Game Food Plots

[EddieWalker]

My food plot days have ended for this season. I was working on a 12 foot ladder on Sunday, had the ladder in a good spot against some T111 siding. I was putting in the last little piece for one wall. I reached to move the small strip of siding to the left and put in some deck screws. Well, I must have pulled too hard on the piece of siding. I pulled left, the ladder slid quickly to the right, and I have a quick trip to the ground. Landed on my feet, and thought things were ok until I put pressure on my right foot, and said "OUCH". Broken right leg, sprained left ankle, sore knees and a lot of damage to my pride and ego. I did not feel the that ladder was in an unsafe spot, I just did not work safely!

WOW. Real sorry to hear about your accident. Crazy how quickly something like that can happen. Hope you heal quickly and are able to at least get out there during deer season and sit a spell.

Can somebody else plant your food plot for you?

I'm still debating on what to plant this year. I've been trying the basics, but without any results. Wheat, Oats, Peas, Clover and turnips have all come in nice and thick, but none have brought in any deer. The few deer tracks that I do see in there are just going through, like the food plot was in the way of where they were going and not something that had any insterest for them. Heck, I'm overrun with hogs and they ignored the turnips too. I had HUGE turnimps last year that I just let go to seed and rot in the groud. Some were as big as grapefruits!!!!

I've read up on Chickory and Lab Lab, but haven't tried them yet. I'm thinking that this year, I'll buy both and plent them seperatly and see what happens. I'm also thinking about rye cereal, but couldn't find any last year. I might try another type of pea this year too.

Last week I sprayed my field with roundup and killed all the weeds and grass that had taken over. The forecast is 20% for rain every day this week with Saturday up to 30%. It's hit or miss. The storm cells are popping up, but isolated. A friend of a client got 3 inches on Sunday, less then ten miles from my place and I didn't get a drop.

I'm going to buy some 13-13-13 fertilzer and ag lime today and spread it, then disk it all in together. I'm not sure about the seed just yet, so that will be sometime this week.

Five years of food plots and I haven't found anything that the deer like.

Eddie

 

[gfrench]

Eddie
Im really surprised the deer are not hitting the oats. I started planting oats about 6 years ago, and wont plant anything else! They draw the deer in early in the season, and thenm again late in the season when the crops are all gone.
I put down some chicory at the same time.

 

[EddieWalker]

gfrench,

Where are you located? I'm in East Texas, also known as the Piney Woods area of Texas. It's thick, jungle with open pastures. Lots and lots of hogs, very few deer. Some get as big as 160, but most are killed long before then. There are new laws to protect them with antler restrictions, so I'm hopeful that will help.

I tried oats my first year and got nothing out of them. I have wondered if I had the wrong kind of oats, or if my soil wasn't amended properly and the oats didn't taste right for the deer.

At the feed store, where they sell dozens and dozens of types of seeds in bulk and by the pound, they told me that the biggest sellers for food plots are peas, oats, wheat, turnips and clover. I bought peas, turnips and clover. Still thinking about adding wheat and oats to the mix just in case.

I've read about chicory and lab lab, but never tried either. They said they used to carry both, but it didn't sell very well and they didn't carry it any more.

Eddie

 

[Boeing]

Don't know Texas....but in Virginia the deer go nuts over "Egyptian Oats" First time I had ever seen deer standing on their hind legs and pawing the oat heads over to get them down to eat. After that they graze every evening in Brassica.
My question is soil prep...I just bought some land and want to plant. Do I need a PTO rototiller or can a disk do it? (tillers are expensive) Right now I just have a box scrape with diggers and a bush hog....: and it's dry, dry, dry here too.

 

[sweettractors]

Don't know Texas....but in Virginia the deer go nuts over "Egyptian Oats" First time I had ever seen deer standing on their hind legs and pawing the oat heads over to get them down to eat. After that they graze every evening in Brassica.
My question is soil prep...I just bought some land and want to plant. Do I need a PTO rototiller or can a disk do it? (tillers are expensive) Right now I just have a box scrape with diggers and a bush hog....: and it's dry, dry, dry here too.

Roto tiller would be the best for the long haul. We sell the New 48 inch geardrive with slip clutch for $1495 + modest shipping (around $100 to Your area) Ken Sweet

 

[EddieWalker]

I was at Acadamy today and bought some oats. I figure that I'd rather give it another try then to not to and wonder if I should have.

Here's a few pictures of my food plot. I sprayed it with Roundup, spread my ag lime and fertilizer, disked it all in, then spread my sead and draged it smooth.

Now I'm waiting on rain.

Eddie

 

[doall]

eddie

You're in Texas, just dump corn on the ground or sweet potatoes. The deer will come. It's legal there right?

 

[EddieWalker]

Baiting is legal here. I've tried corn, but it doesn't grow very well, and what does grow tastes terrible. It just rots in place and nothing will touch it. I never thought about sweet potatoes. Are they a winter crop?

Eddie

 

[ChuckinNH]

Though we can buy seed for food plots here in the northeast there seems to be little that is actually good to grow here. I always put in some winter rye, and the deer usually love it in the spring when it is the first thing green, but of course that doesn't do much for hunting. This summer I put in buckwheat which did well, but the deer, and even turkeys didn't touch it at all. I've been a bit under the weather, but am ready to till in the buckwheat now, and have some winter rye seed to put down. Does anyone have any suggestions for what else might work for fall seeding in the NH area?

Thanks for starting this thread.......... interesting..

 

[sweettractors]

I was at Acadamy today and bought some oats. I figure that I'd rather give it another try then to not to and wonder if I should have.

Here's a few pictures of my food plot. I sprayed it with Roundup, spread my ag lime and fertilizer, disked it all in, then spread my sead and draged it smooth.

Now I'm waiting on rain.

Eddie

That is nice, That disc is doing the job fine. I sold those tractors at one time. They are good tractors. Ken Sweet