Post by z7bowhunter on Jun 11, 2013 19:40:32 GMT -5
Well i did some bushhogging this morning and went to show my dad where i bushhogged and looked at the food plots. My corn is not doing so great but i still have some faith in it. The soybeans are doing fantastic, I put up 4 strands of fence made of twine and some T posts around it and I hung mesh bags with " Irish Spring" brand soap all around the food plot. I also have a deer alarm that starts playing music when it detects movement in the food plot. And the only reason i putall this up is to protect the young plants from overbrowsing while they put on more leaves and grow taller. The first week they cvame up without any fence etc. the deer were hitting them HARD. but after putting up the fence and soap i havent had a single picture of a deer in there and have tracks around the outside of fence but not inside!
But what really amazed me was when i went to look at my clover/oats/chicory food plot. Not only are there oats, ladino (white)clover, and chicory in there but also there are turnips and some red clover. Now the deer had been hitting the oats when they first came up and were still young but havent really touched them or the clover until about 2 weeks ago. After i kicked the deer out of the soybeans I geuss they decided they would start feeding in my clover plot about 100 yards away. I have been getting pictures of does and small bucks in the plot although my trail cam battery is really low and misses alot of the deer that come through. I was inspecting the plot more closely and found a mini highway of rabbit trails running throughout the plot with piles of rabbit crap all over. I walked out into the middle of the plot and flushed out a rabbit hiding in the clover. then i saw where a deer had decided to plop down right in the middle of it and take a nap. There were alot of clover stems that had the tops bitten off by both rabbits and deer. And to my suprise i found quite a few "stumps" where the deer and/or rabbits had btten off the oats about 6" up.. I put down 120 lbs of lime and 75 lbs total of 6-14-14 or maybe it was 6-12-12 fertilizer. That was what was rccomended from the soil test we did. All the oats have seed heads on them now and i wonder if thats why they are being eaten now..seems like the clover doesnt have many flowers coming up on them so i might have to replant next spring with higher quality clover seed .. Probably Whitetail Institute clover.. but I dont want to replant if I dont have to.So if you are a big rabbit hunter and you want to put out a food plot for rabbits plant some oats+clover HAHAHA.I also planted two 1/4 acre plots in sunflowers,sorghum, and millet for dove hunting over. they are sprouting nicely and I am already seeing doves in the plot believe it or not. The sprouts are about 2-3" tall. The deer are browsing on them some but not bothering them too bad. Ill put some pictures up sometime soon
But what really amazed me was when i went to look at my clover/oats/chicory food plot. Not only are there oats, ladino (white)clover, and chicory in there but also there are turnips and some red clover. Now the deer had been hitting the oats when they first came up and were still young but havent really touched them or the clover until about 2 weeks ago. After i kicked the deer out of the soybeans I geuss they decided they would start feeding in my clover plot about 100 yards away. I have been getting pictures of does and small bucks in the plot although my trail cam battery is really low and misses alot of the deer that come through. I was inspecting the plot more closely and found a mini highway of rabbit trails running throughout the plot with piles of rabbit crap all over. I walked out into the middle of the plot and flushed out a rabbit hiding in the clover. then i saw where a deer had decided to plop down right in the middle of it and take a nap. There were alot of clover stems that had the tops bitten off by both rabbits and deer. And to my suprise i found quite a few "stumps" where the deer and/or rabbits had btten off the oats about 6" up.. I put down 120 lbs of lime and 75 lbs total of 6-14-14 or maybe it was 6-12-12 fertilizer. That was what was rccomended from the soil test we did. All the oats have seed heads on them now and i wonder if thats why they are being eaten now..seems like the clover doesnt have many flowers coming up on them so i might have to replant next spring with higher quality clover seed .. Probably Whitetail Institute clover.. but I dont want to replant if I dont have to.So if you are a big rabbit hunter and you want to put out a food plot for rabbits plant some oats+clover HAHAHA.I also planted two 1/4 acre plots in sunflowers,sorghum, and millet for dove hunting over. they are sprouting nicely and I am already seeing doves in the plot believe it or not. The sprouts are about 2-3" tall. The deer are browsing on them some but not bothering them too bad. Ill put some pictures up sometime soon
Just another night at work for me and Monty will be back here again bright and early. 
