How big are your food plots?

[cole]

I saw some questions about food plots here for next season, and I was wondering how big the food plots people are planning to make for next year will be.  small scale I think I saw like 200 sq ft.

I have made some food plots for the past two years and both times wished I had gone bigger.  The first year I made two that were about 5-6000 sq ft.  The deer totally destroyed them before rifle opener there was only a few turnips left.

This year I decided to make them substantialy larger and with the help of a buddies compact tractor and rototiller and a day or two of grubinng out brush with my bobcat I went with one being about an acre ( 43,560 sq ft) and the other about 10000 sq ft.  again this year the deer had it destroyed right around rifle season.

I did try some spray but it did not work  and I noticed they really didn't eat any of the larger leaves( turnip tops) until about the beginning of sept.

I am thinking about going twice as big next year but I don't know if that will help much, partly because its really wooded in my area and the fields that are there are really poor quality "hay" fields.

So with my plots being fairly large I am curious as to how the smaller plots hold up.

And besides putting up 10' fences or chaining up some gaurd dogs any suggestions?

[BiggA]

I dont know much about plots but I wuld think there must be something that would grow later or perhaps not interest the deer untill later in the year.

[dakids]

We had 1.5 acres of turnips last year and it was wiped out by Sept.  We are going to do the same next year.  When it gets wiped out again we will then plant winter wheat.  We are also going to plant the trails with clover this coming spring.

[deadeye]

"And besides putting up 10' fences or chaining up some gaurd dogs any suggestions?"

Well, for starters, shoot some of them.   
You mentioned hay fields.  Are they yours or would the owner let you plant in them?  I would convert part of the poor hay field to a decient clover field. 

[LandDr]

Food is almost always the "limiting factor" for attracting and holding more wildlife...in this case deer.

Rule of thumb if you want more bucks on your property...attract more does.  For every doe group, you will have one dominant buck.  If you can increase the "carrying capacity" of the property to hold more doe groups, then you will have more bucks.

To increase the carrying capacity for more doe groups, you need to design and develop the property to allow each "doe home range" to have sufficient cover and the cover needs to be associated and adjacent to sufficient food sources.  PLM's "Small Property Management for Whitetails" recommendation is 1/3 of the area should be woody cover protecting and adjacent to 1/3 food sources...and then 1/3 thick native grass cover adjacent to the other two.  I have been able to develop doe home ranges between 5 and 20 acres in size.  With that in mind, you may be able to develop your property to increase the carrying capacity of doe groups by developing areas to produce smaller home ranges...resulting in more doe groups.

In summary, your food plot size should be about 1/3 of the area for each doe home range for each doe group.  I usually don't get quite that high percentage...but try to get to 15 to 20 percent at least.

For example, if you have 40 acres, I would recommend 6 to 8 acres of food plots...and these food plots would be 15 5o 20% of maybe 2 or 3 areas devided up to create seperate doe groups and home ranges...resulting in maybe 2 or 3 dominant bucks on the property.  You can do the math for 160 acres and so on.

On one of my farms, 160 acres, I have about 24 acres of food plots situated around the property and have created 7 seperate doe groups.  I usually have around 5 dominant bucks that I see regularily.

I usually have the majority of the food source in RR Corn/Beans and the remaining balance in "Brassi Buck" and "Peas and Oats".  I have also seeded down trails and mowed areas with our "All Clover" mix.

If someone can tell me how to insert a photo into a post, I will post a photo of two harvested this year so far...a 135 and a 150.

Kyle, PLM
www.HabitatNOW.com

[cole]

Deadeye, I do not own the hay fields and they are huge I would estimate that they are about 60 acres plus and they are hayed by a friend of the owner I talked to him and for reasons unknown to me he is unwillig to plant anything or put any money into the fields even when I said I may be interested in givig some money for seed or helping with planting.

Kyle, I have 20 acres that I own and 40 acres that a family members has but they were talking about selling it so I did not do anything with the 40 except mow the trails. I have noticed a huge increase in the number of deer on my property anywhere from the usual 3-4 up to 12+ a night but after the plots got wiped out they have seemed to change the way they walk through my property. I have also now bought the 40 acres so I have 60 now and would like to set up a better food plot system I took a look at your website and see that you do site evaluations and was wondering how far you travel and what that entails let me know I would be interested in getting someting done.

[LandDr]

Cole

Nice to have the additional acres to work with!

You are describing exactly what I was talking about with the food sources being the "limiting factor".  It sounds like you have some good cover, maybe could have some small improvements, but the food is the limiting factor since it is attracting deer but not after the food sources are deminished.  I would guess that you food sources make up about 2 to 5% of your total land use which is substantially less than the 15 to 20% goal.  If you plan in and develop more food sources, it is almost assured that you will have more deer and have them there longer.  If you can develop your food sources in different habitat areas, you may also be able to develop more doe groups which may hold more dominant bucks as well.

With my food plots, I am now seeing 20 to 30 deer per night.  At this time of the year, they really start focusing on the food, BUT...the food has to have cover associated with it as well.  I have another farm that has 10 to 12 acres of standing corn and with the fresh snow we have not seen a deer track around it.  I pretty much manage that farm for pheasants anyway...but that is a perfect example of having plenty of food but not the cover components to attract and hold the deer for a longer period of time.

PLM can assist you with a property review and assessment...either "in-house" with the Property Review and Assessment service (you get the cost back as a credit so ultimately it is free and you can use the credit towards seeds, trees or further services that you will need anyway), or we can set up a site visit which I can provide you with a proposal for.  I would recommend the first option as I think that meets your needs better at this time.  You can always request the site visit at a later time.

Thanks for the questions and let me know if you need any other assistance.

Kyle, PLM
www.HabitatNOW.com

[kingfisher1]

We have 200 total acres, and of that, we have a 7 acre meadow that we converted to a food plot in which we rotate what we plant.  We'll put in perennials like a clover/alfalfa mix, then go with corn or sybeans, then the clover/alfalfa for about 18 months when we'll then plant beets around august or september, and then plant the clover mix again in the spring.  We also have 2 smaller 1 acre food plots and a 1/3 acre food plot.  We also plant our road with clover for grazing.  Total, we have between 10 and 11 acres in food plots.

[deadeye]

If you like big plots, you will love my biggest one.  Only problem is trying to be positioned near where the deer are going to show up.

[beeker]

wheres the endzone on that thing?  man that's a heck of a nice size plot... instead of hunters trespassing do you ever find a random soccer team out there or some poor football team running sprints?   

[stevejedlenski]

deadeye,
what are the costs of doing something of that size?

[deadeye]

Here is a picture looking towards where the first picture was taken.  This one was taken in July before the hay was cut.  The hay is usually cut  in early august.  There is a lot of clover that really comes to life after the hay is cut and the fall rains come.   Thats why I call it a big food plot.
stevejedlenski - We have started planting various crops around the edges of this field.  We keep the costs down by not tilling.  Basically if we intend to plant clover or alphafa we spray roundup on an area around Memorial day.  We may put the equivlent of 100 pounds of 20-20-20 fertilizer per acre at this time.  Around two weeks later we will spray again to get stuff that was missed and any new growth.  At this time we will broadcast the seed on and into the dying grass.  The dying vegitation provides cover for the new plants.  We will cut the new growth around early august and have a nice fresh crop available throughout the fall.  Note: This process needs to be repeated about every 3-5 years depending on winter survival of the plants. 
If we are planting annual brassicas (rape, turnips, rutabagas etc) we follow the same plan but just do it later and end up planting around the first of August.  We stay away from corn and beans because they take a lot more equipment, time, effort and money.  You also need to plant a much larger area to be effective.

[deadeye]

stevejedlenski,
I just realized I didn't answer your question on cost per acre for the plots.   
1. Roundup - The active chemical is actually "glyphosate" and is available in generic form.  Priced around $25 a gallon for 41% concentration.  Depending on vegitation, it takes around half a gal per application for each application.
2. Fertilizer - I think we put on 100 pounds per acre at a cost of around $60.00
3. Seeds - Varies with plant type but should not be over $25.00 per acre.
I will check these prices and amounts because I sometimes suffer from CRS.

[LandDr]

Deadeye

Nice field...some thoughts...

Programs...if you have any wetland edges, ponds, or creeks that come next to that field, those areas may qualify for the CP22 Riparian Buffer program.  This CRP program "does not" require a cropping history which is probably something that your field does not have for regular CRP.  This program would require planting trees...a nice shrub/conifer planting here and there would really enhance the property nicely and provide some more bedding and loafing areas as well as winter cover if big enough.  This program would also potentially pay $65 to $85 per acre per year for 15 years depending on which county you are in.  It would also pay a $100/ac bonus for every acre enrolled and provide up to 90% cost share for the planting of trees.  Nice program!  This could potentially provide you with some income to pay for the costs of other food plot projects.

WHIP...Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program would pay up to 75% cost share for tree and native grass projects.  A few areas of thick native grass...especially adjacent to your stand locations, would really increase your carrying capacity for more doe groups...and more bucks.  You could also establish some additional shrub/conifer plantings...design them as travel lanes and corridors that lead to your stand locations.  Then, instead of deer wandering around that field with no direction, you woody cover barriers will create the travel lanes and corridors to lead them right to your stand.  These woody cover components will also provide barriers for development of more doe groups...1 doe group = 1 buck...more doe groups = more dominant bucks.

Really a nice area and field to work with!

Kyle, PLM
www.HabitatNOW.com

[deadeye]

LandDr,
You are right as rain about the riparian buffers.   Below is an aerial view of the field in the previous pictures.  You can see easily see the "riparian buffer strips we planted several years ago.  (This is the dark green areas on the previous picture.) We would have done more but at the time this was the only parts that qualified due to crop history.  I believe the land needed a crop history to qualify.   It's been a struggle getting the trees established.  The original planting was around 4500 trees and we have planted at least half that amount since.  I think the payments are around $43 per acre but we did get the signing bonus and cost share for the tree planting.  I inquired about WHIP but they are mostly interested in open grass land and not too keen on establishing a treed area. (They feel it's a conflict to plant trees next to prairie grass because it provides cover and roosts for birds of prey which eat the pheasants etc. in the grass.) 

[LandDr]

Right on!  Looks good.  Glad to see the results.

The trees next to prairie is an "opinion" and not a qualification requirement or part of the practice standard.  You should still be able to apply for WHIP...shrubs and conifers are excellent for ground birds and don't provide perches for avian predators.

Look at the deer trails through that swamp!  Very nice!

Food is your limiting factor (I would recommend that 15 to 20% of the land be in food sources and spread those food sources out to encourage more doe group development).  However, some nice thick switch grass would be great too!  Excellent bedding cover.

Kyle, PLM

[MnDeerStalker]

I don't have any yet but I plan on tryin to put a few small ones in what do you all recomend? They will be very small and just in a few clearings within the timber as I don't own any land (yet) so I do not want to invest alot, just something I can put in that will grow well I was thinking of some kind of clover and ? mix.

[LandDr]

Clovers and other perennials often will not work well in "small" plots.  Perennials are available for grazing as soon as they emerge from the ground...and deer will start grazing immediately.  Safety in numbers...if the plot is not big enough, the deer target the smaller area and often graze it right down to the ground.  This intense grazing also stunts the root system and plant development resulting in a failed plot.

My best recommendations for a "small plot"...less than 1 to 2 acres...are the brassicas.  This family consists of turnips, rape, sugar beets, rutabagas, etc.  These are very starchy plants through the growing season and for the most part deer will leave them alone...so you can plant small plots.  However, once the weather turns cold and the freezing process turns the starch to sugar...then the deer really start hitting them.  That is often around the rifle season up north or late gun and muzzleloader season down south.  Does will often target the plot at that time...and the bucks are soon to follow!

Brassicas are also easy to plant and grow fast.  You can get away with just broadcasting seed without any tillage...you will get some plants...but it is best to do some tillage.  The better job of site prep you do, the better the seed placement and seed-to-soil contact you will get.

Here is a link to the MNO Habitat Outlet Store for some more info...

http://www.habitatnow.com/store/shop/shop.php?pn_selected_category=10

Food is almost always the limiting factor...good luck with the food plots

LandDr