Well Crap, Notoriety and the Buffalo Plot

dogghr

dogghr

Well-Known Member
Well myself and I suppose most of you will never become famous I guess even tho we on this and some other like forums have broken trail on food plotting for deer , especially at minimal time , seed, and implement costs.
So I just watched recent episode of Dr Grant, and while I like him, over the years I've seen him copy, and some ways , take credit for the very things that forum posters show for years before various celebrities pick up the same idea and present them as if they are their own.
Now I'm not too smart, but if you go back on my land thread, you see me talk of my '" Buffalo Plot". I simply reasoned that I saw deer food growth occur in some areas without my active action and deduced that if I could copy the once present buffalo herds and their impact on the plant and soil landscape, that I could achieve a food plot with little if any manipulation on my part. I simply used my tractor and bushhog to mow said plot every 45-90 days at a close clip to mimic the herd coming thru. To me this copied the rotational browse of the Buffalo with the mower, and just as important, the 6000# tractor ag tires trampled the soil and plant growth just as several thousand pounds of buffalo hooves would have done in past times. Indeed I achieved with this method a variety of clovers , grasses ,grains, native flora, and so-called weeds that the deer loved and it cost me nothing but a little time and fuel costs.
Each day , especially during hunting season, as I pulled into the farm, there were as many deer feeding in this plot as was my adjacent clover/chicory and brassica plots. I was happy.
So anyways, what does Mr Grant use as a term??? Yep, his name ...the "Buffalo System". Yea he's tweaked it some and I doubt seriously he copied it from me, but I do tire or repeatedly seeing various so called experts amazingly coming up with ideas that you guys have freely shared on this and other forums.
Anyways, Kudos to all who have shared and experimented to the betterment of the world of food plotting. Certainly been a big help to me and I rather listen to you guys than any self advertised expert. Rant done.

BTW, I will be charging admission to visit my property for paid individuals to see not only the amazing Buffalo Plot but... as an added incentive and just for a few hundred more dollars, I will also share my secret, but also just as amazing theory of Random Clusters. Please, only cash accepted.
 
Dang it. Forgot to post midwinter pic of the infamous Buffalo Plot.
83d875965b924b66580db6e218d66f5e.jpeg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Don't forget "always having something green for them to eat". I am pretty sure that LC was doing that long before Dr. Woods.

What about Redmond mineral being applied to plots like fertilizer? He started doing that last year when they lost the ability to use mineral licks and has been promoting Trophy Rock's Plot Rock. I know that several members have been doing that for years also. I like him and glad he shows some of these things, but wish he would give credit when it is due to someone else.
 
I’ve had the same thoughts.

While I like Dr Grant, his food plot ideas/strategies always seem to be touted as his own contrivances. It has irked me for a few years.

I will say, when I tell my old dad about some new idea, it gains more traction when I cite growingdeer, than when I tell him I read it on a message board. Haha
 
Did Dr grant have a suggestion on how to simulate buffalo fertilizer??

When I was in college in the 1980s I wrote a paper on whitetail behavior - that I called "the Buck Shift". In my paper I speculated about the relocation of bucks in the fall of the year. I didn't know why it happened - but I knew it did. Bucks I knew from their 1st nubs to their first grown sets of antlers - just disappeared - and they were NOT close by anymore - just plain gone!. And other ones "showed up". I could not explain it and I offered my opinions to really no-one. At my university - no one really cared about my paper. As it turned out - my observations were right on - but my speculative reasons for such didn't end up totally in agreement with the theory that came out as gospel in the 2000s.

Later on I learned it was called Buck Dispersal. Turns out I wasn't the only one noticing this!! I still like to call it the Buck Shift though!!

That was all pre internet of course. Things are a lot different now!!
 
^^^^^^Noooooo Triple. Say it aint so. Please.
DocHolladay said:
Don't forget "always having something green for them to eat". I am pretty sure that LC was doing that long before Dr. Woods.

What about Redmond mineral being applied to plots like fertilizer? He started doing that last year when they lost the ability to use mineral licks and has been promoting Trophy Rock's Plot Rock. I know that several members have been doing that for years also. I like him and glad he shows some of these things, but wish he would give credit when it is due to someone else.
Click to expand...
Yep I caught that too. Didn't know they couldn't use licks anymore. I agree with the credit. Most of us use some form of LCs mix but we constantly give him the credit for tweaking the mix and so freely sharing it on many avenues.. I always complained that the QDMA mag was always a copy of whatever discussion was happening on that forum. It was so predictable each quarterly yet they gave no credit to the posters that developed the ideas and then....well we know what they did but the word would get censored on here probably..:mad:
farmhunter said:
Did Dr grant have a suggestion on how to simulate buffalo fertilizer??

When I was in college in the 1980s I wrote a paper on whitetail behavior - that I called "the Buck Shift". In my paper I speculated about the relocation of bucks in the fall of the year. I didn't know why it happened - but I knew it did. Bucks I knew from their 1st nubs to their first grown sets of antlers - just disappeared - and they were NOT close by anymore - just plain gone!. And other ones "showed up". I could not explain it and I offered my opinions to really no-one. At my university - no one really cared about my paper. As it turned out - my observations were right on - but my speculative reasons for such didn't end up totally in agreement with the theory that came out as gospel in the 2000s.

Later on I learned it was called Buck Dispersal. Turns out I wasn't the only one noticing this!! I still like to call it the Buck Shift though!!

That was all pre internet of course. Things are a lot different now!!
Click to expand...
Yes he did talk of fert by way of course of spreading his special soil building mixture of trophy rock crap I suppose. He did the typical rotation and keeping no bare soil as we have done for years. He also was using the crimper that Baker has shown on here multible times and how it copied the trampling of buffalo. Dgallow was always preaching the mix of garden products into the soil and allowing cattle trample and have same affect which of course Grant was going to do. Of course Grant was speaking to his paid tourers and social media advertisers on his sight. Keep in mind this is the same man that said the mighty acorn was a terrible food for deer. And he's not the only one to copy. I've seen same on Midwest Whitetails and Lees show. Again no credit given
Cool that you did a paper on that subject. As I always say, a prophet is never recognized in his own country. LOL
But my main point, thanks to everyone sharing of sucesses and failures over the years. Really shortens the learning curves expecially on new property managers.
 
Many movies now days can trace their story lines back to other much older films, or they are a flat out re-makes of an older film. The younger generation loves these new films and have never seen the original versions. original ideas are becoming tougher and tougher to find. I think many of the TV types do the same sort of thing..... They have to provide some sort of content or value, but the new developments certainly do not keep up with the desire for new info. So they beg, steal, borrow and twist what is already out there into their own "new" or "latest" method. Some guys certainly do their own thing and those are the guys I respect. The guys out in the woods and fields trying new things. Those on TV and the like tend to spend too much time traveling, in a studio or behind a desk. Forums and things like the internet are great tools for those of us to share what works for us and what doesn't... Most of us are not influenced by the financial aspect of sponsorship or our paycheck, so you get a more raw truth in my opinion. I turned away from the TV and glossy magazine types a long time ago.....because I can get trustworthy advice from other places.....for free.
 
All of life is plagiarized. Or at least that's what I tried to tell my Literature professor:p. Almost all that we learn is derived from someone else or someone else's experience. Original thoughts are a rare thing. "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun."
Don't blame Dr. Grant. He's just trying to make a tv show fun to watch. It cannot be an easy task.
Having said that the moral to the story is the true value that this forum provides. Nice job fellas! and thank you Dogghr for your well thought out post.
 
I like your term "Buffalo Plot" Dogghr. It is as you said something many of us do and in my case didn't realize we were replicating the effects of the buffalo. Random clusters though is a real special deal which you for sure related to deer design quite a while back. It is a seldom used or even quite possibly a ground breaking technique as relates to deer land design. I did a google search to see if any famous deer hunter writers were using the process and writing about it. No applicable results came up with searches including random clusters use in deer land design. Did find this link to be thought provoking in helping me grasp what Random Clusters are.
https://www.wired.com/2012/12/what-does-randomness-look-like/

Then there was this article about "Landscape Patterns Simulation with random modified clusters method". I thought that might have some secrets to reveal.
http://www2.montes.upm.es/personales/saura/pdf/LEcol2000.pdf

That was interesting scientific stuff but was a bit hard for me to follow so far. I realize that designing deer ground is about like designing a garden where we are going for natural random clusters not overly contrived but doing it on the grand scale of acreage is a bit more complex and even harder for me to get than Garden Design is and was. Can you demystify the Random Clusters design process for us? Definitely call it Dogghr Random Clusters in your description if you create one. Since only us on the forum know what a Dogghr is the term "Dogghr Random Clusters" may stick when it comes out as brand new by the pro writers someday.
 
You think them "big names" aren't trolling this forum looking for these great ideas you are sadly mistaken. Sadly most hunters don't try to learn on their own by searching this type of forum, just watch these cheesy TV shows and listen to those guys.
 
I am going to need a magic decoder ring for that one. I may be way off base, but does this relate to influencing succession habitat, like using fire, which I have not done? I have read that timing influences the type of emerging growth. I suspect that mowing may accomplish something similar. My wife noticed that mowing bracken fern has virtually eliminated it in some areas. I am guessing that there is some type of communication between plants and what I have read about micorrhyzal communication.
 
Not sure about communication between plants

i am,however, convinced that dogghr and steve(native hunter) are tree whisperers.......

bill
 
TreeDaddy said:
Not sure about communication between plants

i am,however, convinced that dogghr and steve(native hunter) are tree whisperers.......

bill
Click to expand...
You might be right about the ferns. I knew that they spread by rhizomes, so that is why I guessed on communication. The rest of the story is that they produce spores. The mowing knocks that out if done early. It is not an immediate termination as new plants will emerge and another mowing puts the hut on them. Mowing eliminated bracken fern in multiple areas for me without herbicide. Raising my low pH probably prevents re-emergence too. Onward.
 
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