Check out our food plot results
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Pat Lefemine's Link
Check out our results from my Ohio farm in 2021. This is an entirely unbiased and non-sponsored report. Our best year ever!
Yes Pat, thanks for sharing. You have mastered this stuff! Great results from your hard work, happy to see it. Hope this year is just as good!
Excellent. Improving habitat helps many species.
Thanks for posting Pat. Do you mind sharing which seed vendors you like to work with (pm if you want).
Thanks
Any distributors that has fresh seed will do. Could be your coop, local seed guys, etc. I generally stay away from the deer head brands because I don’t trust their seeds are fresh. I don’t mind that they charge a premium, but I have always suspected they sell holdover seeds. I have personally seen 3 stickers on top of one another, each with new dates.
Thats VERY interesting about the Durana plot. All i heard online was durana, durana, durana when i was looking into planting clover on my new farm. It is still a S__T box field this year so far, even though it has twice the production as last year. Bare spots all over it. The fans keep saying to give it time as it grows a large root system first, then the clover flourishes. Im still waiting, lol. My PH is not as good as yours, so im concerned that if yours failed ,mine is surely going to do the same. I have plans to get a fall blend from Mixon Seed Co (Fall Buck Brunch) for this fall to overseed. Hoping the triticale and Oats will do what i need for the season and the clover will eventually take hold like it should.
Thanks Pat, Always enjoy these reports.
Pat- do you know what the deer density is in your part of Ohio? (As in deer/sq mile?) That drone pic of 247 deer is unbelievable!
I ran a dry bean seed program for many years, it was required that seed be retested for germination on a yearly basis. If the seed passed the germination standards then a new seed tag can be placed over an old one. Nothing nefarious going on as long as the germination test is current. It is possible that irresponsible company A bought seed last year from responsible company B, held it and then resells it outside of a seed certification system. Moral of the story, check for a current germination test (harder to do if you buy sight unseen).
Rut Nut,
No idea. I’d say 40/sq during normal months and 600 on my ground during winter.
Yesterday I walked into my barn and kicked out a doe that was bedded on the straw. Second time that happened. There’s deer everywhere here. Not sure how much is attributable to my extensive plot and habitat improvements but I suspect it’s significant reason.
That's awesome Pat. You must be excited and feeling satisfied with those results I hope! Sounds like you found a winner of a location. It's only a matter of time until some crazy bucks either grows up or shows up.
If you haven't already gone to Boonville and gotten your other, smaller diesel tractor, you may not be able to share this years results next Spring!!
I found a dealer that came out and diagnosed the problem. It was the def quality sensor (smh) which he had predicted before hooking up the computer. Part is due in today so hopefully fixed by end of week. I was able to get some work done with my TC34 so I’ll only need 2 days once Its fixed to put in my spring plots. Unfortunately it means missing the NY turkey opener.
I would say so, Pat! To be honest, I never really thought food plots could attract deer like that, but obviously it is working! You made a believer out of me................................
Pat, you are definitely the Bowsite food plot king ! The amount of deer in those photos is unbelievable. I’d bet money your food plots are drawing deer from miles away too. I’ve personally seen them walk two miles to some peanut fields from where I was hunting. I was in their bedroom but they were dining in those peanu fields ! Your plots look fantastic !
Thanks Drycreek but I’m not even in the same league as many guys on this site. I put a ton of resources into my properties but it’s worth it to me. I’m just thankful to finally own a place where all that effort is rewarded. I spent ten years doing this in NY, banging my head against the wall.
What happened to plot #6?
Have you got your master plan all laid out for this year (once your tractor gets fixed)? Have you considered switchgrass as some more bedding/sanctuary type cover for plot #5?
Like Troy, I am interested in the plan for this year, but know that is probably coming soon in the next feature. One question for you though is if you have thought about forage beans instead. It is my understanding that they will stay green until the first hard freeze, rather then a certain number of days like field soybeans. My experience in NE is that the deer hit the beans hard until brown up, then transition to corn. Of course if I had standing beans after the corn is out I am sure they woud transition back later in the year like yours do.
Congrats Pat on “it all coming together!” Amazing! I always look forward to this thread as I’ve learned ALOT from it over the years...
I’ve noticed the preference for much of the season for Ag beans as well..as have others,,,,there”s definitely something to this.
What date did you plant your Brassicas? Did you plant the grain component at the same time as the brassicas or did you come back and interseed them into the brassicas at a later date?
What was the pea component (percentage) to the brassicas? How big an additional draw do you think they created?
Mark
Lots to digest Good stuff,Pat. Thanks
Great stuff, Pat! Thanks for sharing.
Big soybean field
Big soybean field
T-Roy, plot 6 was powerlines and the plot got destroyed by Asplundh who were cutting trees and milking it for 4 months. It's coming back but it was not critical so I never got to it last fall.
This year is corn and beans again, just haven't quite figured out where. I will by tonight as I have to plant tomorrow. My tractor was fixed this morning!!!
I will be making another brassica/fall concoction and putting that in my kill plot to rotate, and I've already sprayed my perennials. I'll be doing more Egyptian Wheat along my neighbor's border. Pretty much more of the same, just rotated around a bit. All enlist beans this year so I can spray Liberty. I have to fight back on the Roundup resistant marestail so moving away from Glyfo. I have never tried Liberty and T-Roy has told me good things, so have my neighbors. So different Ag beans and Ag corn this year.
Mark - I am learning that the Ag beans seem to be just as good at half the price. I had really good luck with Real World beans, and Buck Beans, but they are 2x the price and I'm not really seeing 2x the result. So I'm gonna be 100% ag beans this year. If I was planting 1 acre of beans, I'd go with the speciality stuff, but I'm planting 12 acres of beans so that's almost $500 in savings.
I plant my Brassicas the first week of August. I used to plant later but my best results have been around that first week.
I always plant 50lbs per acre in winter peas, then about 3lbs for brassicas, and 10lbs for annual clover and 25lbs of either oats, or rye. This year I'm using Winfred brassicas, purple top, and radish mixed equally to get to 3lbs.
Pat what annual clover are your planting? I am assuming that you are including it in the mix for spring green up as you will not get much if any growth in the fall if you are planting in August?
Actually I get enough growth on some annual clovers to get a benefit for an August first planting. My favorite has been white cloud crimson clover however standard crimson clover works great too.
Something I tried last year might be of some interest to you, Pat. I planted Austrian winter peas, using the bean monitors in my JD 7000 planter. It worked extremely well for me. This year I’m going to try planting the peas first, then broadcast my brassicas and radishes and finally, run my cultimulcher over everything. Probably interseed some cereal grain into the plot in September.
Troy, are you able to use pre-emergent labeled for soybeans on Austrian peas or field peas? How do you control weeds with the peas ?
I tried some Treflan (trifluralin) on a brassicas plot for the first time, last year, and it seemed to do a pretty good job of weed control. I can’t remember for sure, if I planted peas in that same plot, but the label says it’s safe to use on peas as well. It needs to be incorporated into the soil fairly soon after application to be effective. The only weed that I know for sure it didn’t phase, was buttonweed (velvetleaf).
We used Treflan on our chufa plots and had good results. We sprayed and then ran the discs over it before planting. These were new plots and I thought that we would have a weed issue, but the Treflan worked great. Good to know that it works for brassica too.
Pat, I had the same problem with the power lines on my property. Finally, I went out hunting and found a crew under a trap screwing off about 15 yards from the stand I was going to sit in. This was about the third time they had screwed me up that November. I was not happy. I threw off that crew and one or two other crews working that day. I bypassed all of their locks. Now they call and perform maintenance according to my schedule. I open gates for them, and I do often provide them better access than they would have otherwise. If they damage anything they often overpay to make it right.
One time they wanted to cross a farm field to put in some new poles and the land agent did not want to work with me. I sent an email stating that they did not have permission to come on my land and please stay off. After months of them sending ROW documents, most of which were not even for the property and me always replying that they did not have the right, I got a call from a pleasant-sounding gentleman who wanted to know if I could meet him out there. We talked about how he could access the areas using my existing roads a lot easier and cheaper than what his guys wanted to do. We agreed on an approach and timing. He made sure that the roads were in better shape than he found them. Everyone was happy except for maybe the guy who tried to push me around.
Pat, i was hoping you would elaborate some on the Durana. You have a plan to get it up to par? Or will you be plowing under and starting over?
My Durano has always been strong for me. It gets major browsing here
GFL, that's what my Durana looked like in NY, but for whatever reason it sucks on my OH ground. I sprayed it and fertilized it, and if it still it terrible, I am going to burn it down and plant something else. The field it's in is not a strategic location, or critical to my nutrition program so it's not a priority for me.
Pat and T-Roy,
Are you guys planting your winter peas at the same time as your brassicas?....ie...roughly August first?
I’ve got one acre patch I’m going to try it in.
Mark
Mark……I usually plant them late July/early August. Same timeframe as my brassicas. Planting them in my JD planter worked great. Planted the peas first, then the brassicas mix, then the radishes. Then, I’ll roll everything in with the cultimulcher.
Same as Troy, except I lightly disk in my peas and oats, then I will cultimulch once, spread the brassicas and clover, then cultimulch a final time. I've never tried using my row planter but that sounds like a great idea!
Thanks Guys...
Pat, Why wouldn’t you plant them all at once with your drill? Too big of disparancies in the seed sizes?
I’m thinking I could NTD them in all in one pass using the two seed boxes.
Mark
Here is my opinion on food plots...... I think, as a private land owner, and we improve the land, because of time and money, better than the states in many ways.... But I also see an arrogance, of those, who condem some guy, who wants to hunt public land and put out some apple and corn,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Oh thats right, it causes CWD for all the deer will die,,,, what a joke........ Of course private food mgt, benefits, lots of wildlife, but give me a break, if some guy wants to shoot a deer close, with some apples.................................
I said this at a QDMA meeting, in SW Wis. I do not believe in CWD hoax, I know of no one who died from it. However, if you do believe in it, give me more buck tags, because they carry it, in my humble opinion.............................
Groundhunter50,
We respect all opinions here on Bowsite, but I think your topic matter doesn’t belong on this thread nor does it add anything to this thread.
Mark
Mark I really do not care,,,, its an open forum, I never swear, or disrespect anyone on this site..... If you disagree, that is fine, but I do not need the bowsite police to tell me what opinion I give, as long as I am respectful.
Sorry I am not as Woke as you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
G50…….I didn’t see anywhere on this thread where anybody mentioned a single thing about about putting out any bait piles, hunting public land, CWD, any arrogance shown towards anyone else, or anything remotely resembling a WOKE mindset.
If you’re looking for a forum to discuss those subjects, I’d suggest taking your rapport to the Kansas forum, and bring it up there. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of guys to bounce your opinions off of…….Just MY humble opinion
Getting back to the topic…
Mark, in Ohio I don’t have my precision seeder, that’s back in NY, if I did I could plant in one pass.
Any plans on relocating any of your NY equipment to Ohio, Pat?
10-4. One pass planting makes sense to me (as long as these different plant species seeds can be put in the ground at the same time) ….thanks
Time for one more experiment for ‘22!
Mark
I would hire Pat to plant my place when he retires but I couldn’t afford him.??
Good spot for that scrape tree. Visual magnet. Lots of pollen for the honeybees also. Looks great.
I am interested to see what happens to the size and health of your deer herd as the years pass with such great year around feed. Even in areas that are heavily farmed there is a period of time when food can be scares.
In your brassica blend are you using 10#s of coated crimson clover or 10#s of live seed?
For you guys that are planting the red or crimson clover, do the deer utilize much, or is it mostly for soil building?
Deer hammer it.
I use coated seeds. Don’t like inoculating raw seeds.
For some reason my durana from last year’s planting sucks and I have no idea why all my ladino is seed catalog material maybe Pat caused some bad karma lol if it doesn’t take off I’ll replant the plot.It totally blows my mind how people can argue about a food plot post.And remember it’s a waste of time no one is going to change anyones mind on a blog just saying Good luck Lewis
I actually over seed my Durano with crimson red in some of my fields. Some also might get wheat and crimson.
I planted some crimson clover in September last year and it did not produce much last year but is doing well this spring. I will plant it earlier this year. I have a new, .20 acre food plot that is so rocky that I can not get a dog proof coon trap very far in the ground and the crimson clover is doing well in it. I really appreciate this feature and discussion.
Getting a small plot ready for planting this fall. Not very large just a small plot. Going to be planting buck forage oats along with clover. I have a question. Should I cultipack with a roller after sowing the seeds? I'm new at this.
1953………I would suggest that if you’re able to somehow, sow your oats into your prepped seedbed first, and drag or harrow them, so as to cover the oats with approximately an inch or so, of soil. Then cultipack that, then seed your clover seed, then cultipack it again. It’s a little more labor intensive, but would probably give you your best results. (You stated it was a small plot). At the very least, you should definitely cultipack the plot after seeding it.
Thanks T-roy. I wasn't sure which to plant first. This makes perfect sense. I have read that the oats should be deeper and the clover should be planted not as deep. Will dragging the oats move the oats around quite a bit when I drag them?
Depends a little bit on what you’re using for a drag. A piece of chain link fencing works decent, as does an actual harrow section. It will help to get some soil cover on your oats. You won’t get all of the oats covered, but it will drag some soil over a lot of them. Cultipacking it afterwards will also press some of them into the soil a little, giving you better seed to soil contact, which will help some, as well.
Looking at that pic, id do a straight white clover mix. Looks to shaded for oats?
If you plant it they will come
If you plant it they will come
Planted buck forage oats and alyce clover on September 1st. This picture was taken today. Deer are already hitting it.
Not the prettiest food plot but it will suffice.