How many of you

[Cody Gruchow]

how many of you plant food plots yearly? How many acres do you plant? what do you plant? do you think the minerals in your food plots are the reason for the buck size?

[LandDr]

For whitetails I recommend planting 15 to 20 percent of your property into a diversity of food sources.  This is PLM's Management by Thirds concept.

The objective is to create a higher carrying capacity for doe groups to reduce the size of their home ranges...thus resulting in more doe groups.

1 doe group = 1 dominant buck

My personal opinion on buck size is directly related to...

1. AGE...let them get older.

2. Body weight...the less stress they have during the winter, the more body wieght they have in the spring and the more "above average" antler growth they will have.  I have photos of a deer one year that scores around 130 gross and the next year it was shot by my neighbor and it scored 186 gross.  It stayed on my place all winter, very low stress and the growth went right up into the horns!  WOW!

[deadeye]

Hold on there a minute LandDr.  Lets check this out for a minute.  You recommended planting 15-20 percent of your property in food plots.  I don't think you took in account the enormous cost involved with this.  I did some research and found the averages for planting corn, beans and hay.
Corn = $380   Beans = 228  and Hay = $296  per acre.   For my examples I will cut that figure in half even though in reality I doubt you could.  Note: This assumes no cost for equipment or land.
Two of us currently own 640 acres.  By your plan, we should plant between 100 and 130 acres of food plots.  At an average of $150 per acre (generously low) we would spend between $15,000 and $20,000 for food plots.   Most other plans call for up to 5% of the land in food plots.

The chart below details the costs to establish a 10 acre alfalfa plot. 

Ag Decision Maker -- Iowa State University Extension               
Estimated Costs of Pasture and Hay Production has more information on the annual cost per acre for maintaining grass pasture. This worksheet calculates hay production costs without a companion crop.               
               
            
               
Field Name   Example            
Acres    10            
Establishment Year Production               
Hay Production Level - year 1   2    tons / acre / year         
Cuttings - year 1   1            
               
               
Establishment Year Costs               
              Cost per Acre         Total Cost
Preharvest  Machinery      Fixed   Variable   Total   All Acres
Spray herbicide      $0.90    $0.80    $1.70   $17
Tandem disk (2 times)       6.00     4.20    $10.20   $102
Spread fertilizer      1.60    1.15    $2.75   $28
Harrow      1.60    0.90    $2.50   $25
Seed (drill)      3.50    2.90    $6.40   $64
Other      0.00    0.00    $0.00   $0
    Total per acre      $13.60   $9.95   $23.55   $236
    Total all acres      $136   $100   $236   ---- 
               
Seed, fertilizer, etc.               
  Alfalfa         45.00    $45.00   $450
    price per pound   $3.00            
    pounds per acre   15             
  Bromegrass          0.00    $0.00   $0
    price per pound   $1.50            
    pounds per acre   0             
  Orchardgrass          0.00    $0.00   $0
    price per pound   $1.50            
    pounds per acre   0            
  Total Seed Cost         $45.00    $45.00    $450
               
  Nitrogen         0.00    $0.00   $0
    price per pound   $0.35            
    pounds per acre   0             
  Phosphorus         $12.95   $12.95   $130
    price per pound   $0.37            
    pounds per acre   35             
  Potash         $28.75   $28.75   $288
    price per pound   $0.23            
    pounds per acre   125            
  Total Fertilizer Costs         $41.70    $41.70    $417
               
  Herbicide         13.00       $130
  Lime (total cost for hay lifetime)         29.00       $290
               
Labor        $45.47   ----     $45.47   $455
    Hours per acre, preharvest   3            
    Hours per cutting, harvest   1.33            
    Rate per hour   $10.50             
               
Land               
  Cash rent equivalent, before seeding      $75.00   ----     $75.00   $750
               
Harvesting Costs               
Mower-Conditioner      $3.40    $2.50    $5.90   $59
Rake       2.00     1.25    $3.25   $33
Baling      5.50    4.15    $9.65   $97
Hauling      2.24   2.48   $4.72   $47
fixed cost per ton   1.12             
variable cost per ton   1.24             
Other      0.00    0.00    $0.00   $0
Harvest costs per cutting      13.14    10.38       
Total Harvest      $13.14    $10.38    $23.52   $235
               
               
Year 1 Costs and Returns                
            Cost per Acre         Total Cost
Total Costs      Fixed   Variable   Total   All Acres
Establishing Hay      $147.21    $149.03    $296.24   $2,962
               
Total Returns            Total   All Acres
Expected Price   $82.00   ton      $164.00   $1,640
      Total returns            $164.00   $1,640
               
         Net Return per Acre Over      
         Variable   Total   Net Return
         Costs   Costs   All Acres
Net returns - year 1         $14.97   -$132.24   -$1,322
 

[Dotch]

Wait till next year deadeye. Add about another third onto the fertilizer costs for this fall and who knows how much onto fuel. Yikes!