# Habitat improvement on your land



## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

How many of you out there are doing work to improve your habitat. What is working for you? What types of trees and shrubs and food plots are you having luck with. We have been improveing or land south of Bismarck with pheasant habitat our main goal. We have seven tree plantings and 3 food plots. I wish I would have gotten some advice five years ago. Number one thing I wish we would have done sooner is spray weeds in our tree plantings. Started last year and has made a huge differance! We planted around half (2,500) Junipers,rest are:
Chokecherry,Juneberry,American Elderberry,Hansen Rose,Golden Current,Grey Dogwood,Silky Dogwood,Amur Honeysuckle,Freedom Honeysuckle,Skunkbush Sumac,Smooth Sumac,Red Elderberry,Buffaloberry,Plum, and False Indigo. We did not plant trees that could be hawk or owl purches. In five years things have really improved. At first we would shoot a handful of birds in a weekend. Last year one weekend we shot 26 plus a few Grouse.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

That is a good project you have going there DK. Lots of work too. In a tough winter a place like yours is the seed bed for the surrounding area next spring. :beer:
There is a benefical spin-off too for other species of game and song birds which seem to be getting fewer all the time.


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## wburns (Feb 27, 2009)

I am going to start this next spring and am looking for ideas. When I bought my new place this spring my pasture was rented out so it limited what I could do this year. However next year I will not be renting it out and can do what I want with it. I have a large series of shelter belts around my farmstead, but I will add some more in the various parts of my pasture in the future. Sounds like you have a great project going.


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

This must be a great year for wildflowers. There were a lot of yellow and purple cone flowers last weekend. I have not noticed them before. My currents were thick with berries also. I saw a brood in the currents eating ripe berries that had fallen off. I think the broods like them because I saw them last year eating them also. I have to learn to post pics. Also the Red Elderberries have bright red berries that look like small grapes. Everything is doing well this year. Plums and Chokecherry have berries also. Rows of American Elderberries had white flowers that smelled great down wind for a long way. The corn was 56" tall, but no tassels yet. Need some heat. I have sprayed the trees 4 times and corn 3 times. Did not plant Sorgum this year because weeds had over taken it the last 2 years. So planted only Round up ready corn. It is a lot of work and learning as I go. Worth it all. Kind of hard when you are three and a half hours away.
DK


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

wburns
Make sure you use fabric when you plant your trees! Then a sprayer for your 4 wheeler. Most important trees are Junipers for winter cover. Air inducted tips for the sprayer it also key for low wind drift. I use Goal and Round up for spray. I bought a sprayer made in Fargo. Better quality than Filmco. It has two booms and 7 tips. To go between tree rows one boom works just right. Our food plots a 6 acres and then use both booms. I use 25 gallons of spray in each plot. 2% round up seems about right.
DK


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## wburns (Feb 27, 2009)

Thanks DK for the advise. Can't wait to get started on it. I think it will be a very fun project.


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

Wburns
I am in your area. How big of a tree planting are you planing on planting? more than one? You can have the NRCS in Linton plant your trees. You can buy bare root trees from them for a buck each in spring. Our you can have them plant your trees with weed fabric. I think it cost .69 cents a foot. If you are going to have them plant your trees start now. Some years they have so many you might have to wait a year. They look at your soil types and give you ideas on what to plant. Some trees we planted did well and some poor. We have about ten soil types. Some soil types are poor and trees will not make it. We had two areas with a real poor soil type called Harriet. NRCS advised us not to plant there. We decided to try any how. We did two plantings. The first one we picked the right trees. First row G.Currents,RMJs,Grey Dogwood, and Skunkbush Sumac. All doing good but Grey dogwood. Other planting three row. G.Current,Grey Dogwood,and Silky Dogwood. Only the Current lived. Dogwoods did not do good on any of our planting,I would not use them in our area. 
DK


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## wburns (Feb 27, 2009)

DK
I will have to go talk to them. I am looking at having about three plantings put in. Not sure the total length yet. I am in the planning stages. A friend of mine from Dickinson who is a forester is going to come out this summer and help figure out a layout.Thanks for the info on what grew and didn't! I might go with the fabric, as it will help cut down on time for care. Was there a lot of maintenance with your plantings without the fabric?


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Don't give up on dogwoods, they are a great shrub. Silky has a very low tolerance for drought (it needs regular water) Grey is in the Moderate catagory for drought tolerance. Red twig- Red Osier dogwoods are fully drought tolerant and will do well in areas that receive little moisture.

Just a suggestion if you plan on replanting.


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## startown (Nov 14, 2005)

Bob: I have not had very good success with Redosier Dogwood in Minnesota. It does not seem to grow unless it is near a pond or slough, or in a low spot that stays wet most of the year. In those areas, it does very well.

Are your dogwoods making it during dry periods?


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Yes. We lost 3 out of 150 that were planted in a friends plot in Central ND. They were watered twice after the initial planting and came through last winter very well.

They are planted in a prairie setting not around wetlands etc and are planted in groups (clumps) not rows. They will survive in a wide range of soil conditions with minimal care.

I use the dogwood plant species in a wide variety of landscape design (domestic and commercial) applications around the U.S. as well.


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

When I picked trees to plant I tried to pick ones that were drought hardy,and had high wildlife value(food,cover). 
Very Good ones
Rocky Mountian Juniper- Number one tree! Best winter cover,winter food source. Very hardy, long life,drought resistance.
Golden Currents- Hardy,food. Have had great luck with these.
American Elderberry- Very good luck with these.
Skunkbush Sumac- Native bush. Very good Luck.
Honeysuckle Freedom and Amur- Very good luck with these.
Chokecherry-Very good
Plum- Very good.
Good ones
Hansen Rose Hedge
Juneberry
Smooth Sumac
Worst luck
Grey Dogwood
Silky Dogwood
Buffaloberries-Very good for wildlife,but have had had time getting them to grow. Lost one whole row.Something ate them all. 
If you would like to see some pictures of some,send me a pm with email.
Kevin


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## Ben Geaumont (Jun 13, 2007)

Why all the tree talk? Pheasants generally don't nest in trees. What about nesting and brood cover?


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

When improving your land you have to look at what you are missing. Our land was in need of winter habitat. Winter thermol cover is likely the most limiting factor for North Dakota pheasant populations. If they do not make it through the winter we will not have any birds to nest. Trees and shrubs also provide food,escape cover, and travel lanes. Pheasants will also nest in tree plantings. The last 2 years I have found broods feeding on ripe Golden Current berries that have fallen. You also want a good food source with in 1/4 mile of these thermol covers. Some trees and shrubs are a winter food sources for example RMJ,Buffaloberries,Russian Olives, and Sumac.


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## Bug Guy (Jul 19, 2009)

Thermal cover, Thermal cover, Thermal cover. I bought 160 acres of ND grassland and the pheasant population just exploded once we planted some evergreens and low bush type stuff. IMO you can never have enough winter cover when you have 5 months of winter trying to kill the birds. Next I would recommend thorny fruit bearing stuff for winter food. The exact species will depend on soil type and moisture availability. Now I am focusing on apple, plum, cherry, and pear trees. I am planting bigger stuff, not the conservation grade saplings. I pay about $25 a tree, but have only lost 3 out of the 60 or so I have planted over the years. I have to fence them all to keep the deer from getting at them so that adds to the cost. Good luck and have fun.


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## Ben Geaumont (Jun 13, 2007)

So planting trees will increase the pheasant numbers in ND? You folks have not convinced me of this yet. I found many dead pheasant which had taken up residence in tree plantings only to be loss when the trees were inundated with snow. Sounds like a trap to me. If trees are that important, which they may be, it appears placement and species composition would be extremely important as many of you have previously stated. Keep the replies coming. I may be able to be convinced. What about our native species such as waterfowl and grassland birds? What have all the tree plantings done for them? Plant enough trees and it will no longer be the great plains, but the great forest. For future reference what is IMO?


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## Gildog (Jan 30, 2007)

"IMO" is short for 'in my opinion'

a few hundred acres of planted trees will not make the great plains look anything like northern MN, "IMO"....nor will it displace many ducks or geese or other native wildlife...I doubt if anyone is planting a 40 to trees...not to mention a whole section.

the key is to provide a variety of cover in the area that will allow additional options for survival...the birds you found dead in the trees were likely there because the grasslands were already flattened and the cattail sloughs filled in by the snow...if those habitats would have been available the (some) birds would have been using them.


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## Bug Guy (Jul 19, 2009)

Ben, you are absoulutely right. Just planting trees will not bring the pheasants on. The trees need to be planted in blocks more so than in rows. I planted 3 rows of evergreens on the north and west sides of the property to block the wind and catch some of the snow. The block planting is just inside the nw corner. This past winter the birds were found on the se side of the block planting where the snow was only a foot or so deep. That sounds like a lot, but that is where the russian olives, buffalo berry, hanson hedge rose, and a few other winter food sources are at. The cattail draw just south of that provided a nice condo setup for them. I still took some losses, but not like the rest of the places that only had rows of trees and all of them had snow 8 to 10 feet deep. My rows were all buried in snow that deep. No birds there. Hardwood trees provide little cover, the evergreens and thick brush is the ticket for birds. I have tried to provide for both deer and pheasants. Seems to work fairly well, but mother nature always rules no matter what I try.


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

I started this thread to share what I have learned and hear what has worked for others to improve habitat. Pheasants Forever and your local NRCS offices are great sources of information. PFE has a great book on Pheasant Habitat. I never said anything about planting a forest. MN would be crawling with pheasants if all it took were trees. I am talking about tree plantings for pheasants. Well planned tree plantings are just on piece of the puzzle, a big one! There is no debate.

NRCS Upland Wildlife Habitat Management- 645

Deciduous and Evergreen trees and shubs provide thermal,reproductive,and escape cover for many wildlife species as well as food in the form of seeds,fruits,nuts,buds,catkins,twigs, and leaves.
Woody plantings for wildlife diversity should contain a variety of forms,heights,and flowering/fruiting phenology. They should provide dense areas(thickets) of suckering shrubs or Conifers,especially spruce and juniper for winter thermal protection. Evergreen trees and shrubs are CRITICAL for winter cover. The more shrubs and the greater the variety, the more value to wildlife.


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