Went in for the first time this year and prepped the plot for roto tilling. I'm pretty happy how different the soil is compared to a couple years ago a huge improvement. Before raking . After raking
very nice!! how has it worked out in the past few years? im stil trying to decide with what ill be going with, and seeing as we are kinda close it would give me a good idea of what works
Looks good, that's the type of area I'm gonna try to put a plot in this year. Actually went and messed with it a little today.
It comes in awesome during the summer but I have yet had anything last into mid hunting season. The problem I had last year was no rain at the end if summer so everything was dying goin into hunting season. 2012 was my first year with it and it worked too good. I planted whitetail institutes imperial clover and the deer annihilated it. But there was still enough there to still attract them in November and into December. So I'm going to go with that again. This was a pic from mid summer last year . And this was 2012 when I just planted the clover
Also I just got a soil test done and it's a lot better ph than when I started 2 years ago. It's a 7.1 and needs some potassium so I'm going to hit it with a 0-0-60 before I rototill and plant. When I started it 2 years ago there was barely any soil it was all roots and rock. A lot of hard work by myself and some buddies got it right. This was day 1
The worst part of those type of plots (back in the brush) is the roots and the lack of sunlight. Those established roots are always a competitor for the plot species food and water besides being hard to work with. Clovers seem to handle it pretty well as do some other species. They do make very scenic presentations for deer and hunter alike and that one is really pretty. This is one that I did that I was particularly proud of because it held deer, turkey and two coveys of quail that summer, fall and winter. It is a fairly large plot back in the trees I think about 2.3 acres. I had corn, milo, german millet, prosso millet, soybeans and cowpeas in that one that year...don't recall what the yellow flowers were...something I had laying around but the bees liked it.
That's looking good Covey. I wish I had that much land to work with. Your definitely right with the low sun light and water problem. I've been cutting down the trees and brush as I get the plot bigger. I just didn't want to totally open up the whole area I think a gradual expand will not affect the deer too much.
Thanks, yeah well a person has to do what "feels right" for their specific area. I can get by with knocking out big plots because plain and simply we just have a lot of effin cover here, lol. We have more cover than food, for the most part so creating food plots at the loss of cover really isn't a concern for us. Now there are some big operators here that buy a farm and clean the brush off from one county road to the other...that is harsh and something I'd never do. There's nothing wrong with some little hidey hole plots back in the brush, I have a few of those as well, I'll try to take more pics of the plots and post them up this year.
Ya definitely keep us updated. The other reason I don't want to go too big too is that if any deer enters the food plot I have a shot at it. I feel if I went bigger I'm lowering my chances from my stand because the deer could be feeding out of range. Any way that's my train of thought. But you could also say the bigger the plot the more deer it can attract. So I guess we are good either way. I just like the whole process. It makes hunting an almost year round experience. It's also pretty cool to make deer habitat and watch them all year on the trail cameras.
That can definitely be a challenge of hunting larger plots. It doesn't bother me as I generally will never hunt directly over a plot anyway, I tend to hunt the travel routes to and from the plots and the staging areas. The deer are far more relaxed in those areas and things just always go smoother for me that way. Definitely adds another dimension to deer hunting!
Funny you say that because I've already scouted out a few trees to put a stand up on their trails to the food plot. The only problem is it's through a swamp and the trees aren't really the size you want to hang a stand on. Plus when the leaves fall off you are kind of out in the open. Weird thing too in 2012 I had about 10 decent bucks and a few younger ones and a ton of does visit the food plot last year I didn't get 1 buck on camera til mid December. I don't know if it was because I planted differently or what. But I def thought it was strange
I've had bucks pinpoint cameras and avoid them like a plague before, only catching slight glimpses of them in the distant background or the edge of the frame...so stuff like that can happen. I have encountered areas where there weren't suitable trees for stands before, a couple of times I have altered the trails with fallen brush and bulldozed piles to redirect the trails to better trees but that can be a challenge too. Of course small tucked away plots, hidey hole plots, are actually staging areas so your plot looks like it would be good to hunt over anyway. The plot I posted that pic of is actually about three hundred yards back in the brush and I cleaned it off with a dozer, I just made it good sized so that it would last longer, there is a crop field of 29 acres just outside the brush line but once it's harvested it's slim pickins until the cover crops establish in late October.
thanks for sharing the pics! Originally, Once you cleared the desired area, did you just rake the leaves away and till through the roots? and plant? im at the stage where all my trees are down, but the small undergrowth roots remain. I need to bring in a boatload of fill over the next year, but I do have 2 small areas for smaller size plot for this season....your making me think this CAN happen this season!
This exactly what I was thinking of doing when I started. Because after I cut down the trees and cleared the brush I blew the crap out of the area with a back pack blower. When I got to bare ground there was little to no soil at all basically all roots and rock. The dirt was there but if you dug it up it came out in clumps. Horrible planting conditions. After I got my soil test back I had to put down 400 lbs of lime and 200 lbs of fert. Then I roto tilled the crap out of it. The first time it was horrible. Anyone who has roto tilled before knows if you hit a root your going for a little ride ha ha. After tilling I had a bunch of buddies go in getting the rocks out and cutting the exposed roots. Last year I said no way an I doing that again and brought a bobcat in there with a Harley rake. Much better job and much easier And now this year I got a great ph level and I haven't even done anything to it yet. I got about 3 or 4" of loose soil now which is a huge upgrade from before. The biggest thing I would stress tho is the soil test no point in planting anything without it. The whitetail institute will tell you exactly what you need to put in the soil based off of what your planting.
gotcha! thanks for taking the time to explain it all to me! i think im going to stick to the original plan and wait till i get all my fill and loom next season! lol!! this has been a very informative read though, thanks again, and congrats on a great looking/working plot! Hope you nail a new England monstah!!!
No problem let me know what you end up doing I wouldn't be able to wait til next year ha ha I'm too addicted to it now. Just pretty cool when it comes all together at the end and the deer actually use it!!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
So I go in to check my trail cam on Monday and to my surprise my trail cam, feeder, and 2 tree stands are gone. Then I find a environmental police card stapled to a tree. So I'm pissed now and call him leaving a message to call me back. He calls me back an hour later and explains to me that my food plot is literally 5' into conservation land and can't be hunted on. He ended up being cool about it but it just sux because I never actually hunted over the plot it was always kind of a fall back plan if the other areas I hunt didn't produce. I'm meeting up with him tomorrow to get my stuff back and hopefully I can still maintain the food plot with no problems. He claimed he stumbled on it walking around but I think a neighbor ratted on me because it's not an area you stumble on it's surrounded by private homes on 3 sides with a huge swamp that I believed was the start of the conservation land. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Did he take the stuff off your land or was that on the conservation land? Kinda crappy but at least you get your stuff back
