Category: Food Plots

Perfection might be impossible to reach, but Grant might have found the perfect food plot! Watch now to see what this food plot is made of, how it’s made, and why it can save you money! We also follow up with a Kentucky property management plan, where we’ve got 3 deer kills!

Tip of the Week:

Hunting Late Season?

Warm days: hunt greens, like brassicas or wheat.

Cold days: hunt grains, like soybeans and corn.

Adrenaline of the coming bow opener hangs in the air! …But so does the forecast of rain. Grant knows rain on the way is the secret sauce for launching a fall food plot. So, even with the bow opener approaching, Grant and the boys hustle to spread some seed because the benefits are that big!

Update: It’s been over a week since they planted, and the boys are back to see if hand broadcasting seed in the plots worked. It’s pretty cool and we got the footage.

Tip of the Week:

Forecast call for rain? Get out and plant a fall food plot!

Excellent for deer health: Bigger antlers, more fawns.

Keeps the deer on your property: Deer often center their activity around quality forage.

It’s good for your land: Builds the soil, recycles the nutrients.

Due to rainfall and hunting schedules we used slightly different techniques for our fall food plots than we have used in past years. We usually plant our food plots with the no till drill. This year the fields were muddy and we had a trip planned. We wanted to get the seed on the ground before heading to Kentucky for the archery season opener. This called for boots, seed broadcasters, and enough energy to cover some ground. Instead of drilling the seed into the ground we broadcast the seed on top of the ground and hoped for rain.

We received a rainfall within two days of broadcasting our seed, but it wasn’t in the amount that we hoped for. We checked our Reconyx cameras and noticed turkeys were in the fields almost every day. These turkeys were most likely eating the soybean and wheat seed (that hadn’t germinated yet) off the ground.

A small hidey hole food plot that was broadcast with seed and had great germination.

A lot of times a person who doesn’t have the equipment to use a no till drill on their food plots will use a broadcaster and spread the seed on top of the ground. If it doesn’t rain soon after broadcasting a lot of the seed will be carried off by birds. This is why it’s important to check your food plots after planting to ensure you have a great stand of food. This is especially true when broadcasting a food plot. You don’t want to return to hunt and be upset with your lack of results!

With rain quickly approaching we returned to check our plots and found that a couple of them hadn’t grown as well as we had hoped. So as it rained we broadcast more seed. After having over one inch of rain in 24 hours we’re confident we’ll have a great stand of Brassicas, wheat, and soybeans.

Remember to always check those plots to ensure a great food plot to hunt over throughout the hunting season. If germination was weak don’t be scared to go back into your plot and broadcast again.

Daydreaming of whitetails,

Adam

Last week I shared some tips on how to plant forage soybeans. To get the maximum growth from forage soybeans, they need to be planted using the correct methods and when the conditions are best. This week I’ll review exactly what the optimum conditions are for planting forage soybeans.

Soybeans are a warm season crop. That is to say that cold weather will damage or kill the beans. This is true on both ends of the growing season – during the planting season and toward the end of the growing season.   Click Here To Read More at Winchester.com.

When folks tour my farm they often ask why most of my food plots are planted with forage soybeans  It’s easy to understand the question given the vast variety of food plot crops/blends available.

My goals for food plots are to:

1. Provide deer with great nutrition so they may maximize their genetic potential to produce the best antlers or maximum number of healthy fawns.
2. Attract deer to specific feeding locations.

Click Here To Read More at Winchester.com.

The heat of summer is upon us and our food plots and native vegetation are starting to mature. For me, this sea of green is a reminder to look at all the plants that are growing on the land that I hunt. Specifically, I am looking for invasive plants. When I find them, I mark the locations of these invasive species on a map. This helps me to more efficiently implement a control plan as well as track the spread of individual species from year to year. These plants take valuable resources such as sun, space, nutrients, and water away from other native vegetation that are more beneficial to a variety of wildlife species. Controlling invasive weeds is an important management tool to promote plants that provide quality cover and nutrition for whitetails.

A joint project by the University of Georgia and the U.S. Forest Service has a website that can help you identify potential invasive plants in your area (http://www.invasive.org). There are numerous invasive plant species throughout the United States. Each region of the US has different types of invasives that might include plants such as: princess tree, Russian-olive, mimosa trees, Japanese privet, nandina, Japanese barberry, shrubby nonnative lespedezas, bamboo, kudzu, Johnson grass, etc. After identifying an invasive species to target, it is important to consider multiple control methods. Many invasive plants can be controlled through prescribed fire, herbicide, or physical removal. Check out GrowingDeer.tv episodes 81, 185, 221, 222 for more information on a few of these methods.

One problem species in my neck of the woods is Berberis thunbergii or Japanese barberry. This spiny, deciduous shrub was introduced to the United States as an ornamental landscaping plant. Due to its resistance to deer browsing and ability to grow in full sun or shade, it is highly invasive. In the area I live, entire hardwood forests are laced with an understory of barberry.

This hardwood forest is laced with an understory of Japanese barberry, a highly invasive species.

Through chemical control (application of Glyphosate) and physical removal of Japanese barberry, it has been possible to transform undesirable habitat into a biologically diverse savannah that benefits deer and other wildlife. It is important to note that invasive control is often an ongoing process. Although this property has seen some success I must actively control new sprouts from the seedbed to prevent the return of barberry. Each year I walk all of the established savannahs with a back pack sprayer full of Glyphosate and treat any emerging barberry. If barberry is a problem on your property, click this link for more detailed information on alternatives for control.

Controlling invasive plants is a yearly task.

There is no doubt that controlling invasive plants is a long process punctuated with a lot of hard work. However, a little extra boot leather each year ensures that my initial investment will pay huge dividends for the wildlife here for years to come. Whether you have a large invasive problem or just a few plants starting to pop-up next to that new food plot you put in last spring, controlling invasive plants is a beneficial tool to improve the wildlife habitat on the property that you hunt.

Happy trails,

Hunter

The middle of June can be a boring time of the year for hunters. Turkey season has been closed for several weeks, even months depending on your state, and deer season is months away. The bucks are growing their antlers, but they’re a couple weeks away from really showing who they are. It’s a slow time of the year for a lot of hunters, but certainly not for the GrowingDeer team!

The Non-Typical Hot Zone fence is what we use to turn small food plots into dynamite hunting locations!

I’ve been sharing with you over the last couple of weeks several ways we are already preparing for deer season. Scent control, planting food plots, monitoring trail cameras, and now food plot exclosures. If you’re like me, not all your food plots are large in size. Food plots come in all sizes and shapes, but the small ones can be the most effective. Being small in size also means that the food source is more limited, making it susceptible to being over browsed and eliminating the chance of hunting over that food source during hunting season.

Grant and I found the solution to this problem a few years back when we laid our eyes on the Non-Typical Hot Zone fence. This system can protect up to a half acre food plot! It’s super easy to assemble and you can have a quick, simple, effective way to protect your crops. The Hot Zone fence uses two strands of poly-line and one strand of poly-tape, spaced apart appropriately. It looks like an average Joe, let alone a deer, can jump it but we’ve been amazed with the results! Check out episode 217 (watch here) to see an awesome evening of hunting for Grant and I over the Hot Zone fence.

There are several ways that hunters keep deer out of their food plots until the appropriate time, but few are as simple and effective as the Hot Zone fence. This simple tool and a little elbow grease can turn food plots into dynamite hunting spots in the coming months! We’ll continue to monitor our food plots as the summer progresses and share pictures of the difference between our unprotected Eagle Seed beans and the beans that are protected!

Daydreaming of whitetails,

Adam

This time of year is very busy here at The Proving Grounds. We have been chasing turkeys, spraying food plots and lately we have been planting Eagle Seed soybeans. These are all good reasons to be excited. However, there is one thing that has got us a little down.

Adam planting Eagle Seed Soybeans this week before the forecasted rain.

In Southern Missouri we are eight inches behind normal rain amounts! That is not what any wildlife manager wants. Drought is extremely tough on wildlife. Fawn survival decreases during drought and bucks rarely express their full antler potential. Spring is the time of year when rain totals usually catch up. This leaves us worried for what summer may bring.

It takes rain to grow quality food and it takes quality food to grow deer and turkey. The Growing Deer team is praying hard for substantial rain. There is a chance of rain the next few days so Adam has been working long hours all week making sure all the food plots get planted. The seed is in the ground and all we can do now is sit back and hope to be blessed with precipitation.

If rain is sparse in your area I encourage you to watch the forecast closely and when the rain is coming, get that seed in the ground! Remember, without risk there is no reward. I hope everyone is blessed with healthy food plots and healthy deer this fall!

Growing whitetails together,

Brian

Brian spraying weeds in a clover plot early this week at The Proving Grounds.

Clover food plots can be a valuable tool in a wildlife management plan. Clover grows quickly and becomes palatable early during the spring. Minimal acreage is needed of clover because it produces a lot of tonnage per square acre. How do we take care of this great tool?

When managing clover there are two important things to remember, the first being that clover requires a lot of fertilizer. Secondly, weeds and grasses can choke clover out relatively easily so weed control is very important.

We fertilized the clover plots with Antler Dirt a few weeks ago. This week I’ve been working to control the weeds. We choose to spray our clover plots rather than mow them. Spraying with herbicide actually kills the weeds versus mowing that simply reduces their height. I sprayed the clover plots with two different herbicide solutions. For the broad-leafed weeds I used a mixture of 2,4 DB and crop oil. In order to control the grasses I used a mixture of Clethodim and crop oil. Mixing these two herbicides will lessen their effectiveness. I followed the amounts prescribed on both labels. In some plots weeds can be patchy, in those areas just spot spray rather than spraying the entire food plot. This will help to conserve expensive herbicide.

Find some time this week between turkey hunts to get out and show those clover plots a little love. The Growing Deer Team will be out finishing up clover care and punching a few more turkey tags!

Managing whitetails together,

Brian

On the latest episode of GrowingDeer.tv (watch GDTV #226 here) we displayed the results from our soil tests. The moment we got those results back to the office we added up how much Antler Dirt we needed and got it ordered. Warmer days are approaching quickly so we are hustling to get our food plots ready to plant.

A spreader truck applying Antler Dirt at The Proving Grounds earlier this week.

Here in the Missouri Ozarks there isn’t much to work with as far as crop land is concerned. The soil is very shallow and in most cases very poor in nutrients. I touched on the importance of healthy soil in my blog, Quality Soil for Quality Antlers, a few weeks ago. I would like to reiterate how important healthy soil is to a deer management program. Healthy soil grows healthy plants. Plants are the medium that transfers the nutrients from the soil to the deer. Healthy plants not only transfer more nutrients to the deer, but they also taste better. Better tasting plants attract deer!

The Growing Deer Team believes very strongly that healthy soil is the solid foundation for a quality deer management program. We spent a whole day earlier this week getting Antler Dirt on the plots where it was needed. I hope you have a chance to get out this week and enjoy spring by improving your soil. The deer will thank you!

Chasing whitetails together,

Brian