Our Food Plots. Thanks Local Coop!

[bigr]

Here is where my son and I will shoot his first deer with me. I made the mistake of passing on 4 deer last year here and he was not a happy 5 year old with his dad. Won't happen again. Blind is overlooking forage radish on one side and field peas on the other. We had soy mixed in with the peas in place of oats (oats attract bears) put the deer cleaned them up as they came out of the ground. Nice thing about peas is that they usually leave them alone until they start to mature but then watch out.

Next is a view from the bottom of the plot. Blind is near the spruce trees in the top of the plot. You can see the peas on the right and radish on the left.

This is an Alice clover plot that has attracted a lot of summer attention. again you NEED to mow clover and Alfalfa plots. You don't need much for clover but some is a good idea for summer food source.


Next is a new kill plot for a friend and his son,
He said he wanted to get his 9 year old out and with a new born at home he didn't have any time this year. Well,,,, I did.
:allright:
Let side of the boys ground blind

Infront of the blind I like doing things for others!

THE VIEW

The radish are doing well and I think on pace for a bumper crop. This is just over a month and the root should start to get way bigger. 8-10 inches long and 4 inches round. No kidding!

I got a new piece of equipment that I have to say for all the beating I gave it has served me well. My lawn tractor was 21hp Club Cadet and had no problem turning the belt drive on the tiller. In some cases I had to be on and off the drive because the tiller would push the tractor and most of the time feather the brake. You have to go shallow for the first run and get deeper with other passes BUT it did the job. Slow going BUT it beats spending hours racing a quad and a set of disks. Tiller runs you around $1300 but I would buy this again!


Happy Hunting and support your local coop because they support us and farmers!

[MikePal]

Some very nice work there, good choice of plants for the fall. That should be an excellent area for Bow once the first heavy (kill) frost hits.

I would have added some turnips for late season, but with what you got , I'm sure your tag will be filled long before that

Good work !!

[TurkeyRookie]

Quite the setup and crops! good luck this season.

[Hunter John]

Hard work but I am sure it will pay off. good luck.

[bigr]

Some very nice work there, good choice of plants for the fall. That should be an excellent area for Bow once the first heavy (kill) frost hits.

I would have added some turnips for late season, but with what you got , I'm sure your tag will be filled long before that

Good work !!

Deer prefer daikon radish 100% more then purple tops. Trust me
We have another acre of them as well.

[Species8472]

Very Nice!!

It's a lot of work but is so much better than bait and is better for the deer as well.

We have about 3 acres in turnip and white clover. Photo below is is a clover plot in it's 3rd year right after the snow melted. This one is going to get replanted next spring.



This is a shot showing how the deer are digging the turnips out of another plot in early winter:



This is one of the blinds overlooking the turnip plot above. We have three platforms like this on the property. The balance are either ground blinds or typical tree stands.



Same blind location in the off season

[TurkeyRookie]

Awesome setup as well species.

[old243]

My plot is dutch and red clover.Had wheat in it too, but the turkeys must have ate the seed, about a foot high, planted in july, do you recommend . mowing it back to get new growth. It is being used now.

I am not familiar with the radish, what do you ask for at the coop. Are the turnips just ordinary swede turnips. When do you plant your plots. Sorry to ask so many questions, sometimes it is the only way to find out. Looks like you should have a good place to hunt. old 243

[rackman]

wow nice job on the plots

[Species8472]

My plot is dutch and red clover.Had wheat in it too, but the turkeys must have ate the seed, about a foot high, planted in july, do you recommend . mowing it back to get new growth. It is being used now.

I am not familiar with the radish, what do you ask for at the coop. Are the turnips just ordinary swede turnips. When do you plant your plots. Sorry to ask so many questions, sometimes it is the only way to find out. Looks like you should have a good place to hunt. old 243

I have never planted radish or wheat but the turnips I use are purple top, appin and pasja. I plant at about 5lbs per acre. I also adjust soil pH to 6.8 using lime. I normally try to plant my turnips about the first week of August. This allows them to get quite big but is late enough that they do not go to seed. You can plant turnips as late as the first week of september and they will still provide good late fall and/or early winter forage.

I also fertilize the turnips at about 200 lbs per acre with 19-19-19. For the clover I fertilize at the same rate but try to find something as close to 0-20-20 as possible. Clover fixes its own nitrogen so adding nitrogen is a waste and only helps the weeds.