Making a wildlife Food Plot

[kweaver]

We encourage food plots: http://fw.ky.gov/foodplot.asp

 

[kide]

"One of the advantages of food plots is that they can concentrate animals for viewing and/or hunting. "...
Now in Michigan, that's a no-no, 'cause the deer'll swap spit and all be sick...... (you obviously need more government up there in Kentucky)..

 

[fcurrier]

I'm taking advantage of the pics I finally took before it got dark. This is a Food Plot, believe that?

A friend from New Jersey (as bad as we like to pick on them there ARE good people from NJ) comes hunting deer here (and has for a L-O-O-N-G time (he's pushing 80). He bought some seed from Cabela's, sent it to me, and asked me if plant it. Right on, Bro! So I tilled it with the 149/tiller, planted it, and the deer didn't swarm in. (there's not enough deer here to swarm, anymore). But I digress. Should I keep it mowed? There's a clover/chickory mix in there and I don't think our deer have a clue as to what chickory is (I don't). Can it get 4' tall and have a purple flower?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, good looking plot! AFAIK, you do not want it to flower so mow it if it starts to flower. Also, if it gets too tall it will start to get tough and the deer wont like it. Deer prefer nice tender tasty stuff. There are several food plot seed developers on line such as Whitetail Institute, which is the outfit that I got my seed from, (well I bought it from Gander Mountain but it was developed and grown by Whitetail Institute), that will have information on mowing and other maintenance suggestions.

 

[fcurrier]

Kraig a Rooney, thanx! I thought the new, tender stuff might be the way to go. Any advice on a trail camera? We (old fart from NJ and I) tried one, it didn't pan out the way it should have so we sent it back to Cabela's. Still have a place to mount it

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, what brand/model did you try? I have one older Cuddeback and a bunch of discontinued RackTracker brand cameras that my father bought. They all seem to work OK but they are fairly low megapixel cameras. Somewhere back in the October 5, 2009 archived thread I mentioned the camera that I want to get.

 

[bbowman]

Frank;
Good looking food plot!
Ditto what Kraig said about mowing. Probably two or three mowings a season will keep it in good shape.
I also use the Whitetail Imperial Clover with good results. Deer will walk past rye and oats to get to it. Clover generates it's own nitrogen so fertilize accordingly.I use 0-20-20;it helps to keep weed growth down.
That looks like 2-3 acre plot,you've got a lot for your deer to feed on,so you may not notice all the browsing.
Most plots down here are 1/4 to 1 acre;using multiple plots to kind'a give 'em different restaurants to eat at!
Looks like you put a lot of work into it.
I've had decent results with my Moultrie Spy cams,but they are a little sunlight sensitive.
Bobby B.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bobby, do you have any full resolution photos from your Moultrie trail cam that you could send me in an email? I'd like to see how they look in full resolution. My RackTracker cameras also trigger on sunlight. The Cuddeback doesn't seem to be triggered by sunlight very often however it has a fast trigger when an animal passes.

 

[bbowman]

Kraig;
I'm in the process of reloading everything after my own "Great Crash";I'll send you some in a day or so.
Bobby B.

 

[kmcconaughey]

I put a couple of my trail cameras up last week over looking the food plot. Tonight I mowed the clover, I should have mowed it a week ago but time did not allow. Here's a few photos.

Sorry about the color of the tractor. These days that's the only color tractor at the farm.

The tall skinny "weeds" are actually turnips (rape) that came up from seed. When I first planted the food plot I used an annual seed mix that had rape seed in it. There was a small patch of it that came up last year, more came up this year. Kind of a surprise.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Recent food plot photos:

This fence crossing might be a good ambush location.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Few more:

 

[kmcconaughey]

Couple of trail cam videos:

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

 

[kide]

Kraig:
Can the trail cam you are using trigger on smaller wildlife?? We've had "mystery guests" tearing up our flowers... could be squirrels, moles, raccoons or skunks. The bets right now are on raccoons, but since we go through this all the time (skunks pokings holes in the lawn, etc.) I've been thinking of a game cam that can take nighttime pics, with time stamp....

 

[kmcconaughey]

They sure do. I have plenty of photos of cats, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, possum, crows, fox, small birds and so on. My old Cuddeback camera is more sensitive and gets the most photos of smaller animals (and bigger animals) but the cheap RackTracker cameras also get photos of small animals. Even with it's more sensitive trigger the Cuddeback also takes fewer photos. The cheap Racktrackers take photos that are triggered by the sun and wind.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Recent Trail Cam photos.

Note the two turkeys in the upper left corner of the food plot.

 

[aaytay]

 

[kmcconaughey]

Wow, a month makes a difference!

Same deer, note the two scars in his side. I'm quite sure that this is the same 8 point that's been hanging around the farm since at least 2008 and the deer I posted the nice photo of on September 9, 2009.

June 21, 2010

July 21, 2010

 

[aaytay]

 

[kmcconaughey]

Art, yep!

Here he is on July 2nd.