Duck potato

[giles]

Anyone every try this as a good plot. I have a creek bottom that floods a few times a year and have planted it in the past a few times and it just doesn’t seem to draw deer how I’d like. I really don’t have a good place to plant apple trees or anything. So I’ve been looking and heard of this on a THP episode a few days ago. Seems like a very solid food source that I’m pretty sure no one else is using around me.

What’s holding me back? How invasive can it be? I’d hate for me to introduce something that might take over like honeysuckle. This is a creek that flood this area.

Anyone have thoughts or heard of this? @Iowa_Buckeye your flooded plots come to mind.


Also known as arrowhead plants*

 

[bowhunter1023]

I've never heard of duck potatoe. WTF is it?

 

[cspot]

 

[cspot]

Sounds like it may be good for you preppers too. LOL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittaria_latifolia

 

[giles]

Sounds like a great way to take advantage of flooded areas, or places that always hold water. Problem I might have is that the plant likes full sun.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Never heard of it. It looks like it needs constant moisture though. The plots that flood for us are usually dryer than a popcorn fart unless the river is way up.

 

[Isaacorps]

Grows great near water but needs constant moisture, almost like cattail. Deer will absolutely hammer it, which makes it hard to reach maturity

 

[giles]

Never heard of it. It looks like it needs constant moisture though. The plots that flood for us are usually dryer than a popcorn fart unless the river is way up.

Gotcha, I’ve got about a 1/4-1/3 acre spot that’s always like a swamp. Problem being, it’s in the woods. I might experiment if I can find somewhere that it’ll grow in my area.

 

[giles]

@jagermeister thoughts?

 

[Quantum673]

Sounds like a good thing to try. Give it a shot.

 

[jagermeister]

@jagermeister thoughts?

Duck potato, aka arrowhead. It's a native wetland plant in Ohio and most of the Midwest. It's very common up here in the marshes and in certain road ditches and drainageways. I've seen a lot of it and I can't think of a single time I've ever seen deer munching on it, or even took notice of obvious signs of browsing. But we have a LOT of succulent wetland plants up here that they eat during the summer, so they're less likely to really hammer one particular species.

It'd be interesting to see if you would have any luck with it. My gut feeling is it would be a waste of your time. Deer key in on duck potato and other wetland plants during the spring and summer, when the plants are young and actively growing. By fall most of these plants have matured, are putting their energy into their fruits (tubers), and going dormant... meaning, not very attractive to a deer. But I'd love to see you prove me wrong.

Somewhat off topic... But more food is not always the answer. On most properties, available cover is more important than type or quantity of food available. Deer eat damn near everything. But they can't hide everywhere.

 

[giles]

That is the timeframe I prefer to take care of the deer here at my place. That is when I feel they need the most protection and food.

 

[jagermeister]

I just watched the video clip. My last paragraph of my first post pretty much nailed it. He's seeing deer out in that bottom feeding on duck potato... But is it really the duck potato that's drawing them in there? Probably not. It's more likely that the deer are in that bottom because of the 100 acres of reed canarygrass that hides them so well. It's the overall habitat makeup. Not one certain food source. My guess is they would be eating anything palatable down in there. It just happens to be duck potato because it's readily available close to their bedding.

 

[jagermeister]

That is the timeframe I prefer to take care of the deer here at my place. That is when I feel they need the most protection and food.

Unless there's a severe drought, deer have more food than they know what to do with during spring and summer. Focus on protection.

 

[giles]

Unless there's a severe drought, deer have more food than they know what to do with during spring and summer. Focus on protection.

This was the first year we haven’t had fawns all over the yard. I gotta do something more.

 

[jagermeister]

This was the first year we haven’t had fawns all over the yard. I gotta do something more.

Sure. I get it. I'm just saying, even without stepping foot on your property, I'd be willing to bet your observed lack of fawns is not due to a lack of food in the area. Take for instance NASA Plumbrook or Ravenna Arsenal... They don't put in food plots there for the deer. Hell, the populations are so high, you can see the browse lines on the shrubs from a mile away. The ratio of available food per deer is lower there than on most other areas of the state. But you think they are seeing a lack of fawns? The deer populations continue to grow out of control because they can feed on virtually everything in sight. What they have there that's different is supreme protection.

Obviously you can't replicate that on your property unless you build a 10' fence all the way around it. But you can expose light to the forest floor to increase ground cover and woody browse. You can try to work more tall grasses and forbs into the landscape (fawning habitat). There's lot of things really. Planting a certain type of food in an area? Sure, it certainly won't hurt anything. But it's likely not a silver bullet solution.

 

[giles]

I get it, it’s just been a couple of years since I’ve done anything and the deer have moved on. New neighbors have had a major effect on things. Maybe it’s just time to move on and have more property.

 

[giles]

If we do end up moving on to better things, a pond will be a must have.

 

[triple_duece]

What about select cutting your property?

 

[giles]

What about select cutting your property?

About impossible to get a guy to show up on 6.5 acres. I might sell a few trees off before we sell. Or just send them to the mill so I can build something with them to keep that torch going.