Who knows food plots?
 

Here's our situation....

My family has a 365 acre farm. It is pretty close to 50% woods and 50% tillable.Part of that tillable is old grown up hog pastures that is not used by the farmer. Some deer bed in here, but it is also not really thick just kind of grassy.

All the fields are empty usually by October, so after that the deer have ZERO food sources except for acorns and a few percimmons.

Me and my cousin have been thinking about putting in some food plots in the old grown up pastures. Some problems to arise though.
1) We can only get any type of equipment in there while no crops are in the ground.
2) $$$$$$
3) These spots are not big, and there are fences that surround all entry to them. We MIGHT be able to take the fences down but were not sure. One spot is impossible to get to and would have to be tilled up by a garden tiller.

Again these spots are not big, but they cannot be reached easily while the crops are in the ground. We thought about clover, but we wouldn't be able to get a mower in to mow it during most of the year.

Anyone have any suggestions that may not be to costly. We just want something that will help hold some deer on the property. We haveother areas that offer GREAT bedding area, but not enough food.It is possible that we may make the other guys that hunt there pitch in some moneyif they want to hunt next to them.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

You don't say what kind of crops are planted, but if it is corn or soybeans you might be able to talk to the farmer and pay him to not harvest a few corners of his property and use what is already planted as your food plot. It will be cheaper and easier than planting yourself.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

It is corn and soybeans, and we did ask him and he never seemed to like the idea.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

Haveyou offered to pay the farmerwhat his hisprofit would be afterexpenses are paid from sale of the crop? I don't see how he could refuse that, and not even harvest the crop.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

I don't understand how he could not like the idea.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

I install foodplots for a living and I have ran into that situations, normally I have found a way to get in even if I have to build a road with my skid loader. If it is going to be limited to the amount of maintance you can perform clover may not be your best answer. Try sticking with cereal grains and turnups. You can even plant them with a rake.

RE: Who knows food plots?
 

If they are just grassy, then you don't necessarily need to till them up. You have a couple of options: a perennial plot (clover, chicory, etc.) or an annual plot (wheat, oats, Austrian winter peas, annual rye, etc.).

First thing to do...get a soil test, then apply what you need according to that test.

To get your perennial plot started this next year, I'd mow a perimeter around it and burn it off in January or February, then frost seed your clover/chicory mix after that. Watch it into May and mow it when the grasses are starting to go over the tops of the clover. In June, I'd mow it again at the same point then let it sit for a few days, then spray the plot with Poast herbicide...this will kill the grasses and release the clover. Watch it through the rest of the summer and mow it down every few weeks to keep it palatable...and spray it again with the Poast if you start to see the grasses coming back again.

For an annual hunting plot, in early September next year, spray the area with glyphosate, wait a few days, broadcast a mix of wheat, oats, Austrian winter peas, THEN mow. You should have a nice plot to hunt over with very little effort...my kind of plot! ;)