The first year I bought my 22 acres I only saw 3 or 4 deer, no bucks. Second year I did a food plot of turnips and corn. I would have 12+ deer in it at a time. My neighbor told me he drove by one evening and counted over 30 deer in it. Which is why my corn and brassicas failed. The deer ate it before it had a chance. I over seeded it with only winter rye and took my biggest buck to date. Over winter I added a walking/atv trail around the exterior of my property and also added bedding areas. This year I’m going to do clover, chicory, winter rye, and maybe some brassicas. I am super excited for this season!
Mark, great video glad to have you back doing videos. As you know due to my spine surgery complications I did not hunt this year, but my wife found 13 sheds including 3 sets, most being 3 yr old bucks and one 6 yr old. On your property I would plant as we did some switch grass to thicken things up and give you cover coming and going to your stands. On your clover we have been very successful in including 2-3 lbs. of Chicory in our mix. The Chicory with its long root system is more tolerant to the droughts we have been having and they also seem to really like it. Last weekend a friend came out and trimmed all of our apple tress for us, we will have to spray them in the next couple of weeks. Again really enjoyed your comments. Bob
Hey Bob, good to hear from you, hope you are making progress getting healed up. You have an antler factory going over there, congrats. And thanks for the suggestions, I am considering a lot of changes to take it to the next level like your place. Get well soon!
I think you need to plant turnip and brassica Mix some dankin radish in there. That's what my deer told me. First year I planted turnip mixes and wow mind blowing change around here. Counted over 150 beds. Two groups of does and 4 bucks living here since last November
Hey Ian, thanks for the feedback. I normally have some brassicas in the mix, so there are some out there. Even added some sugar beets this year, and the wet areas grew really well. 150 beds is amazing, don't change a thing! Just get them to travel past your hunting spots now. All the best to you.
Good Afternoon Mark!!! I was just thinking about you the other day Buddy, that you hadn't done a video in awhile. But this was a very good one!! What last season toll me is there is a lot of cover on the property, but not a lot of food! My brother came up with a good idea about putting food plots along the trail on the northside, maybe 5-10yds wide & how every long. He wants to do this on as many trails as he can this year! Like you said about the buck I shot last year, that because of the daytime pictures of him two hours before I shot him that he was comfortable on the property. We have the cover, water, parts down & just need better food sources to keep them here!!! Mark have a great afternoon Buddy!!!
Hey Keith, sounds like a good idea. I second what David said here, too, your access trails need to be completely separate from the deer trails/"linear foodplots". If you have a choice, try to run those trail plots north/south as much as you can. East/west trail plots just don't get much sun, and therefore don't grow very well, unless you cut down anything on the south side of the trail that is too tall and shading the trail. All the best to you.
I’m adding Switchgrass (RC Big Rock) into several areas of my food plots. When I grow corn, deer are plentiful in the plots surrounding bc they feel secure. In the rotation years without corn, they abandon big plots once season starts. Switchgrass will hopefully add some more permanent security for them. I’d consider adding turnips/radishes/chicory to a few key areas on Aug 1-15th timeframe for planting. The deer crush the leaves and then start digging for the roots later. I purchased Tar River DRL-72 last fall and will be using it for the first time this Spring. Curious to see how that turns out for me. (NE Pennsylvania) Good episode - happy hunting!
Good thoughts John. You might consider 1-2lbs of sorghum/acre with your Fall plots for some structure. They will eat it and it grows very fast with mid/late July planting.
Your clover plot looks to be classic staging, transition area. My "clients" basically said my grandiouse plans for serious fall food source would be better served as a transition / staging area between neighbors Ag/ FP efforts and bedding with a wee bit more screening. As such, I'm coverting to a thinner section of screened clovers that can establish a pattern of use throughout the year vs. "Tonnage" over a narrow period of time. Depending on your hunting season availability maybe consider having your FP converted to late winter food (corn or soy beans?) For use AFTER neighboring Ag is long gone. It looks like your cover is already solid!
Hey David, so happy to hear you are open to changing your plan each year. Just like whitetail deer are so good at adapting, we need to be too. All the best to you.
Hey Brad, thanks, and yes, I'm still here! Just didnt' feel like I had anything good to share all winter, so it's better to just keep my mouth shut! All the best to you.
Good questions to consider. I’m dealing with feral hogs and invading cows, so my conclusions are a little less obvious, but it’s a great idea to have plans for how this coming year will be better. I’m hoping for a successful summer crop, and will use herbicide to help it get established, thanks to your video last season showing the difference in the small area herbicide missed. Also, going to do some timber stand improvement with chainsaw and hack & squirt. And still feel like more food plot acres would help. Can’t wait.
"Timber Stand Improvement" or "Deer Habitat Improvement"? TSI can sometimes benefit deer cover for the SHORT term, but by definition are more about the veneer vs. the deer. Sorry, just a pet peave, the misuse of "TSI" amongst the hunting community in general.
Hey Curt, I'm with you on the herbicides. Such a great tool. Chaisaw season is the best season for improving your habitat, even better than food plots. Focus your time there, it produces cover, and lots of food too. Your traditional food plots can wait until you get the chainsaw work done, trust me. All the best to you.
A friend and I went to Iowa ( archery ). We both shot nice bucks. Mine was 7.5 years old. It was a great trip. I had 3 super nice bucks make it through the year. Hoping to get a shot at a couple of them this year. Thanks, hope you and your family have an awesome summer.
A deers annual food habitats is 45% Forbs and 35% Browse. Yes using a a chainsaw to increase regeneration is a good thing to do but it only supplys 800lbs/ac of food per year while a high quality food plot supply’s 2-10,000lbs/ac/yr and that data comes straight from the NDA
Hey Justin, great point. As with all property plans, it depends on the situation and goals of the owner. Your point is well taken by me in that I have also been trying to "thicken" up my food plots to get more cover in addition to all the food in them for the feeling of security for the deer. Last few years with sorgum, and I'm thinking maybe a rotation of corn for a year this summer? All the best to you.
Use Dairy Doos 4-3-2 chicken manure pellets. At 2,000lbs per acre it has 80-60-40lbs of NPK in it, little bit of calcium, sulfur and humic acid while also increasing your organic matter. I do habitat consulting and this stuff works great
Yup, my email is listed on the "About" tab on the Back40 Channel page. Or, I use BaseMap, you can email me the property address and I can check it out that way, too.
