Food plot #??? db-2

db-2

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Last week son and I decided to get ground ready for brassicas to plant. Ended up planting them with winter greens, winter beets and winter oats on two plots. Rain is getting short. Check on them a couple of days ago and it appears maybe about 15% out of ground so hope it rains soon so we can plant the other two or three plots. Planting was earlier than in the past. Feel I have until September to plant. Maybe rye and oats going forward depending on rain.
Corn and beans got planted late and now are beginning to put silk out. Deer are eating on the beans so good for the protein they get for horn development. Maybe high moisture corn for deer this year.

Now to get rid of coons, elk and butthead neighbor stand next to me. Can put my arrow in his stand from my stand. Fly bait takes care of coons but not sure on elk. Have a herd of 40 elk about 3 miles from me but there are some large corn fields in Canada for the hog barns so hope they stay over there.

Have had cameras out for about three weeks now and have identify quite a few bucks. Very few does as is normal for us this time of year. Maybe three or so are 150 based on last years but will need to wait and see. Have not found a shootable buck yet. Hopefully by December we find one or two or three or.

In 98 when I put up my first tower I was by myself. Three years later I could count 13 from my stand. A lot more plots going in. A friend plant for first time and put in a 40 acre spot. Another 10 acres with about a dozen different crops. Says they are eating big time on his Whitetail Alfalfa. Another next to me about a 8 acre plot. All good. db
 

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Tymurrey

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First year in a long time I put in a food plot. Broke up 12 acres this spring/summer. Planted a little over 2 acres in millet and grain sorghum in early june for the pheasants but the lack of rain hasn’t helped me much. I put in 6 acres last Friday with 150lbs of oats, 100 lbs winter peas, 10 lbs jackhammer radish, 10lbs dwarf Essex rape, 10lbs kale, and 10lbs of purple top turnip. I also mixed in a 5 gallon bucket of sunflower seed even though I know they won’t mature but maybe the deer will still munch on the green stems. Got about .20” of rain Friday night on the powder dry soil so not sure if it will germinate and die or hopefully wait for more rain. I have 250lbs of winter rye that I will seed over the 6 acres in late August as a fail safe plan if rain starts. I really need the plot to grow as I moved my stands planning on the deer going there to eat and don’t want to move them again. Waiting on the other 4 acre plot until next year so I can get the weeds under control in that one better. Hoping to put in 10 acres of alfalfa this coming spring or next fall depending on availabe funds.

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I also put in 4 acres of switchgrass this last March and I am seeing some patches of it but need to spray it next spring. I would like to do another 6-8 acres of it this winter and maybe mix some sweet clover in with it.
 

db-2

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tymurrey:
Our plots are from 1-2 acres and have 9 with 6 to have some kind of plants planted this year (rain). Probably 40 miles coverage.
Many years ago I started with turnips and radish as was told the deer would love. Moose like them, good for soil but question the benefit in getting whitetail. Kale and rape have work the best (well maybe 20 below, two feet of snow on the ground and a pile of corn). I started a few years ago with whitetail institute seeds. Expenses but I do feel they work well. Main one is the winter greens which have the turnips, radish but also kala and rape. Quit sunflowers due to black birds. Trying their alfalfa this year. white clover plots, I guess I have seen deer in them. But in the end the main item is soybeans with corn. Corn makes for great pictures when the deer are in it and they look bigger as they walk through the corn. But soybeans have high protein and they do eat on the buds. Sometimes a bunch and sometimes not so much.
One plants I guess to get deer in and they do work but grew up on a farm and still have the soil in my blood and I just love planting and watching them grow and what comes with them. Been very rewarding since I began in 95. Only five shot with my bow over that time but quality was great. Have not even applied for a rifle permit since 95.
The old days of hunting with a vehicle/rifle give some memories but nothing like this. db

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Help me with why swithgrass. sweet clover makes for great cover for deer. db
 

bucksnbears

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Db. If your brassicas are not sprouting yet, I'd totally replant with oats,w wheat or cerial rye..
 


Tymurrey

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Pasture.jpg

This is the area i'm working with right now. Food plots are a ways away from the bedding area but it was beat into my head enough when i was growing up that i shouldn't break up native ground to feed the deer. The 20+ acres on the east end was farmed long long ago so i didn't feel bad breaking that back up. The little green dots are all trees that i've hand planted and are actually still alive. There is quite a few more these are just the ones i've gps'd in. The blocks in the middle of the quarter are my switchgrass plantings. I've been reading a lot of Jeff Sturgis's articles and books and it seems like switchgrass is a great bedding and cover area and holds up well to our snow. Seems like it would be a win for me for the pheasants and deer and it's a native grass. I put in 3 different varieties of it to see which one does best and will go from there. Next year all the ag fields around me will be corn so i was thinking a late planting of soybeans and brassicas would be good and then do corn next year when all the other fields will be beans/peas.

Do you have any trouble with the deer demolishing a plot to fast. Thats the only thing that is keeping me from doing multiple small plots is worried that the deer would wipe them out before they would amount to anything. Also from what i've read is that fall greens are the best way to go, let the ag fields feed the deer all spring and summer and then bring them to the plots in the fall. Hoping now that the hard part is done and my back can rest from bouncing over sod clumps for the past couple months i can get a decent rotation going and find out what the deer like the best.
 

KDM

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Do you have any trouble with the deer demolishing a plot to fast. Thats the only thing that is keeping me from doing multiple small plots is worried that the deer would wipe them out before they would amount to anything. Also from what i've read is that fall greens are the best way to go, let the ag fields feed the deer all spring and summer and then bring them to the plots in the fall. Hoping now that the hard part is done and my back can rest from bouncing over sod clumps for the past couple months i can get a decent rotation going and find out what the deer like the best.

We have a real issue with small plots getting destroyed. ANYTHING still growing, soft, and succulent in late Sept on will get piss pounded by anything that eats plants from rabbits to turkeys to pheasants to ducks to geese to deer. We plant winter rye in late august and by sept the deer and other critters are eating/stomping/bedding it into a frazzle if it's just rye. It wasn't so severe if we planted winter rye between corn rows. That seemed to slow down the consumption/wrecking rates for some reason, but still brought the deer in WELL into December/Jan time frame. That stuff stays green even under the snow. The plots look good, hope you stick a biggun this fall. Good Luck!!
 

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Lots of good advice here. I still have a couple of small plots that were going to be planted with brassicas but being so hot and lack of rain I was worried time might be short. No weeds thank to Roundup. Brassicas planted as late as Sept!? Hopefully we’ll get rain for our food plots and the fires out west!
Cereal rye? Winter rye? Never thought of that!
Great brassicas last year but wanted a bit more pheasant friendly stuff so tried some Canola here and there. Do pheasants or deer eat that?
 

db-2

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Yes I would like to plant a big plot but.
The picture is of the 1.8 acres that I own so limit to that. Other ownership has its limits. Other places are on land that the owners has allow me to come in and the area I had to plant is limited.
So I do supplement their needs with feeders and the plots do last. Standing corn will be gone but brassicas will last (maybe have less deer than most and ranchers in area so feed in fields last longer). That was until the elk came last year. They got close to 1000 dollars of corn from me.
So I do envy you who can plant large plots and have the equipment to do so. Hope to quit working for a boss soon and if possible with the new time available would love to plant bigger acres but need to find land to do so also.

Yes the winter greens after frost is what brings the deer in along with the feeders and not the corn or beans that were planted. Soybeans for the protein as horns grow and corn just adds to the site and pictures plus give cover for the deer. Seems like fall when I see corn stalks. Need to find a way to get more protein into the deer during the horn growing season. Do provide protein blocks that they do eat on and soybean meal. Salt blocks will bring deer in by themselves but only on certain type of soil.
Soybean grower need an august rain besides I need it to.
Getting a 170 net deer with the bow would be great and that is the goal but the real enjoyment is just doing this and watching what goes on. Seen so much more about hunting than when I hunted with the vehicle (and that was not hunting). db

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Seeding on the first of September depends on the fall weather and when the frost comes. Brassicas will continue to grow after a killing frost.
 
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LBrandt

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In our area we have a lot to deer that come in on combined wheat stubble. What ever wheat that bypasses the combine and then starts to grow in the fall the deer just love it and it stays green even under snow.
 


db-2

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first of August planted brassicas and no rain so no brassicas
On August 31 again planted winter oats and brassicas. They are starting to eat on oats and not sure if brassicas will make it. October will see.
Eating on spring soybeans well as seen in picture.
Corn has done well, based on 18 rows with 40 kernel, population of 25000 and 90000 kernels in bushel equals 200 bushel/acre. Math does lie at times. Bull elk and moose has shown up. At least moose are not in a herd and do not eat all but those damn Elk. bigger bull was last year so waiting on him.
Food if for whitetail and need to get rid of elk but moose can stay.
Bought old mans bow and first had to try 50 yard pin at 49.5 yards. db
 

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Tymurrey

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My brassicas are growing but are still really short even with these later rains. Barely any peas or oats grew and the rye I broadcast over the top of the plots didn't seem to take off either. On a plus side my 8x8 blind is almost finished and my millet made it through the drought and is headed out nice. It's just over knee high so not the tallest but the birds have been in there quite a bit lately. I'm starting to plan for next year already. I will have corn around me so it will be lots of soybeans and brassicas in my plots.
 


db-2

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dekalb #2640 76 day

forget date planted but it was late, after everyone up here was done planting.
No fertilizer or chemical other than round up. Most is 14 or 16 rows on cob and high 30 or low 40 per row. Plant with 6 row planter 15" spacing that ends up 3 rows of soybeans and one rows of corn (only 4 rows used on planter). Corn still green but I believe it is mature with dry down now so deer will eat high moisture corn this winter.

dam moose they seem to wonder as this one did.

Guy from grand forks I believe called in 5 different bulls and this is the one he harvested with the bow.
Did not see but was told nice, wide, heavy paddle with good spikes and 44" wide. So thought or would be nice if it was wider. db
 
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db-2

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One bull elk came a month ago for my evergreens, put fence up and he never came back but on Saturday three of them sob bulls came up between 11 at night and 6 in morning. This is a picture of the bigger one however I do not believe it is the one from last year so in time I am sure it will come also. need to get rid of them as last year had a herd of 25 that I fed.

Help a guy find their deer (2) and they gave me the carcass so put up by my main food plot. Put up camera and next day had 4300 pictures so told son to change from 10 seconds to something else. Hope to get a decent picture in time.
But black birds I assume are raven, have them up there as I can hear them talk. thought they were bigger than shown. Also other bird we believe is a inmature eagle however one said it was golden. doubt it but maybe someone on here can sit us straight. db
 

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db-2

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One of my friends "the moose" did make it till now. Not the best picture and when I get a better one will share. But have a video that will show what it really is. By far the largest moose we have had at our food plot. A neighbor that calls moose did call this moose in 6 times for a hunter who miss it with his bow all 6 times. Thanks moose God. Brow tangs are something else with about 13-14 points, good paddle width and would guess 50". Should score good for a ND moose.
They do wonder a lot so hopefully when we see it has drop, hopefully by us then hopefully we can find. Over the years there is and has been a lot of ifs to this.
But rut will be over for the whitetail and soon will begin the whitetail bow hunt. Several new ones are starting to show up and do have a few that I feel would net over 150 and hopefully one bigger one comes in in time. db
 

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