My First Dive into a Food Plot

[Parks 788]

Have been on our place since Feb. Always wanted to have my own bit of land to hunt on and to have my own food plot for deer and hunting season. Prior owner of the property had a small "food lot" we found but don't think he did much with the 1/5 acre and the ground seemed rocky and pretty much jsut terrible to have to work. Did some more roaming around our 45 acres and found what looked like a really nice area to start my own.

We sprayed herbicide about 2.5 weeks ago and you can see in the pics all the brown and red dead foliage. Yesterday I got on my Kubota L2501 and Rhino brush mower and went to town on everything. Also spent about two hours on the chainsaw cleaning up the trees to about 6-7' off the ground. Took bucket off the Kubota and put my brush grapple on the front. Dispatched all the tree limbs and then used the lower rake part of the grapple to dozer/push the dead foliage into piles to then grab and dump on the parimeter of the food plot. I estimate to have about an acre here to work with. Super happy with how this turned out after about 7 hours of work. Will let it grow up in the next couple weeks a spray again and mow.

Been reading DeerSlayers thread but with 2000 posts it's slow going but great info. Need to find a 60" disc asap and figure out which direction I'm going with what to plant. FIL is telling me may be best to do winter wheat and should have it in about early Sept.

Pics got a bit out of order but you get the idea. Any and all advice is welcome.

 

[retrieverman]

I talked to DeerSlayer this morning, and I’m sure he’d be happy to help you with your food plot. PM him, and he can shorten the learning curve and save you a lot of reading.

 

[Okie4570]

Wheat is cheap, hearty, and 99.99999% foolproof. I would still soil test just for your own benefit, but wheat will grow nearly anywhere, and will take some extreme grazing.

 

[CanadianRiverRat]

I have a food plot I shoot deer off of, I call it my vegetable garden. Only way I found to keep the bastards out is to slam the freezer lid on 'em.

 

[dennishoddy]

Wheat is your friend. Every deer will come to it.
Planting as close to sept 1 is going to give you forage for bow season and beyond even if you don’t bow hunt.
Your not raising a crop, your putting in forage so don’t worry about micronutrients and all the recommendations you get from a soil sample which I highly recommend to determine soil PH.
Simple fertilizer and probably some granular lime will be all you need.
It will take several applications of the lime over a few years to get the soil PH where the wheat really likes it.
Most soils around wooded areas are highly acid so lime helps.
Problem #2 is that finding wheat seed in Ok May be a little tough and expensive as the farming cartel pretty much controls the sale of hard red winter wheat seed.
What I use is the white wheat from Stillwater milling that can be bought in the 50# bag. 25 lbs per acre if drilled in and twice that if broadcast and dragged over with a chain link fence drag.
No restrictions on that and it’s not terribly expensive.

 

[magna19]

I would also put in wheat. Get a soil sample including checking the box for micro nutrients. Its only a few bucks extra. I would also add the soil type percentage (clay/sand/silt} its also just a few bucks. Gypsum or lime may also help but you will need a complete soil sample. Soil samples are cheap and you can get by with only one every few years . Research the OSU website

 

[magna19]

One other note with food plots. Depending on the area and surrounding farming/plots etc. the timing can make or break early deer patterns in specific areas. Deer will usually establish routes to the first wheat up in some areas.

 

[GnometownHero]

Turnips and icicle radish make very nutrient rich tops, very good for does nursing babies.
the deer will dig up turnips and if they rot in the ground they fertilize as well as help break up hardpan soil
Buckwheat and spinach will reseed itself
Wheat, oats, Austrian winter peas, mung beans and rapeseed are all good to plant with mixed clovers.
Pelletized Ag lime spread helps a bunch