Not a problem...I'm happy I contained myself....when I get talking about plots or land/habit type work I usually talk way way too much!
Heres what im thinking for next year. Yellow=egyptian wheat Green=food plot Brown= fences Red= killing blinds and stand!!!!!!
Looks good, I would put a six foot strip of egyptian wheat down the right side of that southeast corner plot, then you could get to the bow stand even if deer are feeding in the plot and they would never know you came in there. also will help you with exit at night without spooking deer off plot. Deer love red wheat. white wheat or bearded wheat not so much. I try to find a farmer with red wheat and buy a few bushels off him at harvest every year. then fertilizer. if you don't fertilize it well it can be bitter. imagine mashed potatoe's with out salt, pepper and sour cream. bland not flavorful. This is what plants that don't have proper fertilizer are, bitter. when they have fertilizer and lime they are sweet. Literally, pull out a leaf on a brassica when it is a few weeks old and taste it, if its sweet the deer will hammer it, if bitter not so much. when I first started food plotting I didn't take the time to put down lime a fertilizer, the plants were always bitter. Then I realized if i took the time paid the price and did it right they are really sweet almost like candy. the deer pound them now. Looks awesome!
I plant egyptian wheat in mid to late may. use Urea fertilizer, its 46-0-0. plant ata rate of 10 pounds to acre. I put 15 pounds on a strip that was 6 feet wide and 1200 yards in length total. then spread 100 pounds of Urea on it. Worked good. Urea is around 25.00 for 50 pound bag. egyptian wheat is 1.75 a pound. So I put in 3/4 of a mile of screen for around 75.00 well worth it to me! Brassicas, I plant in fourth week of July, use 300 pounds of 19-19-19 per acre. that equals out to about 120 an acre in fertilizer, the seed for one acre will cost about 20. So brassicas cost about 175.00 an acre to plant after gas for quad of tractor, and round up to kill weeds in advance. remeber an acre is 44,000 square feet. so to figure your needs range width and depth of plot times them the times it by 9. that gives you total square feet. divide that by 43,560 and you have you plot size. example plot is 30 yards x 40 yards. 30 x40 = 1200 1200 x 9 (number of square feet in a square yard) = 9800 then take 9800 divide it by 43560 = .2249 meaning the plot size is just under a quarter acre. SO then the plot would need 1.75 pounds of seed, and roughly a bag and a half of 19-19-19. I know you didn't ask for all that but I hope it is helpful.
Ok here I go again, On the top there are a lot of deer and many great bucks, but they never want to come across the fence on to our side. How should I make a food plot or whatever to get them to come across?
I have done food plots in a couple areas. One regularly has soybean crops growing nearby. In that area, I have never had food plot soybeans do well and attract much. Clover, ryegrass, brassica and turnips worked much better as a mix, planted in late July early August. In the spring the clover continues to grow, but not much else. The deer do eat it in the spring. It is a similar look to your plot on the north side. I would place minerals (Deer Cain works for me) to pull those bucks over the fence, literally 10 yards over the fence. Somewhere with an opening near the heaviest cover. Use something with some molasses in it or some other attractant to start it going fast. Directly south of that (still north of field) is where I would place a kill plot using the above. Shape it like an upside down T, with the _ part near or on the field edge. The _ part could be a square plot. The best spot will depend on where the bucks come from, but speaking from a "feeling secure" standpoint, the NE corner of the field may be best. Make any sense?
Is it or is it not illegal to place any kind of mineral/feed/bait anywhere on a property for deer hunting purposes outside of 24 hours prior to the season and the closing day of the season in Wisconsin? Not saying I agree with it but you gotta be careful when doing any kind of baiting (Deer Cain is nothing more than that as it's like 90% salt) because we're choosing to play the game and the rules are the rules.
Yes, the law is no placement before the first day of a deer season, such as 24 hours before bow. The minerals can be placed legally, may actually be placed after the plot is planted to follow the laws. Of course, part of the state allows no feeding at all. There is no requirement to remove it. Personally, I start new mineral sites in the fall by burying a block of deer cain or another mineral. The winter snows and thaws help them seep into the surrounding soil. Once the season begins the following year, I pour deer cain and water over the site, then top with standard deer mineral (deer cain, like you said, is mainly different salts and not much nutrition, but they LOVE it). I use minerals with some molasses mixed in. Doing this near the food plots seems to help the deer find them sooner, especially by plots that are being used to draw animals as they may be in an area the deer had not frequented before.
