Darron

This was my first year planting a brassica plot and the deer are hitting it pretty good, even before our first frost. The tops are being eaten off. I'm in SE Ohio with very little ag fields, so this may be a factor as well. They are hitting my rye, triticale, wheat, oat, awp and red clover the hardest.

rye, oat, wheat, triticale, peas and red clover planted aug 15 Feed Oats Planted on Aug 15 on a shaded gasline plot

Like you, I see a more birds in the fall than in the spring on my farm. I simply find where they use and set up. I don't bother with busting the flock because I don't want to run them off my property. Last year the day before Thanksgiving I called in a flock of 40 birds within 20 yards.

Well..........I looked at the extended forecast and they are talking about rain all next week. I start back to work on the 25th, so I only have a few dry days to plant my last two plots. I went down yesterday and broadcasted 100 pds of 30-10-3 on my brassica plot, which is doing exrememly well. I have put down 100pds of 12-12-12 and 100pds of 30-10-3. Hopefully that will give it a nice boost here a month before season. After that I planted my oat, rye, wheat, triticale, pea and red clover........ The plot was tilled about a month ago and I sprayed it twice. I had a few weeds but nothing major. I used my drag harrow with the teeth down to tear up the ground 1-2" deep. After making a pass or two, I broadcasted my seed blend. After broadcasting I flipped the drag over and used the smooth side to cover the seed. After I covered, I broadcasted 7pds of red clover seed on top of the smooth soil. Hopefully the rain next week will give me good germination. I know I am about 7-10 days early, but I had to. I didn't fertilize knowing I was getting it in a little early. The amount of deer sign in their bare plots was unbelievable, so I can only imagine once the food starts growing. Our bow opener is Sept 26, so I am right around a month and a few days out.

This will be my first year really hunting over and/or around food plots. I have heard that hunters should only hunt around food plots in the afternoon so they do not bump deer in the morning while they are feeding in them? Is this true or are there exceptions?

I'll be down the week of Aug 15 to plant my other two plots. While I am down there I'm going to put another 75-100 pds of fertilizer on it to give it another jump before season rolls in.

I tried to not overseed the plot. I used approx 3.5-4pds of seed and after looking at it, it's still kind of thick. The plot is somewhere in the 1/2-3/4 acre range. It's probably 65-70 yards long and 50-60 yards wide in most spots. I read where an acre is somewhere around 73yds x 73 yds, if that's the case, I'm in the 1/2-3/4 acre range. We've had a lot of rain in SE Ohio in the past two weeks. Hopefully we get a little break and the heat comes back so things will take back off again.

Brassica Blend of PTT, Appin Forage and DER planted on July 10. Broadcasted 75pds of 12-2-3 fertilizer today. Cereal Grain plot will be planted Mid-Late August with oats, rye, wheat, field peas and triticale. This is on a new property I just purchased last month that adjoins my other property. The field was 8' high in weeds. We bushhogged, sprayed twice, tilled and I just sprayed again today. Also put 500pds of lime on the plot to sweeten things up a little.

I had a bushel of rye left over which is 56lbs. I was going to do a rye plot but nobody around me has rye and shipping from welters would be more than the seed itself. I have some cabelas points and was shopping on there and decided to mix my bushel of rye with 22.5lb of biologics outfitters blend which is a mix of triticale, oats, wheat, and awp with a few brassicas in there (1pd). I'll mix them together and have a rye, wheat, oats, triticale, awp and a few brassicas. The plot is .8 acres and I called a biologic rep and he told me mixing one bag of the Outfitters Blend with the rye would be fine. I'll have approx 78pds of a mix for almost an acre. It's a new plot on a new property I just bought. I broadcasted 500pds of pelletized lime last month to try and sweeten it up a little. I'm going to plant them next month, sometime around August 15-20th. The brassicas won't get much growth, which is fine. What do ya think?

so far we have been getting good rains about twice a week and we are scheduled for more rain early next week.

In your opinion, what is the best ground blind for under $200 (deer hunting)? I have a couple spots on and around my plots that would be great areas for a ground blind. I was hoping to buy 2-3 by the end of the month and sit them out a month before season so the deer get use to them. Any suggestions? I didn't want to spend a lot on a blind since I will be leaving it out

I went down to my property today to check on the plot and the small brassica seedlings are beginning to pop through the dirt. I was worried I dragged them too deep, but I didn't. I had a couple spots of thick grasses that my tiller didn't do a very good job on so I nuked them and threw some seed down after the grasses died. I checked today and I have germination, so broadcasting brassicas onto dead weeds will work. My buddy across the street planted his brassicas on July 9 and his plot looked about the same as mine. Can't wait to see how much growth I get come September. Now I just have to plant my oat and rye patch in August and I am done for the year. I all ready tilled those plots, just waiting for new weed growth to spray plots around end of July and plant sometime around mid-August.

I'm from Dayton Ohio and hunt in Greene County where I have permission for a couple farms and my own 115 acre farm in Vinton County.

My farm is located in hill country so my area mybe different from yours. Just about anything we plant draws deer because we have no ag fields. Nearest ag field one is 8-10 miles away. After saying that, I have three foodplots on my property and I typcally plant annuals to draw deer during hunting season. My plots are small (less than acre), therefore I need something that will tolerate high grazing pressure. I do a lot of reading on qdma forums and from my experience on that site, alot of people plant fall rye and brassica mixes for late season draw during hunting season. Rye and brassicas are very inexpensive and easy to grow. Just on seed alone this year I spent $19 on a brassica mix, $40 on rye seed and $16 on oats. That's only $75. I try to spend less than $100 a yr on seed and I still have good plots. I typcically do not fertilize, only lime since I can buy a lot of lime for little money (Plus fertilizer is wasted if the PH isn't high). All together with lime and seed I probably spend between 200-250 on seed and lime. Call me cheap, but it's just deer food. They say without fertilizer one will lose 20% growth on average. That's not that huge of a deal. It's not it's a cash crop. If I can find it on sale I will buy it, but for the most part I can buy 5 bags of pelletized lime for 1 bag of fertilizer.

I was going to do that, but the next rain insn't until Saturday, so I was worried the turkeys and other birds would come in and eat my seed out, which is why I drug it with the flat side of the drag. I am hoping the seed is ok. I'll go down sometime next week and look at it. If I don't see any germination I'll rebroadcast. I found this info on line. http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/DesktopModules/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=1819 Says you can plant brassicas up to 1/2" deep with no effect on them. I think I am fine.