As I write this short article, the Upper Midwest has been hit by another snow storm. I just talked to my brother in western Wisconsin and they received about 8 inches of snow last night. That means our hunting property there currently has at least 16 inches on the level. This snow won’t melt anytime soon, and much of it will likely be around in late March and possibly into April.
My brother and I talked about driving our tractor up and down the various logging roads throughout our hunting property to make it easier for deer to travel in the deep snow. The wide rear tractor tires will flatten the snow, and deer will readily walk in the tire tracks rather than busting their own trail. Winter is all about survival.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any standing soybeans or standing corn on or near our property. We do have a couple of small food plots planted with brassicas, and prior to this last 8 inches the deer have been able to dig through the snow to reach the green tops as well as the bulbs. I’m quite sure this additional snowfall will make their digging extremely difficult.
I suggested to my brother that he jump in our tractor today and not only drive all of our logging roads, but also use the tractor’s back blade and loader bucket to remove some snow from the brassica plots. We’ve done it in the past with good results.
In the 9-minute YouTube video below, you’ll see the host of Kapper Outdoors use his tractor to scrape open several long paths through the snow so deer, birds and other wildlife can get access to the remaining food in his fall food plots. Fast-forward to the 1:57 mark to get right to the action. The video takes place in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri, and the host first learned the tractor clearing technique when he lived in northern Wisconsin.
He wrote: “The deer have now been working on the radishes and turnips, but with 10 to 12 inches of snow covering them now, that makes it much harder for the animals to access that food. I'll also show you some proof that opening up the food plots does help and that the deer do use these strips regularly.”
