Foggy's Deertopia Proving Grounds - Happenings
- Thread starter Foggy47
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
That's impressive! I can't get them to eat a turnip when they're starving, let alone in the summer.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
What is really awesome is to go to a good brassica food plot after it has snowed about two feet......and look at all the snow that has been dug though to the dirt by the deer.....and the radish and turnip bulbs that get consumed. THEN you know your deer are hungry.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
That's normally the easiest place to find sheds in the spring too. Win win
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
After I drilled my rye / clover / brassica / chicory cocktail last week.....we got a quarter inch of rain. My wife and I went to pick some apples at deertopia today (she wants to makes some apple crisp) and I did a quick check on the germination. Saw little lines of rye everywhere.....but little else. Looks like we will again miss the 50% chance of rain today. Nothing in the ten day for rain either. Really sucks to do food plots when it doesn't rain. Don't take much rain to grow some winter rye.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Rye is the most failsafe I can think of (besides wheat :) ). I'm jealous of you r no-till!
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Depending on how you set up your drill.....you can do either. In my case they are in the trench basically piled on top of the rye/radish/AWP's. Some may bounce out or scatter a bit....but the press wheels will push most (that are not in the trench) into the soil. I can position the drop tube so that it drops the seeds directly in front of those press wheels. Not sure what others do.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Today I installed more mouse bait stations at my pole shed, outhouse, cabin and I have a few near some box blinds that have had mouse problems in the past. gonna see how these work. The idea is to kill the mice outside so they do not get into your buildings. The bait stations will (hopefully) keep other critters from eating the bait. Basically I am using a foot long section of plastic pipe to suspend a few chunks of Tom Cat bait (with the hole in the middle) inside the tube where it's safe from bigger critters eating it. These cost me about $2 to make and I made 20 of them.....and use them around my home and patio too.....where I have a chipmunk problem. Hope they work on the chipmunks too. The black pipe blends in with my landscaping.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
We've gotten a few drizzly rainfalls here....which have not amounted to much recently. I could really use an inch of rain....that just doesn't seem to come. Despite the lack of rain....my plots are poised to provide a great mix of food.....if we could just get a soaker. As always.....the clover will overtake the brassica if we dont get enough moisture. Some of my shady land has provided better brassica than the more open plots. Still.....I do have adequate food to feed the numbers of deer that frequent these plots. ....and I feel certain I will have adequate rye and clover and sweet clover going into next spring.
The pic shown above is the best brassica I have and is in a plot that is somewhat shady and has great soil for my area. I suppose it's just a 1/3 acre in size.....with a few feeder lanes.
The above food plot is about 30 yards wide and over 400 yards long. It's a major food source for me. Kinda varied flora here this year as a result of the drought.
I've got big hopes for this plot to pull through. It's my major plot in a distant location to my other large plot. The mulch has prevented too many weeds from taking over.....and I didnt spray any herbicides on this plot this year.....resisting that temptation.....despite the drought. Just need a good rainfall at this point. tough year to do food plots.....but the no-till plan has sure panned out.
All of the above plots have been drilled with 112# winter rye, 4# radish, 4# yellow sweet clover, 4# medium red clover, 2# white clovers, 1 # PTT, 1# DER. 4# Crimson. Crimson is not going to overwinter for me.....and I am just using it up. Maybe I can get some N value as it freezes out?
The pic shown above is the best brassica I have and is in a plot that is somewhat shady and has great soil for my area. I suppose it's just a 1/3 acre in size.....with a few feeder lanes.
The above food plot is about 30 yards wide and over 400 yards long. It's a major food source for me. Kinda varied flora here this year as a result of the drought.
I've got big hopes for this plot to pull through. It's my major plot in a distant location to my other large plot. The mulch has prevented too many weeds from taking over.....and I didnt spray any herbicides on this plot this year.....resisting that temptation.....despite the drought. Just need a good rainfall at this point. tough year to do food plots.....but the no-till plan has sure panned out.
All of the above plots have been drilled with 112# winter rye, 4# radish, 4# yellow sweet clover, 4# medium red clover, 2# white clovers, 1 # PTT, 1# DER. 4# Crimson. Crimson is not going to overwinter for me.....and I am just using it up. Maybe I can get some N value as it freezes out?
Last edited:
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Those plots look great. Hopefully you'll get some more overnight. I dumped a 1/2" outta the gauge this morning. No idea when it fell. Got another .35 today so far. It'll probably get us across the line for fall, but we're gonna need some serious moisture at some point to recharge the subsoil.
matinc
5 year old buck +
Hey foggy. Curious on the seeder on the front of utv. Please give me your opinion and thoughts on how it works and what kind it is. I am looking a titan attachments seeder for the front of atv so I can seed forward and not have to walk 10000 steps to seed many acres. Ty
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I've owned a Herd GT 77 seeder for about a dozen years. They do cost a bit. At times I have had a love/hate thing with this product until I added som mods.
I had to modify mine in a few areas....but I'm quite happy with the way it works now. I've got a front 2" reciever mounted on my UTV and fashioned a 2" tube for my Herd to fit. I also have a rheostat to control the speed of the motor on the Herd....and thus how far it will sling seeds. I also added a blocker plate to the seed gate which essentially cuts the seed flow in half......thus I can seed down to a few pounds to the acre. I added a couple of bent tubes to the unit so I can set it down without resting it on the motor (when not in use).
I also had to fashion a decent mechanical stop....so the slide gate would not push the flexible nipple off it's mounting location (which would allow all the seed to drain out of the hopper....grrrr.).
I've not had a failure with the uint since doing those mods.....and it does what I need. I have spread up to 50 lbs / acre with the unit and as low as 2 lbs / acre. At times I have also spread some pell lime and some fertilizer....but I try to resist doing that any more. Beats the hell out of walking for my old bones.
I also put a 2" reciever on my tractor bucket for an alternate mount.....and will be able to lift the unit high over tall crops and therefore let seeds fall into crops like sorghum Sudan grass and others.
I run my electric via the accessory port on both my tractor and the UTV.
I have found two used ones by watching Craigs list and FB Marketplace.....and bought both for friends. ($100 each....quite a deal!)
I had to modify mine in a few areas....but I'm quite happy with the way it works now. I've got a front 2" reciever mounted on my UTV and fashioned a 2" tube for my Herd to fit. I also have a rheostat to control the speed of the motor on the Herd....and thus how far it will sling seeds. I also added a blocker plate to the seed gate which essentially cuts the seed flow in half......thus I can seed down to a few pounds to the acre. I added a couple of bent tubes to the unit so I can set it down without resting it on the motor (when not in use).
I also had to fashion a decent mechanical stop....so the slide gate would not push the flexible nipple off it's mounting location (which would allow all the seed to drain out of the hopper....grrrr.).
I've not had a failure with the uint since doing those mods.....and it does what I need. I have spread up to 50 lbs / acre with the unit and as low as 2 lbs / acre. At times I have also spread some pell lime and some fertilizer....but I try to resist doing that any more. Beats the hell out of walking for my old bones.
I also put a 2" reciever on my tractor bucket for an alternate mount.....and will be able to lift the unit high over tall crops and therefore let seeds fall into crops like sorghum Sudan grass and others.
I run my electric via the accessory port on both my tractor and the UTV.
I have found two used ones by watching Craigs list and FB Marketplace.....and bought both for friends. ($100 each....quite a deal!)
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
FWIW.....I just did a search on Facebook marketplace now. There are a few used Herd seeders like mine. These are a bargain if you find one for $100 to $200.
www.facebook.com
Log into Facebook
Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
www.facebook.com
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
FWIW.....I just did a search on Facebook marketplace now. There are a few used Herd seeders like mine. These are a bargain if you find one for $100 to $200.
Log into Facebook
Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
I could go for one of them to replace the cheap $100 buyers brand one I’ve been making do with. Will have to keep my eye out! finally driving to WI to pick up that 3p600 tomorrow. picked up a couple hundred # of rye to try it out with.
What settings did you use for your rye planting? Think I might just use that and let er buck where my Labor Day broadcasting failed.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Congrats buddy. I’ve always had luck with the seed chart on rye. Drilled some today. Be sure and put your seed cups on 1st setting.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I agree with Omi......seed cups on 1, drive on 2......and use the book to get you started. I don't remember my settings (my records are at my shed) but it seems I had the large seed box set at 65 or so.....and was putting out 117 lbs of seed / acre. I was blending some GHR with my rye. Good luck. I got about 6 extra bags of rye if you need more.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Rye is 150/acre at 84 on gear 2.
