I guess we consider these more 'kill plots' than food plots since we only have 19 acres of river bottom timber. We are surrounded on two sides by the river, one side by corn and the other by soybeans. This is our third year of these plots. So far, I've shot 2 bucks, my wife 1 buck and my oldest son 1 buck out of these plots. Very happy with how they are turning out this year. I know it seems crazy having 3 'plots' on 19 acres, but with 3 of us all hunting at the same time, we have to do everything we can to be successful. Season is a week away!! Main Plot Main Plot from Stand Small Plot Small Plot from Stand And a Mini Plot we are trying this year
The Main and Small plots were planted with Whitetail Institute's Imperial Winter Greens and Imperial Winter Peas. The Mini plot was planted with Evolved Habitats Throw-n-Gro X-Treme Oats. The Winter Peas are really taking off. We've never planted them before.
How in the world have you gotten it to grow that well with that heavy of a canopy over head...Or it looks like it has a heavy canopy, is there Sun shining in on these spots for the most part.... Thanks for your time Creeks!
Awesome! I live in Warrensburg, just hit me up with an address and i will help you get ride of the deer that try and eat your hard work haha...but seriously.....
We dropped a couple of trees in both plots to open up about 2-3 hours of sunlight a day. We also did a lot of hinge cutting with the smaller trees around them a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, our land has flooded at least once each year since which really hurt the hinge cuts and even swept some of them away. We've tried throw and grow in the two bigger plots before and it didn't take so we used a small garden tiller and tilled it up this year. The results are great so far.
That's what I do with the garden tiller..... once you have it tilled up, do you smooth it out before you throw seed on it...or do you just let it be as it is from tilling and throw seed on top of it.....Did you do a PH of the soil, did you fertilzer, lime, etc....Sorry for the questions, but I would love to get my plot coming in as full as yours....Just curious of the steps you took.. Thanks for your time and knowledge Creeks!
Creeks, Once tilled, we didn't do anything else to the soil. We put down the fertilizer and seed and let it be. A big part of it was we watched the forecast and waited for there to be a really good chance of rain in the next couple of days after planting. We let the rain implant the seeds down into the soil. As far as pH testing, we did that a couple of years ago and it was fine. We rolled the dice this year without one and I think it worked out. Even though the annual flood is a pain (we've actually lost trail cameras), I think it helps the soil somehow but I'm no expert. Here is a picture of the 'Main' food plot 2 years ago under water. This is the last picture the trail camera took before going under water.
It appears like the deer are liking our foodplots. Maybe a little too much. I don't think there is going to be much left for much longer I'm just glad that they have taken to the plots so well. Here is what's left of our small plot Here is a trail cam pic of a "Doe Party" happening in this same plot
Watched the does come in and, from the way it appeared, pick out just the winter peas and eat them. They were very particular about what they grabbed. They must be sweet or something. Will definitely add more of those next fall.
So far we they haven't really hit our plot yet. Not sure of exactly how many deer are in our are. We've had a couple of decent frosts, 30 degrees. Nothing lower than that yet. But from what I've seen peas have been what they have been feeding on.
Ours weren't getting hammered real hard either. We still have some bean fields around that haven't been taken out yet. They should be gone soon though. Then I'm guessing they will hit the plots harder. They were definitely just using ours as staging and snacking.
