What would you plant here?

[Someday isle]

This is my campground area. When I purchased the property it was all overgrown and hadn't been maintained in at least a couple years. It's about half an acre. I sprayed it and used a brush mower to knock it all down and clean it up. There's a rough fire pit area and an old carport that the previous owner used to store ATVs. That all needs to be cleaned up. It gets a fair amount of sunlight through the the day but also has some good shade trees scattered around too. My question is what would you plant here? I've thought about just planting it in a low growing clover so the deer and turkeys had some extra food in the area but am hesitant to draw deer into the camping area too. I hope to do a mini land tour in the near future when I have some time to put it together.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I would plant a shade lawn seed or Fescue as to NOT draw the deer into the area.

 

[tooln]

^^^^yep^^^^

 

[Plottin'booners]

Dutch clover and I am sure grass will regrow with it so it will handle the traffic better. At our place the deer are welcome to join the campfire....and they might as well eat while they are there.

 

[Someday isle]

Thanks for the replies. It's nice to have other opinions to consider. Provide additional food source vs risk bumping deer. I'm just not sure yet. Ultimately will just have to make a decision.

 

[Plottin'booners]

How many acres is the property?

 

[4wanderingeyes]

In my camping spot there is a decent established yard already with just various grasses, last fall I just tossed a few pounds of White Dutch clover on it, now when I am not there, the deer can enjoy the campsite, and eat. When I am there, I will still see some random deer there throughout the summer eating the clover. I enjoy watching the deer. I guess growing up as a farmer taught me that the deer get use to humans if they learn you are not a threat to them. This may not apply to big bucks, but most deer get accustom to human presence, and learn you are not a threat.

 

[GAGE]

We have clover planted where our campers are, and a clover fescue mix where the cabin sits.

 

[Someday isle]

The property is 36 acres. My thoughts were that if I'm only there a couple days a week at the most, then five days a week and pretty much every night the deer have free rein of the place. There are lots of oak trees in the area, it's the Ozarks in Missouri after all, but there is relatively little in the way of crops or food plots nearby. Word has it that one close property of 110 acres has a five acre food plot and that's it. It's an area of mostly pasture and woods. I've spent the summer clearing about 1200 linear yards of old logging roads, ranging from 10 - 30 feet wide, which add up to an acre. Without time to get a soil sample I put down 800 pounds of Pelletized lime, 200 pounds of fertilizer (13-13-13) and then this weekend my sons and I seeded with 50 lbs of rye, 50 lbs of oats, 5 lbs of GHFR and a mix of medium red and Ladino clovers.

Other than clearing the campground of overgrown weeds, saplings and blackberries it's been neglected all summer while doing the other work. I thought a low growing clover would be easy to maintain and if it provided a little extra food source to keep deer in the area that'd be great. My biggest concern is just balancing human interaction with the deer. Obviously with a small property it won't take them long to find out we're there. 4wanderingeyes, I like you're approach. I guess that is how I'd like to look at it too.

 

[blumsden]

If i was using it to camp, i wouldn't want to draw deer to the area. No sense in spooking deer. I don't like planting anything for deer on my access roads, that i use to access my stands for the same reason.

 

[Plottin'booners]

36 acres......they know your there. I am a firm believer in the smaller the property the less wasted space you can have. If it is not food it better be cover.

 

[Someday isle]

I like the way you put that. We've had some good rain today and are expecting more tomorrow. I think I'll go to the local grain elevator tomorrow or Saturday and pick up a couple pounds of Dutch clover and just broadcast it into the dead and mowed thatch.

 

[Plottin'booners]

I checked a couple cameras the other day on a 30 acre piece that I do habitat improvement on. I planted this to clover but it is hard to tell since it has been non stop rain this fall and I have not been back to mow it. I am hoping to mow it today. We had 2 inches of rain Wednesday and supposed to rain again this afternoon. This is a buck that I hope can make it through another year. He is just starting to show some junk. This is where we usually hang out and have a fire and cook when we are there.

 

[Someday isle]

Gorgeous buck! I've decided to put down some Dutch clover this weekend. I was leaning that way but just couldn't decide. That's why I made this post. I'm thrilled with all of the replies and I think they all have some validity. I'm sure by next spring the campground will be a mix of clover and weeds anyway. I spent so much time and effort working on clearing trails and getting some food in the area, and even planning what to do this winter to create better cover, that I never gave this spot much thought at all. Thanks to everyone for all of the input.

 

[Someday isle]

We had good rain the last couple of days so I went out and broadcast 2lbs of Dutch white clover on this spot and checked on the seed we put out last week. It's only been seven days and although the germination is spotty in some areas it's pretty encouraging.

 

[Someday isle]

 

[Someday isle]

The boys and I cleared a series of trails over the summer. Most of them connect to each other or another one at some point. Some have better light, a couple run north and south and a couple run east and west. They total about an acre and they all were planted with the same mix. We used 50 lbs of Rye, 50 lbs of Oats, 6 lbs of medium red clover, 4 lbs of ladino clover and 5 lbs of GHFR. Interestingly, in some spots the grains have germinated really well and in others there seems to be more radish and still others there seems to be more clover starting already. Needless to say that after only a week we're pretty excited. We had hard rain yesterday and there's already a few fresh tracks on some of the trails too.

Thanks for all the advice! I've read many of Paul Knox's threads over and over and have tried to apply some of the things both he and Yoder have talked about for years on this and other sites. I feel like there's just an encyclopedia of free knowledge out there through some of you guys. Thanks again!

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I like to add that if you mixed all the seed together, then spread it, that may be why you have such a variety. The smaller seeds have a tendency to fall to the bottom. I love your trails, and if you can get a decent germination of anything on it, I know the deer will find them, and start following them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bc4abc]

Annual rye....tough

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[westonwhitetail]

Sounds like you already planted but just a thought, maybe plant some food that will be there for them after season. Turnips maybe, that way they could come in during season and that sounds like it ok to you, buy you could use that area to feed them in the winter when they need it most. Just plant the clover by the camp and fire pit to keep the height down

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk