food plots

[whistlepig]

Just wondering if anyone's food plot worked as well as the first one I ever planted this spring. I planted an acre of Ladino clover this spring inside of 12 acres fenced all around. I kept it mowed to 8" and checked it every week all summer. Nothing. No deer sign at all. I thought I had wasted my time and money. I checked it yesterday and the deer are tearing it up. Deer poop everywhere and trails through the plot. They have eaten the clover down to bare earth in several places. Not sure what the change was. We live in farm country and they have just got done picking the corn and beans. And the rut is on. An eight pointer ran in to the side of the wife's truck last week. $2,200 damage. It caved in the passenger side door so bad it can't be opened.

 

[backdoor]

Good job! Feels good when a plan comes together. I've been doing food plots for several years, and I learn something new about deer habits every season. I plant rye or rape in the fall, buckwheat, sunflowers, beans in the spring. We usually have a chance to kill all we want to fool with each year. Good luck next year.

 

[Western]

Hopefully she's OK. That's some expensive deer meat! My daughter hit a yearling doe 1 week after she ran over a curb, $900 for curb damage, $1600 for the doe. Might make sense to park an old car in my food plot and save the hassle of planting seed..

 

[whistlepig]

She's fine. Thanks for asking. It did scare her. Came running out of the brush in the dark and slammed in to the side of the truck. I hit one in February and it scrunched my front bumper. We thought the deer along the road were pretty neat when we moved out here three years ago. The novelty is wearing off.

 

[Western]

Good thing it's a comp claim, the deer probably think it's a collision claim though..

Glad shes OK. My daughter cried a little because it was a "baby", I cried a little because my deductible is $500..

 

[EddieWalker]

So far, my food plots are a bust. I've had them in for a few months, and I'm not seeing much, if any sign that they are being used. I have wheat, turnips, arrow leaf clover and rye growing. I also have a broadcast feeder with corn in it that runs year round, and I put a protein feeder out with Purina Deer Chow. I can see a track or two from time to time, but nothing that indicates they stoped or spent any time there. I don't have very many deer and have only seen one doe so far this season. I believe there are good bucks here since I have quite a few pics of small bucks at the feeder over the last four years, but not one picture of anything that is close to being four years old or older. I havent' shot a buck in the last six years that I've owned the land, my neighbor has 240 acres on two sides of me, and he's never shot a buck on his land. The property across the creek from me is 460 acres of jungle. The owners haven't done anything with it, and it's very thick. The guys from the Water Dept. have the lease to hunt on it, but have only shot two bucks in the last six years. Both small.

I have the only food plot in over a square mile, but the deer either don't care, or haven't found it yet. I had a late acorn crop this year, and it wasn't as good as previous years, so I'm hoping they will run out of acorns pretty soon and get hungry for what I'm growing.

I planted claypeas last year in the spring for my summer crop. They did really well, but I didn't see any deer in there. All the tracks seem to be passing through, and not milling around. I would think that if they are eating the plants, that they would leave more sign that they have been there. I'm thinking about trying beans for my summer plot, but still haven't decided for sure.

Nice to hear your food plot is working. Sorry to hear about the accident.

Eddie

 

[Western]

Just downloaded my camera, finally some turkey's!! I've seen them with-in 2/10ths of a mile, but this is the first time I have seen any since I opened the woods up 3 years ago and planted a food plot. Nice little flock of young ones out for a stroll with mom.

 

[Uncle Doug]

No deer in the food plots yet. Had to fence it off to keep the hogs from rooting everything up. I planted 2 small plots of Buck Busters along with another plot of oats. High water kept one of the plots from doing very well. I have seen a couple of does in the area the past week so I know they are in there. We are on the edge of a couple thousand acres of the Trinity Wildlife refuge which is heacyly wooded with oaks which are full of acorns this year. The Trinity river has been up for weeks driving the hogs into my area so we have been taking a few of them. 5 in the past 2 weeks.

Eddie, bucks in east Texas have always been harvested young. Most private land owners or leases have not had much of a size rule. The new 13" spread state wide rule should help improve buck rack size within a couple of years. I have seen a few large bucks over the years but they have come out of the deepest of the thickets. Down here in south east Texas we are seeing a few more larger bucks this year mostly due to a low deer kill last year due (80% below normal) to Hurricane Ike making many of the leases hard to get into.

 

[forgeblast]

I cleared an acre for a crp planting that i am going to do in the spring. Instead of having the brambles come back last fall i threw down a bag of whitetail inst. clover. The deer have been there all year long. I have scrapes and rubs all around the area. I was impressed with the product, considering i just threw it on the ground and did nothing to it.

 

[lakngulf]

I have two half acre plots of wheat, rye and turnips, in the midst of woods loaded with acorns. While not mowed to the ground like some years the deer and turkey have been active. One big doe taken on opening day.

I am interested in the Whitetail Inst Clover. I work in Montgomery and they are just down the interstate from my office. I know it would have done well this year with the rain we have had in the Southeast, but what has been the experience of others with clover in this area. What are the steps to get it going--other than just throwing out a bag of seed, I might be able to handle that.

Also, I am looking for yearround crops that the turkey will like. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[mcd176]

I am glad this thread was started, after another year of low deer activity while hunting me and my neighbor have decided to put some plots in, we are planning around 10-15 acres

How do you guys that already have plots plant the seeds, do you till or use a plow and disc? also will I need a cultipacker?

Thanks for the help.

 

[EddieWalker]

I spray to kill everything growing there. Mostly to get the grass and weeds that are showing up in there.

Then I broadcast my fertilizer and disk it all into my soil while disking up the dead plants. I like to go over it a few times to get red of the larger dirt clods. The more I go over it, the nicer the soil looks.

Then I broadcast my seeds over the top of the soil.

I made a lightweight drag that I pull behind my tractor. It's a piece of heavy duty metal screen with some iron at the front of it for weight. I have a chain on it that loops over my tow ball. I just drag that over my seed. It nocks down the ridges from the disk, and burries the seed.

For very little money, I've had some great results. Now I just need to find the right crop that my deer wont be able to resist. So far, I'm not doing so good on that part of it.

Eddie

 

[Western]

I do it much like Eddie, save for the weed killer.

I have used all the implements you mentioned and would make one note on tilling. If you till, I would till around a month early say the first of August, maybe again 2 weeks before you want to plant, that will kill allot of the vegetation and turn most of it to compost. I have found tilling then planting makes a nice soft bed but, to soft for me. My tractor then leaves ruts that are hard to fill with a drag. If you till like I mentioned above, then disc the day you plant it will be almost perfect.

I do like Eddie said, 1st pass I disc in the fertilizer, then broadcast the seed. Remember when broadcasting add a higher seeding rate since broadcasting is not as efficient as a planter.

I have used allot of different "drags" The best so far for me has been 7 used car tires wired together then chained to my draw bar.

Most plots fail because the seed is to deep, so try to not go deeper than the seed is long.