Food plots & muzzleloaders

[tryinhard]

Does anyone set up food plots specifically for their traditiinal ml persuits? I just inherited some land and am thinking of setting it up for my kids and myself to hunt on. I'm curious to see what the top seed and food plot design and size is.

Brian

 

[FishDFly]

Does anyone set up food plots specifically for their traditiinal ml persuits? I just inherited some land and am thinking of setting it up for my kids and myself to hunt on. I'm curious to see what the top seed and food plot design and size is.

Brian

Yes, but and a lot depends on your budget and the equipment you have to work with for planting, manual or full line of farm equipment.

Call your local County Ag. Agent and ask him/her for guidance before planting and when to do so.
Asking on the www. will get you a lot of opinions, most likely not specific to your part of your state.

I live in East Texas and what works here will not work where you live. What works in East Texas does not work in West Texas.

Three (3) years ago the U.S.D.A. told us do not plant winter wheat/rye or ground plots, there was no subsurface moisture for planting. I listened for 2 years and was correct in not planting, no rain.

Last year I gambled and planted what amounts to 50% of normal and moved planting back 30 days, praying for cold fronts and rain.

Deer were in very poor shape in mid-Sept. I planted 13 Oct., it rained and I pulled in deer for miles and I saved lot of does and fawns. I took one marginal buck and left the better bucks.

It is a choice, kind of like gambling, gotta spend money with thought.

If you really want to learn about white tail deer, purchase the following by Dr. James C. Kroll:

A Practical Guide to Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer.

Every land owner who wants white tail deer needs to read the book and then read it again.

It's a book about managing deer, feeding them and not about just killing them.

 

[FishDFly]

Another thought, each state is different when it comes to food plots and what is considered "baiting" (illegal), might want to check.

 

[tryinhard]

I have a couple of friends that consistantly produce 120 to 160 class bucks on their property. I am using some of their guidelines where it will work for me and their management plan calls for them to not shoot anything younger than 3 1/2 year old deer. I have fields that were planted but are not doing well. I took a short walk today with the kids and saw several places where deer have the vegitation down to bare ground. I feel I have lots of deer but don't know the quality. I will probably buy a couple of cameras and place in strategic locations. What size plots do you use for harvesting deer?

 

[FishDFly]

I have a couple of friends that consistantly produce 120 to 160 class bucks on their property. I am using some of their guidelines where it will work for me and their management plan calls for them to not shoot anything younger than 3 1/2 year old deer. I have fields that were planted but are not doing well. I took a short walk today with the kids and saw several places where deer have the vegitation down to bare ground. I feel I have lots of deer but don't know the quality. I will probably buy a couple of cameras and place in strategic locations. What size plots do you use for harvesting deer?

Food plots, I plant for the fall, not the spring.
The most stressful time for deer (natural food available) is February and August, that is when their natural food is gone.

I run corn feeders starting August 1 until March 1, depending on the summer and winter conditions. When I plant, I plant 50% wheat and 50% rye.

Size of plots, mine go from 1/2 acre to 13 acres.
Smaller plots deep in the woods are not hunted.

We have been in severe drought conditions and are hauling water to the deer during the summer.
I put it 25 gallon tubs during the summer and place it along the roads in the woods.
Water is placed in low sided tubes so all critters get to drink.

Managing bucks is hard unless you own a lot of acres, thousand or so or if you are high fenced. Once the rut starts here, they will travel one to five miles, never to be seen again.

Cameras are your best investment to know what is going on. It let's you know how many deer are on your property, quality of bucks, number of bucks, number of coyotes and trespassers. I am a firm believer in cameras. Bushnell makes the best for the money.

Management plan, you do not shoot your best bull in the pasture for "Big Macs".

Read the suggested book, the best there is.

Cameras, I had one very big boar hog who would come each night, 30 minutes after I would leave the blind. One evening as I left the blind it started a steady hard rain. I told the wife if it's raining at my normal get up time, get me up.

I put on rain gear and headed out. I was in the blind before daylight and the rain stopped within 30 minutes of being able to see. Hog arrived, without the camera I would not have known he was there each evening or in the area.

Where I hunt there is a 13" minimum inside spread for bucks. Kill one at 12 7/8 will get you a ticket. Cameras let you study each deer and make a decision in advance.

 

[tryinhard]

Thanks for the info! I plan ti put out at least one camera this year and add one a year until I get the number I want. The deer are crossing around the house as well and we have seen 2 older does and 4 to 6 younger ones. I found a track today that looked like a steer had walked through! Huge, wide spread toes and dew claw marks about 3" behind the hoof track. He's got to be a hog! Can't wait to get him on a camera!

Brian

 

[luieb45]

In Western Illinois I set up 5 different food plots ranging in sizes. The small ones work great for attracting deer to your stands but only work for nutritional purposes if you have enough of them making up a good amount of forage. I plant clover and chickory mixes mostly but have mixed in wheat, oats and rye as cover crop which deer also eat when in younger growth stage. I wish to eventually put in a plot that will stay good for deer through cold temperatures unlike clover which goes dormant when it gets really cold. If you wanna see in an increase in the nutrition and quality of your deer herd i'd say you'll need at least 4-5 acres of plots, I have about 3 or 4 acres in plots I have planted but we have a lot of clover in our pasture that deer use so they utilize that quite a bit. Good luck with it! Wildlife management is really addicting...

 

[Eric Krewson]

I hunt a friend's 350 acres that he lets me manage. I plant out up to 4 food plots, have had the best luck with Buck Forage oats but usually plant the local buck blend to save money.

I don't shoot deer off food plots as I would rather "hunt" them in the woods and am fortunate to have a very good piece of land sandwiched between a couple of 500+ acre corn and soybean fields to hunt.

I plant the fields to provide winter food for the deer and provide a place for more inexperienced hunters to tag a deer when I invite them to the property.

I do sit over the plots and watch deer, always armed and seen some whopper buck out in font of me but never pulled the trigger on one.

If I had a year where I couldn't put a deer in the freezer by my normal hunting methods I may shoot a deer of a plot.

I had such a year last year, my friends loaded me up with their extra deer meat so I didn't have to break my resolve and shoot one off a plot.

 

[Spikebuck]

While it's not specifically just for traditional muzzleloader pursuits, our group has about 17 acres of food plots on a little over 800 acres. The 800 includes 300 acres of tillable that has whatever crop (corn or soybeans) the farmer that rents it plants there. Of course his crops are out by mid to late October, depending on which it is and the weather that year.

We plant some beans and corn, we have some clover plots. And we plant brassicas. Of course the corn and beans are put in at springtime. The clover is good for several years with mowing. The brassicas go in late July to early August.

Once those brassicas come up, the deer go to them like a magnet. They are very pungent. And they are producing underground root (turnips, etc) that the deer will paw out later in the year.

Our property is also loaded with white oaks, so if there is a good acorn crop, they are set with a smorgasbord of different tasty treats to choose from.

We do a lot of the work with ATV's and by hand. One of the guys does have one of the smaller tractors and we bought a small 3-row planter for the corn and beans. The clover and brassicas are seeded by hand with hand crank spreaders. We drag and pack with ATV's. A tractor is wonderful, but it's not mandatory for small plots.

The advice to know your area, what will grow and when, etc. is good. It's also not cheap to do this. But the enjoyment we all get from it is worth the price to us.

Good luck.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I don't plant anything specifically for deer. But I have alfalfa, orchardgrass, ryegrass, birdsfoot trefoil and timothy planted for the sheep. Now, if a deer just happens to be sauntering by along the Western edge of the pasture . . .

 

[S.Kenton]

I have about 300 acres of Property that I micro-manage In S.Ohio. it's not mine.. but a family friends. Anyhow I planted about 5 acres of foodplots...a mixture of Chickory, Brassica, sugar beets and clover. I dont use it just for Mloading..I also bow hunt the property.

 

[majg1234]

we use a mixture of clover rye oats and wheat,several plots have turnip greens planted also.The deer eat turnip greens and kick up the turnips to eat too late in the year.Ive been guilty of cooking the greens,turnips with hog jowl in a dutch oven and making corn pone on an open fire a time or two :thumbsup: Mmmmn good with peas or beans cooked in a dutch oven while you're away waiting on a deer :wink:

 

[Carl Fowler III]

we use a mixture of clover rye oats and wheat,several plots have turnip greens planted also.The deer eat turnip greens and kick up the turnips to eat too late in the year.Ive been guilty of cooking the greens,turnips with hog jowl in a dutch oven and making corn pone on an open fire a time or two :thumbsup: Mmmmn good with peas or beans cooked in a dutch oven while you're away waiting on a deer :wink:

Don't know how ye can concentrate on deer hunt'n when ye have all them vittles awaiting ye....almost sounds as if a food plot been set up for ye! :rotf:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

My area is farms that border estates, so the other folks put out the "food" for the deer..., azaleas and hostas on one side, corn and soybeans on the other, and me at the bedding and water area in between.

LD

 

[Rat Trapper]

A small tractor and some used farm equipment is needed for planting food plots. Trying to work up the ground is pretty hard on an ATV. The dealership where I take my ATV and UTV for service told me they see lots of damage from trying to put in food plots. Over the years I have planted a lot of things and the size of the plot range from several acreas to a narrow road going past a stand.

 

[loco6725]

I disc about an acre on the furthest edge of my field and plant turnips. They don't seem to eat the greens until the first frost. I just broadcast spread them over the topsoil and use the tractor to pack it after spreading. Be careful not to spread too thick (they won't grow).

 

[S.Kenton]

I use a small tractor with a pto driven roto-tiller attachment.. and it's ALL I use.. it works VERY well.

 

[nchawkeye]

We have several food plots on our farms in eastern NC...Didn't really do anything special for muzzleloading, we just know where they come into the plot and sit in range...

I bought a tractor a few years back for my birthday...

What I do is start the plot in the fall with wheat and clover...I cut the area, apply Roundup with my 4-wheeler sprayer, disc and then add fertilizer and lime with my 4-wheeler spreader...Disc again to mix lime and fertilizer then seed with wheat/oats/barley, whatever you prefer then after a rain spread clover with the spreader, adding playground sand...I use mainly white ladino clover but also throw in a little crimson and red as they come up faster...

Once the clover is established, I mow and spray with Arrest to control weeds...I also disc in sections of the clover each fall and plant wheat for fall deer and spring turkeys...

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

I don’t mean to hijack this thread but it might be helpful to others who are interested as well.

A buddy and I just leased some land for hunting and because we got a long term lease I think it would be a good investment to put in some food plots. One of tracts of land is very productive having lots of deer, turkey, and pigs, but the other two tracts can use some help in my uneducated opinion. Can anyone recommend some books, websites, or anything else that could get me started?

I’ve noted Mr. Eames recommendation of Dr. James C. Kroll’s book A Practical Guide to Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer but any other recommendations would be gratefully welcomed.

 

[nchawkeye]

KISS...

Almost anything you read will say, start with clover as a food plot...Our land is also farmed, last year in soybeans, this year in corn...I like to have clover and wheat as the wildlife will have something to eat year round...

We also have cutovers and areas we don't cut during the spring and summer for cover...Start slow and learn as you go...

You will need to take a soil sample of any fields you plan to start with so you know how much lime and fertilizer to apply...

The good thing about clover is you don't have to have a tractor and disc...Clover can be spread on top of the ground...I spray area with Roundup, lime and fertilize and spread clover...No tillage needed...