General Hunting Discussion
food plots
Bluefin, out of the 6 acres of former cropland, how much do you intend in keeping for plots? Do you have any other plots or a large deer herd? What do you have for wooded acreage around there?
I ask because I tend to favor larger plots. Not only will they make it through the hunting seasons, but it can provide additional food outside of the hunting seasons. If I had 6 acres of previously worked farmland, I might put a few trees along the edge for screening and/or fruit/mast trees, but I would keep as much of that in plots as I could. Hunting season is hunting season, but I really try to make my property a place where deer never want to or need to leave the area.
For the folks trying to keep deer off their plots until later in the season....
I've personally had luck soaking cotton clothes line in deer repellant for a few days and then suspending it a couple feet above the ground around the area you are trying to protect. Have seen it work even during the winter, protecting landscaping for up to a month. The problem is then taking the frozen line down and re-soaking but trust me, it works. Just make sure you wear rubber gloves. That stuff will stay on your skin a long time, even after using soap multiple times.
Ratoney
Last year we used milorganite to keep the deer off. Couldn't believe how well it worked, although this was the first time we had planted iron clay cowpeas so maybe the lack of use was due to the deer not recognizing it as a food source? Although that may have played a role in it, I wouldn't think it would take deer as long to use it. We had a camera in the plot and never had a picture and did two applications. after a month they mowed the plot to nothing. Good fertilizer, and seemed to keep the deer off temporarily, will deff be trying it again this year on my soybeans.
I have seen those setups too. I think one of them is called the 'plot saver'. I don't know anyone who has tried one to know if it works or not. You could try looking at the product comments on places like Cabelas where they might sell them or googling for reviews to know if they work. Seems like an awful thin layer of protection to me knowing how persistant deer can be, but there might be something that actually makes it very effective??
I know some of the sprays work, just you have to re-apply as rain will reduce/remove their effectiveness. For this application where temporary protection is needed it might work. The guy on QDMA that mixed his own with cayenne pepper seemed to be happy with the results. Never tried anything on my plots. I have just gone bigger to get ahead of the browse. I did use mothballs at home last year to keep the rabbits from eating my green beans in the garden, it seemed to work well.
As for using a spray on trees, keep in mine you will be re-applying multiple times a year. Also in the winter when a spray might freeze up deer will still browse on twigs and buds, causing plenty of damage in just a few bites. For that reason, I will stay with tree tubes, cages, and small fenced areas depending on what I am planting.
You could also just try spraying some areas with a repellent. There are premade mixes you can buy and a bunch of recipes online. I remember from the old QDMA forums there was a guy in my area with pretty high deer numbers that would mix cayenne pepper with water in his sprayer and use that to protect certain plots until a later time.
1/5 acre is approx. 40yds x 25yds. I would fence a strip in the center, maybe 10 yds wide x the length of the plot. I'm thinking I could just use cheap plastic roll fencing, 4 ft high just for a deterrent. Why would the deer jump the fence if they had food on the outside of it for most of the early season. Just wondering if anyone tried something like this and what the results were?
Has anyone had any luck fencing in part of their food plots. I'm thinking about fencing in maybe the center 1/3 of the plot and then removing the fence around the 2nd week of November? My plots are pretty much gone by the that time. The deer hit the brassicas hard early October even before a frost. I have 5 hunting plots on 80 acres ranging form 1/3 acre to 1/5 acre.
Was up by my place last weekend and stayed with some friends. Got to spend a couple evenings watching deer come out to the soybeans we left standing. Sunday night we had 72 out there at one time. Last picture was a bit before they were all out, only about 45 in that picture. There was about 15 bucks out there too, hard to keep track of with that many deer. Heavy trails and a few antlers around. Didn't get a chance to glass the other side of the woods with the standing corn and more of the brassicas. Sign looked pretty good there and trail cam pics were decent too.
Can't overstate the value of traditional ag crops like corn and beans left standing for the winter as part of a food plot program. Helps maximize body weight, fawn production, and antler growth by providing the deer multiple accessible food options during a time when most other sources are not available. Also, there were 81 turkeys out there the morning after the 72 count on the deer.
Casedog-
I know its a little late, but I dont know if you've ever tried planting iron clay cowpeas, but we recently tried them this past year mixed w/ buckwheat and the deer hammered them. A little too much actually, most likely will plant them again this year but will prob do a bigger plot
