FOOD PLOTS ANYONE ???

[RackCityOutdoors]

WE PLANTED OUR HIGH PROTEIN SUMMER INVITE EXTREME FOOD PLOTS 5 WEEKS AGO CHECK EM OUT ....ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WORKING IN THEIR PLOTS ???

[mrbb]

well I just sprayed down 5 acres on saturday to kill everything

so yes I will be working on plots soon

what is that a mix of, seed wise??

I am planning a mix of soybeans and corn in half my plot, and chichory and clover in the other half

and then leaving a 4 acre field for a fall planing or turnips!

will be the first yr I didn't plant my normal 3 full acres of corn, so will see how things go come fall without it!

[RackCityOutdoors]

xtreme perennial -alfallfa chicory and clover and the rack x ploder -3 different clover chicory and 3 different barrasica i have about 6 acres total , about to till for my winter plots that i will be planting mid June what is a mix of sweet beets and purple top turnips ... im doing alot of my hidey holes with woodland xtreme forage- clover ,rye grass and rapeseed ...all seed named above has a extremely high germination rate all over 80% and priced so the average hunter can afford it ...

[mrbb]

cool, that sounds like a good mix
best of luck with weather!!

[at1010]

well I just sprayed down 5 acres on saturday to kill everything

so yes I will be working on plots soon

what is that a mix of, seed wise??


I am planning a mix of soybeans and corn in half my plot, and chichory and clover in the other half

and then leaving a 4 acre field for a fall planing or turnips!

will be the first yr I didn't plant my normal 3 full acres of corn, so will see how things go come fall without it!



Please let us know how the corn/bean mix works? If I would guess if the plot is big enough your going to have great deer activity once the weather turns poor, and start of the season.

[mrbb]

OK as for corn and bean mix
I have been doing this for a couple yrs
I don't plant enough, or large enough area to get any beans or really any corn

I have WAY too many deer, they will not allow a bean to be made

I plant this stuff just for feed till I can do a fall plot on the site, its better than leaving a site dormant till fall to me, and cheaper than planting other stuif, and deer actually prefer it over most other things!

with the corn and beans being round up ready
I can just spray and keep weeds out of site, so when fall comes its a super fast easy site to turn over
and at the same time it makes feed for them, and even good feed at that
they will eat the beans harder than any other plot I have, so that helps save other things for fall more
and the corn mix add cover to keep folks from seeing them, and well they will feed sooner too

so my beans and corn plots are just a feed deal till a fall plot can be planted in same site

[Pep4]

As every food plot person has found out or eventually will find out that there is no magic food plot/food source that will draw all the deer off your neighbors property and grow monster bucks and make it easy to kill a big buck every season...IMO you just need to do what you can with your available land to try to keep the deer there as much as possible all year around and a food source to keep them there during archery and gun seasons.
I'm going away from corn and switching to soybeans...corn is expensive and the bears tear it up around here with small 2 to 3 acre plots...i had corn for the last 2 years to keep the deer around during november and early december for the end of archery and the gun season...i didn't notice any change from the previous years...i've got 2 larger plots of whitetail clover, will put in a strip of buckwheat as turkeys love that and its great for spring gobbler as they clean up seeds from last year and the deer like it too, then put in 2 or 3 small hunting plots of barrassicas - whitetail pure attraction and tall tine tubers.

[taylor6400]

Ok, i had to get in on this as im excited to start my first year in the food plot business. I have done a few half hearted tries, but without propper equipment. I just bought a 6' tiller for my tractor. I put in a quick spring plot a week ago of Buckwheat. Small one about a quarter acre, but it was cheap and is supposed to be a good soil builder. I will till it up in the fall and plant a rye and forage pea mix with a clover overseed so the clover has a chance to get established while the deer eat the rye and peas this year. Then next spring the clover should be good for summer.

I also have a 3 acre field i am trying to decide what to do with. I just got the tiller. Dont feel like i have time to spray till, and get ina spring plot there. So will wait a couple more weeks and then spray it. Might do half in a late summer Brassica plot, and the other half in fall of the same rye/pea mix and then do an early maturing soy bean next spring and be able to get a summer and fall plot out of it again. I have been studying...too many choices. Its going to be fun. I started a log.

[mrbb]

As every food plot person has found out or eventually will find out that there is no magic food plot/food source that will draw all the deer off your neighbors property and grow monster bucks and make it easy to kill a big buck every season...IMO you just need to do what you can with your available land to try to keep the deer there as much as possible all year around and a food source to keep them there during archery and gun seasons.
I'm going away from corn and switching to soybeans...corn is expensive and the bears tear it up around here with small 2 to 3 acre plots...i had corn for the last 2 years to keep the deer around during november and early december for the end of archery and the gun season...i didn't notice any change from the previous years...i've got 2 larger plots of whitetail clover, will put in a strip of buckwheat as turkeys love that and its great for spring gobbler as they clean up seeds from last year and the deer like it too, then put in 2 or 3 small hunting plots of barrassicas - whitetail pure attraction and tall tine tubers.



I too am from PA, it really comes down to your deer numbers if you ask me on plantings

in places with less deer, you can get away with planting about any thing
but in HIGH deer numbers locations you need to pl;ant what will give the most feed
thats where i am at

I think most ploters do get how damaging a bear can be to a corn field
a couple bears can eat a corn field down fast, and once they find it they don't leave till its gone or gets TOO cold for there liking

BUT since I have lots of bears
they suck beans down just as fast, and without the cover, deer are less interested at times going into a bean field with a few bears in it
at times the deer will actually run the bears out, but not always, as the deer heer way out nunmber the beras 10-15 to 1

and they get hungery and don't care at times

and the bears get nervous with too many deer about them

but corn to me is a better plot, all the more so once snow comes
standing beans, I am thinking your planning to leave them, for critter

once snow comes, will flatten them(if wet and enough snow falls, last yr would have been a great yr with almost no snow lol)


but corn will still be standing, and be a bigger attraction for deer, it will be cover, and thus deer will come out sooner, rather than wait till dark as in an open field after shooting starts, unless you own enough land to help keep pressure down it won't bother them(I don't)


and when beans are growing, deer eat the crap out of beans too, so about a 1/3 will be a losse before a bean even grows

just something to think about
I am going to send you a PM too with some info on corn seed you might not know about

[Pep4]

t6400...if you don't have the equipment for bigger plots then i would suggest doing a perenial in those bigger plots like Whitetail Clover as that will last for about 5 years...i like to put perenials on the tougher places to get to so i don't have to plow, disc, drag, etc. on them every year...just an idea.

[Pep4]

I too am from PA, it really comes down to your deer numbers if you ask me on plantings

in places with less deer, you can get away with planting about any thing
but in HIGH deer numbers locations you need to pl;ant what will give the most feed
thats where i am at

I think most ploters do get how damaging a bear can be to a corn field
a couple bears can eat a corn field down fast, and once they find it they don't leave till its gone or gets TOO cold for there liking

BUT since I have lots of bears
they suck beans down just as fast, and without the cover, deer are less interested at times going into a bean field with a few bears in it
at times the deer will actually run the bears out, but not always, as the deer heer way out nunmber the beras 10-15 to 1

and they get hungery and don't care at times

and the bears get nervous with too many deer about them

but corn to me is a better plot, all the more so once snow comes
standing beans, I am thinking your planning to leave them, for critter

once snow comes, will flatten them(if wet and enough snow falls, last yr would have been a great yr with almost no snow lol)


but corn will still be standing, and be a bigger attraction for deer, it will be cover, and thus deer will come out sooner, rather than wait till dark as in an open field after shooting starts, unless you own enough land to help keep pressure down it won't bother them(I don't)


and when beans are growing, deer eat the crap out of beans too, so about a 1/3 will be a losse before a bean even grows

just something to think about
I am going to send you a PM too with some info on corn seed you might not know about


Thanks for the info mrbb...good point on beans getting knocked down by the snow...i was going on last year when a big farmer came in and leased a pile of fields and put beans in...the deer lived in those fields all year...a couple fields he couldn't harvest because of how wet it was all year so he left them and the deer killed them through march...but also i really only need them through the end of November and we usually don't get that much snow by then...i have other things for the deer for winter and also buy a lot of corn for a couple feeders to help them through the winter months.

Northeast, PA huh...I journey up there a couple times a year steelhead fishing.

[mrbb]

Pep4 I have a hunting camp in sullvian county, on the Bradford county line
I used to snowmobile a ton up in potter and west of potato city

deer will hammer beans yes
but to me corn is still a better pull come cold weather

deer like what ever is not always there so, if you had beans last yr left and normaly don't thats a big part of it
any plot is better than no plot if you ask me!!

they are just awesome to have on your property if you can!!

good luck