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How to make a large plot better? #3024724
01/27/20 12:16 PM
01/27/20 12:16 PM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 10,570
Santa Rosa/Conecuh
hallb Online content OP
Booner
hallb  Online Content OP
Booner
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Santa Rosa/Conecuh
Just got this new property a year ago, so this year is the first year for us to hunt it and manage it. Have done a bunch of work all year, plots are looking great, deer numbers seem really good, lots of bucks of all sizes/age, good sightings while hunting especially over the last couple of weeks, trigger has only been pulled twice, one was a accident button buck and the other was a 7 point that was too young by a guest. The whole property we are hunting is about 440 acres.

We have this one plot that is much bigger than the others, total size is around 5 acres and have around 3 acres of that planted. I thought for sure this was going to be a really good spot, but it has turned out to be the spot where there are the fewest sightings while hunting. Getting some night pictures at the feeder, but doesn't seem as consistent as the others, not as many doe groups visiting. You can visibly tell the plot has not been eaten down like many of our other plots. Soil tests were done and limed/fertilized accordingly, planted with same mix of oats/clover/brassicas as all other fields. You can see the box stand in the top center portion of the area and entry is at the very top/northern part of the stand...north is basically the way the view is looking.

What can be done to improve this area? I was thinking maybe we should let a big chunk of it grow back up naturally, just try and keep sweet gums out of it, make the planted area smaller and move the stand accordingly. My theory is it has something to do with the proximity to the pond on the property, that if that was a big chunk of woods south of it, it would be much more productive. Hard to tell from the pic, but the creek feeding the pond gets very close to the plot edge at some point, it looks like it would be a good pinch point, but I don't think it's being used like that b/c there are easier places to cross that creek/swampy area. Interested to hear what others have to say.


[Linked Image]

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024729
01/27/20 12:20 PM
01/27/20 12:20 PM
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 21,976
blount county alabama
jwalker77 Online confused
Pumpkin
jwalker77  Online Confused
Pumpkin
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blount county alabama
If you cant see your corn pile from there, youre not putting out enough

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024736
01/27/20 12:27 PM
01/27/20 12:27 PM
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 21,976
blount county alabama
jwalker77 Online confused
Pumpkin
jwalker77  Online Confused
Pumpkin
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blount county alabama
Seriously though, id plant the whole 5acres in ironclay peas and see if you can get them coming every day during the summer. Then when the peas play out, should be about acorn drop time, replant in whatever mix you want to. That and keep the corn there for them. I think year round feed is the key.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024744
01/27/20 12:38 PM
01/27/20 12:38 PM
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 3,239
IN
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ParrotHead89 Offline
10 point
ParrotHead89  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 3,239
IN
Have you ever thought about putting/planting some screening around it to make deer more secure?

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024750
01/27/20 12:46 PM
01/27/20 12:46 PM
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 16,805
Banana Republic
jb20 Offline
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
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Banana Republic
I'd let it grow into a sage field and bush hog it once a year and put a feeder by the woods....but then again I don't like green fields ☺


They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Ben Franklin
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024751
01/27/20 12:48 PM
01/27/20 12:48 PM
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 2,782
Owens Xrds
AUwrestler Offline
10 point
AUwrestler  Offline
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Posts: 2,782
Owens Xrds
Let a chunk grow thick in natural veg and plant a different blend than the other plots. Like a chickory heavy blend. I think they know that get the same food from other more secure feeling plots so they aren't using that one. Give em something they can't get anywhere else. Soybeans. Chickory, etc.


I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore I believe in work, hard work. -George Petrie (1945)
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024754
01/27/20 12:52 PM
01/27/20 12:52 PM
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 4,609
Alabama
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Rmart30 Offline
10 point
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Posts: 4,609
Alabama
I have seen deer go from no sightings in a wide open field for years to letting it grow up on rotating cutting basis and seeing way more deer in it.

if it was mine. id go for like a turkey foot shaped shooting lane design. Plant the lanes and let the between parts grow up and rotate each yr which area I cut. Say far left gets cut this yr. middle next yr, and far right 3rd yr. That would keep out unwanted trees from getting too big but lets the other stuff create a screening.


Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching - even when doing the wrong thing is legal. Aldo Leopold .. (except when it comes to trailer tags)
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024757
01/27/20 12:55 PM
01/27/20 12:55 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 5,147
Satsuma, AL
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Robert D. Offline
12 point
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Satsuma, AL
Plant 4 rows of tropical corn or egyptian wheat in a + patter across the plot. Cut an angled path across each arm for access. This way when the deer look into the plot, they only see a 1-2 acre opening instead of what looks like a huge open place. It should encourage more daytime use. You'll have to have your stand (stands preferably) either high enough to see all 4 or better yet, put it at the center of the + and cut a small walking path to it from 2 different directions.

Being able to enter and (more importantly, IMHO) exit a stand without spooking deer off the plot is WILDLY underappreciated. It's an aggravation, and can be more difficult to access, etc but is worth the trouble.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024758
01/27/20 12:57 PM
01/27/20 12:57 PM
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 20,017
PDL, Fl
T
timbercruiser Offline
Freak of Nature
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Posts: 20,017
PDL, Fl
Maybe plant strips of different stuff. My all time favorite is Buck Forage Oats, the deer just seemed to eat them better, then would be Coker oats. I havn't had any luck with brassicas.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024764
01/27/20 01:06 PM
01/27/20 01:06 PM
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 3,239
IN
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ParrotHead89 Offline
10 point
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IN
I was thinking Like Robert. Egyptian wheat or Alamo Switchgrass

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024774
01/27/20 01:17 PM
01/27/20 01:17 PM
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 602
VH
F
fillmore Offline
4 point
fillmore  Offline
4 point
F
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 602
VH
I’d consider cutting the section closest to the creek/swamp in half. Let the part closet go the water grow about waist high (mowing once a year or every other year)

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024808
01/27/20 01:59 PM
01/27/20 01:59 PM
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,382
South Alabama
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bambam32 Offline
8 point
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Posts: 1,382
South Alabama
We have field that’s about 3 Acres in the same shape as yours. We hardly ever saw deer in it during daylight. So, we allowed strips of dog fennel to grown up in it and planted between it. The field was basically three sections. The sightings went up and also helped ingress and egress to the stand. This year someone else made the decision to cut he strips. Now sightings are down again this year.

Last edited by bambam32; 01/27/20 01:59 PM.
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024819
01/27/20 02:09 PM
01/27/20 02:09 PM
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 5,648
Lincoln, Alabama
B
blumsden Offline
12 point
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Posts: 5,648
Lincoln, Alabama
Go to wildlife group website. It shows a diagram of a 5 acre food plot with all kind of fruit tree's,acorn tree's, and honeysuckle planted around the edge with a 1 acre plot in the middle. All the tree's are grafted so they put out within 2-3 years. If you don't want to do that then I would plant 15 rows of corn around it and plant the middle with RR soybeans( forage type). In fall, over seed with a mix of cereal grains,clover, and brassica's.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024838
01/27/20 02:29 PM
01/27/20 02:29 PM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 10,570
Santa Rosa/Conecuh
hallb Online content OP
Booner
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Santa Rosa/Conecuh
Thanks guys for all of the recommendations, seems like it's a lot of the same thought processes I was having.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024847
01/27/20 02:36 PM
01/27/20 02:36 PM
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 1,019
Central AL
O
Overland Offline
6 point
Overland  Offline
6 point
O
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 1,019
Central AL
Best thing to do to improve deer sightings is to put me on the upper West side of the pond about 30 minutes prior to sunrise. As I shoot woodies for the next 10-15 minutes as they filter into that hole, it should push deer into the field.

We have a 8 acre and 9 acre field. We lime and plant soybeans, brown top millet and other things in the summer. In the fall, we plant a wheat/oat/clover mix. Field contains only a strip or two of cover and the deer seem to have no fear about being in the wide open. With this being your first year, you can't be sure what occurred in that field in previous years. The folks that hunted it before you may have shot at everything that came into the open. Make that a buck only field for several years, keep it planted and the deer will begin using it.

Also consider bedding area. Where is the nearest bedding area(s)? Someone else mentioned travel, do you have to travel by bedding areas to get there?

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024854
01/27/20 02:42 PM
01/27/20 02:42 PM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,609
Alabama
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dirkdaddy Offline
10 point
dirkdaddy  Offline
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Alabama
Biggest issue is you have another food plot 80 yards across the creek. Decrease food plot size in this area overall and the deer will become more competitive over the available food, thus coming out earlier and being forced to use it during daytime. You may have too much food available and they are just using the plots at night and laying up during the day. At the very least the plots need be planted in completely different things to encourage equal usage of both. Or allow one of them to grow completely into sage/bedding area and plant every other or every two years.

Last edited by dirkdaddy; 01/27/20 02:43 PM.
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024875
01/27/20 02:57 PM
01/27/20 02:57 PM
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 19
Pensacola, Florida
F
Fishboy Offline
spike
Fishboy  Offline
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F
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Posts: 19
Pensacola, Florida
As mentioned, I think reducing the planted size will help. We planted a 4 acre plot last season, this year we only planted about 1 acre of it 20yds off the tree line and in an odd shape, then mowed a 10ft wide strip kind of diagonal away from the stand location. Leaving 15+yds of grown up natural regen on the edges especially in front of the stand and it’s been a steady draw for deer this year. I think they feel safer and are using the heck out of it.

Last edited by Fishboy; 01/27/20 02:57 PM.
Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024877
01/27/20 03:00 PM
01/27/20 03:00 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,230
somewhere around 112.
S
slippinlipjr Online shocked
I make Calds fer a livin
slippinlipjr  Online Shocked
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,230
somewhere around 112.
That's the best candidate for a clear cut I have ever seen. All those pines need to go. Looks like it is wide open under them. You need more cover plain and simple in my opinion.


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Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: slippinlipjr] #3024879
01/27/20 03:02 PM
01/27/20 03:02 PM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,609
Alabama
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dirkdaddy Offline
10 point
dirkdaddy  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,609
Alabama
Originally Posted by slippinlipjr
That's the best candidate for a clear cut I have ever seen. All those pines need to go. Looks like it is wide open under them. You need more cover plain and simple in my opinion.

Yea I had to do a double take on that photo after I gave my suggestion because there is ZERO thickness in there. No sage, no briars, nowhere for the deer to lay around and feel secure. A coyote or predator could be on them with the quickness and silently in that kinda wide open woods and they hate that. Need some trashy areas where predators can't just run free without making a crap ton of noise.

Re: How to make a large plot better? [Re: hallb] #3024881
01/27/20 03:02 PM
01/27/20 03:02 PM
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 2,176
Eastbound and Down
dead_eye Offline
8 point
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Eastbound and Down
Plant all of it a summer plot and put a protein feeder in it. Once they're used to coming it wont make a difference how its cut or planted.

Last edited by dead_eye; 01/27/20 03:02 PM.
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