a lot of farmers around here having trouble with deer eating their soybeans and corn. If you're inviting them in, there's almost no way to keep them out."
Deer can leap.
"A six-foot fence is no problem if they want to go over it," Frenzel says. "And you can't leave a gap at the bottom or they'll squeeze under it."
Fogle and company learned that the hard way.
"When we started in the early '80s, we had a fence that went about eight feet high. It was part woven and part barbed. The deer would figure ways to wiggle through it and get in. About four years ago, we built an electric fence. It's only five feet high, but this has proven extremely effective."
There are other remedies, including growing plants distasteful to wildlife.
Some deer-resistant perennials include asters, Shasta daisies, iris, lavender, peonies, phlox and snapdragons. Some bulbs: Canna lilies, daffodils, amaryllis, jacks-in-the-pulpit and caladium. For trees, try dogwood, Japanese maple, redbud, sweetgum and witchhazel.
Deer-proof shrubs include bayberry, burning bush, English boxwood, juniper, lilacs, mock orange, mountain laurel and rhododendron. A good choice in annuals would feature alyssum and snapdragons. And many climbers are considered safe, from clematis to morning glories.
You've probably heard about using human or animal urine to mark your boundaries, in the process discouraging wildlife trespassers. That folkway remedy has a great many believers. So does using human hair and soap with a strong odor.
Other suggestions include thinning area wildlife populations, primarily by hunting; feeding in areas well separated from your vegetable or flower gardens; using motion-activated lights, high-pitched sounds or spraying water on the intruders.
Or . . .
"In orchards around here, people are using dogs running free within an invisible fence," Garber says. "That works well."
One of the best ways to attract animals to your property is plants
Dean Fosdick, Associated Press
February 16, 2003
MOUNT JACKSON, Va. — In many areas of the country, Bambi is a cash crop. Landowners are modifying their fields and woodlots to attract wildlife — for hunting or for viewing.
There's nothing unlawful about it as long as you appreciate the difference between planting and baiting.
"You can feed wildlife on private property, but if you hunt over it, it's illegal," says Fred Frenzel, a wildlife biologist assistant with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Yet you can plant things, apple trees or an acre of corn and not pick it. That's not illegal for hunting."
Fred Garber, who sells large stocks of pre-blended wildlife seed, describes it another way: "Anything you do that is not considered a normal agricultural practice is baiting."
That definition would cover something like dumping a load of cracked corn on one of your fields a week before deer season opens and then taking a stroll within riflescope range. While armed.
Garber is owner/manager of Mount Jackson Farm Service Inc., which is affiliated with the Southern States system. Southern is a Richmond, Va.,-based, farmer-owned cooperative with a 26-state reach. It markets a half-dozen seed mixtures aimed at attracting wildlife species, ranging from deer to turkeys, ducks to rabbits.
"We're near the mountains and we have a lot of habitat," Garber says. "Managers of plantations catering to (paid) hunters are trying to attract deer to the smallest areas possible. We have fewer row crops now, so they're trying to compensate for that."
Southern's wildlife seed mixtures contain what you might expect: millet, sunflowers and corn, among other things, for wild turkeys; clover, grain sorghum and alfalfa, in part, for deer.
These plants provide browse along with some four-season cover and nesting sites. They also add a degree of erosion control for landowners.
The seed blends are proving very popular, Garber says.
"The economy might be down, but people still have a lot of discretionary income," he says. "You can spend a lot. To plant an acre plot, seed alone can cost from $70 to $100."
But animals don't respect boundaries. What you sow, so, too, shall your neighbors reap. And your neighbors may not be so wild about wildlife — particularly if they invade their gardens or orchards.
"Deer are our No. 1 pest problem for the ornamental trees, shrubs and perennials we sell," says Randy Fogle, a manager at Fort Valley Nursery in Woodstock, Va. "It's a big problem for us because we're losing a lot of livelihood. It hits us in our paychecks.
"I also know a lot of farmers around here having trouble with deer eating their soybeans and corn. If you're inviting them in, there's almost no way to keep them out."
Deer can leap.
"A six-foot fence is no problem if they want to go over it," Frenzel says. "And you can't leave a gap at the bottom or they'll squeeze under it."
Fogle and company learned that the hard way.
"When we started in the early '80s, we had a fence that went about eight feet high. It was part woven and part barbed. The deer would figure ways to wiggle through it and get in. About four years ago, we built an electric fence. It's only five feet high, but this has proven extremely effective."
There are other remedies, including growing plants distasteful to wildlife.
Some deer-resistant perennials include asters, Shasta daisies, iris, lavender, peonies, phlox and snapdragons. Some bulbs: Canna lilies, daffodils, amaryllis, jacks-in-the-pulpit and caladium. For trees, try dogwood, Japanese maple, redbud, sweetgum and witchhazel.
Deer-proof shrubs include bayberry, burning bush, English boxwood, juniper, lilacs, mock orange, mountain laurel and rhododendron. A good choice in annuals would feature alyssum and snapdragons. And many climbers are considered safe, from clematis to morning glories.
You've probably heard about using human or animal urine to mark your boundaries, in the process discouraging wildlife trespassers. That folkway remedy has a great many believers. So does using human hair and soap with a strong odor.
Other suggestions include thinning area wildlife populations, primarily by hunting; feeding in areas well separated from your vegetable or flower gardens; using motion-activated lights, high-pitched sounds or spraying water on the intruders.
Or . . .
"In orchards around here, people are using dogs running free within an invisible fence," Garber says. "That works well."