We are please to provide you with resources on the subject of deer food plots. This is the first in a series of educational videos on doing your own deer food plots. If you are interested in food plots stay tuned for our series.
for more information on planting your food plots. We can make the process easier for you.
For those of you also interested in small game and turkey food plots, the good news is, there is overlap and you can achieve results for small game hunting with your whitetail food plot.
Are you located in Pennsylvania? Do you have the desire to do food plots but need some consulting services to help you get started. In my travels I have come across a professional and qualified (fee for service) called Drop Tine Wildlife Consulting. Here is the website address. Check them out if you need services closer to you and you are in Pennsylvania.
I frequently get questions about what seed to use in my food plots and immediately after that I get questions about food plot failures. I think it is no accident that weed control is hardly ever talked about thoroughly and most people spend a lot of time on the “right seed”, high fertilizer rates and somehow just don’t manage to deal with the weed problem.
The effect of weeds can be significant and if I was to have one priority in getting a productive food plot it would be dealing properly with the weeds. Assuming you have a good location for your food plot and you have picked a plant combination that works in your soil type, then loss in yields are often due to poor weed efforts.
Can alter palatability and deer can avoid the plot because weeds make it bitter
Steps to dealing with weeds
1. Prevent them form establishing
Control prior to seed set: We spend a lot of time pretreating and tilling the land in combination with controlled burning(if it can be done safely) to get the best weed control possible before planting.
2. Don’t bring them in
This is often overlooked. Consider how weeds are spread: wind, water, animals,human movement, equipment, etc. Don’t use contaminated seed (use only plant certified crop seed) which means it is certified to be free of weeds. Use clean equipment, don’t drag vegetative parts of perennial weeds around as it spreads weeds.
3. Understand the enviroment
Different enviroments promote different weeds. Tilled row crops discourage perennials and encourage annuals. Established perennial crops like alfalfa may out compete annual weeds but perennials may get going because of lack of tillage.
Stay tuned for next in the series. I will discuss annual, biennial and perennial weeds that are likely a concern in your whitetailfood plot.
If you are interested in getting started with a food plot, but aren’t sure where to start: download the first chapter in my ebook “deer food Plots Made Easy” and read all about food plot Design Strategies.
If you are looking for more detailed information on specific weed control, I have found this website is helpful. It is Washington State University Extension. Check in the agriculture section under plants, then weed control. There are specific publications that may be helpful to you and online courses in weed identification also:)
Even though I grew up with hunting, am an avid outdoors person, and even wrote a book about food plots, I have always faced an internal delema with regards to the topic of hunting.
As a veterinarian, I have had a long standing problem reconciling the issue of hunting Trophy bucks while maintaining quality genetics and allowing propagation of a healthy species.
I see some whitetailTrophy and mule deer Trophy bucks roaming around freely on our property here in Alberta before hunting season. As a matter of a fact, I saw one this year that was so big, it looked like a horse.
When I see these outstanding Trophy bucks there are two thoughts that come to mind. One is “What a Monster Trophybuck” and the other is “I hope that one makes it into next year, so he can pass on good quality genes”. Both my husband and I really appreciate the magestic beauty of an animal that has been allowed to reach it’s full potential.
Well, in my research, I have come across a Texas deer hunting outfitter than has spent a number of years developing a program I can definately stand behind. The Duval County Ranch has successfully merged the two concepts of save the best quality animals while still harvesting Trophy bucks.
I love the rules on this South Texas Ranch. You can’t shoot unless your guide indicates it is an appropriate buck. No amount of your adrenaline changes that. Despite the potential as a Trophybuck, if the deer has more genetic potential you can’t take him. This is music to my ears.
Here is an example. This buck had been watched closely since 2003. He was scoring in the 230″s last year and turned out to be 210″s this year when he was shot. He was aged at 8.5+ years old.
This is what their deer hunting program at the Duval County Ranch is all about. This buck was protected and allowed to breed even though David Kitner (the ranch manager) knew that he would probably be smaller this year. Duval County Ranch and deer hunting outfitters want those great genes to go as far as possible. This beautiful buck was harvested this year because he was being pushed around so much by younger bucks he was unlikely to breed. He was harvested before he was hurt or broken up by another buck. This hunter has had a rewarding experience, the buck was allowed to pass his exceptional genetics onto the rest of the herd until the time had come when even under natural selection he would be pushed out of breeding and likely injured by the younger bucks.
This post was written in response to a question submitted by Jeremiah. The question was:
I HAVE A 2 ACRE STRIP THAT I KEEP MOWED I DONT REALLY HAVE THE MONEY TO PUT A GOOD food plot IN BUT I WOULD LIKE TO PUT SOMETHING IN.. MY QUESTION IS IF I WERE TO PUT IN THE NO PLOW FORMULA DO I HAVE TO KILL THE GRASS? IS IT POSSABLE TO JUST ROUGH IT UP WITH A RAKE IF I CUT THE GRASS REALLY LOW? WHAT WOULD BE MY BEST APROACH TO PLANTING THIS WITH NO TILL? ALSO DO YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLADGE ON ALFALFA? I WAS GIVEN ABOUT 5 LBS AND TOLD JUST TO SPRINKLE IT IN THE GRASS WERE I WANT IT TO GROW.. ANY INSITE?
Answer: Yes, it is possible to over seed some no-till preparations.
Here are the issues:
1. Soil test: Most of the no-till blends are cereals, grains, and clover mixes (+/- brassicas) and most of these plants really like near neutral pH. If you don’t know the pH range of your soil, you may be wasting your time and money.
2. Seed to Soil Contact and Depth: Most of the no till blends can be overseeded into something else (provided conditions are right), but they still need seed to soil contact. Roughing up the soil with an old bed spring or drag harrow behind an atv will usually suffice. If you are doing it by hand even a rake can work provided your back holds out and you don’t have much land to cover.
3. When you are planting: If you are planting late summer make sure you are likely to get adequate sun and rainfall and the soil has to be good, especially in conditions where you already have grass competing for nutrients. As you have mentioned above, the grass would have to be cut short when planting is done: shorter the better: stunting it a bit and giving the overseeded plants time to gather nutrients,sunlight and moisture to get a start.
4. The issue of overseeding into grass: The type of grass that is growing into your plot can be an indicator of soil conditions there. For example if you have tall fescue then it usually has a moderate tolerance for dry or moist conditions and a HIGH tolerance for pH below 6.0. If this is the pH of your soil overseeding forages deer like will not likely be effective. Given the competition from the grass and the low pH, survival should be poor. Conversely, timothy grass has a low tolerance for either wet or dry extremes and is barely tolerant of pH below 6. So if it is growing there, maybe the pH of your soil is a bit better.
5. Killing the grass: This may be your best bet, depending on your soil conditions. Killing the grass alone will not provide a big benefit if the soil conditions are not near neutral pH because weeds will take over and you will have no added benefit. However, assume your soil conditions are good, you may consider doing a chemical burn down on a strip down the center of your grass plot. Follow this by removing or raking up the dead thatch and then use no till seed after roughing up the soil. You could also to a strip around the outside, but the deer may eay it up before it gets a chance. Having it in the center means the deer will be limited to night feeding in the area and this may provide it with more opportunity to get established. The trouble with this approach is that it will be an ongoing effort for you likely: between encrouching grass, maybe moderate soil conditions, and the fact that most no till blends are annuals you may be doing more work than you would like to do.
Alfalfa:
The negatives: Generally speaking alfalfa is the most pH sensitive of forage crops, followed by legumes and then grasses. Below pH 6.0 this plant has virtually no tolerance. It doesn’t do well in alkaline soil, salty soil or poorly drained soils either. Slow to establish and high phosphorus requirement (soil test: low phosphorus you will have to be adding fertilizer to keep it going).
The positives: Once established is very competitive and can be drought tolerant once established. Can withstand periods of flooding if early in spring. Does establish deer root system which allows it to out compete other less viable weeds and plants. Can be used as no-till planting, but not in your situation because: Must do chemical burn down first, then use drill for precise depth of planting at 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep using pre inoculated seed. If you just scatter this seed you likely will not see much benefit. Keep in mind, when we discuss recommendations, it doesn’t mean if you just throw it out there it won’t grow, what it means is you aren’t likely to see productive growth:)
This post is about Texas Deer Hunting.