Food plot advice

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kwaldeier
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Food plot advice

Unread postby kwaldeier » Sun Mar 25, 2018 7:57 am

Hey I was looking for some food plot advice.I am thinking of doing a plot in the area shown. This area will have cattle in it until around the end of Oct so the plot will be double fenced. I am thinking of clearing the area and then putting in something for later on in the season.Just curious where to start? Burn?Doze? It has a few small hedge trees as you see in the picture. The labeled picture is more or less what i am thinking. Yellow dots are where the pictures were taken. Red are possible stands by wind direction. And Blue is where the fence would be. Thoughts?

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kwaldeier
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby kwaldeier » Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:29 am

Eh?
lmurray1080
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby lmurray1080 » Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:52 am

Many things can come into play when you are talking about planting a food plot. Myself and others have posted some ideas in the land management section on this forum and I have posted some pictures of food plots I have done for reference. If you can answer at least some of the questions below it will help to better guide myself and others on our opinions.

1) Have you done a soil test? This helps to dictate what you can plant and how much money you will need to spend on fertilizer and lime.
2)Where are you located generally? (IE: State, general location - East, West, North, South) - This dictates recommended plant type, rainfall, etc.
3) How big of an area in acres do you plan to plant? This helps to guide if you can plant something with low browse tolerance or high browse tolerance. It also helps to decide of you want to try annuals/perennials or a mixture of both.
4) Do you want to attempt to provide year round nutrition or just an attractant during a specific part of the hunting season?
5) What equipment do you have at your disposal? You mention a dozer which not many folks have access to but do you have a tractor, quad, SxS, implements? Is you property signatory to a local NRCS or Conservation District so you can gain access to planting equipment, lime spreaders, etc...?
6) Do you know the deer density in your area?
7) What are you expectations? How much effort are you looking to put into preparation, maintenance, monitoring? Do you want something that looks immaculate or do you just want to throw some seed on the ground and come back 4 weeks later to see something green growing?
8) Is the area shaded or does it have leaf litter on the ground?
matt1336
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby matt1336 » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:55 am

If I were to design our property over again, I’d put more time into plot location and shape. We basically put the plots in where the land made it easiest for us to do it.
I’d consider what weapon want to hunt deer with gun or bow and then shape and plant the plots accordingly to the seasons I want to hunt during.
It kinda looks like your putting the plot in an open space. Maybe think out of the box a bit...consider fruit or mast trees and other natural foods. Maybe some cover too.
Also consider likely rut travel routes for bucks, doe bedding...all that.
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby Old Ireland » Sat May 12, 2018 7:06 am

I like to use small food plots on ground I can plant them. These are small kill plots less then 1/4 acre adjacent to bedding areas usually within 60 yds. I usually just do clover/chicory mix. Make your own mixes because the throw and grow bag stuff is mostly rye grass which is not good and chokes everything else out quick. I mostly hunt them during the rut. If you are making this as a destination plot(big) you really want to think how deer will move through the property from bedding even more. If the plot is on the property line and deer bed far into the neighbors they may spend all the daylight ours on your neighbors then come to the food plot on you at night...so knowing current bedding/travel etc is important to location and your overall plan to hunt it. This all has to do with your goals for the plot.

I have had luck making doe bedding by hinge cutting. Ill hinge cut 1/4 acre then put a bunch of fertilizer down. It gets super nasty pretty quick. Buck bedding you can make better but it is very hard to make a buck bed somewhere. Does are much easier. Most of my plans are made based of the best access for me, but I'm using them strictly to kill deer.
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Twenty Up
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby Twenty Up » Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:28 am

Call me crazy but I’d plant tall, perennial native grasses and make that a bedding area.

Plant 1-2 small kill plots nearby for different winds if possible? Can’t beat clover, chicory, brassicas in small, shaded plots. Peas & beans would get hammered too much unless you had 5+ acres.. imo
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby iowa whitetail » Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:35 am

Clear it off and plant soy beans the first year for sure. Beans do the best in a first year plot on sod.
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby BKMississippi » Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:45 am

For cool season plots I like to have a base cover crop, usually wheat or oats (never rye grass), one clover, and a brassica, usually turnips. Turnips are good for late season. Deer will eat the leaves and the root. A lot of people want to plant just perennial clovers and that's fine, but it can be a lot of maintenance. Annual clovers, if they're able to come to seed, will likely sprout next year.

If you're planting for deer nutrition, don't forget that late summer is really important. Just because it's green outside doesn't mean that the plants are as healthy for the deer as the same plant was back in the spring. Cow peas are popular for summer in my area.

Liming to get your ph right can do wonders.

Last but not least, if you have browse in your area that are a few years old, you can always bush hog them in the spring or summer and fertilize before the next rain. They'll skyrocket and the deer will love it.
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Re: Food plot advice

Unread postby OUBrew » Fri Feb 08, 2019 4:48 am

Great discussion with a lot of solid ideas and questions. I have most of my experience with habitat putting in food plots. I had no idea what I was doing in 1997 when I tore my first ground up. Made a lot of mistakes and still learning from them year after year. I have planted hundreds of acres of plots but it was not until I caught a podcast from Dan this fall that I ever considered where the deer where naturally bed. As was mentioned in an earlier post, I always looked for the path of least resistance and turned over open available ground.

My approach next year will be much different. I am going to figure out where the bucks and doe groups are bedding and plan my transitional plot locations around those bedding areas. If you know where the does feed as destination locations...you can clear some small plots in between the bedding areas and the ag fields. If there is zero human intrusion...the deer will move to these transitional plots in daylight and your chances of catching the mature buck on his feet during shooting hours increases.

The other thing I have learned is there is not much sense in trying to plant something for antler growth or gestational nutrition if the local area already has it in abundance. In Wisconsin, there is not much sense in me planting clover plots for the summer when the deer feed in the abundant ag fields. I don't need the deer on my ground in the summer. I plant to attract deer when the ag fields get picked clean. If you have a green source in late October...the does will be hitting it and the bucks will be right behind. If you have a grain source in December....every buck in your area will hit the field in daylight on a cold front...as long as there is no pressure. Late season is my absolute favorite time of the year to hunt.

So back to your question...I wouldn't worry at all with the trees in the field...you don't need to backhoe any of it. Actually, I like having pockets of brush or trees in plots. If the area is big enough...the easiest thing to put in is ag production soybeans. Soil test it...see what the pH is. Fertilize it heavy with potash 0-0-60 and possibly work in some fast acting lime pellets to help the soil if pH is low. Kill the grass with a couple of spraying of Glyphosate. Spray it early just after green up and hit it again a week before planting. Innoculate the seed. Drill the beans in if at all possible in late May. Then overseed the beans with oates or winter rye late August just before a heavy rain forecast. The green source will grow best once the leaves from the beans yellow and fall off providing a mulch. You'll get the deer staying in the field with the greens and hopefully have the grain source through the rut....ideally into December.

The biggest concern I would have is the cattle. If you can hot fence it...you may be ok. Won't take long for cattle to wreck your work and cost you a lot of money.


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