Deer Food Plots

[CWP37]

Anybody use a Plotmaster or something else to plant food plots for deer? How big? How much do the cost? How well do they work?

 

[ahvatsa]

Wanted to bump this thread and see if there are any current opinions. I too am looking at:
Kasco
Kasco.com website
Plotmaster 800
The Plotmaster™ - 800
any info/opinions appreciated!

 

[john_bud]

I'm sure they work fine. The $$$ is just crazy. $6999. Sort of a swiss army knife of implements. Does a lot of things, but none extremely well.

Plotmaster 800


You can do all that and more while still spending less if you buy a tiller, a cultipacker and a whirly bird spreader. Heck, you can buy a used 8' double gang disc, spring tooth harrow, a seed drill, cultipacker and still have enough money left over for a week long camping trip. (or to buy 9 ton of lime, 1 ton of 0,20,20 and 300# durana clover, 6 bu of oats, etc).

 

[erikharwell]

you could buy a very good shape no till drill for what one of those things cost. just a complete rip off.

 

[DaddyRabbit]

I have put down tons of deer plots and the main ingredients needed are
1) Round-up
1 week later
2) cultivator
3) tiller
4) fertilizer
5) lime
6) seed
Lets not forget the sweat equity as well. That plotmaster is not needed. Its also flimsy as ****. Hook on a good stump w/her atop your 50hp tractor and no more plotmaster.

 

[ustobefarmer]

I just ran my tiller through the plot twice and then sowed the seed on top. Every thing came up fine and looks okay.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Don't waste your time and especially money on the overpriced food plot planters on the market. They are just not heavy duty enough to do much good. You can buy a used tractor and used equipment at farm auctions and be far ahead of the game and much happier with the results.

 

[Foodplot]

Depends on what you mean by food plot. We drill CRP and CREP fields, so USDA specifies the seed mixes used to a great extent. Many of the species we put in are native grasses and forbs, and generally require some specialized equipment designed to plant small, fluffy seeds very shallowly. I prefer the Truax drills for this, but they're generally well out of the price range for individuals putting in a few acres ($12K up). Great pieces of equipment, though.
For small plots, one of the most important things to do is to get a good kill on the plants already there that may compete with your species. This often requires a couple of applications of herbicide, especially in the spring. I prefer to apply herbicide, reapply a few weeks later, turn the soil, then drill. Choice of herbicides depends on what's there. Generally glyphosate, 2,4-D and Plateau for us.

Good luck.

 

[john_bud]

What does plateau kill?

jb

 

[Colin Giersberg]

We have Summit's Plot Mule. It works okay, but you do have to make quite a few passes to break up the ground. It weighs around 450 pounds, and we pull it with a 400cc Honda Forman ATV. It does get tiresome going around in circles ( That is all that our foodplots allow. They are just not big enough to go in a straight line very long ), and I alternate my direction of travel just to rest my arms from the tight turns that I have to make. One problem is that the disked dirt piles up, making the ride bumpy. But by raising the disks until they just barely contact the ground, I can re-level the dirt to some extent.
It is very tough. We have run over small stumps, and too many rocks to count. Only problem that occured was when the nut came off of one of the axles, and the axle rotated out of alignment with another part,but with some finagling, I got it back together again. It is aggravating to ratchet the disks into and out of the ground, but they make a motorized attachment that should make it less of a hassle.
I do realize that this is a tractor forum, and tha ATV has no place here, but I finally convinced my wife that I needed a tractor to do the work. Right now, a local dealer is holding it for us until we get a storage building put up, after that, I can finally cut the grass out on the hunting land. I tried that with our Cub Cadet. Boy was that slow, but that is another story.I do hope to get a tiller to replace the plot mule.
We lucked out with the "Mule". Summit had just come out with it, and displayed it at a local outdoors event, so they gave us the show price. Being close to them too, doesn't hurt either.

Regards, Colin

 

[Bill Barrett]

Join pheasents forever for 30.00 bucks or so and use the chapters equipment for free.

 

[ahvatsa]

Wow! Great replys. Thanks all. I have decided to order a Woods Super-Duty SGT 88 tiller. I was VERY impressed with the 840 Brushbull cutter delievered today. I am a little surprised at the lack of positive feedback (plotmaster). I will pass for now, again, thanks all who replied. Spent 6 hrs. on a M6040 and had a blast. Hate to rate after a few hours but it was flawless. The ATI 4in1 is everything I hoped for. Pulled 30 old post 3-4' deep. Dozer function with 4wd easily handled 4-5" cuts in clay. Doesn't feel like 55hp PTO, but I am a newby. I believe we made an excellent choice. The Armstrong HBB7 box blade may be a little light...we shall see...will post pics soon.
al

 

[Foodplot]

What does plateau kill?

jb

Plateau (from BASF) is specific to cool-season grasses, such as fescue, bluegrass, orchardgrass, etc.

 

[N80]

I've had good luck on small food plots with nothing but my boxblade. It is far from ideal and I'd hate to have to make a living on what I've grown, but the plots are growing stuff. I hope to get a disk one day, but for now its all BB. No way I'd spend the money on one of those do-it-all contraptions.

 

[Cidertom]

Deer food plot = Family garden

Deer food plot = Horse feeder

Sorry, I just had to

 

[ahvatsa]

"Deer food plot = Horse feeder"
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In south Texas = Hog feeder

 

[john_bud]

Plateau (from BASF) is specific to cool-season grasses, such as fescue, bluegrass, orchardgrass, etc.

Ahhh, I've been using Poast Plus (sethoxidim) and have been getting good results on grasses. It is sprayable over pines (which are young and boarder several plots.


What I need is a clover friendly killer of broadleaf weeds. 2-4-DB maybe??

jb

 

[Foodplot]

Ahhh, I've been using Poast Plus (sethoxidim) and have been getting good results on grasses. It is sprayable over pines (which are young and boarder several plots.


What I need is a clover friendly killer of broadleaf weeds. 2-4-DB maybe??

jb

An MCPA-based herbicide, maybe, for use on NEWLY established mixed grass/clover/alfalfa pastures. MCPB is also up for EPA approval and is widely used on pastures in New Zealand. They have Select (NOT the same as our Select), which is a mix of MCPA & MCPB. MCPA is easy on small grains, too.
Since we've moved from 2,4-DB esters to amines, I don't think they're quite as effective, but may be your only reasonable option.

 

[Greyfields]

I'm not sure exactly what a "deer plot" is; except I live on an island with the Lower Columbia White Tail deer. They are a federally endangered species. Therefore, their "food plot" is anything they **** well feel like. 8' high fences is about all you can do to keep them out of your vegetable garden... and then they just eat the bark off your trees in the winter killing them!

I just wanted to comment that I picked-up a new Tye 64" 8 row w/8" spacing seed drill. It's called the "Estate Series". You can even go down to 48" wide planter with 6 or 8" spacing. They cost under 3k and can be 3-point or drawn. I went with 3 point. I'm considering putting down an acre of fodder beets and open polinated corn for animal food during the winter. Except, I have no freaking clue how to grow field crops. Well, it's more the weeding/harvesting I'm worried about.

 

[bucmeister]

Greyfields,

Any links to the Tye company?