Food plot

[kebo]

Yesterday I fixed up my food plot on the gas line where I deerhunt at. Two weeks ago I ran the cultivator through it a couple ofpasses to break it up. Friday evening I got the disc harrow on it and ran it through it a couple passes to work it over pretty good. Saturday morning I put the cultipacker on it to break up the bigger dirt clods and pack it down nice and firm. Then I got my little walk behind spreader and put out about 75 lbs of Pennington seed mix and then ran the cultipacker back over it.


I think next weekend I will get the spreader and top cast the remaining 25lbs of seed and then 2 bags of fertilizer, and that should do it. This plot will have 100lbs of seed on it, which is probably a bit much, but last year I put out one 50lb bag on it and it seemed to be pretty thin when it came up. I am sure the birds get some of the seed, so I put out some extra seed for them this year. Now just need some rain, which there's supposed to be a decent chance Monday & Tuesday.

 

[houser52]

Good looking ground you have there.
Hope you and I both get some rain. We're down about 8" for the year. I planted some peanuts back in the spring and they didn't even come up for the lack of rain.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm doing mine today. Forecast is for rain tonight, so I'm hoping they are right.

I split my food plot in half and plant two different mixes on each half. I've been doing this with different brands for years. I've found that they love the beans like lablab before it freezes, then sort of randomly pick through what's left during the rest of the season. I have yet to find something that holds them, or that they tear up after the beans freeze. Every time I see pics of a group of deer out eating in a food plot, I wonder what I'm doing wrong.

The only thing that I have found that really brings them in is Deer Cain Black Magic. It's an attractant that you pour over a 4 ft area that remains wet as long as possible. It smells kind of like a weird cool aid and the deer love it!!! They make trails going to it through the food plot and in all my pictures, that is where they are at. We discovered it late last year and never saw a legal buck during hunting season, but since then, we have pictures of several that now seem to hang out there.

 

[kebo]

Nice looking bucks Eddie! Have you tried planting rape? Supposedly that's one that the deer like better after a few frosts. Maybe try some clover too, if you haven't already?

Here's a pic of my food plot looking at it from the stand, towards the east. The gas line runs east-west, once the sun gets over the tree tops, it gets brutal trying to look that way. That morning there were about 8 deer that crossed the gas line, the last one was a small buck. I think he had procreation on his mind, so I let him take his chances with the ladies lol. That little thing in the food plot just behind the deer is an excluder fence. It helps you judge how much the deer are using the plot by excluding a small part so that the critters can't get to it.



Another pic showing how the morning sun and mist can make it hard to see them. You can also see the neighbors food plot just about 300 yds from mine.

 

[EddieWalker]

Is that from last year? Looks like they really like what you have there for them!!!

I have tried rape and a few different types of clover. The rape was totally ignored and the clover does nothing until late in winter and early spring. They seem to like it then, but it just takes too long to get going, and then the summer heat kills it.

I've seen them nibble on turnips after they freeze, which I believe is because the freeze changes the flavor and makes the leaves sweet. But they just eat a bite or two while walking through the field.

 

[Zerk]

Growing season lot different down there. I would have had in before labor day. We got frost any day. I heard some already had it. Plus to be ready by November gun season. Bow is open in wisconsin, but michigan 10/1

I have been doing clover, because I want something that keeps coming back. I have done some buckwheat. Grows any where, help soils.

I put away from my blind, with idea it attracts deer early in year, but is gone by hunting season. Don't want it competing with my bait.

Just starting out, but tired of time and money on baiting, more so time.

 

[kebo]

Yep, both pic's (I added another one) were from last year. That was the first year for that food plot. I used a Pennington mix that had wheat, oats, rape, peas, and some clover in it. I didn't get a chance to fertilize it last year, but will definitely do it next weekend. That should help it a lot, and hopefully we get a bit more rain this fall than we had last year.

 

[EddieWalker]

I fertilize and add lime in the spring. I don't think it does anything for several months and by then, the season is over. I plant twice a year to try and keep them around. I'm 90 percent sure it's a waste of time, but that ten percent chance that it might do something keeps me doing it

 

[Zerk]

Gives you an excuse to ride the tractor

 

[farmer2009]

Eddie. Have you tried winter wheat?

Around here that works well. Seams like all the "deer" mixes have wheat in them.