Food Plot Progress Pics

How are your food plots coming along? Post some pics....

I had 27 tons of lime spread on 1/2014 and another 8 tons on 9/19/14.

I also had 3 tons of 16-16-16 spread on 9/19/14

I planted a generic mix of wheat/rye/oats/peas on 9/21/14 & again on 9/28. I also added some BFO, WH Inst Clover and Whistler Peas in certain areas to draw the deer in closer.

In total I planted approx 20 acres and spread about 2k lbs of seed. This is the 1st year that I've had the land and I'm trying to increase the whitetail population. Currently it's just above non existent but I'm seeing a lot more deer than I did ALL of last year. It seems to be paying off. Next Fall I won't plant near as much. I'm probably going to convert several acres to an apple orchard and several more to NWSG for bedding. The main field is 4 acres and will be planted with Eagle RR Soybeans in the Spring. I'm still planning on using the GFC for a controlled burn of the entire property in January.

Here are the pics of these plots almost a month later. According to the Nat'l Weather Service, I've had about 5" of rain. According to the neighbor and his trusty rain gauge we've had about 4".


PIC #1 - Is the 'Old House' plot. This area is about .75 acre in total. The stand sits directly over a 100 yard long kill plot that is about .25 acre (PIC #2). PIC #3 is looking out of the right side sitting in the stand. I have BFO planted in this area and also Whitetail Inst Clover in the 100 yd kill plot.

PIC #4 is the condo overlooking Field #3. This is a 3 acre field planted with the mix. I also planted a little BFO, Whistler Peas and Clover in the 1/3 of the field closest to the stand (PIC #5)

PIC #6 & is what I refer to as 'Odd Field'. It's about .25 acre and is planted with BFO, clover and some Whitetail Inst Secret Spot that was 2-3 years old that I got at a steep discount. It seems to have germinated just fine.

PIC #7,8 & 9 are of the newest plot. I call it 'Pine Plot'. It was just recently cleared and then limed and fertilized. It was previously a small field about .25 that was overgrown and had a few (15-20) immature pine trees about 6'-8' tall in it.

PICS #10-13 are of 'Main Field' or 'Field #1'. This is a 4 acre field planted with the mix. This is the stand that my nephew killed the 12 pt out of late last year.

I'm seeing a lot of tracks in ALL the fields. Unfortunately, the trail cams show this activity occurs after dark

Very very nice!!!!!!!!!!!

You can definitely be proud of the hard work and resources you've put into your place. It looks great!
Your forethought on amendments, burning and future plantings will pay off immensely. Keep the pics coming!

Absolutely awesome ! Love it great work

A fine job you are doing sir, hope it pays off very well for you. Made me tired just reading this!!!

Killdee said:

A fine job you are doing sir, hope it pays off very well for you. Made me tired just reading this!!!

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Thanks! I wound up logging 45hrs of seat time over 3 weekends on my JD 5075e. Bush hog, harrow, cultipack, spread seed, disc lightly and cultipack again. 20 acres total. I started on Friday afternoons and finished late Sunday. 3 weeks in a row.

In addition to the soil tests, lime & fertilizer, I have to say the most important thing was the cultipacker. I had a lot of heavy rain over 2 days. About 4" not long after planting. And NOTHING washed away. The increased seed to soil contact provided by the cultipacker sure didn't hurt either!

That's the way to do it ! Perfect execution

Mighty fine sho nuff! Them deer gonna taste better than ever

A lot of hard work paying off! Plots look fantastic!!!

Looks great!

Awesome looking plots, and I really like your blinds. Nice work all the way around.

These pics are from our corn field stand (Iphone pics from a distance are less than stellar). As you can see, this corn was not round up ready, but even after the army worm invasion, we managed to get a decent yield. The green lane is a mix of buck forage oats, as well as big and beasty.

You boys have some nice plots, hopefully someday mine will be near that nice!

Nice how many acres total for your place, 20 acres of planted ground should draw'm in! I'm still young but in future will be buying me a place for me and my boys just how I'd like it!!

Here's mine- oats and rape with a little clover kicker added in. This is 1/4 acre- blind is right behind me as I took the pic and there are 40 sawtooth oaks on the other side if the blind.

GAGE said:

Awesome looking plots, and I really like your blinds. Nice work all the way around.

These pics are from our corn field stand (Iphone pics from a distance are less than stellar). As you can see, this corn was not round up ready, but even after the army worm invasion, we managed to get a decent yield. The green lane is a mix of buck forage oats, as well as big and beasty.

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THANKS! I have 3 Sportsman's Condos. They are pretty pricey if you buy locally so I sent my brother to West Point, MS. to the manufacturer and we were able to save about 45%. Shipping is EXPENSIVE on these and combined with the markup by the local sporting goods stores it makes these almost too much to justify. It took him 12hrs round-trip and I think he spent $150 on fuel but it was well worth it! We'll be going back this summer for 3 more!

I like the way this is setup with corn surrounding the BFO. Too bad the Army worms got you!

Luke0927 said:

Nice how many acres total for your place, 20 acres of planted ground should draw'm in! I'm still young but in future will be buying me a place for me and my boys just how I'd like it!!

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I have 127 acres total so 20 acres of food plots is above the usual 5-10% standard. But . . . I just acquired this property last fall and it wasn't managed at all to say the least. It had a select timber cut about 15 yrs ago and hasn't been burned. There isn't much natural browse and there isn't any agriculture in the area. So, not much food! I've planted W-A-Y too much in order to draw 'em in and hopefully hold them. I'm going to plant about 10 acres of Eagle RR soybeans in the spring in a continued effort to draw as many as I can. The whitetail population has been very low. Prior to summer plots being planted in June, I wasn't seeing any tracks at all. Now you can't take 2 steps without seeing tracks. They are everywhere!

Deer Fanatic said:

Here's mine- oats and rape with a little clover kicker added in. This is 1/4 acre- blind is right behind me as I took the pic and there are 40 sawtooth oaks on the other side if the blind.

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This is a good looking plot!

My dad and I planyed a seed mix from Pennington that had rape, turnips, wheat, brassicas, clover, and I could be missing some stuff and it came up awesome. The deer are already hitting it hard!