Hunting and Bees
Jessica Lawrence
There are a lot of different types of beekeepers out there. In fact, I’d say that most any two beekeepers will be totally different in nearly every aspect of their life. We are all crazy, but it’s never the same two types of crazy, so we’re just out here keeping the non-beekeeping population on their toes. There might be a few broad generalizations you could make about bee people though. Most of us have an appreciation for nature and the outdoors, wildlife, an interest in plants above the general population and some level of self-sufficiency. Most bee people will also take any opportunity to talk about bees to nearly anyone who will stand still, and try to add bees into every other aspect possible. There’s probably a decent amount of rural beekeepers who are also farmers and/or hunters. This is the type of beekeeper I grew up with, but definitely not the type I went to college with.
The part outside of hunting is where bees come in. If you are lucky enough to have consistent land to hunt on, whether you lease or own, food plots can be a big benefit to your local animal population and something that a lot of hunters invest in. If you are a beekeeper that does not hunt, it may benefit you to find a hunter who does food plots and ask to put your bees there, or nearby. Now, there are typically some herbicides involved, but most of these would have zero effect on bees both from timing, proximity and target. Weed control is one of the biggest issues for food plots, but these aren’t typically the weeds that bees like. It’s almost always some form of grass or something related to grass. Some people will treat with a version of glyphosate (which does not give you cancer, don’t buy the hype) in the very beginning for total plant control and start from scratch. This is typically either in the very early or very late season during site cleaning and prep. In this instance, there won’t be a lot of reason for the bees to be in the area in the first place. The next herbicide will be some sort of grass selective chemical like Poast, Vantage or Clethodim. These will likely be used throughout the season in food plots planted with clover, soybeans, peas and brassicas (like canola) to keep the grass from outcompeting the target food crop. There’s also the opposite for plots with Winter wheat or rye, but your bees wouldn’t care about those anyway.
Speaking from a practical standpoint, most chemicals like herbicides are definitely not cheap, and you want to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. Spraying in the early morning after the temperature inversion is the best time of day to get the best coverage possible from an herbicide. Inversions usually happen near dusk and last through the early morning. The radiation of ground heat from the sun warms the air close to the surface, but as the sun sets and the ground cools, the air temperature also drops and becomes trapped against the surface. In areas with dips and valleys, fog will begin to form there first because the cooler air will flow with the ground sink, and those are typically high humidity areas with lakes, ponds and rivers. Once this happens, an application of herbicide will often sit trapped in this cold air cap and drift farther than anticipated, and may never fully coat the target plants. Temperature inversion avoidance is often written into the directions on herbicides and can be both ineffective in the target area and also cause damage outside of the application range. Most herbicides do well in hot daytime applications because of the mode of action of various pesticides, although grass seems to be affected by timing less than broadleaf plants. High humidity can lower efficacy in an herbicide, no matter the time of day. There are so many factors that can affect an application. If you are the one with the food plot, make sure you take the time to really understand the herbicides you have chosen to use. If you are the beekeeper and want to put your bees on a nice stand of clover, make sure you ask about the regime. It’s really not that bad to close up your hive for a few hours or even a day and then let them resume normal foraging. Obviously, if you are heavily concerned about pesticide exposure, this may not be your best option. Food availability will always be top priority for me as a beekeeper, because adequate nutrition, in my opinion, is the single most important factor outside of varroa control for keeping hives alive through the Winter.
Now, let’s talk about those food plots. I only like Winter wheat or millet in areas that I’m planning to dove hunt, so I am far less concerned about bees in those spots unless I add in some buckwheat. For deer, I like soybeans and clover. There are so many options with clover though, that if you are also planting for bees, you need to be educated. Some clover is just not suited to honey bee proboscis and they won’t be able to feed from the flowers. You’ll have plenty of other pollinators, but not many honey bees. The common white dutch clover is acceptable. Now, I’m obviously partial to NC State since I graduated from there a couple times, but the Will Ladino clover would be hard to beat, both for bees and for food plots. NC State worked in conjunction with the USDA to produce this variety, which is sometimes considered an ecotype of white clover and sometimes it’s considered a totally different clover. The features of Ladino are the runners it produces because they have good development and plot establishment, it will survive Winters far better than nearly every other type of clover, it is highly competitive against weeds, it will grow back vigorously after grazing, and it tolerates the southern drought we always seem to get with a lot more success than other clovers. Ladino is considered giant or jumbo due to the height growth and that is what makes it competitive with weeds. Most clovers prefer a more basic pH in the soil, but Ladino can tolerate low to moderate soil acidity after the plot is established. This means if you lime it well when you plant, you may not have to continue pH upkeep. If the soil pH isn’t above six when you plant it… it’s probably not going to do well. That’s the case for any clover though, so bear that in mind. The drought tolerance means that it may slow growth, but it’s less likely to die out than other clovers, and can also tolerate wetter soil than other clovers. It’s basically just not as picky as the other options, although in the deeper south, you may want to add a durana clover mix because it loses the longevity as it goes further towards the equator. The leaves are more nutritious than even the typical white clover. White clover has the most crude protein of all types, averaging out around 25%. Ladino clover is closer to the 30% crude protein range. White clover also has 80% high total digestible nutrient, 10% more than the next closest clover (red), meaning that when consumed, 80% of the protein can be absorbed by the body. I could not find any numbers for other vitamins and minerals in Ladino clover specifically, but white clover in general typically has a more nutritious content than most other forage crops (I could not find any with higher, but there might be, so let’s leave room for error).
Hopefully in the future I can follow this up with a full scale comparison of clover types and nutritional content. I really hope I can find more data to back up the numbers and claims, and I think this could be useful information to everyone. There won’t be a lot of data on nectar and pollen nutrition, but the typical assumption is that a more nutritious and vigorous plant will produce everything better.
