Tag: food plot

What Whitetail Deer will Eat this Winter

The brassica plots are better than ever in mid-Michigan and the two freezes earlier this month have sweetened the turnips.  Recently, I have found entire turnips pulled out of the ground and chewed up by the deer.

Jumbo samples from the brassica plot. On the left is a giant Japanese radish and on the right is a purple top turnip.

We planted on July 30th, after a long, drought-ridden summer, and it turned out as good as any “farmer” could hope.  The fertilizer (19-19-19) was mixed into the soil, along with a good dose of lime months ahead of planting day.  Mother Nature has done the rest.

 

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Food Plots React to Non-Stop Rain

I had a lot going on so I took a chance and planted my food plots in the last days of July – a bit early but rain was predicted and fell some 9 hours later.  Now, we’ve had non-stop rain for three days and the brassicas are singing my song.  In the top photo, you can see the turnips and rape emerging.

QDMA Special Brassica Mix

In the lower photo, I planted a brassica mix and clover into a stand of alfalfa.  The alfalfa remained after an early-spring spraying with glyphosate (RoundUp).  After that, I just ran a disk across it a few times and over-seeded followed by cultipacking.

Alfalfa stand with over-seeded brassicas and clover

Total acreage planted this fall was about 6.5.  These plots feed the wildlife year-round, with a mix of perennials and annuals.  The worse the December weather, the better the late-season deer hunting.  The foliage on the turnips and rape stays green well into December – even under the snow, when all the farmers have picked their crops.  After that, the deer feast on the turnips themselves.  If enough are planted, some will rot in the spring and subsequently go back to the earth as nutrients for the next planting.
Lots of work, lots of fertilizer and lime ($) and seed but it’s worth it to me when the snow is on.

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Hot Zone Deer Exclosure System Protects Food Plots

Protect your plot with the Hot Zone Deer Exclosure System from Non-Typical Wildlife Solutions.
Quality deer management, specifically the planting of food plots, is a rapidly growing trend amongst white-tailed deer hunters. Each year, many hunters spend countless hours and thousands of dollars preparing food plots only to have their hard work devastated by over-browsing before their food plots mature.

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Hunting, Wildlife

Realtree Nursery Food Plot Trees Available at Wal-Mart

Realtree Nursery Food Plot Trees are now available at select Wal-Mart stores throughout the country. You can find Dunstan Chestnuts™, Sawtooth Oaks, American Persimmons and Native Crabapples in Wal-Marts in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. Read more

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Subtle Changes Can Mean a New Perspective

By Glen Wunderlich

Whenever sportscasters spew off statistics about certain team rivalries and how two teams have stacked up over the years, it makes me think they don’t have anything better to talk about. It all means nothing, because the current teams have evolved through coaching and personnel changes – any one of which alters the team’s personality, potential, and character. An impending game, therefore, is sure to become a new adventure. So, too it is with hunting. Read more

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Morning Hunt in First Snow

By Glen Wunderlich

With power off and the generator running at 5:30 am, I marched through the 6-inch deep snow to a hunting blind overlooking some low ground.  After climbing in, I soon discovered that the slide-up windows wouldn’t unlatch.  Frozen shut.

Snow glistens from morning sun

 

Finally, I got one side to cooperate, but not after alerting any game within a half mile of my presence.  The other three windows wouldn’t budge.  It didn’t take me long to realize I had to find another location to hunt the first snow of the season.

At least my early morning arrival has given me an opportunity to get set somewhere – anywhere else.  But, my plan to ambush deer along routes to their bedding area was blown up.  Being afield this day would be good enough.

My alternate blind would overlook a brassica food plot of some two acres.  It’s never been much of a morning spot; rather, it is a prime destination field. 

At first light, two antlerless deer began feeding on turnip greens and rape.

Nothing else materialized and I left the heated blind way too early, but I still have some plowing to attend to.  The afternoon shift should be interesting.

 

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Another Hunt

By Glen Wunderlich

Yesterday’s afternoon session of deer hunting in the strong winds found me in a chair blind overlooking a large destination field of brassicas.  Only one deer was spotted – a yearling six-point buck working the food plot at the far end.  The young buck lingered for approximately 20 minutes and exited into an adjoining woodlot.  Fortunately for the buck, no other hunters were on hand.

This morning’s temperature is a rather balmy 43 degrees and, once again, high winds are predicted.  Hopefully, they’ll hold off for this Saturday early session – yes, opening weekend.

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