Just looking to talk some food plot ideas - What do you guys have the best luck with for a late season plot? Do you do anything special for fall plot preps? How about some pictures of bucks taken off kill plots? 137 days till archery opener...
General Hunting Discussion
Fall food plot
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Any of you guys know why deer wouldn’t be eating red clover? Ph for my 3 plots are 5.8, 6.2, 6.5.
Last falls plots came back beautifully this spring with winter rye and red clover. The deer hammered the plots from mid-April until mid May which I understand some of the fall-off recently is due to green-up. The clover looks really good but the only thing eating on it is bears. I have all my plots monitored with cell cameras and the deer just aren’t using them.
Could it be a alleopathic thing from the rye making the clover less desirable? Soil Nutrient levels are all adequate or slightly below adequate so I wouldn’t think that is an issue.
I’m not concerned the deer aren’t using them, just like to troubleshoot things and gain knowledge.
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
Ideally, a stand alone crop of Winter rye for deer should be planted around Labor Day in northern Wisconsin and layered 2-3 more times every couple weeks before a decent rain. It will germinate down to 35 degrees and stays green and actively growing right into December depending on snow cover. Planted Any earlier and it gets ahead of the deer browse pressure and it gets stemmy and much less palatable to deer. According to the experts anyway.
The blend I mentioned (fall forage) gets planted a bit earlier than straight rye but contains about 25% winter rye and winter wheat for late season and also contains early and mid season sweeteners like oats and peas which will get frosted out after the 1st few moderate freezes.
Glysophate works great. I’ve been using 2-4D and Gly for my 1st spraying followed by a 2nd spraying of just gly a few weeks later.
Winter rye may not be a glamorous food plot like brassicas or corn or soybeans but man it’s a workhorse. The deer don’t seem to crave and seek out rye like other crops but Rye is always green and growing when the deer need it most.
The deer in my area migrate in the winter and when they just moved back in mid to late April, my rye plots were the only thing greening up and ready for them. Greening up even before the snow was completely gone. The same rye that fed them last fall and fattened them up and helped prepare them for a long winter is now helping them get through arguably the most stressful time in a deers life. I have recent pictures of a few deer that were very badly showing ribs and hips so a little green food can’t hurt coming out of a long winter.
Thanks, I appreciate the comments. I'm a bit surprised that you say plant in August I wouldn't picture it growing that fast.
As far as the weeds and other stuff I thought I would spray it all with glyphoste which I use to kill weeds along my driveway, it works great. Then till it up and plant. I'll look into the mix you mentioned. As far as the trees they are not that thick and I would get at least some partial sun.
I agree that clover will probably be your best option. My food plots are cut into the middle of hardwoods up north and I’ve had a lot of success despite shade and not ideal soil. That said, there is no ag around me so very small plots can become deer magnets.
The more sun the better, even if it means taking down some trees. I can’t say from experience that I’ve ever seen a plot planted in a river bottom/flood plain, but you have nothing to lose by trying it.
Polski,
Considering the shade, probably be limited to a clover blend or possibly winter rye grain. If you can knock some trees down to get more sunlight to the ground, that would be ideal.
A good 1st year fall planting would be Northwoods Whitetails fall forage blend with a few lbs per acre of forage radish mixed in. The fall forage blend is winter rye, winter wheat, oats and forage peas. All will grow fine on less than ideal soil. The rye and radishes will give you a good draw through November at least.
In a perfect world, it would be best to do a soil test ASAP and lime accordingly and concentrate on weed control this spring and summer in preparation for a late July to mid August planting of fall food. I like whitetail institute’s soil tests. They send you a kit with detailed instructions and will email you results for lime, fertilizer, etc.
All depends how involved you want to get. You could skip the soil testing, lime, etc and just till a couple times this summer, spread seed in early august with timely rains and still end up with a decent plot.
Displaying 76 to 90 of 167 posts
