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Plots And Deers

TooTall71

TooTall71

Junior Member
69
16
Geauga/Coshocton Counties
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First year actually putting any real effort into a summer plot, and things are turning out pretty nice. Got a mix of buckwheat, oats, and peas from Merit, and threw it out early June into a stand of winter rye, crimson clover, and shit ton of weeds. lol.

Brushogged it all down as low as I could get it and walked away. I was going to spray everything before mowing but since it's just a summer plot and buckwheat grows well on friggin concrete, I figured I would save the gly for fall planting. Really liking the throw and mow method over tillage as my plots are on top of a hill and drain really quickly even when it pours. No tilling allows for the thatch layer to hold moisture for new plants and keep what little water we have in the soil.

And this being the 3rd year of plotting, I think it's starting to really pay off with deer numbers and the size of antlers i.e. healthier deer. Nothing for them to eat as far as ag for about 2 miles, so they hit our plots pretty hard regardless of what we grow. Providing food 365 days/year now seems to really be helping them produce and stay healthy.
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Plant it and they will come. Like giving free candy to kids.
In 21 yrs of owning my farm I never seen over 3 deer in a group on my farm.
Then about 10 yrs ago the 110 ac farm adjoining my farm switched to a horse hay bailing operation. Then 5 yrs ago I put in a 3 ac food plot adjoining the neighbor's hay. Now I've seen up to 16 deer feeding in my food plots.
IMHO offering a different type of quality food and the deer will come to it. Still think it's like candy and kids.
 
Yep, that's pretty much been the case for me so far. I have 2, one acre plots and I've seen up to 13 deer in an individual plot in one sit. And these are fields that were just brushogged a few times a year in the past with no food for them and very little deer activity. We are very fortunate that there isn't much competition around and the deer have ate just about everything I've put out for them with brassicas and peas seeming like their favorite food. I swear these days I get more excited about checking my plots and cam pics than I do going hunting.....at least until the season opens :smiley_crocodile:
 
Got a chance to visit the property yesterday....throw and mow buckwheat/pea/oat plot is looking pretty great for not having sprayed or fertilized before planting. I planted BW in the same plot last year after tilling and the no till approach definitely seems to be the way to go on this plot. Granted all the rain this summer has helped, but it's definitely a noticeable difference in the amount of germination I got this year. Gonna nuke it and plant fall plot of rye, radish, oats, and winter peas towards latter end of August.

And from the looks of things the deer are hammering the plot. Lots of browsed buckwheat stalks and scat all over the field. Didn't have my camera going for the last few weeks but it's up now. Can't wait to see who's visiting....

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Seems like we had some new bucks move in the past 2 weeks. Definitely more activity in the plots/salt, and mostly day time pics of the big boys. Buckwheat plot is getting browsed pretty heavily. Gonna terminate it and put in fall planting latter end of August. Hopefully some of these fellas stick around for another few weeks(time stamp is messed up on my cam, these were from this past week)...

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Great job.. used to love my tractor time doing plots. I just did a small one here at the house, mowed and spread seed.. Clover and Brassicas
 
Put in fall plots the other day. Mix of winter rye, buck forage oats, and daikon radish. Broadcast, mowed existing buckwheat and weeds over top, sprayed with gly to kill all the grasses underneath that were growing pretty thick, and then rolled the whole plot with a lawn roller.

Before mowing:
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After:
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Pretty pumped to see how it all turns out as I think I've got the Throw & Mow process down pretty well. Deer are also obliterating the salt pile last few weeks! Let's hope they all stick around for another month.

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Interesting idea of seed new fall seeds, mowing then spraying weed killer and rolling the cuttings down. I'm going to try it next year to get the extra thatching to hold the moister.

Not to question your process but would it kill more grass if you would spray the weed killer then seed and mow it down the next day? I believe I seen it done this way on another food plot forum.
 
MK111 said:
Interesting idea of seed new fall seeds, mowing then spraying weed killer and rolling the cuttings down. I'm going to try it next year to get the extra thatching to hold the moister.

Not to question your process but would it kill more grass if you would spray the weed killer then seed and mow it down the next day? I believe I seen it done this way on another food plot forum.
Click to expand...
I did a little reading about this same topic a couple years ago. The explanation I was reading from a spray manufacture directed us to spray first. The reasoning was that the more surface area of the grasses that get sprayed the better it works. They then explained to wait a week after spraying before mowing. Made sense to me but I am sure there are other opinion as well.
 
Quantum673 said:
I did a little reading about this same topic a couple years ago. The explanation I was reading from a spray manufacture directed us to spray first. The reasoning was that the more surface area of the grasses that get sprayed the better it works. They then explained to wait a week after spraying before mowing. Made sense to me but I am sure there are other opinion as well.
Click to expand...

I did mean to say to mow next week and not the next day. But am I reading he seeded, mowed then spread the weed-grass killer. Or not?
 
MK111 said:
Interesting idea of seed new fall seeds, mowing then spraying weed killer and rolling the cuttings down. I'm going to try it next year to get the extra thatching to hold the moister.

Not to question your process but would it kill more grass if you would spray the weed killer then seed and mow it down the next day? I believe I seen it done this way on another food plot forum.
Click to expand...

That was my plan until we got to the property and it was raining. Since it's a 2.5 hour drive I really can't be picky on trying to get things planted before a rain. Plus I don't have time to spray then go back a week later, so we had to make the most of the day.

And because there was a pretty good amount of buckwheat and weeds growing, I decided to broadcast then mow over top to get some nice wet thatch over top. Then I waited about 2 hours for things to dry out and sprayed the grass and remaining weeds that were below the tall stuff. Not an expert on herbicides, but I figured spraying stuff that's already wet would have less impact and mowing first allowed things to dry off pretty fast. Glyphosate doesn't effect seeds, only things that are already green, so I wasn't worried about that. Seems to have worked as my uncle was there Sunday and reported oats and rasishes already sprouting! I'll have some pic updates in a few weeks.
 
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MK111 said:
Interesting idea of seed new fall seeds, mowing then spraying weed killer and rolling the cuttings down. I'm going to try it next year to get the extra thatching to hold the moister.

Not to question your process but would it kill more grass if you would spray the weed killer then seed and mow it down the next day? I believe I seen it done this way on another food plot forum.
Click to expand...

And the Throw & Mow method(no till) has worked significantly better for me on our plots as opposed to traditional tillage. Our soil is super rocky and drains fast(in the hills of Coshocton County), plus it's ON a hillside, so I've found soil moisture to be the #1 factor for success with our plots. Used to till and you would see little drainage creeks develop after a heavy rain with eroded topsoil and probably took some seeds with it. No tilling definitely allows the thatch layer on top to hold better moisture, build organic matter, prevent erosion, and it saves on $ in gas and renting a tiller. Can't say enough about it.
 
They are still hitting the salt pretty hard. No monsters showed up yet, but a couple decent bucks that might not get a pass this year....

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And this poor fella must have had a run in with something he shouldn't have. Left antler growing down the side of his face!

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