deer plot/plots???

[Boeing]

Friends and fellow hunters....
I have about 3 acres on a mountain top that is a field. The rest of my land is woods. Surrounding properties are all forest too. There are about 3 small, grassy areas available. One borders a nice creek, another is the junction of 4 logging trails and the third is just below my mile long drive and gets it's runoff.
Here are the questions....the three acres on top is almost equally divided with clover on the west half and plain old rye grass on the east half. I get some deer on the clover side and occassionally turkeys buggin' in the rye grass. Should I "roundup" the rye side, plow, disk, lime and seed for deer? And what would I plant? The clover doesn't do that good on the mountain top....very little moisture. I read that chickory might do better with little moisture. a few rains, thunderstorms and dew is all it ever gets.

Those small grassy areas.....same questions, if it's growing grasses well; it SHOULD grow deer food.....but are these areas too small to be worth the trouble? (15yds X40 yds by the creek) (12ydsX 80 yds along the logging trails) and the adjacent to road area is about 20X20 yds. They have fairly moist soil as they are lower than the surrounding woods.
What would I plant? Clover again? How about DIFFERENT foods in the different spots? Turnips, Beans, Brassicas? Again, being so small, will they get wiped out before they even grow anything?

So far I've made trails, limed, seeded, mowed the top field and photographed all sorts of game but not taken the time to hunt at all. I'm the CARETAKER for the animals property.....

 

[forgeblast]

You could look at stock seed company they have a bunch of different wildlife food plot seeds mixes.

 

[Boeing]

Thanks Jeff,
I like your hobby/shop link. Are you the Etsy shop "spinning top" guy too?
My main question about the food plots is concerning the three little pieces of land where the grasses are doing so well. Deer pretty much leave grass alone.....if I replaced the grasses with turnips or brassica or even clover are the plots too small to even get a chance to grow or will the deer wipe it out as it comes out of the ground?

 

[forgeblast]

There is a way to keep them out of it. If you put in fiberglass posts and fishing line, it will keep them out. My plots are smaller plots that I put in that way due to the deer destruction. I would say they are 10' wide by 20' long. I put fishing line and then long streamers of flagging to remind the deer they are there. I then take it down when they are ready.
I have seen my neighbor try to put in a food plot and watched it eaten to the ground before it was up.
Smaller food plots will still bring them in. You do want to watch if you have a lot of turkeys, they will eat the seed before its in. I threw some straw down after i did a few plots.
For the clover I planted this year Its already coming up.
No I don't do any turning yet, I am still fine tuning my pole lathe, thanks for checking out the link.

 

[Ted Summey]

For small plots I've had the best luck with a mixture of turnips, kale and rape. Don't buy a food plot mix when you can go to the feed store and buy equal parts.

The small plots should do well with the brassicas above. I use a double electric fence to keep the deer out until I want them to have the plot. My double fence is constructed using poly rope type electric fence. The inside is two strands one at about 12 inches and one at about 36 inches. The outside fence is a single strand at about 24". The two fences are about 3 feet apart.

I first saw this fence used by Dr. Grant Wood, aka "the deer doctor". I use a 12 v battery charger for the fence. Not a single deer bothers my plots until I am ready for them to get them.

The double fence works because the deer have poor depth perception and won't jump it. The electricity keeps them from crawling under it or walking through it. Make sure you use a charger that is rated to contain a bovine bull and it will keep deer out.

Here is a photo of one of my plots last July. It was forage soybeans and they grew to 72" tall before I let the deer in.

 

[CliffordK]

My deer love my orchard.
Apples, Plums, etc.

They also seem to be pretty good at pruning some younger trees, and stripped the leaves from my grapes and raspberries.

I consider them as worm control in my orchard, so I don't mind them too much there, but I do try to use an electric fence around the stuff where I don't want them.

 

[Arrow1]

The clover doesn't do that good on the mountain top....very little moisture. I read that chickory might do better with little moisture. a few rains, thunderstorms and dew is all it ever gets.


I have had great luck with a chickory/clover blend. Last year was very dry here. My plot is in the sun most of the day in the shadows in the am. The clover went dormant and the chickory looked great. Chickory has a deep tap root like a dandelion. I like that I don't have to replant every year also.

 

[forgeblast]

Nice Plot Ted!!!

 

[Ted Summey]

Thanks. I keep the fence on the plot until about 10 days before bow season comes in.

 

[CliffordK]

Ted, so you are using your plot to bait the deer for hunting?

I suppose I just allow the deer to share some of my property. A bit different concept. It might not be a bad idea to build a safe sanctuary during hunting season, but at least around here, the deer roam from place to place.

 

[fordmantpw]

Ted, so you are using your plot to bait the deer for hunting?

I suppose I just allow the deer to share some of my property. A bit different concept. It might not be a bad idea to build a safe sanctuary during hunting season, but at least around here, the deer roam from place to place.

The deer will roam from place to place, but they like their food, and they will spend more time in areas with lots of food (and water). Not to mention, a good diet for deer will provide healthier, stronger deer with larger racks. Of course, roping the plot off until the season starts won't help much with the larger racks, but will draw them in to a new source of food.

 

[Ted Summey]

Yes in NC it is legal to use bait to attract deer. I use my food plots to draw deer to my hunting areas.

 

[fordmantpw]

Yes in NC it is legal to use bait to attract deer. I use my food plots to draw deer to my hunting areas.

Here in MO, it is illegal to bait, but food plots are OK since they are "permanent bait" (not sure the exact wording used).

 

[whistlepig]

I planted Ladino clover. No Roundup. Have horses and wife doesn't allow chemicals. Had soil test done. PH was OK as is. No lime needed. It was pure Fescue sod. Disked the ground. Smoothed ground with a chain harrow. With tines down on harrow. Fertilized. Soil test will tell you what fertilizer to use. Let the fertilizer set a bit then seed. Chain harrow again with tines up. Tines up on the harrow mixes the seed in the soil. I then rolled over the seed with roller to insure seed contact with the soil. It grew a mega crop of clover. These planting methods are from the Whitetail Institute. Pics from my game camera on this plot proved that this was well worth the effort.

 

[yomax4]

After years of trying different foods, I think Ladino Clover and Chickory are the big draw for MN. Deer.(Bow Hunting) Other types of clover are ok and the Turkey's like the Ladino flowers too. I had red clover on one plot and the deer would walk through it to get to the ladino/chickory. Rape,Turnips,Beets,Lab/Lab are all good as well but not so much until the 1st frost. I plant them too and the deer walk through them to get to the clover. Don't get me wrong, They eat a little bit of the tops but day in and day out, Trail cameras prove that in my area, deer like the Ladino version of clover the best at least until it freezes. (Bow Hunt the clover/Gun Hunt the Turnip stuff ) Crimson is great clover too but it's an annual. Ladino will go 3+ years and is very hardy. Chichory can re-seed but usually the deer chow on it and if it does flower, They love them too. I buy both ladino and chickory at a regular farm seed dealer. Way less than white institute stuff and works just as well. I have tried them all. Good Luck.

 

[forgeblast]

I find the clover works best also. I read somewhere that white clover will really help with antler development.

 

[vabiker23518]

Ted, so you are using your plot to bait the deer for hunting?

I suppose I just allow the deer to share some of my property. A bit different concept. It might not be a bad idea to build a safe sanctuary during hunting season, but at least around here, the deer roam from place to place.

Guess it depends on the state. Virginia states food plots are NOT baiting. Baiting is considered as putting out cracked corn, salt licks, etc. In other words, if the "food" is there for the entire season, its not baiting. If you throw it out and then hunt, it's baiting. Maybe Oregon is different?

 

[Ted Summey]

We have white clover growing all over our farm so that's not much of a draw. Like posted above, the red clover isn't much draw either. The forage soybeans are the best thing I've found besides sweet corn and sweet potatoes.

For rack building I plant forage oats and clover together in the late summer and early fall and provide mineral licks in the late winter and spring. This combination along with the soybeans seems to produce healthy deer with larger racks. Last year there were 2 bucks over 200 pounds harvested here. One was a nine point one was a ten.

 

[PAGUY]

Feeding deer with food plots is one thing. Hunting over food plots is baiting in my mind. My state (Pennsylvania) also allows hunting over food plots and the only place you can hunt over bait is in southern wildlife management areas of the state.

Common sense is no longer common. :thumbdown:

 

[fordmantpw]

So if you hunt near a farmer's corn or bean field, is that baiting?
If you hunt near a spring or creek, is that baiting?

For those reason, I haven't seen anywhere that considers hunting near food plots as baiting.