Going Food Plot crazy!


Turkeygirl

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This is an Evolved Harvest Rack Radish plot I made a month ago or so....also threw some seed in our field when it got turned under and planted in a grass/hay. Took this picks maybe 2 weeks ago:

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Need to check it today.

Also picked up some seed for the spring. Our feed mill started selling plot seed by the pound. Got 2 pounds of soybeans, a pound of purple top turnip, and a pound of a clover/chickory mix. If your pound get some renovation, then when that is done, I'll turn the banks into a big deer plot;)

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Plant the purpletops more in summer?

For your area probably mid to late summer Ruth. They would be a fall planting here, but we get a little more time for growth before we get our first frost.

I don't hunt food plots, I feel it gives a unfair advantage to the hunter I prefer to stalk deer, try it yourself

Spot and stalk hunting is great where you are able to, not all places are conducive to that style hunting though.

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Ruth, I always plant my purple tops the last week of July when possible. If you can get 45 days of growth before the first killing frost you are well in the window for a good crop. Planting too early can result in tough and seedy bulbs which aren't all that atractive to deer. They will dig them up through deep snow cover but you'll find a lot of 1/2 eaten bulbs when the snow leaves. Consequently the deer aren't getting much nutrition from the turnips. This kinda defeats the purpose.

When the first or second hard frost hits the leaves the starch in the leaves turns to sugar. The deer will swoop into the plot and eat the greens to the ground. Usually the plot will be nearly bare looking in only a couple days time.

I don't plant any brassicas with the "hunting over them" idea at all. I plant these plots strictly for a nutrition source for the deer in the late winter, late February and early March as a rule. Long after hunting season has closed.

This year being so dry we got our seed down a little late. It wouldn't have mattered much as we haven't had any good rain until last Tuesday night. I figure the plants are roughly a month behind. Here is hoping we don't get an earlier than usual frost or it will be all for naught.

Good Luck and keep us in the loop.

Lynn

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Thanks for the tips! I'm with ya LetMGrow...I plant my plots more as an attractant and food source than to just ' hunt over them". Deer mainly move through our woodsearly AM and late PM so I use my plots as a way to hang around a little.

I hope one day a buck decides to drop an antler in the plot, that'd be awesome! :-D

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i'm with lynn i've planted them before later and they didn't have enough time to grow and then matured later. deer didn't hit them until real late in the season (after the season) and there wasn't as much there when they did. a lot of places here change in holding capacity quite a bit from late summer into winter months. lots of corn acreage that gets picked and other factors. there just isn't as much foods around and they go elsewhere. hopefully your plot will give at least something to eat around then and maybe keep them from moving farther away. i think that's why i don't find as many sheds around places i hunt.

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