Service Forester's Handbook

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====== Guides for Wildlife Habitat Management ======
====Habitat Needs ====
===Gray Squirrel ===
Hardwoods are a must for gray squirrels. They require partial hardwood stands of trees old enough
(25 years) to produce mast and provide dens (40 years). The squirrels home range is 2-8 acres. 
Reproduction is 2 1/2 times more successful in tree cavities than nests. Den entrance holes are 
usually 2 1/2-3 inches in diameter and den cavities 14 inches in depth. They should be waterproof
and 15 feet or more above ground level. A squirrel needs about 1 1/2 lbs. of hard mast per week
from September through March. Preferred foods are hickory nuts, beechnut, white oak group and black
(or red) oak group acorns, in that order. Supportive foods are berries, soft mast, buds, seeds, and 
fungi. Red maple is particularly important in early spring and mulberry in May and June. Typical 
seasonal foods of gray squirrels are: 

  August-October:                       November-January:             May-July:
   Hickory & Pecan                       Hickory                       Buds & Flowers      
   Beech                                 Beech                         Berries
   Blackgum                              Walnut                        Mulberry
   Acorns (White oak group)†             Acorns (White oak group)†     Fungi
   Acorns (Black Oak Group)              Acorns (Black oak group)      Blackberry
   Sugarmaple seeds                      Blackgum                      Yellow Poplar
   Pine seeds                            Yellow Poplar
   Walnut                     
   Fungi                              February-April:
   Dogwood                              Acorns (Black oak group)†
   Hawthorn                             Hickory
   Hornbeam                             Beech
   Chinquapin                           Buds & Flowers (Maple, Oak, Elm, etc.)
   Yellow poplar                        Fungi
   Black Cherry                         Magnolia
                                        Cucumber
                                        
† The black (or red) oaks are characterized by bristles on the tips of leaf lobes and fruit matures
at end of second season. White oak fruit matures at the end of the first growing season and leaf 
lobes are not bristle tipped


===Bobwhite Quail===
Interspersed open forests, brush, grass, and cultivated fields are the best habitat for quail, but
they survive in many forest types. Choice nesting cover is one-year-old grass. They also nest at
the edges of forest clearings 1/5-acre or larger. Eighty-five percent of the quail diet consists of
seeds. Legume, grass, and weed seeds are most important foods (in that order). Normal range is 40
acres. Quail nest from April to September.

Important Food Species common to Piedmont and Coastal Plains forests, together with plant
part utilized are: 
^Herbaceous plant         ^Plant Part    ^Trees, Shrubs and Vines              ^Plant part |
|Ragweed                  |Seed          |Maple                                |Seed       |
|Beggarticks              |Seed          |Hackberry                            |Seed       |
|Partridge Pea            |Seed          |Flowering Dogwood                    |Seed       |
|Goatweed                 |Seed          |Persimmon                            |Seed       |
|Chufa, nut grass         |Tubers        |Bayberry                             |Seed       |
|Tick trefoil (beggarweed)|Seed          |Blackgum                             |Seed       |
|Wild Millet              |Seed          |Pines, Longleaf, Loblolly (preferred)|Seed       |
|Lespedeza                |Seed          |Cherry                               |Seed       |
|Grasses                  |Seed          |Oaks                                 |Seed       |
|Pokeweed                 |Berry         |Sumacs                               |Seed       |
|Smartweed                |Seed          |Blackberry                           |Berry      |
|Vetch                    |Seed          |Grapes                               |Berry      |
|Panicum                  |Seed          |Magnolia, bay                        |Seed       |
|Milk peas                |Seed          |Sweetgum                             |Seed       |
|Butterfly peas           |Seed          | 

===Wild Turkey===
Good turkey habitat contains mature stands of mixed hardwoods, groups of conifers, relatively open
understories, scattered clearings, well-distributed water, and reasonable freedom from disturbance.
Home range is about one square mile. Turkey diet consists primarily of grass and weed seeds in the 
fall, mast and forage in the winter and spring, and forage and insects in the summer. Acorns, 
dogwood berries, clover, and pine seed are the foremost foods. Soybeans, corn, chufas and pasture are
the agricultural crops most frequently used. Openings are essential for brood range.

Food of Wild Turkey:
^Grass and Weed Seeds        ^Other Tree seeds       | 
|Paspalums(bull grass)       |Sweetgum               |
|Panicums                    |Pine                   |
|Native Legumes              ^Insects and Snails     |
^Hard Mast                   |Grasshoppers           |
|Acorns                      |Millipedes             |
|Beechnuts                   |Insect Larvae          |
|Pecans                      ^Berries                |
^Forage                      |Blackberries,Dewberries|
|Clovers                     |Huckleberries          |
|Grasses                     |Strawberries           |
|Sedges                      ^Grain                  |
^Soft Mast                   |Oats                   |
|Dogwood                     |Corn                   |
|Grapes                      |
|Cherries                    |

===Ruffed Grouse===
This game bird is found in the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland and Appalachian 
Plateaus, usually above 2,000 feet in elevation. It prospers in the early stages of forest 
succession but occurs in mature stands as well. Grouse use fruit, seed, catkins, buds, and green
parts of over 300 plants for food. Broods require insects from late May through July. Thickets, 
vine tangles and dense shrub growth are used for escape cover. Nesting cover is usually open 
understories near drumming logs and openings or old logging roads that serve as brood range. Home
range is 40 to 50 acres.

Some Favorite plant foods of grouse are: 
^Spring          ^Summer           ^Fall        ^Winter        |
|Apple           |Blackcherry      |Crataegus   |Birch         |
|Serviceberry    |Raspberry        |Apple       |Horphornbeam  |
|Yellow Birch    |Blackberry       |Viburnum    |Grape         |
|Sumac           |Dewberry         |Beech       |Apple         |
|Strawberry      |Strawberry       |Huckleberry |Acorns        |
|Hophornbeam     |Mulberry         |Sumac       |Greenbriar    |
|Various Catkins |Touch-me-not     |Birch       |Hazelnut      |
|                |Partridge Berry  |Dogwood     |Sumac         |
|                |Crataegus        |Grape       |Laurel        |
|                |                 |Acorns      |Clover        |
|                |                 |            |Teaberry      |
|                |                 |            |Gold Seal     |
|                |                 |            |Hepatica      |
|                |                 |            |Christmas Fern|

===White Tailed Deer===
Deer Survive in most forest and non-forest conditions and types. The early stages of timber rotation
and intermediate cuts produce abundant deer browse and fruits. During the fall and winter, deer prefer
hard mast (acorns, pecans, beechnuts) and evergreen forage. Rapid-growing green browse and herbage are
principle spring and summer foods. Deer require about 6 to 8 lbs. of green weight food daily each
100 lbs. weight. Their home range seldom exceeds 300 acres where food, cover, and water are 
interspersed. Prescribed burning and fertilization attract deer because of improved nutrition and 
palatability of food plants.

Important deer browse species by physiographic  province, in order of preference are:
^Mountains             ^Piedmont             ^Coastal Plain     |
|Greenbriar            |Japanese Honeysuckle |Black Titi        |
|Azalea                |Greenbriar           |Tall Gallberry    |
|Blueberry             |Yellow Poplar        |Greenbriar        |
|Chestnut              |Azalea               |Honeysuckle       |
|Dogwood               |Viburnums            |Blackberry        |
|Blackgum              |Sourwood             |Yellow Jessamine  |
|Oak                   |Blackgum             |Myrtle Holly      |
|Sourwood              |Dogwood              |Wild Rose         |
|Mtn. Laurel           |Soft Maple           |Deer's Tongue     |
|Huckleberry           |Blueberry            |Mushrooms         |
|Strawberry Bush       |Cherry               |Sumac             |
|Buffalo Nut           |Persimmon            |Prickly Pear      |
|Japanese Honeysuckle  |Blackberry           |Yaupon            |
|Blackberry            |Strawberry bush      |Sassafras         |
|Sumac                 |                     |Viburnums         |
|Hydrangea             |                     |Strawberry Bush   |
|Aralia                |
|Grape                 |
|Rhododendron          |   

====Timber Prescription Guides for Wildlife Habitat Management By Stages of Stand Development====
===Gray Squirrel===
Seedling or Open: 
Sapling:
Pole: 
Young Sawtimber:
Mature Sawtimber: 
===Bob White Quail===
Seedling or Open: 
Sapling:
Pole: 
Young Sawtimber:
Mature Sawtimber: 
===Wild Turkey===
Seedling or Open: 
Sapling:
Pole: 
Young Sawtimber:
Mature Sawtimber: 
===Ruffed Grouse===
Seedling or Open: 
Sapling:
Pole: 
Young Sawtimber:
Mature Sawtimber: 
===White Tailed Deer===
Seedling or Open: 
Sapling:
Pole: 
Young Sawtimber:
Mature Sawtimber:
Service Forester's Handbook

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