Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Quality Deer Management The “Do Nothing” approach to food plotting

That’s awesome!……I imagine cattle would a be more feasible option to deal with overall but man how cool would it be to do it with an actual buffalo herd. I imagine it’ll take a number of years for the guy in Louisiana to see the total impact that will be made but I have to imagine it will be pretty substantial. Its one thing to improve a food plot or put out a feeder, etc…..Its quite another to change and improve the soil across an entire property and the overall quality of the forage that comes from it. I track for several high fences.....I've thought about mentioning it to some of them while we were tracking but figure they'd look at me like a space ship had just landed or something

Does this guy's name happen to be Baker??

That should’ve been made illegal from the beginning. The States really dropped the ball on that issue years ago.

What should be illegal? High fencing? Owning cattle??

Alright so lets get ready to do some food plotting and talk about some ideas as planting time approaches. Folks are gonna whine about what I’m gonna say I’m sure…..crying about “the wrong way”……”the right way”…..”my way”…..”your way”…..blah blah blah……If you don’t like the way I present the information then just quit reading and whining…….

One of the most talked about things you’re gonna hear folks saying over the next month or two is gonna be about rain and moisture…..”Man it’s turned off dry now!”…..”It won’t rain for the whole month!”……Conserving soil moisture is gonna be one of the most important aspects of your planting success.

Right now in my area we’re getting plenty of rain…..It’s raining nearly every afternoon and things are lush. That could end any day though and turn off dry. How long will your soil remain moist and able to support plant growth when that happens? A day……A week?.....Two weeks?......It’ll be very common to hear folks talk about getting ready to plant over the next few weeks and many will go ahead and start breaking ground. What happens when we break ground and expose the bare soil to the sun though? That’s right….it dries it out quickly……Why spend all that effort just to dry your soil out ahead of planting? Once you do throw out the seed…..how long do your seedlings have after it rains before the suns dries the soil back out again?

This is why I choose to keep my soil covered over with a layer of thatch. To start with…..the thatch helps the soil efficiently soak up the rain that we do get. It starts as soon as the rain drops reach the earth by dissipating the energy in each drop of rain as it hits the thatch. Instead of the drop of rain hitting bare soil and dislodging soil particles and quickly forming “run-off”…..it instead hits a layer of thatch that stops it in its tracks and allows it to slowly work its way down to the soil surface. This allows your soil to efficiently soak up most of the rain that falls instead of having most of it run into the ditch…..Sure, we may get an inch of rain…..but how much of that inch went into your soil and how much ran off into the nearby drainage when that inch came in the form of a 30 min downpour?

Secondly……leaving a layer of thatch over the soil surface conserves that moisture once it has soaked into the soil. Having the thatch layer across the soil protects it from the sun and can be the difference in your soil still being moist 2 weeks after a rain versus 2 days….What kind of effect do you suppose that could have on your new seedlings when dry October conditions hit and we go days or weeks without rain? Will it become important to soak up and conserve all the rain we get?

I’m gonna try not to get too long with any one post so I’ll stop there for now and pick back up on it later with another post………

Outback says that I make my posts too long so I’m gonna try to throw out some real short ones along the way here that are simply for stimulating “thought” about whatever it is we may be talking about……Here goes.....

Does this look like a fertile growing environment? Is this what you are essentially creating with your food plots on a smaller scale?.....


”Wheweee it’s nice and clean!!....Ain’t that purty!”

There goes CNC again, having a conversation with himself. :

So just who the phuck is it YOU' are talking too?

More on the discussion of thatch……

If we get a little deeper into the discussion on thatch then another big, big factor becomes feeding the microbial community. One of the most important things that helps a field germinate and jump out of the ground that I never anticipated in the beginning is the impact from mycorrhizal fungi. When folks first start out trying to change planting methods or they simply go and do a side by side one year test etc……this is one of the most overlooked aspects that doesn’t get accounted for. It will likely take several years of soil building for microbes like these to naturally return to the soil after its been turned into a biological desert from using traditional methods. This is why I’ve said in the past that using some of the inoculants on the market today that helps reintroduce this lost component to your soil may very well be worth the money spent.

If you look at this pic you’ll see the web of m. fungi coming up and engulfing this little pile of seed I spilled on the edge of the plot while loading the hopper…….



That spider web like substance…..when present…..fills the soil and creates and interconnecting web that link all the plants together……This is one way in which I achieve good germination and establishment of seedlings despite not using traditional methods that focus on seed bed prep……The m. fungi come up from the ground and connect my new germinating seedlings into the massive web……I like to think of it like being plugged into the “Matrix”….There’s lots of good videos out there talking about the importance of m. fungi and how they form a symbiotic relationship with plants…..I let folks do their own research if you’re interested in digging deeper into it….More to come on thatch and feeding the microbial community.

Here’s a link to a good episode of Growing Deer TV…….I have given Dr. Woods a hard time in some of my past posts but he’s probably the best one out there for brining you as close to the actual truth as any main stream “TV celebrity” is gonna do. They have sponsors and that just is what it is………


https://www.growingdeer.tv/#/better-food-plots-breaking-down-the-benefits-of-the-buffalo-system

Here’s another video of his…..again with a lot of good information in it…….However, this is where he and I diverge paths as he has to keep selling Eagle Brand seeds and the truth must run through their product line. This video is talking about small “Hidey Hole” food plots that you can plant by hand. Now in the last video he just got through explaining about how the great plains and Yellowstone have recycled soil nutrients and supported wildlife for centuries using native vegetation…..yet now in our Hidey Hole food plots they are simply “weeds” that don’t accomplish our goals and they must be replaced with a seed blend you buy from Eagle Seeds. The damndest thing about it is that the seed blend even includes things that the deer won’t eat. This is where the truth gets blurred. The real truth is that native plants would work just fine in this situation….they just wouldn't sell his sponsor's products...... Actually, I’d probably trust that “our creator” developed a better blend than the guy at a Eagle Seeds. Like I said though……still great information…..you just have to keep in perspective and realize they have sponsors……You never know when the message goes a little astray because of it…………

https://www.growingdeer.tv/#/plant-a-small-food-plot-with-hand-tools

Here’s one final video……Again full of excellent information…..but listen to how the messages conflict one another. Now not only are native species great and wonderful…..but they are suddenly “high quality forage”……”with huge diversity”…..”something palatable all the time”…….”great for the soil”…… “where he has taken the most mature bucks” …..Just as long as they’re not growing in our food plots I suppose………Why couldn’t we have grown them in that hidey hole food plot? As far as that goes….why wouldn’t it be ok to grow them in all of the food plots during the summer months? Man, if only $$$ and sponsors didn’t put that slight taint on things…..or if he even said that both ways would work or something….hell I don’t know…..Its just like a grain a sand in the crack of my butt for someone to try and teach the public about these principles and concepts but still blur the truth along the way. I’m quite sure I’m probably that grain of sand for others.....I guess thats just the yin and the yang that brings a little balance to the whole thing.

Alright back to our do nothing plots………

https://www.growingdeer.tv/#/the-results-how-prescribed-fire-improves-native-habitat

Before I move on…..for the sake of practicing what I preach and so that folks aren't confused about what I’m saying….. ..There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the way he’s managing his plots….If you have the means to buy a Genesis drill and Eagle Brand Soybeans and whatever else goes along with it…..Its a perfectly fine way to do it that’s in line with all of the principles and concepts were talking about. My message is just that it doesn’t have to be done that way in order for you to feel like your doing thing right. You don’t have to buy a grain drill or plant soybeans….You can still accomplish the same goals using other techniques and other plants or seed blends…..Just like with mob grazing…..it may be a different method and approach to managing the soil and vegetation but the concepts are still the same. Look at the cost/benefit of doing it different ways and choose whichever one you feel best fits your situation and budget.

Alright......NOW moving on........

If yer 185# ass woulda been running at me and my defense in high school youda been swallowed up by hell real quick.

Sure

WTF is going on here?

CNC is crying out for help in the only way he knows.

Mostly just arguing with himself. It must be torture, living in his head.

Relax fellas….its not like anyone’s actually paying attention to any of this nonsense…….Is this real life???

I mean absolutely nobody is paying attention..............