Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
By Glen Wunderlich
Mid-summer is a time for county fairs, cool drinks, barbeques, swimming, fishing, vacations and just plain being lazy in the shade. Ah, that would be the life, but when it comes to farming – in my case wildlife food plots – it’s business before pleasure.
With only days remaining before heading down South for a business conference, I had put the food plot work on the back burner until returning the first week in August. Read more
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.
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.
By Glen Wunderlich
Whenever there’s a hyped-up advertisement for some purported “great” investment, there’s always a disclaimer along with it to the effect that there’s no guarantee of success based on past performance. On the other hand, a poor track record doesn’t necessarily indicate certain failure on another given gamble. So, too, it is with the farmer who rolls the dice no matter what.
With late-season food plot establishment a month away, hunters-turned-farmers will join the gambling contingent when they sow their chosen seed in August. Read more
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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Whitetail Journal’s special Land and Game Management issue offers hunters and landowners a wealth of information on how to best cultivate their property for whitetail health and habitat. From food plots ideas to trail camera reviews to advice on leasing land, this issue has something for everyone. Read more
BOGART, Ga. — Only five years since publication, the book Quality Food Plots has sold more than 15,000 copies, making it the top-selling and fastest-selling book ever offered by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA). That rate puts the book among the
top-sellers in the hunting industry and likely the highest-selling book ever on food plots or deer habitat. Read more