I can't believe we haven't covered this yet! Who plants critter food? What do you plant? What's the best plot you've ever grown? If you hunt them, what's your best kill (or game cam pic) from your plots? What kind of equipment do you use? I have a small 4X4 atv, an old jd314 garden tractor that weighs twice as much as the atv, a 3 foot disc, backpack blowers, weed eaters, etc. I'm small time haha. I don't have much area that gets enough light to plant anything, but I do put a couple plots on my neighbors places. We are about to start discing if it ever quits raining. There should be about a half acre of rape, turnips,red clover &oats if things go right this spring. It will be terminated and put into white clover and winter wheat as a cover crop later this year in hopes for a perennial plot that only needs mowing for weed suppression next year. This fall I'm going to plant some persimmon trees, and other various shrub species for the critters. I need to get some trees down to allow sunlight in the woods this summer before that can happen. Let's see some pics! I don't have any here on my phone so yea...I'm a liar...it didn't happen
I've been saying I'm going to put in a plot for a couple years now and haven't gotten around to it. I would plant hostas, sweet corn, and any small fruit tree. The deer can't get enough of them at my house.
That's exactly what I'm getting....that "nature bundle" or whatever they call it. Super cheap, as all their trees are. BTW, the food plots really work to draw them in. Don't hesitate. As for the hostas, corn, and trees...... 6'-8' fence is a must. If you gave them something else to eat besides your trees (food plot) , they may stay off. MAY. I think corn is a deers crack rock. Good luck with that. Speaking of hostas, I've started taking all the plants I tear out of customers beds down to the camper and planting them for the reason you mention. Deer tear them up. No need to divide perennials, trim shrubs, cut back in the fall etc. The deer are my own personal crew. They walk within 10 yards of the camper, vehicles, etc to get 'em too if you are quiet.
I put up some 6' T posts and string some mason's twine about every 2' around the corn. I think it is just enough to confuse them because they can feel the string but not see it. Has worked well for 3 years now. I need to find a disc or something to pull behind my quad before I can plant any seeds. I might try to just make a drag harrow. Not sure.
CL for used implements. I got my disc for $80. Cultivators work fine too so I don't see why a harrow wont work. You aren't growing row crops, so 10" deep seed beds aren't needed. Lots of people are using the throw and mow method with success, and that helps with the weeds. No soil disturbance, less spraying, etc. QDMA forum for all that kind of reading if you want. Now, back to my taxes
Take a trip East on 70. http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/grd/4970750326.html I bet that one wont last thru the weekend.
Just got done last weekend clearing about 3 acres except for the very mature white oaks. I plan on just running the drag and throwing some seed of some type out. Next year I plan on planting turnips and something else. I still have a little clean up to do because I didn't want to doze up all the top soil. 95% of the trees I tore out were sassafras, I have 30 or so piled up ready to css. It was a very busy weekend getting that done before it rained, but couldn't pass up the free use of dozer!
I planted half an acre with a brassica/turnip mix last year. It grew well, but the deer hammered it before rifle season. I did shoot a buck cruising through it the 2nd day of the season. I sprayed the plot with Round-up using a backpack sprayer, and then tilled it with tractor roto-tiller. I rolled it, and dragged it before planting. I used a walk behind seeder. I also put 150 lbs. of 15-15-15 fertilizer on the plot, and threw a half ton of lime on by hand. It was a lot of work, but I was happy with it. I plant on doing more this year. I would like to buy a ATV mounted sprayer and a 3pt hitch mounted spreader to help out and save some physical labor.
It does not need to be perfect just start some where with some easy growing seeds the winter peas work great lots of forage in the fall and all you have to do is scratch the dirt.
My neighbor and I over the years tried a lot of different stuff and it all grew well but there is so much corn and clover growing on farms around here it didn't really make a difference in hunting. Sometimes a woods plot would get deer bedding close to it and they stayed there until you walked to your stand and then gone and I mean gone ! Our bear population has exploded in the last 15 years and the deer are always on edge. Two of my friends have taken a 570 and a 628 lb bear within 2 miles of my house. The 628 was second to the state record IIRC. That said ,,, my neighbor in the last 2 years went to full crop farming and plants some variety of radishes and turnips in the fall for a nitrogen fixer. I mean like 50 acres at a wack !Right behind my house ! No more food plots for me.
I leave beans or corn standing on my land. There is so much farm land here that the deer barely touch a turnip, brassica, or clover plot. Needs to be corn or beans to work. So I just have the farmer leave an acre or so for the deer. My wife shot a nice buck this year off our land and the standing corn.
Got about a quarter acre disced this weekend before the monsoon hit. Lots more to do and I only got a pic of 1 plot since it was raining
The strip in the pic will be turnips, rape, wheat, and oats for spring/summer. Late summer it'll get the gly and put into clover /winter wheat as a cover crop. In the other plot not pictured, there will be a border strip of red clover and a mix of peas, wheat, turnips And oats. Tsc clearance seed mixes for the most part. Lol I'm a cheap azz. In 2 weeks, It'll get sprayed again with gly, disc in fert, lime, and planted all in 1 day I over seeded the lawn with white clover too. Not that it's really a plot. That's more for the free nitrogen.
So... not exactly food plot related, but it involves feeding deer. I wondered why my neighbor hadn't been down much to deer hunt last year. He's been there most weekends for years. Well, I saw him yesterday and he told me that he got caught hunting over bait while trespassing on the next door neighbors land last fall! I wasn't really surprised. The owner went as far as to drop some trees on the property line, which the idiot quickly moved out of his way. Neighbor drops bigger trees on the line and posts it. Trees promptly removed again. Bait was out 2 years ago and I kept my mouth shut not wanting to start a neighbor war. I'm happy he got caught because where he was sitting, had my property cutoff from a known bedding area which the deer filtered out of like clockwork at dusk. I tool the opportunity to educate him that plots are legal here and that he should get on board with me and the other neighbor who plants them and share the costs with us. Whether he does or not, I don't care. As long as he isn't blowing them outta bed into the next county anymore I'm happy.
lukem Here is your cultivator...Greencastle, IN. I just paid $150 for one that's not near this nice. I think its a good deal. http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/grd/5076771196.html
