Food Plots ?

[HARDTIMES]

How did everyones food plots work this year.

Think of puting one in next year.

[Gissert]

My clover got hit hard. They really liked it.

I put in a forage oats plot in August, and it looked great. The deer started to hit it pretty good in mid October, but now activity is off - probably as the deer do not winter in this section of woods.

[Mark Christianson]

My plots suffered dearly with the drought. Nothing I could have done except drill wells and start irrigating.

I ended up tilling under about 3/4's of what I planted over Labor Day weekend and replanted in winter rye, winter wheat, buck forage oats and field oats. All that came in OK, but again, it wasn't exactly very moist for a lot of the fall.

So to answer the basic question, my plots stunk this year.

But not for a lack of effort!

There will be many an acre planted again next spring for certain.

Heck, its worth food plotting just for the fun in driving tractors.

[Swill]

For what came up in August, my Honey Hole Antler King did really good. My yield could have been better, but there is always next spring...

[B. Amish]

first year with a food plot...

it was a one acre clover patch bought at a local feed mill and it came in fairly well with no help from the drought this summer, right now though the whole thing is under 2-3" tall from the heavy deer use...

hopefully it comes back in full force next spring, i think i'm going to put a utilization cage up to see how much the deer are eating

[tunrevir]

We run 3 plots on the area we hunt and worked hard for a early spring, summer and early fall yeild. The clover and chicory got hit hard this year. The deer mowed the fields for us and we actually had to fence areas to protect it because it was getting hit so hard they would browse it right to the bare dirt. If you are going to spend the time and the money, I'd suggest you take soil samples and balance the ph so you can maximize the crops you plant. The other hint I would say is to hunt the entry and exit points to the food source back in the woods not the plot itself as the big boys seem to hang back.

Tunrevir~

[blue_healer_guy]

Thinking of doing a couple next year. Work the soil over in spring and plant towards fall? Just need something where we are. What and when? Have open grassy areas near a pine plantation.

[Mark Christianson]

If you are going to be breaking ground for a new plot, I'd suggest tilling it a few times from spring into summer.

If you have a sprayer, maybe nuke it with round up in early summer, till it up after a couple weeks and then till it again mid summer. You should have a nice seed bed ready for whatever you want to plant by late summer. Lots of choices for seed. Do some searches on food plots on here and you will find a bunch of good info thats been talked about.

[Code-Man]

good idea to round up it before hand but put in 2-4d into your mixture. 1qt Round-up or equivalent ($5-6/A) plus some 2-4D ($1-2/A) IT WILL KILL ANYTHING. When you see everything is brown till it...do not wait till it has new stuff growing up. Some people round up it and think there good for a year you will sadly be wrong. I know this is an expensive option but a person if he wants to plant roundup ready alfalfa ($100/A) can get some seed and can keep spraying roundup to keep weeds down.

[Swill]

hey guys...

I am wondering if I made a mistake this fall. Last August at the recommendation of a store clerk where I bought my Antler King product I planted a perennial and annual mix together. Will I need to replant this spring a new perinnial or will last falls perennial come up? I think I followed the right directions for planting a food plot, but now I am just trying to decide if I need to reseed, overseed, or add more fertilizer or lime or heck start over!

[PerchJerker]

Swill -

Your annual won't come back unless it reseeded itself or there were seeds that didn't germinate. Your perennial should come back if it put on enough growth last year to establish itself.

I have pretty much stopped mixing annuals and perennials together, because the annual doesn't come back but the perennial is still there, and the weed control is different for the two. Better to keep the annuals and perennials seperate in my opinion, plus they serve seperate purposes (attraction vs. nutrition).

You should fertilize in the spring. Overseeding has never done much for me, if you do it be sure to do it early while there is still frost in the ground. If your perennial comes back you don't need to reseed and start over, unless you want an annual again. I don't lime unless I am discing, lime applied on the surface doesn't do much good (needs to be at the root level).

To answer the original question in the post, my plots were ok this year but the drought really took a toll on them. The brassicas I planted this year were maybe only 1/4 of what they should have been and the cereal grains I planted this fall didn't really germinate (no rain). But I was surprised how much deer use my plots got this fall, so even in bad growing conditions they still work.

[camdu7]

Well, I planted 1.5 acre of Biomax (RR corn/soybeans), 2+ acres of Brassicus, and a little rye. I also have 2 acres of clover with a little chirory. The biomax was great most of the corn had at least two ears and the bean plants were hammered most of the summer by the deer. I did some spring planting of the brassy and had to re plant due to the lack of rain. I got lucky and replanted in the end of july and caught a nice 2 inch rain fall. I have heavy soils so that saved me during this dry summer and fall. My clover was brown most of the summer but came back this fall. We ended up killing 5 deer out of the plots. So a nice year. Not a food plot, but I planted 3500 trees during the past two years and lost most of them during the drought this summer. Oh well, I have 2500 more coming in May.

[BLACKJACK]

Camdu, seriously consider installing a weed fabric when planting your trees. Do a search on 'shaw weed fabric'. I wouldn't plant a tree without it! Its was developed for high plains tree planting and does weed control AND retains moisture. Its not cheap but neither is replanting. Get the good fabric, the cheap stuff from Menards would control weeds but not retain the moisture.

[BLACKJACK]

My clover spots have been eaten flat, I'm planting more next year! Tried sunflowers for pheasants, kind of disapointing from the stand point that most of the seeds are gone already, will try a different variety in the future because I know in SoDak the pheasants really like the sunflower fields. Didn't plant corn this year because of $ and tractor downtime, missing it now because it really drew the deer in last winter when all the other food plots were buried and eaten down. One downside to corn is that its expensive to put in by the time you apply the fertilizer and herbiside.

[doser]

I was going to try putting in a plot next yr. in an area I hunt. Only 1/2 acre to 3/4 an acre Mostly for nutrition source . I was looking at Antler King products. Was this something I should have planted this fall or will it be ok in early spring?

[HARDTIMES]

I would think you can plant in spring.Some plant in Aug, Sept so deer are hitting around bow opener.Where we are at its all woods there is a hay field 2 mile away.I think it will be a work for are area. I'm going to try a small plot see how it goes.Then do more if they like it.I have to get a ph test on the soil first.