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I just read this book Grow ‘Em Right written by Neil and Craig Dougherty. Neil and Craig are experts in deer management and members of an established outdoor consulting company in Canisteo, NY. I thought I would share some of the most important ideas from the book, some ideas that render themselves more useful to the average American hunter rather than the one with access to expensive equipment like a bulldozer. Food Plots for Feeding Food plots come in two forms, Destination Feed plots and Hunt Plots. It is important to recognize the difference between these two. Destination Feed plots are designed and managed for agriculture, not hunting. The objective is to produce as much high-quality forage for deer space permitting. Of course remember that one deer consumed approximately 1.5 tons of forage in a year. If possible make your agricultural fields as close to commercial as possible. This will save time and money. Do not bother planting cattle feeds. For example, medium red clover is often used in cattle hay mixtures and has high stem content. This makes it much less digestible for deer than the fine-stemmed clover that they prefer. This is a good time to mention mowing clover plots. The reason you mow them is to keep them from maturing. At the point where your clover has begun to flower and seed the clover is too mature and majority of the nutrients are going to the stem. This stage in the life of the plant is mainly useless protein and indigestible and should thus be mowed before then 2-3 times a year. It is recommended that any food plot less than two acres can be created with atv implements, but above that it could take an unnecessary amount of time. For commercial implements, as mentioned above, lime can cost just over $30/ton but when you begin to do it by hand with pellet lime it can cost upwards of $130/ton. Midway through the growing season you can apply special herbicides to control weeds and grasses. Herbicides such as Poast or Arrest. These do not harm broadleaf forage, they just work on grass. Another one you may consider for your clover plots would be Slay. Slay is designed specifically to destroy broadleaf weeds. I talked a lot about how important lime is in my first post, but I am going to reiterate the fact so that it hopefully sticks in your heads. You want to take several soil samples from different areas of your food plot and mix them together to get an average pH. To measure the pH of your sample you can use soil sample kits from your local agriculture store (they might do it for you), sample kits from Antler King, or even a sample kit that works forever, not just once, from BioLogic. Note that a pH of 7 is neutral and this is where you want your soil to be. A 5.2 pH food plot will waste 40% of the fertilizer you spread on it. After determining the pH of the soil you should spray the destination with a herbicide. After waiting about a week turn the soil over and begin the preparations towards planting the food plot. Remember to add the necessary amount of lime as recommended by a specialist. Note that most commercial seeders or farmers may plant the seed too deep when most food plot specific seeds only need to be spread over the top so make sure you mention something if that is the case. Just a few extra facts. An acre is about the size of a football field, 50 yards wide by 100 yards long. Corn is a one-month wonder and does nothing for antler growth or body size. Do not plant cattle forages such as red clover, tall white ladino clover, and timothy grass. Mowing of perennial plots should be mowed when they reach 12 inches in height. Early season mowing stimulates clover and chicory growth. Chicory is a secret weapon for dry conditions. Food Plots for Hunting Hunting plots are laid out differently than destination food plots. These are usually small, ¼ to ¾ acres, irregularly shaped and planted with specific forage to attract deer during the season (brassicas in the North). Cover, like a peninsula, often juts into the middle of the plot. To locate the perfect location for a Hunt plot you must consider several factors. Consider prevailing winds (in the North they are typically westerly) during the hunting season, and leave concealment cover intact. Consider bedding areas and anticipate a deer’s route from the bedding area to a destination plot. Consider how you might approach the plot. Deer will approach from the downwind side but you can alter this by felling trees and piling brush to funnel the deer away from the downwind side. Also, consider the tree you might place a stand and build the plot around that. The authors of this book offer some great designs specifically made for hunt plots but since I am not sure where to find a picture and I don’t want to copyright something even though I have already cited this as my source, I will describe them to you in the most detail possible. To begin, round and square hunt plots are not recommended. Deer work these in an unpredictable manner and enter from all directions. Hourglass Food Plot – This is probably the most popular design for food plotters. So obviously the hourglass food plot is shaped like a hourglass. The pinch point, or the center of the hourglass, should be no wider than 30 yards and brush piles and windrows should be located here. You may also want to place mock scrapes and licking branches in these locations. The basic concept to this design is to get the deer to naturally move from one end of the hourglass, through the center (pinch) where your stand is located and to the other side. Deer will do this if the plot is created properly. The idea is to make one side of the glass viewable from the other side at all times. This will increase the deer’s curiosity drawing them through the pinch to the other side to see what else there is. The pinch will also provide deer with the best visibility of the entire plot. Boomerang Plot – This plot adapts better to smaller areas than the hourglass. It generally covers a ½ acre or less designed for bowhunting. The key to the boomerang is its ability to intercept multiple deer trails in one spot, and once the deer have entered the plot, the draw them through the elbow. You may have a mock scrape and licking branches located at the elbow with the stand at the other side. When I read this I came up with two main ideas of how the boomerang would be best utilized. If you wanted to perhaps cut off deer and draw them into the destination food plot this might be an excellent design. Also you may perhaps place it on the downwind side of your property at a corner. Deer will naturally travel this location scent checking the property, but the boomerang ensures they check at once location and keeps the deer on your property. S plot – This was the last design and isn’t nearly as favorable as the other two, nor does it offer the most for the deer. This is typically used by both gun and bow hunters because it offers the most visibility and averages about 20 yards in width. A bulge that is about 30 yards in width is where you will place your stand. The bulge also features several licking sticks and scrapes and is a spot that cruising bucks will check out because it is a little wider than the other locations. This plot is best planted with long lasting perennials because it is hard to cultivate. There were a few other plot designs but they were pretty basic. These were placed on the edge of a CRP field boarding a wooded area. The wooded area was generally downwind of the food plot but several windrows and brush piles were scattered amongst the edge and well into the woods to funnel deer movement. Planting by Compass This chapter was awfully complicated but there were a few key ideas that I would like to point out. South slopes, in the North, will absorb the most sunlight during the day so they should try to be avoided. Of course you cannot predict how well a plot will do, so this one may prosper during a summer consisting of a lot of rain. Northeast facing slopes are the best. I will often have plots all over my property on different slopes so that some will do well when it is hot and dry and others when it is wet. Dougherty, Chris and Neil. Grow ‘Em Right A Guide to Creating Habitat and Food Plots. Newark: NCW Press, 2006.
Tags: Deer Management Food Plot Planting Deer Plots Perennial Annual
I just read this book Grow ‘Em Right written by Neil and Craig Dougherty. Neil and Craig are experts in deer management and members of an established outdoor consulting company in Canisteo, NY. I thought I would share some of the most important ideas from the book, some ideas that render themselves more useful to the average American hunter rather than the one with access to expensive equipment like a bulldozer. The nice thing about being a college student is that I can do a lot of theses tasks during my spring break in March. It’s the perfect time to do this work in the woods without disturbing deer.
A Chainsaw is a Deer’s Best Friend A chainsaw is a deer’s best friend. Take this comment to heart, chainsaws create food and cover for deer. Clear cutting sections of your property will allow undergrowth to prosper, this will result in better browse for deer as well as thick safety cover. It is important to remember that no matter how much of your property is in food plots, deer will still browse on shrubs and small trees. You can create living brush piles by dropping small trees or shrubs without cutting them clear through. Felling small trees with a cut that doesn’t sever it from the stump can do this. The tree will lie on the ground for a few years providing cover and allowing regeneration of smaller trees. Note that small trees in the three to six inch range respond better to this than large ones. The most effective way to lay out a browse cut and create structure and food is to make a series of quarter to half acre cuts in a wooded area felling most trees. Another approach is to cut long power lines through the woods, which will become browse and travel corridors. Remember that good wildlife habitat looks nasty; removing 70% of the tree stems in an area is generally necessary for good browse to thrive. So be aggressive but cut strategically. One suggestion that seemed to catch my attention was called “Snipping and Sticking.” This procedure works best on cane-like shrubs such as dogwood, and shrub willows. You can snip pencil think cuttings from dormant shrubs like the ones mentioned above, about 150 12” long, and shove the lowest end of the cutting 2/3 of the way into the ground. Roots develop in the spring and before you know it your stick is a small shrub. Logging Roads and Clearings Many logging roads and woodland clearings have good soil moisture. Therefore, they can be planted with high quality perennial seeds. Chicory and clover blends make excellent forage for a perennial. If the logging road you choose to use runs east to west make sure (here in the North Country) that you clear our trees on the south side of the road to provide more sunlight to the forage. If this is case, it makes sense than that north south running logging roads would be the best. Note, a typical logging road that is 12 feet wide equals a half-acre ever 600 yards. When planted correctly this road could produce 5 tons of forage each year. Of course remember that one deer consumes 1.5 tons of food per year by itself. In dry, thin soils, you can apply erosion mixes that consist of less expensive seeds to establish a good base for a few years. This mix may consist of generic brands of clover, rye grass, and birdsfoot trefoil for marginal conditions. You don’t want to go wasting hundreds of dollars on high quality forage seed that will likely do poor. Another option towards marginal soil conditions is frost seeding. Rather than repeatedly disturb the dry erosion prone soils you can throw the hard seed on the snow or frozen ground in early spring. When the snow melts, the moisture will help establish those seeds in the ground and you will eventually see a nice food plot. Remember to control weeds with select herbicides and mowing and also note that only 30% of the seed, when frost seeded, will germinate. Creating Sanctuaries Sanctuaries are areas where human trespassing never occurs. They are pre-selected areas where us landowners never ever go, which give the deer the protection and comfort they need. They lose their effectiveness if violated even once a year. Natural sanctuaries are often overlooked by the average hunter. They could be anything from highway medians to vertical hills. The idea is to be able to identify these on your property or create your own. In other words, when the gunshots start ringing in the deer, you want every deer within three square miles to run to your sanctuary. If a wounded deer enters a designated sanctuary track it only at night. Go in with a lantern and no more than two hunters. Your entrance should be low key with no shouting or loud talking. By tracking only at night you give deer a change to leave the sanctuary to feed. You have a less chance of thus spooking deer and turning them nocturnal. Note, no deer is entirely nocturnal. You should try to create and maintain a food plot or two near a designated sanctuary or between two sanctuaries to entice a trophy buck to leave his haven and check for does. You can hang stands around the edge of the sanctuary but never inside it. Deer learn that the sanctuaries are designated safe areas and will often travel the edges in search of does. So what is a good amount of the property that should be sanctuaries? About half of your property. Of course if the property is small you may want to increase that to about 75%. These sanctuaries might differ from each other a little bit. You may have a few sanctuaries that you never enter and then others called “working sanctuaries” where you enter once a year to clear trees and maintain its cover. Woods Working – TSI This was a very interesting chapter to me. I had never heard of anything like this in my life and I read a lot about deer management. TSI, otherwise known as Timber Stand Improvement, is basically a haircut for your woods. Double and triple trunk trees are reduced to single trunk while undesirable trees are cut down. A good example of this, Oak trees produce more forage when they are thinned. Trees that you may want to consider keeping are oak, maple, ash, spruce and pine trees, as well as all fruit bearing trees. Also, don’t forget the fertilizer! You can gain great benefits from by fertilizing trees. Tablets are made for this exact idea and stuck into the ground at the drip line of the tree. A little note, use about a half pound of fertilizer for every four inches of trunk. Also, save those apples trees. Dougherty, Chris and Neil. Grow ‘Em Right A Guide to Creating Habitat and Food Plots. Newark: NCW Press, 2006.
Tags: Deer Management Food Plot Planting Plots Chainsaw Wood
1. How much and what should you plant? - 5-10% of property should be food plots
- 60-75% of that should be perennials (clovers, chicory) - 25-40% should be annuals (brassicas, corn, soybeans) 2. Hunt Plots - Small irregular shaped plots - Deer feel comfortable here. There is plenty of cover on the edges and they can exit the plot in a few bounds if danger arises. - The more edge to the food plot – the more deer (more irregular shaped) - Logging roads and small openings are best Food Plots - Perennials 1 acre often near bedding areas or thick cover. 3. How do you figure the size of a food plot? - Acre = LxW(ft)/(43,560 ft²/acre)
4. Fertilizer - 5-10-30 - The first number (5) represents the nitrogen content - Second (10) represents phosphorus - Third (30) represents potassium - Clovers and alfalfa produce nitrogen on their own so the need little nitrogen and lots of potassium (5-10-30, 0-0-60, 9-23-30). Grass and weeds need nitrogen so this helps dwarf those as well. - Brassicas, rye, rape, and turnips need nitrogen (13-13-13, 19-19-19) - Work the fertilizer into the ground if possible. This will provide nutrients as the root system pushes deeper.
5. Planting with minimum tilling - Spray area with roundup Garden rake to rip up the ground. Spike too drag behind an atv - Frost Seeding End of March to cover previously seeded areas Spread over snow and the moister after it melts will germinate seeds. 6. Controlling Weed Problems - Simply mow down to about 8 inches and fertilize with 0-0-60. This will encourage clover and alfalfa growth while simultaneously dwarfing weeds and grasses. - Within 1-2 mows weeds should be completely gone. Spread over snow and the moister after it melts will germinate seeds. 7. Proper Maitenance - Mow when clover s 16-18 inches high or flowering. When clover flowers it is completely matured and represents almost no nutritional value to deer. 8. Most Common Mistakes 1. Planting the seed to deep. Seed must be less than ½ inch below the surface. If you are going to cover it drag something light over it, such as a chain link fence or mattress springs. 2. Ignoring Soil Tests. 3. Use the recommended amount of fertilizer. Too much fertilizer will burn plants. Also use the recommended amount of seed. It is not fiscally necessary to use more than that. 4. Plant during the season. 5. Shaded areas are difficult to grow in. Make sure there is at least 3-4 hours of sunlight hitting the ground. 6. Don’t use enough lime. Often you will need to use tons of lime (i.e. 12 tons per acre if pH < 5.0) – pellet lime is about half that.> Last Tip: LOGGING ROADS ARE GREAT! Use Them! (These tips were provided by "Planting Food Plots From A-Z," a dvd thanks to Antler King
Tags: Food Plot Planting
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