Food plot, success or failure
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Armored farmer
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I don't know where you're located, but it has been an extremely dry fall season here in S.E. Illinois also. Our fall tillage has turned our area into a desert. All the small creeks are dry except for the odd stagnant pool. The small river through our property is only a trickle. We need a rain to brighten things up.
My son sells Food Plot seed to his hunting buddies and others. We took some of his cereal rye, radishes, and turnips and sowed them in late September. We had a nice shower within a few days and we have a nice green border to my woods. My permanent hunting blind is also within shooting range of the plot.
We have plenty of does here....I'm not seeing the numbers of bucks that I would like, but they will likely begin swarming with the cool Temps later this week.
I'm probably going to break tradition and shoot a doe for freezer. We had the worst crop damage we had ever experienced this spring. The deer devoured our early soybeans to the point the we had to replant acres....like 80-90 acres across the farm.
Best wishes this fall.
My son sells Food Plot seed to his hunting buddies and others. We took some of his cereal rye, radishes, and turnips and sowed them in late September. We had a nice shower within a few days and we have a nice green border to my woods. My permanent hunting blind is also within shooting range of the plot.
We have plenty of does here....I'm not seeing the numbers of bucks that I would like, but they will likely begin swarming with the cool Temps later this week.
I'm probably going to break tradition and shoot a doe for freezer. We had the worst crop damage we had ever experienced this spring. The deer devoured our early soybeans to the point the we had to replant acres....like 80-90 acres across the farm.
Best wishes this fall.
buck460XVR
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- Feb 6, 2007
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All in all, I would consider mine as successful this year, even tho there were some failures. Planted two 1 acre plots of forage beans mixed with corn. Planted them a week apart. One did outstanding and one did only so-so. The so-so one was the earlier one and had several issues including the neighbors cattle, spraying weeds late due to timing and the turkeys finding the plot before the seeds germinated. A late spraying of Round-up and overseeding with a good brassica mix saved that field and supplemented the remaining beans. The other one had forage beans that grew almost as tall as the corn and was dense enough to provide a bedding area. A new 3/4 acre plot of clover and Small Burnet took off really good, but was stunted later on by the extreme drought we had. Saving rains in mid-September has turned it into a lush green carpet that probably will not need to be frost seeded this year. The Burnet was an experiment and has proved to be a good mix, especially since it is much more drought tolerant than clovers. While some of my fall plantings of brassicas, winter peas, rye and buck oats sat on the ground and did not germinate for a while thanks to the drought, those mid-September rains brought them to life and while they were behind, still have been hit hard as have those on better ground. The early hard frost has made them even more attractive to the deer. Those are small plots of 1/4 to 1/2 acre and the rye in them will provide feed well after it snows.
It has been a learning experience over the years to figure out what works and what does not work on our property. What I have learned is to be adaptive and observant. I have learned that it takes time for deer to discover food they are not used to, like brassicas and that while you can change the travel routes of deer on your property and may attract the deer in your area to those plots, unless you have a large amount of property, or a smaller tract of land that is void of food around it, you are not going to see a significant increase in numbers of deer. Food plots in themselves will not take a medicore piece of deer habitat and turn it into a deer farm. You still need cover and need to restrict human intrusion. You also have to keep nots over the years to keep track of how certain plantings woked on your ground. You need to take soil samples and fertilize/lime according to determinations of said samples and you need to be able to reconize the difference between poor growth and heavy grazing. Making small exclosure cages in your plots is an easy way to determine this. Over the years I have found that peas are loved by the deer in my area. No matter how heavy I plant them or how big the plot, that one week they will be looking really good and the next, they will be completely gone. Yet, they are comparltively inexpensive and make for a easy addition to a mix. Beans are similar, but if I plant peas in the spring in an area that will be a fall plot, the deer may leave the the beans alone long enough for them to get a head start. Rye/Buck Oats can be pnated almost anytime of the year and for the most part, will be a desirable food source. Frost seeding is an easy way to turn a fall plot of annuals into a spring/perenial plot of clover and also a way to overseed a thin clover plot. Perenial Clovers are slow to establish and need weed control more than many think.
I do not get returns to justify the monies and time I spend on my plots. The cost of equipment, seed, fertilizer, lime and herbicides could buy me several times the amount of quality beef that I get of venison off the property. But the satisfaction of helping the overall herd health thoughout the year, along with the sightings of more fawns, fatter deer with better racks is the return I enjoy the most. This, along with the smiles from my grand-kids when they take a deer off the property, makes it all worthwhile.
It has been a learning experience over the years to figure out what works and what does not work on our property. What I have learned is to be adaptive and observant. I have learned that it takes time for deer to discover food they are not used to, like brassicas and that while you can change the travel routes of deer on your property and may attract the deer in your area to those plots, unless you have a large amount of property, or a smaller tract of land that is void of food around it, you are not going to see a significant increase in numbers of deer. Food plots in themselves will not take a medicore piece of deer habitat and turn it into a deer farm. You still need cover and need to restrict human intrusion. You also have to keep nots over the years to keep track of how certain plantings woked on your ground. You need to take soil samples and fertilize/lime according to determinations of said samples and you need to be able to reconize the difference between poor growth and heavy grazing. Making small exclosure cages in your plots is an easy way to determine this. Over the years I have found that peas are loved by the deer in my area. No matter how heavy I plant them or how big the plot, that one week they will be looking really good and the next, they will be completely gone. Yet, they are comparltively inexpensive and make for a easy addition to a mix. Beans are similar, but if I plant peas in the spring in an area that will be a fall plot, the deer may leave the the beans alone long enough for them to get a head start. Rye/Buck Oats can be pnated almost anytime of the year and for the most part, will be a desirable food source. Frost seeding is an easy way to turn a fall plot of annuals into a spring/perenial plot of clover and also a way to overseed a thin clover plot. Perenial Clovers are slow to establish and need weed control more than many think.
I do not get returns to justify the monies and time I spend on my plots. The cost of equipment, seed, fertilizer, lime and herbicides could buy me several times the amount of quality beef that I get of venison off the property. But the satisfaction of helping the overall herd health thoughout the year, along with the sightings of more fawns, fatter deer with better racks is the return I enjoy the most. This, along with the smiles from my grand-kids when they take a deer off the property, makes it all worthwhile.
Captcurt
Member
I have a friend who plants every year for the last 3 years. It always died from lack of rain until this year, so he saw few deer there. We had several good rains this fall and the plot is gorgeous. Still no deer though. A bumper crop of acorns has the deer's attention now. I teased him about his venison costing him $50 a pound.
That's a good story. One thing for sure they wander all over eating this and that. We just want them to stop by where we want them to
CoalTrain49
Member
Sounds like the 40K boats fishermen buy around here for salmon. I like salmon as much or more than most but at $10/lb for fresh Sockeye and Coho from AK I just can't justify the expense. I do feed the deer however and you're a better person if you do. That's a deer block in that feeder. I have a lot of customers in the winter.
Armored farmer
Member
He looks healthy!Sounds like the 40K boats fishermen buy around here for salmon. I like salmon as much or more than most but at $10/lb for fresh Sockeye and Coho from AK I just can't justify the expense. I do feed the deer however and you're a better person if you do. That's a deer block in that feeder. I have a lot of customers in the winter.
mcb
Member
We planted about three acres this year. A mix of oats wheat and greens. We got rained out planting so we planted about half in early august and the rest two weeks later. The early planted food plots did OK but not great but the rains pretty much stop right after we put the rest in two weeks later and those food plots have not done nearly as good. It has been a dry fall in middle TN and thus none of the radishes and turnips have developed any root and that is a bummer as I like to eat a turnip or two while sitting in my deer stand. We did seem to have a good acorn crop this year so that is making up for our lack luster food plots a bit.
Still saw lots of deer opening weekend of muzzle loader season.
Still saw lots of deer opening weekend of muzzle loader season.
Chuck R.
Member
Both of mine are doing OK..
We got some decent rain a few weeks ago and that helped a lot.
Interestingly in one plot I seem to be having a turnip 'problem'. A few years ago I planted turnips as an experiment, now the things just keep coming back. I've tilled and planted that plot two years since.. and still turnips. It'd be cool IF the KS deer knew to eat them, but other than browse the tops they leave them alone.
We got some decent rain a few weeks ago and that helped a lot.
Interestingly in one plot I seem to be having a turnip 'problem'. A few years ago I planted turnips as an experiment, now the things just keep coming back. I've tilled and planted that plot two years since.. and still turnips. It'd be cool IF the KS deer knew to eat them, but other than browse the tops they leave them alone.
Chuck R.
Member
That pretty much sums it up for me too.
I haven't even taken a deer off my place in the last few years, but the work on my "deer engagement area" continues..
Patocazador
Member
Mine came up due to rain from a hurricane but no rain since has left them bare. I just scattered the rest of my oat seed for the quail to eat.
I bought a bag of Bio Logic mixed seeds that may have been a year old from Tractor Supply and it had weevils in it. I planted it anyway and none of it came up. It was just a mixture of seeds that you could buy individually from a local farm supply for less than 1/2 the cost. Big rip-off IMO.
I've got one feeder going that's bear-proof. Bears destroyed the other three.
I bought a bag of Bio Logic mixed seeds that may have been a year old from Tractor Supply and it had weevils in it. I planted it anyway and none of it came up. It was just a mixture of seeds that you could buy individually from a local farm supply for less than 1/2 the cost. Big rip-off IMO.
I've got one feeder going that's bear-proof. Bears destroyed the other three.
