You are correct. It's just deer hunting and not trying to make a living. I go to extremes because it's more of hobby for me than hunting. If deer hunting was illegal, I would still plant food plots for them. I have squirrel feeders out and don't hunt them.

CNC - have you changed your opinion on the value of adding N to your plots later in the season? I thought i remembered you saying it wasn't necessary if you had your soil in proper condition? Maybe I'm confusing you with someone else; memory ain't too sharp now my

I've thought for decades that 100 lbs of 34-0-0 around the first of December was the magic bullet for deer plots.

I don't think that one was me. I've always been for trying to reduce inputs through better management practices....but N seems to be the one nutrient that's gonna be the toughest to reduce......especially in a situation where you have to produce a lot of growth on a small area.

Sorry, CNC, guess it was somebody else. I remember I finally posted a pic showing that areas getting extra N were a lot greener that some strips that I missed.

The biggest mistake I see people make,besides low pH and not liming, is not using enough fertilizer. 2 bags of trip 13 on 1 acre is only 13 pounds of n, p and k.
Most crops need at least 60 lbs of nitrogen per acre, 450 lbs of trip 13 would give you 58 1/2 lbs n/acre. 13 lbs would be barely better than nothing. Deer will find and use the food with the most benefit to them and and barely fertilized plots ain't it

Guys, it don't rain soon, we ain't going to be fertilizing.

Yeah, no joke.....This will be the first time that I've not had a food plot ready by bow opener. On the bright side, I do have a great kill on everything in the field. It's brown and crunchy.

I have always planted more seed than suggested, usually double the recommended application, because I broadcast and drag. You can cover it all up and depending on the forecast for rain, birds are going to hammer any exposed seeds.

As for the fertilizer, 2:1 is pretty good number to stick with. At the minimum that usually equates to 300 lbs per acre. Then sometime just before Christmas, hit them with about 100lbs per acre of AN.

This formula has worked well for me over the past 30 years and I have never been disappointed with any of my plots, except the one time that army worms hit a couple and at that point I stopped planting before the third week of September.

Quite honestly, you don't need your plots ready before bow season. You really want them at their peak during late December and January when there is no more acorns or browse for the deer to feed on. Early bow season, I would focus on the natural food sources, acorns, persimmons, honeysuckle etc.

I just scratch my head at some folks who are hell bent and determined to plant their plots around Labor Day to only have to replant them every year due to lack of rain. The worst thing that can happen is to plant them in early September, get a decent rain and they pop up and then scorch for the next 3-4 weeks because of no rain.

We put out 200lbs/acre of fert this weekend. So that is 200lbs fert/100lbs of seed/ acre. The fert was a custom mix according to our soil sample. Just have to pray for some rain this month! October is the month when we average the least amount of rain at 3.3". I would be exctatic if we got half that! Give me .75" in 2 weeks and .75" 2weeks after that and I think my fields would make it!

I've always planted my food plots around the second week in September and have for the past 25 years and have never had to replant. This is in NE Alabama.It hasn't rained enough to get my plots germinated, this year. May be a first for me.

I like having food plots to hunt over during bow season. I'm not "hell bent" to make it to happen or anything but in a normal year I would plant right ahead of a good weather front in late Sept or early Oct and have a nice stand going by opening weekend…..with deer activity already coming to it. Right now I'm still waiting to plant. I like food plot hunting during bow season because its usually an easy way to get a quality shot on an old slick head. You may not see a bunch of deer and you may not see any “shooter” bucks…..but there’s usually a really good chance that if there’s a cold front coming through and you play your wind right, that you can get a shot on a doe on a good healthy food plot.

I don’t do much hardcore buck hunting anymore during bow season. That’s not to say that I’m not buck hunting. One of the largest deer I’ve ever killed walked right under my stand on opening afternoon of bow season a few years ago coming out to feed in my plot. A good front was coming through and deer were feeding. However, when you look at the averages or probabilities of actually killing a mature buck during bow season, I’ve come to the conclusion that its far more fun for me to not even worry about killing a “good” deer until the rut and spend bow season trying to get one or two quality shots on a doe. A simple and minimally intrusive place to do that is on a food plot during a cold front. They’ll very likely be an old doe or two feeding around them.

CNC, your philosophy on bow hunting is just like mine.

And were 2x a dry as everybody else in the state up here.South facing side of some mtns the trees have turned brown and skipped the colors.