food plot too big?

[Natty Bumppo]

Not too big at all IMHO. I do agree with what yoderjac mentioned. That is, if you think the plot is too big I would allow some native weeds and vegetation to grow around the perimeter and maybe plant some apples or something. That will give you a nice feathered edge. Or, if you're happy with the size I would then hinge or remove some trees on the edge of your plot to allow some light to hit and get some weeds and saplings to grow and that will feather your edge. Beautiful looking plot.

 

[Someday isle]

Seeing those pictures I think the food plot will be great but it will be better if you thicken up those woods a bit. In the pictures it looks like really open woods. I’m in agreement with Bill on the hinge cutting.

 

[gwm]

My suggestion is use the whole thing for a plot for 2 years before you make a final decision. I don't think it will be too big. What I'm finding is that plots close to heavy cover and bedding get hit 3 times as hard as plots in more open spots. If you change your mind, all you have lost is a little time.

Planting the whole plot for a couple years is probably the route I'm going to take. Plant it, see what happens, and adjust if need be from there.

 

[bbcoach]

gvm, Great news that your planting the entire plot. IMO you won't be disappointed. My avatar to the left is in planted pines and the deer pour out of the pines for the groceries. I see in your early spring PICS, you have plenty of cover to hold deer. The cover seems to be plenty thick. The only thing you may need to address is the noise and movement around the shed, especially during the season (could be a deterrent). Good Luck and keep us posted with some PICS.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

The thing that I noticed that nobody has mentioned is the stand. By the looks of the tree you could raise it a good 8'. Maybe its just a deceiving picture but im guessing you'll get picked off trying to draw your bow. Other than that the plot looks great.

 

[gwm]

The thing that I noticed that nobody has mentioned is the stand. By the looks of the tree you could raise it a good 8'. Maybe its just a deceiving picture but im guessing you'll get picked off trying to draw your bow. Other than that the plot looks great.

The treestand will be taken down. It doesn't work for me now that it's opened up like that. I'll probably put a blind up and use that.

For reference, my wife took a pic of this buck when she was hunting that stand on Oct 30th.

 

[Wild Thing]

You might consider planting a ring of perennial clovers 10-15 feet all the way around the food plot and leave the center for an annual crop. You might then want to plant some fruit trees to the southern exposure and then hinge cut or edge feather the south side of the plot to allow even more light into the food plot. Credit to Steve Bartylla for making these recommendations to me:

 

[Big Snow Man]

Wildthing
Is the strip of clover the area where you put your efence ?

 

[Wild Thing]

Wildthing
Is the strip of clover the area where you put your efence ?

Yes - Right on the edge of the clover strip. You still have to weed-whack or spray the clover and weed-whack the RR beans to keep them from touching the bottom wire and grounding out the E-Fence but that is usually only once during the growing season:

 

[Bowman]

I am trying to figure out the orientation. How is your neighbor? Does he sit the property line? Do you use the property line to access the field?

 

[gwm]

No issues with the neighbor and they don't sit on this property line. To my knowledge they dont have a stand near this property line. I don't use the property line to access the plot.

 

[Bowman]

Good news on the neighbor. Besides the blind, do you plan on another stand? I am asking about access to the plot for work and stand. I think that the shed will just become part of the environment. Do not know what equipment you have. I would consider the property line to access the other side of the plot or even behind the plot for a stand. If you use the same operator later for another project, make sure that he knows what you want. I had my property timbered and stressed that I wanted the trails left open. I had no equipment at that time and all trails were cut by hand, machete and axe. Naturally all trails were impassable. I am still working to re-establish a trail system. I have areas that I still can not get into.

 

[gwm]

I thought I should update this thread with how this first year food plot did. In the middle of May we cleaned the plot of debris the best we could and sprayed it at the end of May. In early June we planted the entire plot with buckwheat.



This is the first time I've planted buckwheat. It grew very well. I was actually kind of surprised how well it grew and how tall it got. These pics are from mid July.

 

[gwm]

 

[gwm]

In early August we mowed the buckwheat.

 

[gwm]

A week or so later we tilled in the mowed buckwheat and planted a combination of WR, WW, oats, peas, clover and tillage radish. This pic is from early September.



I put a ground blind on one end of the food plot and moved my trail camera to just in front of the blind. I did take down the treestand from this plot and only had the one ground blind.

 

[gwm]

The deer were using the plot quite a bit and it kept up thru hunting season. Here's a pic from Oct. While we don't hunt from blinds a lot, my father-in-law did shoot a buck from the blind on Oct. 25th.

 

[gwm]

Activity was good thru November and even into December.

 

[gwm]

 

[gwm]