General Hunting Discussion
food plots
Sarona, that is impressive. A lot of work, time, and money.
I am in a similar boat. I do plant about two acres of plots a year, and invest money in fertilizer, lime, fuel, and back breaking labor. However, I don't have more than 12 hours into working up the plots. With baiting, I am baiting 3 days a week during most of bow season and have no baits within 3/4 of a mile from the road all on public land. When I hunt I carry a backpack with my clothes, bait, bow, and climbing stand. I go through a pair of Irish Setter rubber boots every other year. In comparison, my plot work is easy. Once I have it planted, I simply walk out to my stand which already is in the tree. Same type of land as you, no ag fields and tough hunting without some sort of a food source, especially when there are no acorns. It would be nice to own a large tract of land to manage food plots in the deep woods, but the wallet and wife say no way.
Here's my small food plot that I planted in spring. I had a chicken wire fence over the top that I just took off this past weekend so the plants had time to grow. Does anyone know what the plant is with the long , thin, spear/willow like leaves in the 3rd picture? The deer were eating it as it grew through the fence. The stalk looks segmented. I planted radishes, beets, kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, okra, Brussels sprouts chard, rutabaga and probably some other things. Also pictured is a persimmon that made it through last winter in northeast WI.
We use Clethodim as a grass selective herbicide. Needs to be used with crop oil like Dakota as well. We don't use too much of it, as it is more expensive than glyphosate. Try to use roundup, rotation/timing of other crops, mowing, etc to our advantage to not have to rely on it too much.
Sarona, there are very few guys like you, don't kid yourself. you are giving others way too much credit. I haven't met or heard of many that spend the time you do....I actually do know one guy. He has about 12 cams on public, baits and mineral are heavy. He hunts all public. he's the only one I know that puts in a ton of time. Ton of time meaning every weekend for at most of the year. I know for a fact he has mineral out 24-7 365. Most don't even pick their bow up till Sept 1 and start baiting a week before opening day. Those are the lazy Eff's I speak of that argue food plots are the same as baiting.
Long,
I agree with you on the time it takes to make a great plot. I am well into the 60 hour range into the 1/10th acre plot I have. But coming from a guy (me) that is pro baiting because 1 its leagal up north where I am and 2 in the areas I hunt they have everything a deer needs in every direction. They are bedding and feeding areas all in one. There are no fields within 20+ miles in any direction. Its big woods hunting. A guy just isnt going to have any consistent success without a "special" food source. I know because I spent several years just hiking till I found a good spot and then hunting. Now Im not only finding big deer but I am shooting them too.
But 1 hour of time per year is a far cry from accurate when it comes to being successful at baiting. As I mentioned in my first post I run 24 cameras on public land that are spread out over about 24,000 acres. I spend at least 5 hours per week from May till January checking cameras probably 10+ hours a week during season. Its 100 miles of driving round trip minimum. I do not bait all of them once season opens (cant afford it) but I have kept bait at up to 12 cameras before during season. To try and make an effort to keep bait in front of each camera all week I am looking at 2 trips to the cameras per week minimum more likely its 3 trips because if you get a pile of deer showing up 2 gallons is gone in less then 24 hours. You can easliy go throw 10 bags of corn a week doing that without breaking the 2 gallon limit law. So I am willing to bet I put more time and money into it then the smaller food plot guys do by the end of the year.
I will also agree that plots can give the deer year round food. I cant argue that because I cant feed year round due to the state laws so thats a win for the plot guys there. But like I also said, I have invested my time in both my plot and the baiting game. No matter how its looked at in my mind a human is manipulating "something" within the landscape to make deer come to one area for food. I am not going to argue against the plots. I just want the plot guys to know there are guys out there like me that put 1,000's of hours, miles and dollars into the baiting. There are bums that give us a bad name and I get that. But there are also plot guys that think they are high and mighty.
End of the story is we are all on the same team and they are just tools for people to use.
all being honest a food plot is nothing more then a bait pile
I don't agree and neither should you. I spend 5-6 weeks on plots or land improvement a year. I see the trees you cut on your plot. the amount of time you spent prepping that site is hours. If you felt bait piles were the answer you'd never spent the time you did. you hunt big bucks, you already know bait piles don't work.
I agree on the neighbor part w o a doubt. everyone has chithead neighbors when you own land in wisconsin.
Sure, plots bring in deer, but I don't necessarily do plots to kill deer...sure it's part of it but I like to keep the deer by me during the shooting hours. Then, as you eluded to, go through the neighbors when it's dark. I do plots for three reasons, help the deer, keep them on my land longer and obviously if i'm there and it pulls a deer I want to kill I kill it. Food plots vs baiting debate is OLD. people that don't do food plots make the comparisions and the "same thing". the guys that do full scale stuff disagree. People can say what they want but if baiting was legal and it pulled in big bucks during day light hours, i'm all in. Cause walking out and dumping a pile of apples 6 times a year is about an hour of my time verses all april and may, plant in June and sept. It's not the same. i'll fight that fight till the day I die. I have 12k wrapped up in equipment...I enjoy every minute of the whole process besides listening to my wife complain that i'm gone doing that stuff too much.
No offense, it's just my opinion.
Long Barrel
The plot is what it is to me. I dont have a tiller, atv, tractor or anything like that. I had to cut the plot in by hand and clear it down to mineral soil by hand. I did fertalize it last year when I planted. Not sure if it made any difference.
I spend 99.8% of my time hunting public land anyway. I have 24 cameras on public and 1 camera on my 27 acres. I like to hunt big deer and I have learned enough to know you need to go to the big deer and not hope and wait for a big deer to come to you. Nor do I have the time or energy to grow a big deer over years since it will just get shot by a neighbor or hit by a car. If I had 1,000 acres of private I would have a different mindset but when you hunt public like I do and you get the same deer on cameras 1.6 to 2.4 miles apart you realize how small of a chance even a guy with 100 acres has to kill a deer like that.
My plot is more to just help keep a few deer around the house. I toss a little corn out there a couple times a week once the season opens too. Since if we are all being honest a food plot is nothing more then a bait pile to get deer in front of a guy. Adding a little corn to the mix just pulls a few more deer in.
I didn't know that....thanks split.
For the turkey hunters, rye in the spring brings them in big time. bugs love the green and turkey love the bugs and seeds. I don't hunt turkey, but for the multipurpose guy, winter rye is nice
Just looked it up, and I did know that, but I didn't realize clover was on that list. I should have i guess. active ingredient is
Clethodim
I have planted clover in the fall with winter rye and oats as cover crops. In the spring when the winter rye grows to around 6-8” tall, you spray it with a grass specific herbicide (arrest) which will kill the rye but not the clover. The dead rye makes excellent green mulch for the soil. Doing it this way, you have a lot less weeds to deal with.
sarona, not bad for the conditions. Anything will help when stuff gets brown. get a bag of pelletized lime for $7...or two and throw it down now or wait and put it down on the snow. pelletized is more of a rapid release. it would be better to till it in, but just putting it down will help. ag lime is cheaper but kinda hard to spread, doesn't spread well with a broadcast spreader from what i found and takes longer to work.
the heavy rain hurt you i'd imagine....
triple 10 or 19 could help matters. both lime and fert for that plot, you're talking $30 or less. triple 19 is $14 a bag at most coop's.
I don't know everything about food plots, but i do know how to do unsuccessful plots, did many of those in my days. I've done some pretty good ones in the last 5 years though.
