Choice between cover and food plots

[Mike Bolin]

The property I hunt/manage (brother inn law's property) is roughly 50 acres once you factor out the powerline and cleared areas near the neighboring properties. It consists of mostly ridges running to a creek bottom on the neighboring property to the southwest. There is approximately 5 acres of flat ground that consists of a 2.5 acre grass field, 2 acres of pole poplar and 1/2 of an acre in clover (foodplot). Other than the powerline clearcut (200' wide by 1/2 mile long) that is hilly and brush choked, there is not much thick cover to speak of. The property to the west has a 2 acre pond just off the property line with a 45 acre ag field to the northwest of the pond. That area is bordered by 80 acres of woods. To the south is a 50 acre ag field. To the north and east there are houses.
I am planning to do something with the 2.5 acre grass field this spring. My first thought is to divide the field in half and plant it in NWSG with a 20' border of clover dividing it and around the edges. Second option is to plant the 2.5 acres in a food source, most likely soybeans. The ag fields on the south and west typically rotate between soybeans and corn and usually one is in corn when the other is n beans. I am leaning toward the NWSG for cover as that is what the property is lacking.
Also, should mention that the owner had this property was logged in 2012 and the majority of the white and red oaks were taken so there is not a lot of mast at present. I've planted a few crabapple and Arkansas Black apple trees and have been "releasing" some of the young oaks.
Just looking for some educated feedback, so thanks in adavnce

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Don't do anything until you plan out your access with multiple wind directions in mind and always take into consideration the direction of travel from bed to food for the deer.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The property I hunt/manage (brother inn law's property) is roughly 50 acres once you factor out the powerline and cleared areas near the neighboring properties. It consists of mostly ridges running to a creek bottom on the neighboring property to the southwest. There is approximately 5 acres of flat ground that consists of a 2.5 acre grass field, 2 acres of pole poplar and 1/2 of an acre in clover (foodplot). Other than the powerline clearcut (200' wide by 1/2 mile long) that is hilly and brush choked, there is not much thick cover to speak of. The property to the west has a 2 acre pond just off the property line with a 45 acre ag field to the northwest of the pond. That area is bordered by 80 acres of woods. To the south is a 50 acre ag field. To the north and east there are houses.
I am planning to do something with the 2.5 acre grass field this spring. My first thought is to divide the field in half and plant it in NWSG with a 20' border of clover dividing it and around the edges. Second option is to plant the 2.5 acres in a food source, most likely soybeans. The ag fields on the south and west typically rotate between soybeans and corn and usually one is in corn when the other is n beans. I am leaning toward the NWSG for cover as that is what the property is lacking.
Also, should mention that the owner had this property was logged in 2012 and the majority of the white and red oaks were taken so there is not a lot of mast at present. I've planted a few crabapple and Arkansas Black apple trees and have been "releasing" some of the young oaks.
Just looking for some educated feedback, so thanks in adavnce

This is an interesting topic that I’m wrestling with right now. I own 250 acres and after three seasons I’m beginning to wonder if my food plot effort is more trouble than it’s worth. I have all kinds of access issues because of them and I’ve never seen a good buck using one while in the stand. Not that they won’t, it’s just that for my efforts, I haven’t seen the results personally. Considering letting them go and managing the succession so they don’t get overrun with invasives and undesirables.
My thoughts are I’m not changing herd health with a few acres of crappy food plots so if I’m not shooting big deer or holding deer because of them would cover not benefit me more.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

This is an interesting topic that I’m wrestling with right now. I own 250 acres and after three seasons I’m beginning to wonder if my food plot effort is more trouble than it’s worth. I have all kinds of access issues because of them and I’ve never seen a good buck using one while in the stand. Not that they won’t, it’s just that for my efforts, I haven’t seen the results personally. Considering letting them go and managing the succession so they don’t get overrun with invasives and undesirables.
My thoughts are I’m not changing herd health with a few acres of crappy food plots so if I’m not shooting big deer or holding deer because of them would cover not benefit me more.

See post #2

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I have areas on our valley property that I would like to add food plots. The reason I haven't is because in order to hunt other areas of the property I would have to walk through them to get to stand.

 

[TreeDaddy]

See post#2

bill

 

[Mike Bolin]

"Don't do anything until you plan out your access with multiple wind directions in mind and always take into consideration the direction of travel from bed to food for the deer"
Thanks for bringing this up as I failed to mention access. The property is for the most part "landlocked". I have access from the east, which is by far the easiest access, and I have limited access from the northwest. Access from the south would require crossing two properties that are leased for hunting. I have spoken with the landowners and south is not an option. A southwest access is out as well for the same reason. Access from the WNW is possible.There is a access road bordering the ag field that is roughly a mile long. I have a good relationship with the landowner (I cut firewood for him), but I am thinking about parking near his storage barn and riding back on a mountain bike.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

"Don't do anything until you plan out your access with multiple wind directions in mind and always take into consideration the direction of travel from bed to food for the deer"
Thanks for bringing this up as I failed to mention access. The property is for the most part "landlocked". I have access from the east, which is by far the easiest access, and I have limited access from the northwest. Access from the south would require crossing two properties that are leased for hunting. I have spoken with the landowners and south is not an option. A southwest access is out as well for the same reason. Access from the WNW is possible.There is a access road bordering the ag field that is roughly a mile long. I have a good relationship with the landowner (I cut firewood for him), but I am thinking about parking near his storage barn and riding back on a mountain bike.

As long as you aren't blowing your scent into the direction the deer are going to be coming from you are OK. I would never want to have to walk/ride through a plot to get to where I was going however.

 

[b116757]

I’d be tempted to clear cut the 2acres of poplar it will come back very thick poplar slashing giving some nice cover and browse killing both birds with one stone

 

[35-acre]

I went through this too. I put in about a 2 acre plot/field that was formerly woods. In fact it's the only field around for a couple of miles. I planned my access routes and put up some stands that would work for multiple winds. I had similar results that Howboutthemdawgs mentioned. I spent a lot of time trying to make this into a food plot but the end result was it never worked out for bucks (or deer in general) in the field during the day. I get many pics of some nice bucks at night but during the day are few and far between. The field is huntable the last hour - other than that I'm just wasting time and scenting the place up. Here's a little of my experience;

Year 1 was the best! I had great turnips and so on. Deer didn't know the field was there - so they grew to the size of softballs.
Year 2 was pretty good - I had an awesome field of Buckwheat that grew to full maturity. Deer still learning the field was there. Some nice buck pics in the sumer.
Years 3 through 6 or 7 or 8 (well I lost count) were a series of learning failures. I was still building up a layer of OM (I use a no-till method based on having no equipment). I had great stands of winter wheat and barley/oats and my field became a "doe factory". That meant that any typical food plot stuff (turnips, brassica, rape, radish, etc.) that I tried to plant later in the year was eaten before it could really take hold. I tried plotsaver fencing and that didn't work for me.

What I have noticed is that two things work very well for me that are able to sustain browsing pressure and for an ADDED BONUS are little to no work to manage:

1. Clover - Last year I tried and failed with plotsaver for the second year in a row (and the last time I will try). I had killed off some of my clover and tried to plant the typical stuff - HUGE mistake! (I still recall a comment from Jack on this site saying the pics of my clover field were almost like a magazine ad for a clover product and that comment is still haunting me to this day). I have about 1/2 of my field in clover right now and the deer hammer it and stay out of the other sections even though there is some clover in them. More on the clover topic below
2. Oats - I just buy a 50# bag of horse feed (has to be rolled oats) at Tractor Supply and used a hand spreader with no field/soil prep. Oats will grow on your driveway without soil. If I do this a few times each year, the deer keep it looking like a mower has been in there. I get many more deer in the field and based on history more daylight activity.

So my plan going forward is to re-establish the clover in the areas that it's not currently growing in. That will of course mean spraying what's there now and then seeding and compacting the seed to soil with my ATV tires. Once the clover takes, it will suppress weeds, handle the browse and I'll occasionally overseed with oats (because it's SO VERY CHEAP to use the horse feed and they grow great).