Doc7

Thanks I will do another soil test. It's actually free for me, at Virginia Tech Coop Extension.

I did it last year and it worked great. I found out today they have an option called "Maintenance" as opposed to establishment so that's what I will pick for the new test.

This plot has a 130 yard long , 3 yard wide path to it in a straight line, that i will be planting with winter rye and clover as well, effectively doubling my food plot size and making it 6 times as long. My stand is at the far end in the trees, 140 yards from this photo location, in the dark spot at the end of the path right in the middle of the photo.

In my previous post you can see where I used to have my ground blind in the background top middle of the first photo.


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Doc7

I understand it might get over browsed, but last year I saw deer on the plot all 12 days I hunted it, and they have still visited it almost daily from January up to my last camera check two weeks ago. If nothing else, I have a "community" location. This is a kill plot, not a grow big antlers plot.

olsaltydog

I may not be accurate but I thought its suggested that kill plots usually be blocked off from browsing until season is there. Letting deer feed on it year round will diminish the plants when season starts negating their effectiveness while blocking them off and then opening it lures them in with fresh highly accessible browse.

mrbb

I will agree, a KILL plot works best when its a PRIME food source saved for hunting season, also, NOT sure again where your at, but clover, is NOT the best KILL plot in MOST places, as to be honest clover is not very favored by deer come fall, its not very tender and a few frosts it puckers up
there are many other things that work better in MOST places for hunting over

NOW Clover is more of a BIG buck tool, as it greens up fast after winter and make a LOT of tonnage of food, which many SO called KILL plots don';t do, there job is basically to LURE deer in at hunting times and be the best food for that time of yr!

not that a clover plot is bad in any way, its not, its a great source of food and drawing and holding deer, as you can see
BUT if you have a CORN feeder, for an example, deer will come to it even long after the corn has gone away, out of habit and HOPE there is more corn again?

same will happen on a poor food plot that was once prime food, out of habit deer will visit, all the more so if there isn;'t better food near by
a poor clover plot is better than poor browse,
as is a poor food plot of about anything, over NO food plot

when you get into food plotting on a more serious side, you start to see the options out there, to make hunting time as prime as it can be over just ANY plot like deal

NOT bashing here, again, just offering some advice/info
and again, a lot has to do with where your at, here in NE PA< about mid OCT, clover is about done here, and that's before out rut even starts, other things draw and hold deer a LOT better!

next after food, or type is again, what food a are in your area to compete with you !
if your the ONLY good food source in your area, you win this
I draw deer from very far, due to only good food in the fall, my deer numbers come Jan, will triple or go higher, due to I have the ONLY crops standing
and a 1/2 mile from me, folks cry there are NO deer at all?? cannot find a deer track in the snow there>
deer need to eat GOOD 24/7/365, the better the food is, the farther they will travel and or move to get prime food!

Doc7

Sounds like I may wish to keep it as an annual Winter Rye plot only! I had many bucks and bears chomping down on it all muzzleloader and Much of rifle season (November through about mid December) last year!

I am in southern Virginia near the North Carolina border on a pine plantation. There is natural browse wherever they recently cut pines but no crops within a half mile in any direction.

I am at a natural funnel in the woods as well. Deer paths like highways leading into my food plot. Both bucks I killed last year had Winter Rye sticking out of their mouth when I dragged them out.

I am starting to think I will disc the whole area (clover should regrow) and just pile on the winter rye like last year.

Doc7

The more I read, the more I think I want to focus on Winter Rye only in my plot. Think the deer just love those fresh shoots coming up and the clover seems like it will take up ground surface area which I need along with a heavy rain for just broadcasting seed like I did last year.

olsaltydog

I would also give a shout out to at least the one show I find to be pretty informative and that would be Growing Deer TV. They have a ton of videos on you tube you can look into and spend alot of time explaining things that you may find helpful.

Mountain_Hunter

An informative post that definitely helped me out. What kind of things do you plant if you don't mind me asking?

I'm on the KY/WV border with mild winters for the most part. We do get the occasional true winter by your standards, but pretty rare.

Do you have a lot of hardwood mountains around, or are you surrounded by ag fields that have been plowed to a big giant dead zone for the winter?

Mountain_Hunter

I will second this. I added their channel on my Roku and binge watch it all the time lol.

YTCLT

I’m on the NC /Va border with similar winters. My property is primarily oaks, hickory, and a few other types of trees like poplar etc. I have around 12 acres in deer crops on 6 different fields w woods and ridges around. My base crop is clover, alfalfa and chicory, and they eat that all year. Come fall I turn one field under and plant oats...supposedly they are higher in sugar than wheat but I’m not a scientist so I’m going on what I’ve heard. I use my disk w the blades straight on the other fields in August and often drag as well to expose dirt between the clover etc.. I scatter beets, radishes and turnips and pray for rain. They grow between the clover etc and provide a food source in those fields into the winter as they get sweeter with the frosts/cold. The clover etc isn’t as much of an attraction once the cold sets in...but the beets, radishes and turnips are irrisitable. I joke that they are to die for...and there isn’t one left come late January. As for planting now, I’m not sure u have many choices this late in the year. The Whitetail Institute Oats I plant should be in the ground by now, but maybe a winter wheat could work.