Food Plot Mistakes - 3 Things I Screwed Up

MattDDO

5 year old buck +
I know everyone has food plots on the mind right now. Instead of talking about the typical food plot topics this time of year, I wanted to put a video together and talk about what I think my 3 biggest food plot mistakes are. Honest confession based on my experience on my property. Hopefully, a few of you find this useful and can take these areas into consideration before you plant your next plot.


Anyone else have food plot mistakes you'd like to share?
 
Where do I even start... here are 3 from a long list of F ups I have done.

1.) not doing soil tests
2.) planting species in areas they won’t thrive
3.) planting grains too early
 
Where do I even start... here are 3 from a long list of F ups I have done.

1.) not doing soil tests
2.) planting species in areas they won’t thrive
3.) planting grains too early

I've definitely been guilty of #3 as well.
 
My 3 things
1.) Planting too much seed (this is especially true with brassica)
2.) Caring too much about weeds. Fact is deer will come regardless of weeds or not. Some weeds are even desirable to deer. that being said, yes if you truly have a weed problem then by all means try and reduce it but for me I am much more weed tolerant now and if anything ive seen more deer activity because im in the plot less pre-season trying to take care of the weeds.
3.) Pressuring the plot too early with hunting depending on what deer are doing. I have had years where big bucks are in the fields before dark on a daily occurrence....this would be a great time to hunt those fields early in the season to try and get those bucks but more often than not I have bucks coming to those fields at dusk or soon after. In this case im doing more damage hunting those fields too soon and should wait until the prerut or rut (unless of course im targeting a doe)
 
Too deep tillage
Too much tillage
Too little focus on soil health
Believing that seeing deer using food plots frequently indicates success
Mistaking the plants farmers call weeds as weeds in a deer management context
Focusing way too much on food plots
Thinking the purpose of a food plot is to shoot a buck
Attempting to force mother nature to my will
Not looking at the big picture
Not being able to count to three :emoji_grin:
...The list goes on...
 
I see a fourth.
Unless you were there doing something the plot needed and decided to film as a secondary thing. Being there to do anything but food plot work is a mistake. :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 
this one thread has more habitat "pearls" than a years subscription to......( fill in blank with any glossy mag)

bill
 
this one thread has more habitat "pearls" than a years subscription to......( fill in blank with any glossy mag)

bill

Yep, lots of web sites out there trying to attract eyeballs for sponsors. It is really nice to have a forum like this without the commercialization. Folks are not afraid to express ideas that may turn off sponsors. Once again we need to thank John for sponsoring and the Mods for donating their time! The 10 best..., The 5 worst..., The secrets to Megabucks! Most hunting shows today are infomercials.

When an organization like QDMA closed down their forums to control the message for sponsors, it became pretty obvious that commercial sites and the best interest of consumers don't mix well. While we seen more and more product sites masquerade as educational in recent years, this forum has held fast letting steel sharpen steel as pros and cons of different methods, products, and techniques are discussed.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I see a fourth.
Unless you were there doing something the plot needed and decided to film as a secondary thing. Being there to do anything but food plot work is a mistake. :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
I was there to wrap up some work :) I agree though, being there without a purpose would be yet another mistake.
 
I will add one more thing about seeding too heavy. I also found out that many companies selling seed (even the non big buck bag seed companies) may tell you a certain pounds per acre to buy. Well I found out the hard way that they may be fluffing their numbers so they can sell more seed. So make sure you do your homework on seeding rates and if you think what the seed company says sounds high, it probably is so come here and ask what people's views are on whatever seed you are purchasing and how much you should buy.
 
Trusting the weatherman when they say 80% chance of showers so you drop 100lbs of Urea and it doesn't rain for a week. :emoji_rage:

Chuck
 
Trusting the weatherman when they say 80% chance of showers so you drop 100lbs of Urea and it doesn't rain for a week. :emoji_rage:

Chuck
lol that's too funny and happened to me in past years. This year has been the opposite for me though. The weatherman says like 5% chance rain so I don't put my seed out and then boom...tons of pop up thunderstorms with plenty of rain.
 
I use the NOAA radar to judge when rain is coming. I've planted most of my foodplot seed out ahead of big storm cells by following their radar mosaics.
 
- I tried doing a throw and roll brassica plot into the previous years rye and clover without spraying, ended up with a nice looking clover plot and VERY little brassicas come up, you need to stunt the clover by mowing or spraying long enough for the brassica seed to germinate and get started.
- Worrying about weed free plot then finding ragweed browsed in plots, thistle is another story I'll spot spray it when I find it.
- First time I planted radishes I spring planted them, found out deer hardly touch them this time of year here. Now I plant them early to mid July and not a monoculture of radishes.
 
- I tried doing a throw and roll brassica plot into the previous years rye and clover without spraying, ended up with a nice looking clover plot and VERY little brassicas come up, you need to stunt the clover by mowing or spraying long enough for the brassica seed to germinate and get started.
- Worrying about weed free plot then finding ragweed browsed in plots, thistle is another story I'll spot spray it when I find it.
- First time I planted radishes I spring planted them, found out deer hardly touch them this time of year here. Now I plant them early to mid July and not a monoculture of radishes.

Yep, cool evenings and rain in the fall favor clovers. When I no-till into an established perennial clover plot, I suppress the clover. You can do it with 1 qt/ac gly or, if you get the timing right, you can bushhog it flat. It will bounce back from the roots, but your brassica or cereal will germinate and get going before it does after suppression.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Top