The hardest time for wildlife in my part of Texas is August and early September. This is the time when the weather channel shows the giant “H” sitting over the State indicating high pressure. 90+ degree temperatures with no rain and low humidity causes dry, burnt-up grass and weeds that crackle when you walk on them. There is a glare during the day, and whenever you do get some wind, it is a hot breath that causes the shriveled leaves to rasp and rattle. Livestock lie around loafing or standing in tepid stagnant ponds and the noise of hundreds of cicadas pierce the dead air. I feel sorry for all plants and wildlife being heat and water stressed during the summer doldrums. It will usually be late September before the rain showers begin to clean the dust from the atmosphere, the first northers begin to trickle down from Canada and live oak acorns begin to drop. What saves the wildlife beginning in August?
Having a little plant diversity can make a difference. Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and huisache (Acacia farnesiana) will give deer, hogs and turkey what they need. Remember, these plants are aggressive encroachers and if left alone, will quickly swallow up most openings. Our family constantly attempts control of mesquite and huisache but we allow some here and there just for wildlife emergencies.
Here’s what happens. When all warm season forbs and grasses have matured and quit growing due to drought, mesquite and huisache are just starting to drop their seed pods. Deer and hogs love them. The seeds are high in carbohydrates and energy just like corn. They have beneficial protein as well. Just like corn, animals gorge on the beans, gain weight and actually thrive when all other normal preferred food sources are gone.
Another plant that is critical during this time is Bois d’ Arc (Maclura pomifera). Most folks pronounce it “Boar Doc”. Another name is Osage orange or as my grandfather used to call it, a “horse-apple tree”. This tree will grow dozens of balls the size of grapefruits that are light green and pithy. This tree has big leaves that begin to turn brown or yellow and slowly starts shedding during August and September.
I noticed deer standing around under Bois d’ Arc trees during the summer and discussed this one time with our local TPWD Biologist. He said he was part of a study at one time trying to determine what deer ate during different times of the year and they had permits to harvest animals to dig into their rumens. He found several had their stomachs packed with Bois d’ Arc leaves. One time, I surprised a group of doe under a horse-apple tree and the last one lingered just long enough before running off to pick up one of the big green apples in her mouth. It reminded me of a roasting pig with an apple in its mouth.
Now back to the last half of the title of these notes – target practice food plots. My brain started to churn with an idea so I tried it out and it works wonderfully. I parked my truck under a tree and using regular high speed 22 hollow-point bullets, began target practice by popping every horse apple I could see. A regular bullet will not cause the “apple” to burst open so you need the more explosive bullets. A 22 magnum worked better. A .17 HMR or such worked even better. Backing away to 100 yards or so and using a regular centerfire rifle varmint cartridge such as a 223 or 22-250 really caused some impressive star bursts. If you are getting ready for deer season, which most deer hunters are doing all year long, a rifle such as a 243, 270, 308, 30-06 etc. really had spectacular terminal effects. Dang, that was fun. If you look at the ground under the tree, there were horse apple fragments strewn about in every direction mixed in with the leaves that were just starting to wilt and drop.
The next day, my target practice tree had several deer under it. When I looked the ground over, most pieces of the horse apples were gone. I tried shooting a few Bois d’ Arc balls at a different tree. The next day deer were standing under the new tree and all pieces of the “apples” were consumed.
So, there you have it. If you have a few Bois d’ Arc on your land, protect them. In August and early September unlimber your rifles and have target practice. This is just like a corn bucket spinning but you have no feed store bill and you are having fun during the process.
JH
