Got mine all in. Went with Antler King products this year Booner Buffet, Red Zone and Slam Dunk. Got a couple days of rain just after seeding. Hopefully it all grows good.

This is the forth year for our food plots, we have one on the back of the forty. About half clover, other half is soybeans, will plant a little later this year, probably late June. Small plot is closer to front, somewhat wooded, we plant turnips, deer just love them, there digging in them late into fall. 

Agreed that location is the most important factor! 

The same plot I screwed up by cutting to much timber, I also put in a crappy spot and now I’m trying to fix that with screening and other things. 

We don’t hunt on the plots, we hunt the movement coming and going but I have a hard time accessing that side of the property now without bumping deer. Live and learn!

Outfishin,  great points.  i could expand more but I don't care that much.  

The real issue with plots is many do more harm that good if location isn't right and Outfishin has touched a bit on shape etc.  I personally would also never put a plot in the middle of a 40.  if you start bumping deer all the time,  you will hurt yourself more than help.

My group is finally getting in some real food plots this year.  We have two smaller tractors, but the very rocky ground was always a little too intimidating and too much for our tractors.  My uncle ended up hiring one of his farmer buddies to bring in the big tractor with the chisel plow and his skid loader to get rid of the rocks.  After that, we should be able to manage every year going forward with our little tractor.  I think total we will end up at just around an acre of plots on our 50 acre farm and then a small 90'x60' plot on the other 10 acre farm.  On the bigger farm we will approximately have a 40'x300' plot, a 60'x240' plot, and then 3 smaller 40'x100' plots.  When I head out there in a few weeks, I will take some pictures.

Outfishin, your last point is a very good one that doesn’t get talked about much. You’re absolutely right that the more irregular the edges, the more comfortable deer will feel coming out in daylight. I’ve had success with even using brush piles to provide more ground level cover on the edges, which can also funnel the deer where you want them. 

One thing  I’ll add for the guys creating new plots; leave or create some structure….Irregular shaped plots with small Islands of trees, points of trees that create pinch points, (great spots for cameras) isolated corners or bays, etc. Yes, all of this stuff is a little bit of a pain to work around but the deer much prefer these plots in daytime compared to wide open spaces with no structure. 

The 1st mistake made on my property was creating a giant wide open rectangle plot thinking big AG.  I cleared everything because I didn’t want to work around stuff. I regret it very much now.  I took down some gorgeous 30-50 foot spruce and white pines that could’ve easily stayed and been worked around. The deer still use the plot in daylight but not like my other irregular shaped plots that contain structure. 

Guess what I’m saying is think things through before cutting. I’m a huge fan of chainsaws for deer habitat work but it’s easier to take a few more nuisance trees down next year than to try and replace 40’ pines and spruce. 

I would get on the spraying of 2-4D/gly combo within a couple weeks and follow it up with a glyphosate spraying mid to late June. Possibly a 3rd spraying of just gly at planting time depending on how it looks. The following is what I’ve been using on newly established plots with good success. I have a 15 gallon atv sprayer and I can cover roughly 1 acre per tank.

1st spraying- 1 pint/acre 2-4D and 2 quarts/acre glyphosate

2nd spraying- 2 quarts/acre glyphosate

3rd spraying if needed- 1 quart/acre glyphosate at planting time if green weeds are still present. 

1st year food plotter here. Was fortunate  enough to buy a 80 with a cleared area already present. Did a soil test, applied 3200# pelletized lime to area approx .6 acre this weekend. Question: when should I do first of 2 planned sprayings of Glyphosate/24d? 

Was planning on mid July planting but reconsidering based on previous comment.

Planning on winter rye for sure and try a brassica blend as well.  Open to suggestions.

Land is in Tomahawk area

This is one of the reasons I've been a member of LL for almost 20 years, lots of great info on all kinds of topics besides catching fish. Thanks, I appreciate the help.