I have gotten permission to hunt a small 10 acre lot that a buddy of mine owns. The property is almost completely woods with some woods and farm fields surrounding it on 3 sides with a major road on the 4th side. The property is extremely promising with many known deer taken in the area with several well over 170 last year. Speaking to my buddy he said I am more then welcome to put in a food plot in a spot that his brother had one a few years back. From the sounds of it the food plot will be about a qtr-half acre. I have zero experience doing this and don't know where to even begin. I will have to do this all by hand with the exception of the mowing with a tractor if it is needed which sounds like it will be. I have so many questions I don't know where to start. Any tips you all can provide will be so helpful!!!
Information about what the ground looks like now and what equipment you have access to will help. You wanna do something easy just scratch up the ground best you can and plant some oats mid to late summer and you'll have an awesome forage plot. If you want stuff like brassicas, peas, beans, and other assorted goodies you will need a soil sample and have to work lime and fertilizer into your ground and also do weed control. Your soil will need lime and fert........don't piss your money and time away skipping these steps. I am far from an expert but that is what I have absorbed so far. Plan your seeding for a wet week and don't forget to roll your seed to just barely pack it into the soil. Fertilize when you seed because you want the nutrients up where the plants can get it. The guy who does plots by us ran a 2 bottom plow on untouched soil full of grass and golden rod and then returned with a disc a couple weeks later to grind up the soil some more and kill any weed sprouts. He spread about 4 tons of ag lime per acre and worked that into the soil. Few weeks later he ran a big tiller on the soil to make it silky soft and then spread seed and fertilizer packing it down with a cultipacker. His plots are freaking beautiful and hold deer all season.
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fjprw/downloads/6089.pdf There's some really good information in here for starting out. It gives you quite a bit of basic info and explains things. It helped me learn a few things starting out. Whitetail Institute has some really good information available, too. Good luck
Thanks for all the info!! Gonna be out at the property in a few days and will be doing alot more research about the plot that I can put in. I am really excited to finally get to put in a plot regardless of the size!
If the area is weedy and grassy the first thing I would do is spray it with Round UP or some cheaper generic brand. This stuff will nuke whatever is growing and make the ground much easier to work after everything is dead. Otherwise a lot of the plants will resprout after the first rain.
Thanks for the tip John! I haven't seen the exact plot site yet but I know my buddies brother once had a food plot in it but sounds like it has been a few years. I am gonna take some stuff with me next week and assume that I will need to spray. Sure it is totally overgrown and needs to be mowed and sprayed. Like I said I am going to have to do this entire thing by hand unless I can find someone in the area with some equipment. Will probably look into that once I get a better idea of the size of it and the current condition.
I would go with clover. You probably wont need a soil test if they farm around the property. but you could do one if you wanted to. I second the round up application. Kill it off, then you could literally broadcast the clover a few hours before a rain storm. the rain will set the clover seed into the ground. you familar with midwest whitetail, Bill winke has been doing a small plot with hand tools. check those videos out, you will gain some knowledge from them. http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/gallery/117/media/4146/midwest-whitetails-latest-show.html
Thanks for the link pastorandrew. I have seen other videos simular but that is a good one. Maybe I will have to do a burn saturday!!! Love playing with fire! Sure I won't but wishful thinking I guess! LOL
Thanks for the link. I would mow, let the stuff come up and hit it with round up. Might need another spraying. Good luck and keep us updated.
