Biology And Management Of White-tailed Deer In Alabama

two-acre plot planted with these crops can produce a great deal of forage
during the fall and winter months.
Most warm-season crops cannot handle as much grazing pressure
as the cool-season plants. For this reason, wildlife openings planted
with warm season crops need to be larger than most cool-season fields.
To produce adequate amounts of food, warm-season openings should be
at least five acres. Smaller openings can be planted, but the length of
time they are productive generally is not very long.
As with anything, the final determining factor on quantities to
be planted is available time and money. If time and/or money are not
limiting, plant as much as practical with the most productive plants
available. If time and/or money are limiting, decide which openings
will produce best and plant these with highly productive, highly nutritious
crops. The benefits may not be as substantial as when time and
money are not limiting, but even a few small openings are better than
none at all.
Soil Testing
Once the locations of the wildlife openings are established, soil
samples should be taken from each area to be planted and sent to a soil
testing lab for analysis. A soil test will determine how much lime and
fertilizer should be applied for a specific crop. Soil tests should be conducted
at least every two years. Tremendous amounts of nutrients are
removed from the soil each year by the growing plants and by leaching
due to rain.
Taking soil samples is a fairly easy task. The only materials
needed are a shovel or soil probe, a clean bucket, and boxes to ship the
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