Deer Food Plots - Buck Forage Oats

November 28 in Michigan, and these oats (www.buckforageoats.com) are still green after repeated hard frost. This is a great hunting food plot selection. They love it. Broadcast 50#/acre Aug 15 and drag with a fence or roll/cultipack. Fertilizer not necessary.

Fall Update-Turnips

The rape / turnips mixture I put down in August is coming along nicely. Here's an example of what I found today. The deer are hitting the rape quite a bit, as I see a lot of tracks. Once the frost hits, they'll be on it more as it sweetens. Let's go hunting!

Note-contrary to what most vendors and feed stores tell you, now is not the time to put down minerals. Deer mineral use is heaviest March-Oct. They will use it Oct-Mar, but far less. Antlers are 50% protein, 50% minerals. By now they're already formed.

Growth Report - Extreme

The Extreme mix is coming in nicely also. I'm noticing the chicory (smooth long oval leaves) is very hearty, the small burnett (jagged edged leaves) is somewhat slower.

This should provide lush forage for years.

The weeds are there also, as I couldn't hit the plot with Roundup. My bad. Hopefully the weeds die out after the frost, and next year I can hit them with Slay if needed.

Growth Report - Rape

It's been 5 weeks since planting. The rape/turnips mix is coming in nicely.

The deer will likely stay away from it since it's not very tasty until the first frost hits.

Planting time pics, news on turnips/rapeseed

Here's a few pics of the field now that the Extreme is in. I also put in an acre of turnips/rapeseed. Turnips will grow well in poor soil, and provide a good food source well into the winter here in MI. An acre can produce 20,000 lbs of forage! The rapeseed produces a good green crop for hunting season. Both are high in protein, and are highly desired by deer. We got a great dousing of rain, so I'm hoping that this crop really produces...

Fall planting time

It's time to plant in Michigan. Yesterday I finished disking an acre, ran a cultipacker over it to firm it up, then put down the Extreme seed from the Whitetail Institute. I also put down some oats, just as an added attractant this hunting season. That will die off after a hard frost. I put down 400# of 16-16-16 fertilizer, and then ran the culitpacker over it again. The seed is nicely covered with just a little soil, perfect. Now all I can do is wait for rain. The forecast doesn't look very promising. But cooler temps are coming, so that's good for the seed.

Holy cow is it hot. It was 95 and humid yesterday here in Michigan. Suffice it to say, green stuff struggles. Our yard is toast, my field is brown and dead. Clovers, at this point, are likely dormant, or about to go there. Which begs the question-is it important to have a food source in the summer?

I think it is important for this reason-it gives the deer a place to feed and it keeps them in your area. If you only have a cold weather crop, you may miss a key attractant during bow and gun season. It's important to have both, if you can, simply because of the fact that you want deer in and around your hunting zone as much as possible. By giving them a consistent forage year-round, you ensure that they are in your area and this means you will increase your odds of hunting success.

The great thing about mid to late summer, is that even the weeds get stressed out and die. Now is the time to disc your land, and think about your fall planting schedule. August 15 is my target here to put in my batch of Extreme and also a turnip and brassica mix, yet un-named. It's time to start practicing your bow shooting skills, and getting your gun in order...Less than 90 days and bow season opens...that is not much time.

Summer Mowing

Summer is here and I’d like to say that I underestimated the power of mowing. With annual weeds, if you cut them off before they seed, you safely eliminate them from returning to your plot. This means that you can make a huge dent in weed problems in your plots just by hitting it with the brushog or mower. It also means no chemicals, spraying, etc. It’s a much more natural method of weed control, and very effective.

Don’t mow on very hot days, or if no rain is predicted, as it can be overly stressful on your plot plants.

You’ll likely notice that as we head into full summer, your clovers will tend to go dormant. Not a problem, as there is plenty of other forage out there for our whitetail friends. This is a good time to see if your plot is producing as you want, and assess if you should re-think your plans. Now is also a good time to begin disking, twice a month, for a fall planting, if you decide to re-do your plot.

Spring Update

It's May 23, and everything is green, including the weeds. My food plot is not doing as good as I had hoped. Last fall, around September 15, I put down the Alfa-Rack product from the WhiteTail Institute. We had a lot of rain, but the temperatures were quite cool following the seeding and the germination appeared to have failed. I did not fertilize, however, and should have. Today, I can say that I have about 40% germination. The rest is broadleaf weeds. I have virtually no field grass type weeds. The good news is that the weeds are likely annuals, and mowing (with my brushog) should keep the seed tops cut off, thus causing the plants to die off this fall after frost.

While I didn't get a full germination, I am going to leave this plot alone, and care for it in hopes that it flourishes. I will likely do an overseeding this fall to fill in the areas that are sparse. I did put down 6-24-24 fertilizer yesterday, about 100 lbs/acre. Using an Earthway spreader is a pure joy. My Model 2150 is built like a rock and performed flawlessly. I even put down some 12-12-12 just because I wanted to get rid of it(and use the 2150).

I am now clearing an area that is about an acre in size. I put Roundup on it yesterday to kill off the native grasses. I will re-apply any areas that I missed in a month or so. Then we'll disk it every 2 weeks through the summer, incorporate (by disking) ag-lime at #3200/acre to bring the PH up from 5.5 to something closer to 7. PH is the most critical element. Low PH encourages weeds and clover crops require a good sweet soil, as close to 7 as possible. This fall, we'll put down some brassica mix, likely turnips and winter wheat or rye. That will give the deer forage through the winter. Then, in the spring, we'll disk that under in early June to help build our soil, and plant buckwheat for our warm weather crop. Check back later for an update on that project.

I also have a small 1/3 acre spot in the woods that is a test clearing. I put a clover/chicory mix down and its coming in, albeit slowly. We'll see if it can thrive, more importantly, once the leaves fall, we'll see if the sun it gets from October-May is enough to keep it growing. Our bow stand will be near there as it is a travel corridor.

For the summer, your plans should be to mow your plots, or if you are preparing for something for this fall, or even next year, hit them with Roundup. Glyphosate based products are 'gone' from the soil in 14 days after application making them a great 'green' product. They are not harmful to the environment and they really work great. Killing off native grasses, with their extensive root systems is a must, and makes disking much easier, and insures a clean seed bed come this fall or next spring. Spray now, and again in June, then again in September for a frost seeding (March) next Spring. Or, eliminate the September Roundup application and plant your brassicas mid-August. (We're in Michigan). Using the CareSpray backpack sprayer (from Ebay) really helps make it easy to cover a lot of area quickly. 5 gallons goes a long way.

Good hunting and farming!

Getting Started

Where to start? So you want to do food plots? Well, there's a lot to learn. No matter what month you are reading this in, you have to formalize a yearly schedule of events. I am writing this on April 13. In 6 weeks, it will be time to plant those seeds that cannot be frost seeded. It is ok to plant right now if you are putting in clover. The rains of April are perfect to get the seed going.
I'd say the first thing you have to do is to determine what you are attempting to do. Do you want a system that is going to require frequent maintenance, or one that is maintenance free? Do you have access to equipment or is it going to be a no-till operation? Is your soil light or heavy, dry or wet? Where do you live regionally-West/North/South/East, etc. How much land do you have?
Ok-enough questions-lets put down some guidelines. Annual vs Perennial. Annuals are plants that die off after a frost. Perennials come up every year. Annuals are a lot of work, requiring re-planting yearly. Perennials are a one-time deal. Annuals usually produce more protein per acre than perennials. Annuals encompass a lot of plant types, but normally soybeans, corn, wheat, oats, all types of legumes, fall into this category. Perennials include clovers, birdsfoot trefoil, alfalfa, etc.
Alfalfa acts like a perennial in that it does go dormant after a frost.
It's important to make a decision about your lifestyle, desires, and resources when it comes to what you plant.

If you simply want a hunting plot attracter, you will want something like is offered by Buck Forage. Their oats are planted in late summer for a fall hunting plot. Even better is to put in a plot of brassicas, like is offered by the Whitetail Institute Their Winter Greens product is an excellent long lasting variety of protein rich forbs that are planted late summer, and become very sweet after a frost. They will last throughout the entire hunting season, and even into the new year. This is critical for deer nutrition, especially for bucks after the rut, as they have lost much of their protective fat, and need proper nourishment.

If you have the time and equipment, annuals are great, simply because they produce such huge tonnage/acre of food for the deer. Products like the Whitetail Institute's Power Plant are an excellent choice.

In summary, before you rush out and buy a food mix of any sort, first decide what your needs and goals are for the plot. This will dictate what product you will purchase.

Picking a tractor for food plots

If you're serious about food plots, you'll need a real tractor, although it is true that much can be done with a quad and even no-till methods can be appropriate for those in a pinch financially, or those that simply don't have accessibility to an open space to warrant a tractor.

I just purchased this 1948 Ford 8n along with a brushog and a disk and cultipacker. If you're thinking of a tractor, consider the Ford 2N/8N/9N series, or any tractor with a 3 point assembly. This baby runs great, parts are readily available at great prices, and getting repair work done on them is a snap. The 3 point allows you to pick up implements while moving, whereas tractors that do not have this are much more cumbersome to operate.

Quads also do a nice job, but they will take longer to get the job done.

Another option is simply renting a tractor, or finding a local farmer that will do the work for you. Considering that most clover food plots will last 5 years, that rent money is well spent.

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