We have our Illinois farmer mow some of his to assist making funnels
Trying a different strategy
Last years drought, made most of my plots an utter failure, but we had one of the most exciting hunting seasons we've had since owning the farm. All fields grew up in marestail & ragweed through the summer. Late July, we tried turnip/rape/radish plots & they done fair in the shaded area's & failed in the sunny area's due to lack of moisture. Got a few wheat plots in in early Sept that done OK.
In all the years weve been planting 20 plus acres, I can count on one hand the # of shooter bucks Ive seen in our plots during daylight hours. One finger the # of shooters we've actually killed in these plots. That said, last fall, I seen several of our shooters in the overgrown fields during daylight during bow season, just didn't connect with one of them.
This years plan, mainly due to all the flooding, is to again skip the bean plots & just do smaller fall plots & leave much of the overgrown weeds. When I look in those weeds, there's lots of natural clover, just like last year.
We do a lot of driving on gravel roads around here. There's lots of overgrown fields, some crp, some polinator fields. Guess where I see the most deer? Not in the fields, but in these overgrown area's. The old saying, cover is king comes to mind. With all the TSI we've done on our farm, we've got plenty of cover in the timber & now cover close to the food sources.
There's a 13 acre field that we overlook from the house & shop. We usually plant a large part of it in plots. This year, not so much, but we did put a couple pollinator plots in that field. All summer long, we've been watching deer down there, all times of the day. In the past, when planted in plots & kept clean, we'd see occasional deer down there, first & last light.
Hopefully this new strategy pays off. I'll keep ya posted.
In all the years weve been planting 20 plus acres, I can count on one hand the # of shooter bucks Ive seen in our plots during daylight hours. One finger the # of shooters we've actually killed in these plots. That said, last fall, I seen several of our shooters in the overgrown fields during daylight during bow season, just didn't connect with one of them.
This years plan, mainly due to all the flooding, is to again skip the bean plots & just do smaller fall plots & leave much of the overgrown weeds. When I look in those weeds, there's lots of natural clover, just like last year.
We do a lot of driving on gravel roads around here. There's lots of overgrown fields, some crp, some polinator fields. Guess where I see the most deer? Not in the fields, but in these overgrown area's. The old saying, cover is king comes to mind. With all the TSI we've done on our farm, we've got plenty of cover in the timber & now cover close to the food sources.
There's a 13 acre field that we overlook from the house & shop. We usually plant a large part of it in plots. This year, not so much, but we did put a couple pollinator plots in that field. All summer long, we've been watching deer down there, all times of the day. In the past, when planted in plots & kept clean, we'd see occasional deer down there, first & last light.
Hopefully this new strategy pays off. I'll keep ya posted.
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So you're basically saying going au naturel is the way to go?
I tend to agree with your strategy..I'm not going to knock down nearly the amount of "weeds" as I used to . maybe mow a trail or two but thats about it and my small plots
I like it! Ive always liked hunting in thick stuff rather than something that looks like forest park. If you can funnel them to some degree I bet you have a heck of a season. Our plots are all pretty small, by design and because of workload.
Used to lease 400 acres. Landowner didn't farm it, fields were left alone and grown up and the place was loaded with deer. Everything was mowed off once and the deer were scarce. They like cover
You mean natural cover beats plots imagine that
We've been using the "dirty plot" strategy the past several years. Heavy cover around smaller, protected plots has produced a lot of good action and sightings for us.
I like the plan of action!
I like the plan of action!
Stopped having my fields bailed two years ago. Have about 10 yards of clover turnips around it all. Lotsa use for turkeys this year
We are currently "au natural". Last year was our best year and 1st year doing it. TSI and trying to take things back to the native habitat is by far the best in my opinion. Yes, whitetails adapt to every surrounding...but, there's something to be said and seen in a native setting.
I think with the recommendation of having 5-15% food plots/open areas on a parcel is an accurate recommendation. Having that balance is key. I've seen many times where a food plot has been the key for drawing deer in, especially bucks roaming for mates.
nothing wrong with switching things up, the overgrown plots may have been the reason the shooters were there, or it could have been the doe....and it could have been the fact that you were hunting the days when the bucks were there due to the doe and they would have been there regardless what the plot was...I have never planted foodplots planning to kill good buck out of them, rather to kill good bucks heading to/leaving them. I can't think of a single buck I have ever killed in a foodplot.
I like your strategy, but I am going to try to get a plot in this week or next.
I like your strategy, but I am going to try to get a plot in this week or next.
I posted the following in the 'Hot Flora' thread the other day, and I think biodiversity is far more beneficial to deer, and certainly other wildlife, than the 'food plot' mentality that the 'big deer' industry is propagating. Monocultures can be a draw at times, but I think a food plot with several varieties of plantings (either mixed or stripped) surrounded by, or intermingled with, native species of flora will always be more attractive to game.
I've been finding the concept of "managing your land for deer" to be a little short-sighted. I don't own anything anyone here would call acreage, but if I did I would manage it for as many of our native Missouri species as best I could. My house sits on 3 acres and the back of our property was basically a hayfield/cow pasture remnant dominated by the green desert plant otherwise known as fescue. I've planted numerous species of native trees and allowed native grasses and wildflowers (weeds to some....) to propagate. We now have the occasional deer, numerous birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. This year we even have had a Bobwhite **** whistling out there, hoping to see more of the quail.
That sounds like a great plan!
creating small plots in the middle of HUGE forested areas would be creating diversity, right? putting some small plots in 100's acres of CRP would be creating diversity right? I don't think food plots are a bad thing in any way and more times than not create some diversity that otherwise wasn't there....at least in the places I have ever planted them.
I think deer use the weed plots a lot more this time of year than grain fields. They are a great thing to have but are very hard to hunt. Deer seem to just mosey around with no hard edges. In my opinion these farms hold bigger deer but are much harder to kill one except maybe with a rifle then it’s probably easier.
Sounds a lot like my plan, only I don't plant anything anymore.
I provide cover for doe, and kill big bucks during the rut.
Actually, it's just I've gotten lazy and cheap, and it's paid off in spades.
Who woulda thought? (No, not that'm lazy and cheap, that it would pay off!)
I provide cover for doe, and kill big bucks during the rut.
Actually, it's just I've gotten lazy and cheap, and it's paid off in spades.
Who woulda thought? (No, not that'm lazy and cheap, that it would pay off!)
No one has mentioned tonnage. Food plots create tonnage of forage. The 10-15% recommendation is probably too high. And obviously a deer is gonna feel much more confortable in the middle of a brush pile than it will in the middle of a wide open field, so there is a lot to be said for intermixing the two forms of habitat. A deer is nothing but a big rabbit with antlers. I’ve heard a deer eats between 5-7lbs of browse per day. That’s 1825-2555lbs per year for a full grown deer. Let’s just call it a ton. A very well grown food plot can produce over 6 tons per acre. With numbers like that, it’s much more about quality and timing of food plots than anything else. 5 acres of very well grown food plots is enough to support a huge number of deer. Broken up into a strip surrounded by thick cover is a SURE winning strategy, just look at Texas senderos.
Cheapest food plot there is
Forbs and browse is the majority of a deer diet ..They are browsers not grazers
This time of year ragweed ,partridge pea and poke is your friend oh and hostas
I have hostas planted all around a shaded area ,,came in good this year with all the rain ..........Nothing but stalks at the moment
This time of year ragweed ,partridge pea and poke is your friend oh and hostas
I have hostas planted all around a shaded area ,,came in good this year with all the rain ..........Nothing but stalks at the moment
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
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