First Time Food Plotter

After watching a lot of the bow hunting shows they seem to hunt over or near a lot of food plots. It has me extremely interested in putting some one my farm. To give yall a little insight on the farm we plant beans and corn, mostly beans since the soy is pretty harsh and the corn doesn't do as well as for the northern farmers. I feed shelled corn and have mineral licks for deer there. Usually after the fields are harvested the deer change their patterns up and eat mostly white-acorns in the woods but this season we had an extremely wet spring which in return produced no acorns for the fall. So, the deer continually were coming to the fields after harvest eating whatever they could but mostly staying around my corn piles. I would like to produce a green crop of some sort (not sure what yet) for the fall and winter months for the deer. Early season is not a problem because the deer already come to my bean fields. Right now I am in the process of clearing out the north part of a clear-cut on my property which has a lot of vines and briers in it, i'm using the old trusty machete to do all this clearing but figure there can be a easier way with maybe some spray and then burning it after its dead. As anyone used any specific spray killer to get rid of thick brush? Secondly, would pouring gasoline/motor-oil on the area and then setting it on fire effect my food plot?

The first food plot will have plenty of sunlight, harsher soil and closer to the deer bedding area. I will be checking the pH level of the soil and possibly adding more soil to this patch to get a more desired outcome but for now it's sandy.

The second food plot will have minimal sunlight, better soil conditions and a little further from the deer bedding area but only 30 yards from one of my fields. I have a mineral lick here and would like to put in a food plot that would compliment a later season hunt, there are numerous white oaks around as well so the deer already make this area a later season routine.


Keep in mind, I live in the eastern part of the Piedmont of North Carolina, November and December do not get seriously cold here, we're lucky to get snow fall in January and February.
I hope to find helpful information through this thread from others trial and error...any ideas or knowledge is always welcome.

I'll try to have pictures up tomorrow to give yall a better idea of what the areas look like.

 

Okay I finally go time to snap some pictures and upload them... So basically we're dealing with a lot of brush and vines. For ease of simplicity i'll take it step by step and hopefully give the opportunity for experts in a certain process to chime in...

 

Here's an over head view to help show...Green arrows shows deer patterns that i've noticed during early season. Later season is a little different but not much...

 

This food plot is meant to be a later season hunt...I'll stay out of this area until post-rut. The reason i've put it so close to the houses is because the deer seem to feel somewhat safe around there in the late season and run around up there. So i'm hoping to find a mature buck slipping by from bedding to feeding after rut.

The first step in my process...get rid of all these vines and thorns...has anyone used any sprays such as round-up prior to planting that doesn't have an effect on the plot once i plant?

 

Crossbow. Works on broadleaves and brush.

 

Thanks ARob, looking that up right now.

 

If you can get access to a small tractor and boxblade would be good. I done an are back in the river bottoms here in Illinois where I live that had thick brush,weeds and vines growing. I took the boxblade on the 3 pt hitch and adjusted the bar to where the spikes on the bowblade were angled down more to dig into the ground.It pulled out the vines and small brush and once it did that I pushed the piles that had collected under the boxblade off to the side of where I put my food plot. You can then adjust the box blade back level and will help smooth out the food plot. I have planted oats, winter wheat, clover, turnips or radishes and has worked very good for me.

 

Thanks for the idea, i'll try to do that. We have a box blade and tractor to use. Hard enough getting the tractor from the main farm here (20 miles) but every once in a while we'll bring it over. Hopefully i can talk the family into it. I mean, deer hunting is pretty important!

Also, i've thought about turnips and radishes to plant...but I live in eastern NC, our soil is pretty sandy. Must folks i see that plant that kind of crop is the north and midwest. Any experience with the growth of these plants in harsher conditions?

 

You don't have too harsh conditions to grow turnips and radish if you can grow corn and beans.

I'd just back a brush hog type mower in that plot and clean out all the stuff under 2" diameter. Larger stuff can be cutoff at ground level (and fight sprouts and stumps with spray) or doze them out or pull them out.

Personally, from your overhead view....I'd plant a screen between your field and that house to the west(?) Then I'd utilize the field edges after row crop harvest for food plot and mix crimson clover, winter rye, turnips and radish. In fact I'd just plant the entire field in it and use it as a winter cover crop...it's great for soil health anyway. Come spring, I'd just roundup it and no-till through it.

 

I'm going to try and plant clover on the edges of the field this year, problem being its extremely sandy in some spots (nothing will grow) but in the grassy spots i'll through some clover down.

Question about the winter cover crop...when are you saying to plant the winter rye, turnips and radish in the field?...after my harvest of corn/beans?

 

Yes, after harvest of corn and beans, obviously the faster you can get the crop in and harvested to speed up the winter cover turn around, the better. Obviously I'm not too familiar with your part of the country so I'm not sure what your time table is or your weather but all those species are pretty winter hardy and can go in pretty late. I try to get them planted here by middle to the end of October. If your climate is more mild (I assume it is) then you're probably good up into November.

The problem with sand is little to no organic matter and water retention also nutrient leaching away, the longer you no-till and more diverse crops you grow...the more improved the sand will become and the more friendly it'll get towards growing plants. You'll have to adjust the PH and fertilize well to start with. Then you could try the Crimson clover, rye, brassicas, winter pea. In addition you can try something like delar small burnett seed from Welters Seed company:
Welter Seed & Honey Co. >> Delar Small Burnett
It's a non-native species so you'd need to check your state for any restrictions on it's use.

Beyond that there's also chicory, or even birdsfoot trefoil that you could try. Also there are ploymers that can be added to sandy types of soils that absorb and release water/nutrients that could potentially fix the immediate problems with sand but I've not used them and don't have a lot of info on them. Beyond that you can add poultry litter to the sandy spots in pretty high volume to get a jump start on the process.

 

Thanks for the information. I really want to try to plant brassicas in the food plots but i like your idea for a winter cover crop of rye, clover or winter pea. I have 10 yard wide buffer area around my field that seperates it and the woods that I plant to plant with clover or rye.

Thanks for the idea's yall. Keep them coming!

Also, does anyone have any experience with using any crops that can grow in wooded areas? In my upper fields (not on the aerial shot) I plant to put a "staging" area in the woods...only problem is it probably will only get a couple hours of sunlight a day. I would love to also plant brassicas or turnips to give the deer something different to eat but if that's not possible what other foods are excellent for shaded growth?

 

Chris, something you may want to try is planting buckwheat in late spring and then mowing it down and tilling it in the late summer. By doing this it will provide food and nutrition to the deer during the summer and when its tilled into the ground it provides what is called "green manure" and puts nutrients back into the ground, acting like a natural fertilizer. In sandy soils I read that you need to provide "green manure" to help put nutrients into the soil and provides better water retention in the soil. By doing this with buckwheat, oats or clover will help. Just remember it may take years to improve poor soil quality up to snuff,
"so to speak", but by doing a little bit every year your food plots will get better and better each year. I would do a soil test to test the nutrients and ph levels and see where your at now and go from there.

As far as shady areas, I would recommend Ladino clover or some other form of clover maybe mixed with some chicory and turnips. Clover does put nitrogen back in the soil. I have a 3/4 acre L shaped food plot back in the woods, most of it runs a North/South direction with the other part runs a East/West direction, which that part gets the less sunlight. I have had about 1/2 acre in nothing but clover for the past two years and the other 1/4 acre I plant in the fall with oats, wheat and turnips. This year I'm going to rotate the crops and plant clover in the 1/4 part and the fall food plot in the other 3/4. The soil quality and plots are looking better each year.

Good luck man!

 

Great, so certain clover and turnips will work great in shady areas, that's exactly what i needed to know. This food plot will probably be more in the shade than good but i'm willing to try it how...never know until you try.

 

Also, doing some trimming with a pole saw around the edges of the plot on some overhanging branches will help with more sunlight.

 

Saturday is going to be the first sunny day in over 2 weeks so i'll be able to get out and continue working on the food plots. I'll take more pictures as the process continues!

 

Update on how the food plot is going...taking longer than I was initially expecting because of the weather not cooperating. The food plot will be about half an acre. Half of the brush is removed now.

 

Looking good Chris, looks like a good place for a plot.

 

Thanks Rogers, the west side is a 5 year old pine thicket, the south is more clear cut and then eventually opens up to a field and then the rest of it is surrounded by a 5 year old clear cut. There is enough cover around that hopefully the big boys will feel comfortable eating out of it. I'll stay out of it and hunt it for a late season hunt.

 

Got an update on the food plot...slow coming, but sometimes steady wins the race (hope that applies to food plots)






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