I like Grant Woods also and watch his show every week. I always thought the same thing when he used to go on and on about Trophy Rock.
It’s just like Riverwood is saying. He’s a great guy but at the end of the day he’s making a show for a living and to support his family. Sponsors and the bias they create are just a part of it. He does a lot better job than most. There’s a lot of folks out there just straight up pimpin products…..and mostly just chit too…..At least what Grant is promoting is quality products.
Still though…..he’s still somewhat skewing our idea of food plots just the same. It’s still promoting the commercialized idea that quality plots can only come from a bag and a magic seed blend. “Weeds” are bad and the good stuff has to be bought. He’s one of the first ones to finally start promoting soil health but like I was saying in my original post….it has to be seen through the lens of the sponsors. It will be hard for anyone to ever tell you the complete truth because there’s very little to sell if they do.
Here’s the truth the way I see it………These small plots that we’re all dealing with are limited in their ability to produce significant “food” tonnage of anything you plant. They could come out with the most magical bean seed ever made and it still wouldn’t make any difference to your deer herd if all you can plant is 1 acre here and ½ acre there like most of us are doing. It’s virtually insignificant in the big picture. Therefore, during the summer months your best option for these small kill plots becomes 1) improving the soil…….2) continual ATTRACTION of deer…….
In my opinion, that can best be accomplished through adding soil amendments and helping along the natural summer vegetation. Vegetation that has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to rebuild soil and provide food to wildlife at the same time. There aren’t any other plants better at doing the job of rebuilding soil than the ones Mother Nature has created. They’re the most drought resistant…..the most browse tolerant……the toughest competitors…..and the most likely ones to thrive in poor conditions.
Maw Nature also knows which plants are needed at certain stages of soil reconstruction……Just like when my soil was broken down to nothing but pure sand…..there’s a reason nothing grew but pure crabgrass……Soil organic matter was badly depleted and something needed to set roots and stabilize the top 3-4 inches of soil. A thick mat of crabgrass was the perfect tool to initially reclaim the area and she knew it…..not beans….not milo…..not buckwheat….Sure, you could probably get some of that other stuff to grow and they may even do meh ok in some situations…..but in the end, would they thrive as much in those poor conditions as the crabgrass did and would they accomplish the real goals that needed accomplishing….heavily stabilizing the top layer of soil??? Which one accomplishes that goal better? Think about it this way……If a bulldozer came in and did a bunch of fresh dirt work….would you stabilize that dirt with sunflowers and beans……or a thick mat a grass???
Once that part of the reconstruction is complete though and soil conditions are improved…..then that’s when nature brings back in the broadleafs…..It’s a process that we really don’t need to improve on…..instead we just need to help nurture the process along……Nature will rebuild your soil for you if you let her….Instead though, we do every thing in our power to fight in the opposite direction……She’s trying to stabilize soil and build OM and we’re freaking out about “weeds”……
Spray ‘em!!....Till ‘em!!!.....Spray ‘em again!!....Till ‘em four more times!!!....Chit!! they just keep coming back!!!....and now it’s the really bad ones!!!.....Wait, now my spray doesn’t work anymore!!....Quick somebody develop new spray why I till it again!!....That’ll fix it!
If we don't ever recognize the root cause of our problem then nothing we ever do will "fix it"....we'll simply keep searching for another solution for the latest problem. We're treating symptoms and not root causes.
