Weedy Plots

[davidhelmly]

The pictures with the feeders in the foreground sort of shocked me because I put out minerals and cameras at each feeder site thinking I would get the feeders filled for the first time the next day, it wound up being 5 days before I got back and filled the feeders, the number of deer using that grass filled plot over the previous 5 days was more than I had expected. I know a lot of us plotters spend a lot of time and money spraying and mowing trying to have those magazine cover plots but the deer really do not care what the plots look like.

A lot of our plots were monocultures of clover for years and we have quite an excess of nitrogen built up in the soil which causes the grasses to explode once it gets warm, I have since sprayed the grass in all of our plots but I have started planting nitrogen loving plants (wheat, brassicas, chicory) into the clover in the fall to hopefully use up that excess of nitrogen and to hopefully get away from having to spend a couple of days spraying grass every year.

 

[antharper]

Them deer don’t mind the weeds as long as they finding the good stuff in them

 

[Kdog]

Our deer are a little different. While we had some use in the grown up plots, the use drastically increased as soon as we cut them.

 

[Jim Boyd]

Man, those deer are camera trained!

David, you have an amazing herd!!!!

 

[Ihunt]

You are correct in that they will utilize a weedy field but I keep mine clean for tonnage. Most of my plots are not very big and there’s only so much water and fertilizer to go around and I would rather it go into my “deer” food. It also looks prettier?