Making a wildlife Food Plot

[kmcconaughey]

Bob, don't know if you noticed or not but that post of yours below was your

th post!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brendan, thanks. Yeah, I know set backs my father and I had planed for years to put in some food plots and I'm just getting to it now. Sounds like you have a good place to hunt. Say, how's your left thumb healing up? Is that gonna mess up your shooting a bow?

 

[bbrigham]

Kraig, Most of the time it's good hunting there. No lack of deer that's for sure. Not much in the line of big racks but that's due to lack of management in this area, most people will shoot whatever moves to fill their freezer. I've been watchin this one buck for a couple years and he's not really gaining in rack size but man is he wise. Last year I played man hunt with him for a week, could not get a shot at him. Every time I found him where I would take a shot he would slip away. I swear it's like one sniper tryin to kill another. I would change my habits to get a step ahead and sure enough he did the same. 4 times in a row he showed himself between me and a house then he hangs out there just to spite me. I can not believe how wise this deer is to hunters so he's not very young. I never got a deer last year because I was so intent on that one buck but I have never enjoyed hunting as much as I did tryin to bag him. This year I'll fill all my doe tags first, then play with him again. I did mow some of the areas around the apple trees with my 102 this year but not as much as I would have liked, that goldenrod, weeds and briers are 5' tall.

I shouldn't have any problems holding the bow. My thumb seems to be healing up pretty well, go see the surgeon again tomorrow. I do notice some decrease in motion but I don't think that will affect my grip. May get better with time too.

 

[bbowman]

Kraig, I was unaware that was #149! Too cool;thanks! I watched 'em from about 25ft up a pine tree.Mostly does and yearlings;but two young bucks were nosing the does pretty hard.We have a long season in Alabama and can take two a day, so I do a lot of watching from my climber. I only own 16 acres in Barbour County, but it's the BEST 16 acres in Barbour County.LOL! Seriously,it's surrounded by about 1000 acres of unhunted land, if you don't count the poachers, which we have plenty of! Becuase of so many unwanted guests; trail cameras,ladder stands,and feeders tend to disappear, so I don't use 'em much! I also hunt public and military land,but I can't do anything about food plots there.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Two per day limit!

Sounds like you have a good hunting property. Is that where you've taken the turkeys you've posted photos of? Bummer you can't put stuff out without it being stolen. Last fall I got a photo of a grouse hunter and his dog on one of the trail cameras that I had up at our hunting property.

I'm sure glad he didn't steal the camera, it wasn't locked, would have taken all of about 10 seconds to remove from the tree. Our 40 acres is surrounded by thousands of acres of county forest land, all open to the public for hunting.

Tonight I was going to put up my father's Cuddeback brand camera to try to get some better photos. I had not put it up as I needed to get some new batteries. It didn't want to work (I have it fixed now) so instead I moved some cameras around and slightly repositioned one to better cover the food plot area. I now have three cameras watching the plot area. These are all Rack Tracker brand cameras that my father had bought. They have solar panels and rechargeable batteries. If you can get the panel in good light the battery will charge and they can be left up for over a month without bringing in for a full recharge. They don't take as good of picture as the Cuddeback though. While I was messing with the Cuddeback I learned that it can take video clips.

Not only that, it can still take photos at the same time. I need to get it up ASAP. Oh, while I was driving back to the pines tonight I had to wait for a hen turkey and 5 or 6 chicks. She must have lost her first hatching as these where very small chicks for this time of year. Only ~6" tall! On the way back from the pines I saw 6 toms in the field north of the pines. Life is good on the farm.

 

[bbowman]

Hello Kraig;I havn't done too well with turkeys on my property, most of mine are taken from various properties throughout the Southeast! Anywhere I here a gobble I'll try to garner permission. Most land in Alabama is privately owned and we must have written permission to hunt it;very little state land is available. I do however have good success with whitetails on my land,it has all the right ingredients.Natural mast crops,water,cover and the food plots I put in help a lot.Plus Alabama has an overabundance of deer;QMD is now a big deal down here,everbody wants big-racked bucks now!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bob, "everbody wants big-racked bucks now!"

Me too! Looks like I might have a chance this year.

Here's some recent trail camera pix.

Oh, and look at this.

I got rained out of doing any work on it last night but I was able to set up a third camera in the food plot area, the last two photos above are from that camera last night and today. (Tonight I adjusted it to aim more to the right) I see the date is a day ahead.

Oh well, one other camera has the year set to 2038. I placed the Cuddeback camera tonight that might catch a video clip or two and some better stills. Hopefully Sunday afternoon I'll be able to finish discing and dragging the plot and in the other area and possibly in a third area and get it all seeded as there is a chance for rain on Monday. So far my presence in the area has not deterred the deer from visiting. I know as fall approaches that will change. I'm still at a loss trying to figure out how to hunt this area.

Hopefully that will sort itself out soon. I might have to set out in a ground blind a few evenings soon with a video camera to see if I can catch them.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Couldn't resist....

 

[bcorn]

Man Kraig I can not believe the size of racks your deer have. Around here occasionally you see a big rack but not quite as often. Our deer just get plain huge body wise.

Down the road from me about a 1/2 mile or so I have counted 154 deer in one herd late Feb or early march. People drive out just to take pictures.

We as many of you have said the deer herds are getting very over populated. Yes poaching is bad and I have ran people off of my place for sneaking on. All they got to do is just ask!

Thank you for the pictures I love seeing how other places are doing.

Pops

 

[kide]

Hmmmm...
Large deer herds eat lots of corn, thus impacting the energy situation (less ethanol..) I'm guessing that Homeland Security may soon get involved - I can see the armed Talon robots and Predator drones being recalled to the States to wipe out herds of deer. Kraig - you'd better get camo netting up over your feed area..
Or - start disguising them...

 

[kide]

Archive bug got the "hidden" deer ....

 

[krandall]

Kraig.......Those deer look........
<font size="+2">DELICIOUS!!!!!!!
</font><font size="-1">Pass the loin chops please.</font>

I'd pull mine out of the woods with My Cub Cadet 149
{to keep on topic}

 

[kide]

Kurt:
Off topic? - we're in the sandbox ...but the 149 is still a good choice for a hunting accessory

 

[krandall]

"I'm not a very smart man...But I know what venison is...."
Old on topic habits are hard to break....

And Remember..There is room in this world for all God's creatures...Right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy...

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kendell, how am I supposed to get the cucumber suits on the deer?

Kurt,

Well the food plot is planted. Sunday afternoon, after church, I went to the farm and did the final prep on the #1 food plot. I decided that the action shots were a good thing so I left the cameras on. I disced again to kill any grass and weeds that were re sprouting. I then used the section of chain link to drag the plot. Then I spent some time hand walking the plot and picked out roots and dried grass that the drag had rolled up. Then I used the ATV as a culti-packer. There might be some photos of me walking around with the hand seeder but they are still in the cameras as I had pulled the memory cards and copied any photos off before I seeded. Now I just need it to rain this week. One forecaster has 50% chance on Tuesday.

I decided to experiment some and I seeded "food plot 2" without any cultivation. The seed I'm using is called "Throw and Grow" or something like that. While the directions say best results if you do cultivate or at least mow. Seeing that I had mowed the area I decided to just seed it and then drive the ATV over the area to knock the seeds to the ground and hopefully press some into contact with soil. I did disc and "ATV-culti-pack" a third area and seeded that again as an experiment. So I have 3 food plots seeded with 3 differing techniques. I'm expecting the best results from the Food Plot 1 area for obvious reasons. I moved one of the cameras to the Food Plot 3 area. There is a trail that crosses through there to get to the alfalfa field. I had thought my cousin had planted it in clover but now that it's regrown from being cut and bailed I see what it is.

I believe that Big Boy may be on to me, here he is taunting me.

 

[kide]

Kraig:
Have you thought about using an aerator when overseeding an untilled plot to open up the ground for the seeds? (and I know a lawn is much smoother)I've got a fairly cheap ($120 range) "star wheel" one that I load up with weights to cut pretty deep and use it for cutting open the lawn when I overseed that..just a thought.
Umm - put some apples inside the cucumber suits - but watch out - it's pickle season now, the deer may get picked..

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kendell, nope never thought of using an aerator. I don't have an aerator but my BIL has one.

I'll keep that in mind as a possible method. The food plot #2 area is surprising smooth, might even be smoother then my lawn.

I wanted to experiment on this so I went with a "no till" on the #2 food plot. I could have easily run the disc over it a few times but I decided to see what, if any, growth I'd get. The seed I'm using is all annual so next year I'll have to replant anyway. If I don't have good results, and I'm not expecting much, I'll likely till next time. Up at the cabin property I want to seed the trails through the 40 acres. There isn't much vegetation on the trails so I'm just gonna walk the trails with the hand seeder. I figure it's better then letting the seed just set and go bad in the bag. Again, it'll be an experiment. Hmmmm, I might have to borrow my BIL's aerator and run over the trails with it first. Thanks for the suggestion.

I hope the deer get pickled the night before deer season, I bet hung over deer are easier to hunt.

 

[aschumacher]

Kraig, years ago there was a film about African animals (Animals are beautiful people?). In one part a bunch of various animals raided a fruit tree area where the fruit had gone just past ripe. Had actually fermented, and all the ones that ate it were 'bombed'. Even if you had a rifle, you couldnt shoot any of them because none of them could stand up 0or walk straight. Moral: hang out by your apple trees, maybe you'll get lucky!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Allen, it used to be thought by the "experts" that Rough Grouse would get drunk on fermenting crab apples or berries in the fall and that it was the cause of what is called "Crazy Flight". This "Crazy Flight" is where they fly erratically often into trees and buildings injuring or killing themselves.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Well, my timing on seeding was perfect, it's been raining all morning!

I was still having issues with the Cuddeback trail camera. I didn't have the manual with me on Sunday and I thought I had it activated but it was still in the disabled mode.

Yesterday I DID have the manual with and finally got it working so maybe I'll get some better photos and possibly some video of the deer. While I was out getting the Cuddeback camera working I took a photo of the Food Plot 3 area. This photo was taken looking north into the pines. Note the trail camera at the base of the Elm tree, the 4 trail camera photos below were taken with that camera. I learned something very valuable with the time stamps on this camera compared to the cameras in the food plot 1 area. The deer come through the food plot 1 area in the evening then through food plot 3 and presumably into the alfalfa field to feed. Then in the early morning travel back through food plot 3 then to food plot 1. If this pattern persists it will be very good info to know when hunting.

I did lower the trail camera on the Elm tree so I could hopefully get more of the deer then their backs. I also cut that dead branch off.

Here's a photo I took the other day on my way to the pines. This is looking east towards the pines. Thought I'd post this so you can see the land around the pines. That's the fence row of crab apples along the far left edge of the photo.