Deer season

[Mr.Bro]

4 more months. Cannt get here quick
enough. Tired of just sitting around. May just go and deep clean the camper next week end. Lord knows it needs it. The bars open Saturday night friends. Probably Friday night also.

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[BSK]

4 more months. Cannt get here quick
enough. Tired of just sitting around. May just go and deep clean the camper next week end. Lord knows it needs it. The bars open Saturday night friends. Probably Friday night also.

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Ha! I WISH I had nothing to do. But putting in food plots is keeping me more busy than I would like. And to think, I'm just going to have to replant them before deer season. Ugh...

 

[Mr.Bro]

Ha! I WISH I had nothing to do. But putting in food plots is keeping me more busy than I would like. And to think, I'm just going to have to replant them before deer season. Ugh...

1000s of acres of Corn and beans.
Don't need food plots but do need to freshen up mineral sites.

 

[Ski]

I'm counting the days. I planted a couple spring plots already, and have a couple more I need to prep this summer for fall planting. Already got mineral sites refilled and cams watching the bucks nub out. A little habitat work to do, some stands to hang, but overall I'm ready for season to hurry up & get here.

 

[tree_ghost]

I've got 6 mineral sites installed and still 9 more to go before June 1 for me. I picked up a place this year that I'm very interested scores about. It's in a historically good area for big bucks however there is NO agriculture within about a mile and a half of my place. I want to plant some plots to specifically target the velvet hunt weekend. Soybeans you can never go wrong with but my tillable ground is probably only 2-3acres in total and I just don't think I can keep them alive until August before the deer completely wipe them out. I guess I could put up electric fencing but man that's a lot of work and money I wasn't planning to spend. Are there any better alternatives to soybeans that would help me to achieve my goal here?

 

[rem270]

When I lived back home I always enjoyed this time of year to get ready for season. Me and a buddy always put cameras out July 4th and would check every 2 weeks to see what we had on his and my place. We'd cut limbs, move stands, and then generally do food plots around August. I got 7 established plots last year done so I should be good on plots for a few years to come. Got my salt licks freshened up last weekend when I was home. Lots of mountain biking to do this summer to keep me busy but I am looking forward to some cool days in September already.

 

[Ski]

I've got 6 mineral sites installed and still 9 more to go before June 1 for me. I picked up a place this year that I'm very interested scores about. It's in a historically good area for big bucks however there is NO agriculture within about a mile and a half of my place. I want to plant some plots to specifically target the velvet hunt weekend. Soybeans you can never go wrong with but my tillable ground is probably only 2-3acres in total and I just don't think I can keep them alive until August before the deer completely wipe them out. I guess I could put up electric fencing but man that's a lot of work and money I wasn't planning to spend. Are there any better alternatives to soybeans that would help me to achieve my goal here?

If you're not afraid of losing a few dollars to an experiment, I'd say plant the beans. I broadcast beans & peas over one of my small plots in early spring and am amazed at how they've sprouted up & are growing strong. The knowledge that I can successfully frost seed broadcast beans & peas was well worth the experiment to me, even if they do get mowed down by the deer. I've never heard anybody ever say that frost seeding beans was a good idea, but I wanted to find out first hand. Now I just wait to see how long it takes before the deer nub them to nothing. Maybe beans can work in small plots. Everything I read & hear says no, but I wasn't supposed to get good growth from frost seed broadcasting, either.

I've been finding through personal experimenting that a lot of stuff I read about food plotting is flat out bogus. There's an awful lot of good info out there, and there's an awful lot of false info out there. To be fair, I don't necessarily think any of it is truly false. I think people who share their experiences are truthful. The hick-up is that they may get completely different results than I get from the same project, be it due to any number of circumstances. That's why I try things for myself regardless what conventional wisdom says. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I succeed. But at the end of the day I know for certain.

 

[BSK]

I've been finding through personal experimenting that a lot of stuff I read about food plotting is flat out bogus. There's an awful lot of good info out there, and there's an awful lot of false info out there. To be fair, I don't necessarily think any of it is truly false. I think people who share their experiences are truthful. The hick-up is that they may get completely different results than I get from the same project, be it due to any number of circumstances. That's why I try things for myself regardless what conventional wisdom says. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I succeed. But at the end of the day I know for certain.

I agree whole-heartedly with everything you said above. As I posted in another thread, I now break all the latest food plotting "rules," and my results have been nothing short of spectacular. But that said, what I do now is designed specifically for my local conditions, and through numerous experiments on what does and doesn't work in those local conditions. If I were plotting somewhere else, I would probably change the way I do things.

 

[Ski]

what I do now is designed specifically for my local conditions, and through numerous experiments on what does and doesn't work in those local conditions. If I were plotting somewhere else, I would probably change the way I do things.

That's exactly where I'm at. I don't disbelieve anything anybody says about their food plotting. I just no longer automatically assume it translates to my plots, because chances are good that it doesn't. Heck, even different plots on the same property require different approaches. I'm really enjoying the learning curve. I think I might enjoy habitat work more than actual hunting.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I think I might enjoy habitat work more than actual hunting.

Absolutely - me too.

Regarding planting, everything seems to be tweaked for simplification purposes at planting time. It usually turns out just fine, unless there's a drought.