My Dad and I currently plant all of the food plots on only one of the farms that we hunt (with one exception). This is the arrangement we have with the property owner. We plant 13 acres worth of gourmet foliage to hold the deer in the area. On one of the other farms we plant 3 acres of lush green clover. Our third farm is more of a transition area and isn't configured well for planting. The forth farm that we hunt is surrounded by crops until late November and the land owner has asked us not to plant food plots on the property.
There are a lot of variables that go into planting. Mainly the cost of fertilizer, seed, and fuel. The equipment that is available to you will also determine how far you can take this process. Over the last five years my Dad has purchased a disc, drag, plow, brush hog, and corn planter for his tractor. Dad reasonably purchased these items from farmers in the area that no longer used the equipment because it was too small for their big fields and larger tractors. Auctions are another good place to find cheap farming equipment but you will still need access to a tractor. We also bought a seed spreader and sprayer for the four wheeler. They make a lot of cool attachments for ATV's. Although they are expensive, this may be a better option for someone who doesn't own a tractor.
You may be asking yourself what should you plant on your farm. Well that really depends on your particular situation. There are too many variables to list in this article but I will give you some of the basic things to think about as I fill you in on what we planted. How you plant your seed will be dependent on the type of seed that you choose. It may need to be drilled or broadcast. We always spread 200-300 lbs an acre of fertilizer and then drag it into the soil of our food plots.
Field #1- This 3 acre field is bordered to the north by a treeline and a creek to the south. East and West of the field are good bedding areas. Thee years ago we planted half of the field in Whitetail Institutes Whitetail Clover. The deer love this stuff. The clover has come back so well each year that we haven't had to spray it for weeds. All we do is fertilize it in the spring and then mow it a couple of times during the summer with the brush hog. I have tried almost every clover out there and nothing has compared to Whitetail Clover! The second half of this field has been more of a testing plot in the past. The first year we planted it, we put in Buck Forage Oats with average results. Last year we planted cowpeas in the spring which the deer absolutely loved. However, the cowpeas didn't last into the fall so this year we planted standing corn. It has been our experience that the deer will hammer the clover from spring to early fall. As the fall season progresses they will switch to the corn during and after the rut. This should put deer in this field every day in all phases of the deer season.
Field #2- This is our largest field at approximately 5 acres. It is bordered by a treeline to the north and wooded creek bottom to the south. There is a pasture field to the east and CRP grass to the west. The deer usually approach this field from the south creek bottom and sometimes from the west CRP grass. Last year we planted this entire field in standing corn. The deer hammered it but not until late December and January. This was because the neighbor to the South had a 120 acre standing corn field that was too wet to harvest until December. Once his corn was harvested (which was abnormally late) the deer lived on our fields. This year we planted half of the field in standing corn and the other half in soybeans. The deer seem to love eating soybeans in the early fall. Then they stop eating them until late season. In the north east corner and south east corner of this field we placed 1/4 of an acre in Whitetail clover because this field is located so far away from fields #1 and #3, which also have clover in them. Again, this should put deer in this field almost every day.
Don't forget to build cages for your fields that are at least 2x2 feet. That way the deer can't eat what is inside of them and you will now how much pressure you fields are receiving.Field #3- This 2 acre field is in the shape of a horse shoe. We built it in the middle of the timber. There are bedding areas to the east and west of this field. To the north are all the trees we knocked down with the bulldozer. Sometimes the deer bed on the other side of these piles of trees. In the past this field has held a lot of moisture and been hard to plant. Last year we used Whitetail Institute's No Plow due to the excessive moisture. However, this field has drained well this year and isn't holding as much moisture. So, you can probably guess what we planted, it was Whitetail Clover. This field will be a gold mine especially in the early season.
Field #4- The last field we planted is 3 acres in size. It is bordered by CRP to the north and a creek bluff to the south. The east is made up of wooded fingers and the west is dense hardwood trees and bedding areas. Last year we planted most of the field in cowpeas. It held a lot of deer in the spring and summer but the plants no longer produced in the fall. So, like field #2, we planted half of this field in corn and the other half in soybeans to see how well they produced together.
With the exception of our clover fields last year, the deer did not hit our fields hard until late December. Many other hunters have told me they experienced similar results. This was because there were hundreds of acres of agricultural fields to the south of our property. Due to the wet fall last year, these fields were left standing all fall and became competition for our food plots. Would you go to a 5 acre corn field when you could go to one that was 240 acres? Plus the neighboring fields were full of milo and soybeans. This made it tough to hunt around our food plots last year. However, once the neighbor harvested these crops, our food plots were quickly consumed.
We don't necessarily plant food plots to hunt over them. Actually we try to hunt between the food plots and the bedding areas. You can quickly educate deer if you continually hunt over a food plot. The plantings are to keep the deer healthy and in the area. If you have a lot of agricultural fields in the area, then maybe you want to start by planting some Whitetail Clover. If you don't have much for crops in your hunting area, then you had better make your food plot as large as you can because they will probably eat them down before they can mature.
I encourage you to contact me if you have questions about planting food plots. I can only offer advise based on my experience but I would like to help you get results the first time you try this. Let me know if you have any suggestions, recommendations, or questions. If you are going to do some planting and you have kids, try to get them involved. I took my two boys with me to seed a field and they had a blast. Good hunting!
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