Got food plots?

[Deputy819]

Curious to see what you guys have out for food plots and how they're doing this summer. I just opened up (kept fenced off until well established) a small 1/4 acre plot of Laredo Soybeans with a little wheat and crimson clover mixed in.

 

[86alaskan]

Just planted about a 1/4 acre in winter forage..... beets, turnips, kale and clover. started popping up the other day. hope to see some good traffic this fall and winter.

 

[Deputy819]

@86alaskan
Nice! When does archery open where you are?

 

[Timeout]

I have soybeans, clover, rye grass, beets and turnips. The problem is that this time of year where I am the whole area is a food plot. Hopefully as crops are harvested and frost turns the beets and turnips sugary, business will pickup.

 

[Deputy819]

Definitely sounds a little aggravating. Does everyone in your area pretty much plant the same plots/crops? I tried to grow turnips twice here in Ky and failed miserably each time. Soil in my area pretty much sucks for anything except legumes.....

 

[Timeout]

Corn, soybeans and alfalfa are the main crops here. Only a guess but maybe 80% of our land is crop land. Deer dearly love the soybean tops while they are green. Crops are fantastic again this year. Food any direction a deer turns. We are not allowed bait, salt, mineral and the like to attract deer.

 

[kbrezlin]

I'm switching up my plot strategy this year. I have an acre on my power line that I've struggled to get a good stand of a perennial clover to take hold. Combo of weather and graze pressure. I have another 1/2 acre plot I made back in the timber. The power line is getting Whitetail No-Plow and the small plot is getting Secret Spot. I'm hoping the fast growing annuals will do better. I will likely frost seed straight white ladino clover in both plots next spring and see what happens.

 

[Deputy819]

@kbrezlin
Do you inoculate your clovers? I read somewhere that helps tremendously, but I've never experimented with it. Admittedly, the only clover I've ever put out is annual crimsons and It's always done well without inoculation. I always inoculate my soybeans though.

 

[Hand Skills]

Are you guys talking about producing brassicas for deer? I'd never considered that. We seed a good contingent of brassicas in our forage cocktail. Sheep and pigs do really well on it (especially if one in interested in Omega-3s), but every time I open up a deer they seem to be full of peas... About 75% of the land here is farmed monoculture, and I suppose lentils and peas are the best protein available after the combines roll through. Diet varies by region, so Im sure it's somewhat different up here in the great white north. I'll keep hunting the pea fields bordering creeks and ranch land, but im always interested in what people are growing!

 

[Deputy819]

Are you guys talking about producing brassicas for deer? I'd never considered that.

Just talking about food plots in general. Not sure I understand your context here.

 

[Timeout]

Are you guys talking about producing brassicas for deer? I'd never considered that. We seed a good contingent of brassicas in our forage cocktail. Sheep and pigs do really well on it (especially if one in interested in Omega-3s), but every time I open up a deer they seem to be full of peas... About 75% of the land here is farmed monoculture, and I suppose lentils and peas are the best protein available after the combines roll through. Diet varies by region, so Im sure it's somewhat different up here in the great white north. I'll keep hunting the pea fields bordering creeks and ranch land, but im always interested in what people are growing!

Yes, I do plant brassicas for late season. I planted some iron clay cowpeas last year and the deer basically used them the same as soybeans, eating the tops off when green. The drawback with them compared to soybeans is with herbicide application. Soybeans are available "Roundup ready" which makes weed control easy. By the time deer season rolls around here, corn is found in large amounts when field dressing deer, along with grasses and legumes. If all the corn is harvested then it's browse, grasses and legumes as their mainstay diet.

 

[J E Custom]

Unfortunately, Where I hunt the pigs are so bad that a food plot is out of the question. The fencing has to be hog panels and they are to expensive for this use.

We do feed protein in small pens protected by the hog panels that on average are 40 to 50 feet in diameter that works for deer and turkeys.

Before the invasion of hogs we used oats and peas with good success.
To thin the hogs we have unprotected feeders that are timed to force the hogs to feed when we want to hunt that use corn.

J E CUSTOM

 

[kbrezlin]

DEPUTY819,
Never had inoculated any of my seed. One year I tried the frost seed route like I plan on next year and did have a really good stand of clover, but I outsmarted myself and sprayed it to plant oats as a nurse crop over a clover/chicory mix. Then we didn't get rain for a month. This time if it grows well it stays.

No matter what I do with plots I always soil test every year without exception. $15/sample at the local farmers exchange is money well spent. Especially with my timber plot where the PH is a problem that will take years to correct. Over the last 3 years I put 5000lbs. of lime on a half acre and it's not there yet.

 

[jasent]

I like whitetail clover at my place. I've tried them all but that one seems to be the deers fav. My plot is irrigated so I don't have to worry about the weather. Extreme was great for late season action