Food plots

[Allegheny Tom]

Google Paul Knox aka dbltree on some forums.
He was the guru of food plots.
God rest his soul.

 

[BOWHUNTER14]

Thanks for the info @Allegheny Tom! I should be out at my plot this week, I will try and post a pic or two of my rocks and greens lol

 

[Red Beard]

Establish goals 1st and keep realistic expectations.
And don't expect to grow Booners all of a sudden.
Ive plotted for 15 years and I see no difference in the quality of the deer.

Right on Tom. I certainly don't need booners. I'm just trying to see a few more deer throughout the season. My 15 acre property is in the middle of a 1.5 mile almost square patch of hardwoods. Early season is OK but once the acorns go...so do the deer. Late season is bare because there's just no food within a mile.

 

[weekender21]

I like adding buckwheat in the early summer to my fall planted plots. The key is keeping something growing all year to build the soil, once you get it going turning over the soil (tilling) and chemicals is unnecessary. In the fall I've been planting a fairly diverse mix of annual clover (crimson, red, etc.) cereal grains (winter wheat, winter rye, and oats) and a few brassicas (purple top turnip, daikon radish, rape).

You'll have better luck planting your clover in the fall from my experience.

I'll recommend a few forums if you want a food plot or habitat recommendation:

Deer Hunter Forum

Deer Hunter Forum

Deer Hunter Forum

deerhunterforum.com

Habitat-talk

All Things Habitat - Lets talk.....

Habitat-Talk, habitat manipulation and more.

habitat-talk.com

 

[weekender21]

I have tried food plots in the past with different types of plants and absolutely no success a miserable failure no green thumb here turns out not enough sunshine in the areas I have tried

Try Winter Rye (NOT rye grass). It's also called Rye grain. If you can't get that to grow then yes, you may not have a green thumb because it will grow in your truck bed (literally) with enough moisture. While you're at it, throw some crimson clover into your plot. Broadcast at a rate of 60-100 pounds/acre of Winter Rye and 5-10 pounds/acre crimson clover. Both will grow in less than ideal conditions.

This is a first year plot. Seed was sewn in September 2018, picture taken in April 2019. Lots of rain immediately following planting sure helps. Don't waist your time if there is no rain in the forecast.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

A horse that I've beaten to death on some habitat forums was the need for participants to POST THEIR LOCATION when asking questions or giving advice.
My experiences or advice here in 6B may be totally useless for someone plotting in Florida or Maine.

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[weekender21]

A horse that I've beaten to death on some habitat forums was the need for participants to POST THEIR LOCATION when asking questions or giving advice.
My experiences or advice here in 6B may be totally useless for someone plotting in Florida or Maine.

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Yep

I’m in 6B too. Although WR and CC could be recommended just about anywhere.


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[justinwmoe88]

So I guess living in the red river valley I’m spoiled with the greatest soils around but this year I’m starting a food plot in an area that’s been a meadow for 20 years. Going to be a heck of a seed bank in there from weeds and grass. I mowed it last summer, sprayed it after it greened back up and have mowed the dead grass again in the fall. This spring I am going to drill a mixture of dwarf corn and forage soybeans into it. I have a brother that has tried to spray then till the land and have found out that it is nearly impossible to fight back weeds after turning the soil... so I will let the beans and corn grow all summer and in the fall once they start to die off I am going to seed in a mixture of clovers and chicory and oats through it. I’ll try post pics throughout the process. Beans and corn will be roundup ready so I can spray away a few times this summer to help eliminate any weeds that may still have survived last fall.

 

[Crazyelk]

 

[onestringer]

Plots can be very rewarding or they can be a frustrating rabbit hole.
Habitat Talk and Deer hunter forums have a lot of great threads on plotting.
One particular technique is the Throw 'n Mow which has an enormous thread on the subject. A lot of plotters, including myself, have done fairly well with TnM. It probably won't produce the pristine, magazine cover looking plot for most people, but it did do an acceptable job for me.
#1 tip...LEARN WEED AND PLANT IDENTIFICATION before you start plotting. If you can't identify an unwanted invasive, you may be in for a miserable experience.
#2 tip...don't try to force a forage where it doesn't belong. Guys decide they want "X" growing, before they've got their ducks in a row.
Plotting can be easy and it can be miserable.
Establish goals 1st and keep realistic expectations.
And don't expect to grow Booners all of a sudden.
Ive plotted for 15 years and I see no difference in the quality of the deer.

Thanks. Can you point me to the throw and mow method? I am going to try the throw and roll method for my dove plots this year. I will plant brown top millet and sun flowers(different fields). Currently wheat is growing in the plots. I plan to broadcast seed and fertilizer, then roll the wheat down with a cultipacker then spray round up. Should work.

 

[Tjraley2]

I’ve recently moved to Wisconsin and will be 100% public this year. But at the home 40 in Alabama we have tremendous luck with Whitetail Institute “No Plow”. We also had a lot of success with their Beets and Greens, but the deer ate it all to the ground in a few weeks.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Thanks. Can you point me to the throw and mow method? I am going to try the throw and roll method for my dove plots this year. I will plant brown top millet and sun flowers(different fields). Currently wheat is growing in the plots. I plan to broadcast seed and fertilizer, then roll the wheat down with a cultipacker then spray round up. Should work.

The Throw and Mow method is discussed in great detail on these 2 forums. A lot of us (I'm "Tap" over there) are discussing this on both forums, so there is a lot of redundancy in the 2 threads.
There are a lot of variations of doing it. Some guys throw and roll, some guys throw and mow, some guys incorporate herbicides too.

The Throw n’ Mow Method

I’ve always heard that the best way to get over a girl is to get under another one. I guess we’ll use that same logic concerning forums that kick you to the curb as well. Welcome to “The Throw n’ Mow Method”……..This thread will continue to document a new planting technique that several of us...

www.habitat-talk.com

Throw N Mow thread...

Dedicating this thread to all of the folks who do the throw N Mow method... I have both throw n mow, and traditional tillage plots side by side on one of our properties. I got the throw N Mow done last Saturday and as soon as I got it done we got almost 1/2" of rain on it but it was extremely...

deerhunterforum.com

 

[Gator]

Since we're here talking about food plots, any advice on a small throw and grow plot other than "just rake the leaves away and let 'er rip"?

Yeah read the seed tag label and see what is in there. Lots of those cheap Walmart bags is mostly rye grass which is a complete waste. Go to the coop and buy cereal rye in the fall, much better crop, grows on anything (including back of tractors and truck tailgates) and is much prefered by deer and the soil

 

[Gator]

This small corn plot was actually done throwing and mowing. It was waist high weeds, spread the corn seed and then mowed the weeds down on top of it. You have to get lucky with rain for any throw and mow type of planting to work.

 

[Drslyr]

getting started NY state southern tier

 

[weekender21]

Yeah read the seed tag label and see what is in there. Lots of those cheap Walmart bags is mostly rye grass which is a complete waste. Go to the coop and buy cereal rye in the fall, much better crop, grows on anything (including back of tractors and truck tailgates) and is much prefered by deer and the soil

Exactly. That’s the issue with “buck on bag” (BOB) throw and mow. Lots of filler like rye grass that deer won’t touch.

Cereal rye (rye grain) and crimson clover are attractive to deer and can be planted for less money than these BOB seed mixes.


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[IkemanTX]

I am doing my first personal food plots this year.
I helped my dad design his the last two years, but only sat his place once due to him WAY over hunting it.

I am doing 3 separate plots.

2 acre dove field.
This is a highly diverse mix I’m trying with about 60% bird food species, and about 40% of the plot for soil improvement.

2 acre deer plot.
Another diverse plot (not as diverse as the dove) with lots of legumes for food, and some plants for compaction breaking.

And a 0.5 acre patch of 50/50 Aeschynomene and Alyce Clover. This one will be an archery kill plot if I end up getting anything worth me shooting.

The deer numbers at this place are almost non existent. Less than 1 dpsm. So, my only real goal with it this year is to get my son a deer. That is what the 2 acre plot is for. It should make a good rifle plot to hunt.

The dove plot is because I want to get my wife and son into hunting something with me. My wife won’t hunt whitetail... doesn’t like the “sit still and hope” aspect of it. I figure dove hunting is social enough, done in fair weather, and mostly shorter mornings. That should make for a decent experience to hook her into it.


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[Mengle]

I am doing my first personal food plots this year.
I helped my dad design his the last two years, but only sat his place once due to him WAY over hunting it.

I am doing 3 separate plots.

2 acre dove field.
This is a highly diverse mix I’m trying with about 60% bird food species, and about 40% of the plot for soil improvement.

2 acre deer plot.
Another diverse plot (not as diverse as the dove) with lots of legumes for food, and some plants for compaction breaking.

And a 0.5 acre patch of 50/50 Aeschynomene and Alyce Clover. This one will be an archery kill plot if I end up getting anything worth me shooting.

The deer numbers at this place are almost non existent. Less than 1 dpsm. So, my only real goal with it this year is to get my son a deer. That is what the 2 acre plot is for. It should make a good rifle plot to hunt.

The dove plot is because I want to get my wife and son into hunting something with me. My wife won’t hunt whitetail... doesn’t like the “sit still and hope” aspect of it. I figure dove hunting is social enough, done in fair weather, and mostly shorter mornings. That should make for a decent experience to hook her into it.


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Is that an online order? If so, do you mind me asking where you are ordering from?

 

[IkemanTX]

Food plots can be a great tool. They can also be a money pit and a waste of time if you don’t do it right. The good thing about throw and grow is it’s cheap and somewhat effective. The downside is it’s not that attractive to wildlife. If you want to plant something that will really draw deer you’ll need soil test and follow that up with lime and fertilizer. Now is the time for liming for this falls plantings. Once you do that and finally plant your fall plots it won’t rain for a month and your seed will feed crows, turkeys and doves. Sorry but I have a love/hate relationship with food plots. Also check out Jeff Sturgis videos on YouTube. I agree with him on spring and summer plots being a waste on whitetail. Something like buckwheat is ok if your using it as a green manure to amend the soil but otherwise it’s a waste of money and time.

Sturgis’ idea that spring/summer plots are a waste is exclusively based on his Midwest location. Everything in habitat improvement is context. His area has very high deer numbers, so spring/summer nutrition causes social stress on bucks dealing with too many doe groups. His stressed period is definitely winter. Mild summers with ample rain make summers of green food everywhere. (Especially considering the high prevalence of row crops)

My area, you couldn’t attract enough deer to one spot to create a social problem in 10 years of spring/summer plots. With temps here going above 110°F every summer, our hardest stress period is ALWAYS summer. We get so dry some summers that a deer’s primary diet ends up being mistletoe, skunk weed, Lespedeza, and cedar elm. It isn’t uncommon to have fawn die offs on dry years. Summer nutrition is THE most important thing in my context.

Jeff has an amazing understanding of deer... in the areas he hunts, but he touts every method he uses as the end-all, be-all solution for everywhere. I also don’t like how he starts dang near every video talking about how he came up with everything 10 years ago before anyone else.

If your context is similar to his, follow his script to a “T”,because he has it pegged. But, don’t shoehorn yourself into methods developed for other regions/reasons than your reality.


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[Gator]

Sturgis’ idea that spring/summer plots are a waste is exclusively based on his Midwest location. Everything in habitat improvement is context. His area has very high deer numbers, so spring/summer nutrition causes social stress on bucks dealing with too many doe groups. His stressed period is definitely winter. Mild summers with ample rain make summers of green food everywhere. (Especially considering the high prevalence of row crops)

My area, you couldn’t attract enough deer to one spot to create a social problem in 10 years of spring/summer plots. With temps here going above 110°F every summer, our hardest stress period is ALWAYS summer. We get so dry some summers that a deer’s primary diet ends up being mistletoe, skunk weed, Lespedeza, and cedar elm. It isn’t uncommon to have fawn die offs on dry years. Summer nutrition is THE most important thing in my context.

Jeff has an amazing understanding of deer... in the areas he hunts, but he touts every method he uses as the end-all, be-all solution for everywhere. I also don’t like how he starts dang near every video talking about how he came up with everything 10 years ago before anyone else.

If your context is similar to his, follow his script to a “T”,because he has it pegged. But, don’t shoehorn yourself into methods developed for other regions/reasons than your reality.


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Yeah you can keep Jeff Sturgis. His stuff is not habitat management at all more how to kill a deer on a Midwest farm. Damn anybody can do that


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