I've got a couple Dolgo and would echo this exactly. Maintenance free and produce early. Protect like normal and you should be good to go. Most of the crabs I've planted have been like this, not just Dolgo.
Wandering at the hang out
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I've got a couple Dolgo and would echo this exactly. Maintenance free and produce early. Protect like normal and you should be good to go. Most of the crabs I've planted have been like this, not just Dolgo.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
This is what happens to a lot of my seed. I broadcast it, and I see lots of fat turkeys.
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j-bird
Moderator
That's what I like to hear. I'm looking for something I can plant, protect and then walk away from!!!
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Anyone know how to get a deer to come in a little earlier? For the last couple weeks he comes in about a half hour after dark, and hangs out for about an hour.
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j-bird
Moderator
I would think you have only a few options....
A - hunt closer to his bedding area (wherever that may be). The closer to his bedding area you get the more likely to see him in shooting light. Use your trail cam to try to narrow down where he is coming from if you don't know.
B - convince him to bed closer. This obviously isn't an easy thing to do either.
C - improve the cover and security of the plot and the route he takes to encourage him to move more in daylight hours.
D - hope he makes a mistake later in the year when chasing does....this is how most of them meet their demise.
E - create or find a staging area for him to move to and hunt him there.
Some of these are long term and some of these are not easy to do. Fact is for whatever reason he isn't showing up until after hours, this may be on purpose on his part or it may just be by chance. But I would bet it's more on purpose. Plot visits of older bucks in daylight can be pretty rare unless the plot is very secluded and pretty much unmolested. The only times I have pics of older deer in plots is because they are chasing a doe OR it's dark. They don't get old by being dumb. If your like most hunters - you simply accept that you have to wait for him to make a mistake and you have to be in the right place at the right time to be able to take advantage. Many seasoned hunters will hunt off a plot because they know a mature deer will not enter that plot until dark and will instead stage up 100 yards or so from it while they can view it or scent check it from a distance. Many will also say that hunting a plot is a great way to educate deer as well. So, there are things you can do.....not just a lot you can do yet this year. I personally think your best bet is going to be to try to narrow down where he is coming from and develop a plan on how to best get as close to that bedding area as possible without educating him. And that is far easier said than done. I really like post season scouting to identify buck bedding areas. Those bucks may be dead, but another will move in AND I can learn what to look for or create in other locations as well. Good luck.
A - hunt closer to his bedding area (wherever that may be). The closer to his bedding area you get the more likely to see him in shooting light. Use your trail cam to try to narrow down where he is coming from if you don't know.
B - convince him to bed closer. This obviously isn't an easy thing to do either.
C - improve the cover and security of the plot and the route he takes to encourage him to move more in daylight hours.
D - hope he makes a mistake later in the year when chasing does....this is how most of them meet their demise.
E - create or find a staging area for him to move to and hunt him there.
Some of these are long term and some of these are not easy to do. Fact is for whatever reason he isn't showing up until after hours, this may be on purpose on his part or it may just be by chance. But I would bet it's more on purpose. Plot visits of older bucks in daylight can be pretty rare unless the plot is very secluded and pretty much unmolested. The only times I have pics of older deer in plots is because they are chasing a doe OR it's dark. They don't get old by being dumb. If your like most hunters - you simply accept that you have to wait for him to make a mistake and you have to be in the right place at the right time to be able to take advantage. Many seasoned hunters will hunt off a plot because they know a mature deer will not enter that plot until dark and will instead stage up 100 yards or so from it while they can view it or scent check it from a distance. Many will also say that hunting a plot is a great way to educate deer as well. So, there are things you can do.....not just a lot you can do yet this year. I personally think your best bet is going to be to try to narrow down where he is coming from and develop a plan on how to best get as close to that bedding area as possible without educating him. And that is far easier said than done. I really like post season scouting to identify buck bedding areas. Those bucks may be dead, but another will move in AND I can learn what to look for or create in other locations as well. Good luck.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Thanks jbird. I really wasn’t actually expecting a truthful answer. I really don’t hunt the foodplot, even though I can see it. It is about 30 yards away.
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4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I am kind of stuck in limbo, and I am looking for advice for next year, and beyond. One of my food plots is about 3/4 of an acre, it is well placed and I have had a lot of draw to the food plot. About 4 years ago I decided I wanted to add a few apple trees to the food plot, well that got out of hand, and now I have 15 apple trees planted in this 3/4 acre "food plot" with a few of the trees this year having fruit, and expecting about 10 next year to have fruit. I have been planting my food plot as normal with radish, turnips, and this year I added sugar beets in as well, then I also add winter rye, and oats in the plot to fill in the eaten, and thin spots on Labor Day. The brassicas have always been a big draw year around. My problem will be a growing issue yearly, as the trees grow, they are taking over my food plot, and I am getting just a couple narrow rows to plant in. I am sure I have a couple more years to plant brassicas in, before they completely block the sun from the food plot, but I am thinking about long term, what do I plant in with the apple trees? I want something that will still attract them, something that will be easily maintained for weeds, because I dont want to have to spray around them much.
I was thinking clover, but I already have almost an acre of clover. But I can terminate that plot, and plant something else.
I could continue to try brassicas and see how well they grow with limited sun.
Or will the apple trees be a decent enough draw all on their own, and nothing else will be needed?
What do you guys plant in your apple orchards for a draw?
I don't really hunt over the plot, I hunt a couple trails to the plot, my stand is about 30 yards back, and I do have a visual over the plot, and if there is a worthy deer in the plot, I dont hesitate on taking it. I am just concerned that if I halt the food plot, and only leave it with apples, the trails, and the plot wont be worth hunting anymore, and I just built a rather nice enclosed hunting stand, that I really like.
I was thinking clover, but I already have almost an acre of clover. But I can terminate that plot, and plant something else.
I could continue to try brassicas and see how well they grow with limited sun.
Or will the apple trees be a decent enough draw all on their own, and nothing else will be needed?
What do you guys plant in your apple orchards for a draw?
I don't really hunt over the plot, I hunt a couple trails to the plot, my stand is about 30 yards back, and I do have a visual over the plot, and if there is a worthy deer in the plot, I dont hesitate on taking it. I am just concerned that if I halt the food plot, and only leave it with apples, the trails, and the plot wont be worth hunting anymore, and I just built a rather nice enclosed hunting stand, that I really like.
j-bird
Moderator
Sounds like we have been bitten by a similar fruit tree bug! I too plant fruit/nut trees in my plots, but I planted them in my clover plots on purpose. I want these to become a long term low maint food source. I have tried to space my trees a bit further apart and as they mature I may have to remove some to keep the clover going, but I don't consider that a bad thing as it's simply a choice. Clover is the best stuff I have seen grow in shaded conditions and is fairly easy to care for in my opinion. I don't need a picture perfect plot either. I don't plant trees in my annual plots....although I am considering lining my annual plots with different trees and shrubs to again make a diversified food source. I simply like the idea of trees and shrubs and perennial planting over annuals. I have nothing against annuals other than the fact that at some point I'm going to become unable to mess with it. I'm thinking if I can grow a long term food source that requires far less input from me, the better for me and the deer, and less pressure and hopefully even better hunting as well. My long term vision is one where I provide the deer with a varied diet for as much of the season as I can that requires as minimal input from me as possible. I want this for 2 reasons. First - I think it's better for the deer long term, and secondly I think the activity level can actually do more harm than good as it is now. It seems like every weekend I'm out screwing with something and I know that has to limit the amount of use by the deer of the work I do.....and that seems counter productive to me.
trampledbyturtles
5 year old buck +
It seems like every weekend I'm out screwing with something and I know that has to limit the amount of use by the deer of the work I do.....and that seems counter productive to me
Agree on all fronts, and for me the proof if the pictures.
This time last year, I had 7 different midclass an 2 for sure shooter deer using the property. Not the same story this year after last weeks card pull. 2 mid class deer, and one bruser but repeat sightings have fallen off a cliff compared to last year.
And that is even with limiting time spent in the field after Aug 1 rolled around. Next year I am for sure setting a hard date of july 31 as last day of field work.
But, for the short term, say the next five years, I am willing to roll the dice with less overall early sightings now, an just hope the rut brings them back to the property once the corn crops fall. In exchange for increased overall habitat health and a ton of soft an hard mass producing tree crops for the extended future
j-bird
Moderator
My current strategy is to keep the does fed that use my place and as long as I can keep the does (which is far easier to do than bucks) then I will take my chances with the does bringing the mature bucks to me. Obviously it's a flawed plan and I am aware of that, but that is about the best I can really accomplish based on the limitations I have. I just think the less overall disturbance I can cause the more does I can hold and the more they will move freely. I have no idea on if it will work or if it even really makes sense, but that is the direction I am taking.
