MNO's Food Plot 2 - Pictures

[Mayfly]

Well I made it back out to the woods this morning for some light work. I picked the second area where I plan to plant. In this second area I have decided to just do a clover  plot. It is in the woods and does not get enough sun but I believe it will get enough.

Anyways, I went in there today and just cleared away brush and broken down trees. There were a few dead falls that needed to be removed to clear the way so we can really get to work. This will be another area I will first cut out with the brush hawg and then I will spray it. I plan to do that all the same dat. It is about a 1/4 of an acre if i'm lucky.

Couple pictures from todays festivites.......







We also took down some stands that I hads in the area.... Going to pick a new tree!

[LandDr]

Make sure to look at the canopy and the direction the plot will go.

Canopy creates shade which can help or hurt your plot.  Removal of a strategic tree or two can open it up to give your plot the sun it needs.

Or...

North-South plots will allow more sunlight in than narrow East-West plots.

www.HabitatNOW.com

[Mayfly]

Made it back out to the 2nd plot on Monday as well and sprayed the heck out of it. Next week I will go back in and rake the area out and remove some small trees to open it up a bit. Hoping to kill it off well, work the top couple inches of soil and plant clover. Not investing a ton into this area but hopefully enough to get the clover going. It hopefully will look nice. This area will actually connect to the larger plot as there is a trail leading right too it.

Here is a couple pics of the area. The photos were shot in the am and their is already sun peering through. Mid day it gets some good sun in there so that should not be a problem. The best part is that this is high ground around a low dry swamp area. I have had a stand here for multpile years and also have ran trail cams back here. Lots of deer! They usually skirt the edges of this either right on the edge or on the high ground. I'm thinking the clover may keep them around a bit longer and get them using the area more. Only issue is that if the clover turns out well they may over browse it but on the bright side I have it attached to another plot. Keeping my fingers crossed that this all comes together!



Left, Center and Right pics from top to bottom.

[Mayfly]

I'll have a great before after next week. In the pic s above you can see all those small trees, I plan to thin the area out pretty good. All they do is get in the way of arrows! 
 

[Mayfly]

Loading up the spot sprayer. We decided to leave the boom sprayer home and use this spot sprayer for a couple reasons. Its a tight area and hard to drive through and with the spot sprayer we can move slow and get great coverage. I loaded on the gly. I buy a generic from fleet farm that has 41% Gly and used the highest dosage for this area hoping that it leaves nothing behind. We mixed about 4 quarts into 15 gallons of water and sprayed the area one time over.

[Mayfly]

Here is a couple more pics of this area. As I mentioned we went in and sprayed the area to knock down some of the vegetation and then this morning I went in there with a lawn mower and tried to cut out what was left and clear any downed brush. We still have a lot of work here but it is cleaning up nicely. Next week I am going to get in here with a chainsaw and cut down all the small trees to open the area up more and create more shooting opportunity. This will be planted with clover and I am hoping we can do that within a week or two at the latest! I think the before and after pics at this point are pretty dramatic but far from the end result  



Left, Center and Right:








Coming along....

[Mayfly]

Before:




And After.... But still not done. Have to clear a few more trees and then clean some of this dead grass and leaves up off the ground and then will plant clover in here. Hopefully will turn out. Lots of deer tracks through here. I saw one today that was about as big as my thumb. Looks like there are some babies running around. 

[MTCOMMER]

Very impressive Tim  .  I saw this on facebook too. 
Its nice to hear you have some little ones running around - now you just have to hope they eat that stuff and get bigger 

[corny13]

Are you going to plant the clover now in june or wait till the fall?

[dakids]

Tim cut all of the trees down where you have killed the grass.  Use the removed trees to make a funnel to force the deer to enter a certain spot.  Preferable upwind of the prefered spot of your stand for the prevailing winds.  Kind of like setting the mouse trap.

[Plauer]

Looks great Tim! Keep us posted. Can't wait to see some trail cam pics.

[Mayfly]

Tim cut all of the trees down where you have killed the grass.  Use the removed trees to make a funnel to force the deer to enter a certain spot.  Preferable upwind of the prefered spot of your stand for the prevailing winds.  Kind of like setting the mouse trap.

We removed a lot of brush from the area and that is exactky what I did with it. I blocked two areas off that will keep the deer coming in basically 1 of 4 different ways. We picked a tree and I think this will be a pretty sweet set-up. I guess time will tell.

I also put some seed down today. I over-seeded quite a bit in hopes that I get it covered well. I used a 8 1/2 lb bag of clover to get the job done. Should give the deetr something to eat. I will not be able to work on this plot for at least a week so hoping that it will take off. Next priority is my Brassica plot. Need to get that sprayed and planted asap.

[bowhunter73]

I know you have new pics !! Let’s see them. I think this spot is going to be well worth the work you put in

[Mayfly]

Yes I do have a couple pics from today. We went in to hang some stands, cameras, clear some lanes and check on the plot. I want to try and wrap this up soon so I can leave it alone until september! Almost done..... Here are a few pics of the baby sprouts 

[bowhunter73]

The green mile

[Mayfly]

I never updated this... It turned out to be a great plot! The deer hit it hard and often. I have tons and tons of pictures of deer on the plot. The rape came in best and the deer hammered it! The clover struggled but started to really flourish in the fall and it will be awesome this year! Did a frost seeding as well just to make sure we get a good start to a thick lush plot this year. Unfortunately I did not take many late summer of early fall pictures. I do have a few from the year and i'll share here....




By the end of August everything was filled in. I put some nitrogen and more seed down and it took off. Really filled out and was an awesome plot!





This was a doe that I killed off this plot. She came in for a late morning snack and headed right for my stand.... put an arrow through her and she ran back to the plot and died right on it.