Food Plots Ignored Food Plot - should I cut it?

[GKG]

I went to my food plot today that I put a lot of time into last year, but have done NOTHING with this year. About a quarter of it is 5 foot tall weeds (what a mess) ... the other 3/4 is low weeds and some visible clover at the ground level. This picture is from the area with low weeds.

Question ... should I bush-hog it? or leave it as it is and mess with it in the spring? Thanks.

 

[dhpro]

looks like food to deer .lot brows in that mess

 

[GKG]

Thanks for the replies Carlos and dhpro ... last year when I cut it, I rented a billy goat bush hog for $75 for the day, picked it up from the rental place with my trailer, drove it 45 minutes to my plot ... spend three hours cutting the plot, and then drove it back ... so basically took five hours of work ... and even though that billy goat was self-propelled, it wore me out because of the heat and steering the billy goat around! So it would definitely be a project, but could do it again if I really would benefit of my hunting this fall or the potential for next year's plot.

But to dhpro's point, is there some good eats for my deer in that growth? Does the "non-groomed" feel encourage deer to feel safe? Thanks for the additional opinions.

 

[Hunter 257W]

As long as there is enough clover down in the weeds to attract deer I'd leave it alone. I think a lot of hunters are counterproductive with obsessing over a clean, weed-free food plot. Deer have been eating what we refer to as weeds for thousands of years. Fertilized weeds that come up in a food plot are even better than non-fertilized weeds and should taste better to the deer. If they taste better, that means they are attracting deer, which is the purpose of the plot in the 1st place. Also weeds grow taller that most food plot plants, so deer will use a weedy plot a lot more in daylight. Of course if you let the weeds go too far, they will choke out your plot but you can worry about that next Spring. I'm sure you've read about some deer managers promoting liming and fertilizing over grown fields of nothing but weeds. It would sure be a lot easier and somewhat cheaper than planting a plot. I have never read any of those type articles though that address the really bad weeds that can take over an entire field and exclude everything else. Examples would be Canadian Thistle or Pig Weed. I don't think anybody would consider those desirable to feed deer.

 

[jejeffrries71]

Maybe in the late winter / early Spring you could burn it off. Sounds faster and easier than what you described.

 

[RobbyW]

I had family problems this spring and let my clover plots go as well. Couple weeks ago I did the same thing and rented a Billy goat and cut both of them. 2.5 and 1 acre fields. Also used it to cut shooting lanes in briar patches. It really helped. It knocked the weeds down and the clover took off. It only took 4 or 5 days for me to recover from fighting that thing :)

That being said I don't know how much it helped with holding deer. They were in there when it was grown over as well. My plot theory is as much as providing quality food for health and to pull deer in for hunting.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Boone 58]

Cut it , disk it plant it.................I see no problem.