Hello all. Glad to have found this forum. I'm hoping I can learn from the people here. I live west of Alexandria. We are a big agriculture area. Acre upon acre of corn and soybeans with small patches of woods in between. I'm looking to see what kind of food plots people are planting in Minnesota. I have been binge watching Jeff Sturgis' videos on youtube and I have learned a lot. I rifle hunted a lot as a kid, but fell out of hunting once I did my undergraduate and graduate studies. I then had kids. So it wasn't until last year that I got back into hunting and want to focus on bow hunting. I live on 8 acres that has a wooded area on the north side and I get few does bedding down in there. My dad owns a ~36 acre plot that's bordered on a lake and has maybe 2/3rds field that gets a corn/soybeans rotation. He bought the property last year so we haven't really done a lot out there yet. If it were up to me I'd ditch the field and turn it all into a deer paradise, but that's not gonna happen. I think I've convinced him to put a food plot out there that might get to about an acre. I've got two spots at my place setup for food plots that will combined be a little less than 0.5 acre. I plan on putting a mock scrape/stick and a watering hole on the bigger of the two. They both are bordering the woods and are fairly sheltered (considering putting switchgrass where they aren't). I have another spot that's another 0.5 acre that I'm mowing and not otherwise using. This space isn't particularly sheltered. The woods is on the north edge of my property and thins way out to a single line of trees on the east with corn surrounding all sides of my property. This other space is on the ne side of my property.
So I guess my first question is what is everybody planting? My bet so far has been brassica and maybe winter rye. With all the ag surrounding me I don't think I will ever be a draw for deer until the fields are harvested, which is why fall/winter oriented food plots have been my conclusion. Since my plots are also fairly small I want to maximize what I can do with this space. I am favoring a heavy mix of turnips and radish as they have above and below ground forage. Maybe a small amount of kale as it is more cold tolerant than rape. My plan is to make my own mix and see if local co-ops have seed for sale.
Also I'm tempted to spray that 0.5 acre spot and turn it into a food plot. Not sure what my wife thinks as she is rolling her eyes at all of this, but IMO it's better than having to keep mowing it. Maybe it's best to plant some periennal plot in that space and keep my two smaller plots as bassica kill plots. Thoughts?
My dad is old school. Just put a stand out and the deer will come type. I'm trying to gradually introduce him to new ideas and allow this to be his idea. I'd like to get two separate one acre food plots at his property, but one of the areas gets quite wet when it rains and the other will cut into the field. For this year we have two strips of corn 8 rows thick 600 feet long, but the corn is bordering a wooded area and is largely stunted. It is however the only corn left standing in the area. All of the fields are done. We will see. I've been working firearm opener. My dad and brother have been sitting, but it's been all around quiet.
Check Out Our Forum Tab!
Topic: West Central Food Plots (Read 3341 times)
