Hour glass food plots?

[wisconsinteacher]

I'm thinkin about making a new plot It would be .16 acre total of growing space. I walked the area and flagged it out. Here is a sketch of the plot. I would also feather the edges to create some more sunlight and promote natural growth around the plot. I really can't go much longer with the plot due to the topography. It would be in the middle of bedding and the neighbors ag field which is 60-70 yards away. I can access from the south and hunt a N-NE-NW wind.

 

[yoderjac]

My biggest concern would be sunlight. If you are growing perennial clover, you might be OK it the cover to the south is low growing.

If you have room north and south to open it up, I'd consider giving up the hour glass design for more light.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I have 13 year old popular trees in this area. Do you think feathering the edges back 5-10 yards would help open it up. I could then cut the new growth in the feathered area every few years if needed.

 

[yoderjac]

My biggest concern would be sunlight. If you are growing perennial clover, you might be OK it the cover to the south is low growing.

I have 13 year old popular trees in this area. Do you think feathering the edges back 5-10 yards would help open it up. I could then cut the new growth in the feathered area every few years if needed.

I certainly can't hurt. How much good it will do depends on the particulars of your situation. Keep in mind, I'm not saying your plant won't work, just saying light will probably be the biggest issue.

 

[Bill]

I’ve got clover in a narrow area like that, that does just fine. It also runs east to west like you show. That helps with sunlight hitting it.

 

[Fair oak]

You’ll be fine with clover if you don’t but I’d definitely edge feather the south and east sides. All kinds of good deer food will pop around your plots. I’ve been clearing all the popples back 15-20’ around my plots and its filled in nicely with awesome deer browse and cover such as red-osier dogwood, popple shoots, goldenrod, etc. The deer spend quite a bit of time on the edges…

In the photo is an hourglass shaped clover plot that is only about 30-35’ wide at the narrow spot and the clover thrives without edge feathering in this particular spot. I don’t hunt around it but I get a lot of my best pictures from this camera.

 

[Dogshooter]

I’ve got one that is an hourglass shape. It faces north/south the long direction. About 70 yards long and necks down to 25 feet wide or so on the narrow spot. I’ve done clover/rye mix and brassica mixes successfully.

The best part is the neck of it is the best spot on my whole place to hang a camera and get pics. All the movement north south through there is covered by one camera and the pictures are close in. Pic of plot and a pic from trail camera in the neck below.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I'm rereading Jeff Sturgis' book and he writes about long and skinny. Minimum of 200' long and 6-21' wide. I get the idea but how can he be getting enough sunlight on these narrow plots? Obviously, my plans are not as long and wider than 21'. Am I hurting myself by going 60' wide at the ends and 30' at the narrow spot?

 

[bigboreblr]

You could cut the tops off the poplar and it should grow bushier. I cut some down to 5 ft tall and see how it does through the summer. Looks ok, then cut more.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Interesting Idea bigbore. I will try cutting a few 5 ft off the ground and see what happens.

 

[rocksnstumps]

I'm rereading Jeff Sturgis' book and he writes about long and skinny. Minimum of 200' long and 6-21' wide. I get the idea but how can he be getting enough sunlight on these narrow plots? Obviously, my plans are not as long and wider than 21'. Am I hurting myself by going 60' wide at the ends and 30' at the narrow spot?

Using Sturgis defined width at 6-21 ft and applying to a woods is not a food plot but I would call a logging road. My roads get a lot of leaf litter in the fall and tend to cover up and choke out growth. Maybe your trees do not throw that much for leaves yet but would tend to shoot for wider than Sturgis in woods setting. If we are talking an overgrown field but making food plots lanes where the side cover is around 4-5 ft tall max could see that working ok.

But like others have stated above, I have a long plot that pinches down to about 35-40 ft wide in the middle and do get some of my best camera pics right there. Game and predator pics. The rest of the plot is about 50 ft wide and has 20 ft tall spruce on downhill side and an old fence line with heavy brush that is 10-15 ft tall. Goes east-west and grows just fine.

 

[Bill]

I'm rereading Jeff Sturgis' book and he writes about long and skinny. Minimum of 200' long and 6-21' wide. I get the idea but how can he be getting enough sunlight on these narrow plots? Obviously, my plans are not as long and wider than 21'. Am I hurting myself by going 60' wide at the ends and 30' at the narrow spot?

I don’t think so. But don’t rule out other options if they exist. I have a long narrow winding’ish clover patch. Probably 350 - 400 foot long. It ends at a 1/4 acre plot of clover and the neck down is where that hits a small bean field. That’s the pinch. So if your narrow plot ends up somewhere else they want to be the hour glass isn’t necessary.

The small narrow plot screams security and they enter it from the timber and slowly work towards bigger plots of food.

You can’t see it but there is a fence in the red from the NW heading SE that puts the deer inside of 25 yards of the SW point of timber.

 

[Bill]

Also understand this is not a rut stand. Don’t know what or if Jeff explained when this works. This is an early season all the conditions are right stand when a buck you want is his normal feeding patterns.

Not saying you can’t kill one here during the rut. But that slowly following the clover path mostly happens early. During the rut a buck may just cross it look both ways and move on.

 

[yoderjac]

You could cut the tops off the poplar and it should grow bushier. I cut some down to 5 ft tall and see how it does through the summer. Looks ok, then cut more.

You might consider cutting them down completely and trying mineral stumps as demonstrated by MSU Deer Labs.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

You might consider cutting them down completely and trying mineral stumps as demonstrated by MSU Deer Labs.

I'm not sure poplars stump sprout as much as send up new shoots nearby?

 

[yoderjac]

I'm not sure poplars stump sprout as much as send up new shoots nearby?

Either way, you have a large existing root system feeding a small amount of leaf growth within the reach of deer. This concentrates the mineral and nutrition content in the leaves.

Mineral stumps are an interesting idea. I'm hot sure how one would manage them for the longer run. Before long, they would be out of the reach of deer. The stumps would preclude bushhogging. Perhaps you could cut them high and re-cute them lower every few years until they wear out. I haven't figured out how to employ this technique in a practical way for the longer run.

 

[35-acre]

Honestly the most traffic I have is in the pinchpoint. Clover works well here and that's primarily what's growing in the pinch. I have tried to get other stuff going in the larger sections but I'm switching to all clover this year. I do have some chestnut, apple and pear trees in the plot and around the edges. As you can see, the shadows will cover the field at times, but things still grow because most of the day they get some level of sun as it rises and sets (This shape has the west on the left and east on the right).

 

[wisconsinteacher]

35-acre, that is very similar to what I'm thinking. Thanks for the pictures.

I will look into the mineral stump idea as well.

 

[35-acre]

35-acre, that is very similar to what I'm thinking. Thanks for the pictures.

I will look into the mineral stump idea as well.

Just lay it out for the most optimal sun if you can. That plot was hardwoods, then i had the property logged and the field put in

 

[Garrett S]

To me- and playing with plots for 15+ years- nothing is more important than access/egress with the caveat of limiting down wind access. There is always that one dumb or super smart one that will spoil the party. Once your location is known the game changes and whether you have the best plot contents and shape or not… it’s null. IMO opinion hunting a plot will eventually get you toward nocturnal use or pins&needles presence. Hunt inbetween bedding and food for October afternoons, in between bedding in November, and back to food for December afternoons.