Payoff?

JFH

Active Member
This is the time of year when we start to be able to judge how all our food plot planning / work / time / money paid off.

Our plots have either grown well or not. Trail cams are telling us about actual utilization. Most importantly, the hunting itself is either underway or about to start.

So... how’s 2017 working out for you? What did you do right / wrong? What have you learned about this obscure hobby of ours this year?


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Lots of hard work gone to waste on the Home 10 acres because of neighbors dogs. Finally rang ones ears with a shotgun (shot in the air) and called another neighbor with a friendly conversation. 1 week later i saw my first deer on the property in 2 months. The boy hunted 2 evenings this weekend and saw deer both times. And this is on 10 acres.
Wish i had addressed the problem back in August.
 
Havent had a rain in seven weeks - until last night. Did a lot of planting the last couple of days with a new to me Woods Seeder - so will see how that goes. Tried it in everything from bare dirt to 8” tall green grass. Not many deer on my place because I have no food and a lot of acorns in the woods off my property. Hopefully, after the rut and the acorns are gone, They will work their way back to my place. Weather has been brutal this year
 
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Lets just say with no rain for 60+ days that I have just helped support the local economy by buying seed from local coop to throw out and watch die. Finally getting some rain and again I thru out my salvage a plot seed of WR,WW, and RC. Those should salvage somewhat the plots. The other problem when dealing with drought, natural browse is less, so they hit plots harder, and acorns drop early. Good to have mixture of perennial and annual plots to help thru tough times. Last year went nearly 80 days no rain same time.
 
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2017...did more hinge cutting, let small north plot go fallow, increased size of south plot x 3, placed on demand 300 lb banks 4 port feeder in a spot in the woods I always used to just go in and pour corn...

Results I am seeing thus far...

1. Hinge cutting - jury is still out because I am not sure I have given them enough time. It works great as a screen option and definitely diverts deer but have not noticed any bedding or fawning in it. Do have more small game like rabbits so it is helping in subtle ways.

2. Fallow North Plot - reason I let go fallow is because once neighbors realized it was there and only about 75 yards from the fence they camped out there. Deer used it readily the past 2 years at all hours and I had some decent hunts until the gig was up. Should have sprayed and terminated the clover because it grew in through all the weeds and seedlings that are coming in. Still gets deer usage more than I would like but over time I hope it grows into briars and brush and just makes a nice thicket...

3. Increased South plot size - goal was to have deer travel the length of our 90 to get to a major food source and cause does to bed mid property and up towards the plot. Lack of rain from mid August until late September and then only sparingly made me glad I went ahead and planted brassicas, WR, BFO just after our last rain in mid August into moist soil...roots formed and most survived albeit very small so when some more moderate showers returned and another over seeding of WR and clover and a good dose of Urea and I have a pretty good plot. Acorn crop is extremely heavy this fall with acorns dropping earlier than normal. Big bucks have mostly vacated the scene for the time being due to all the acorns. Doe groups and younger bucks are definitely utilizing the plot in daylight hours and mature bucks at night. I sat 1/2 way back into our property last night and had parades of does and small bucks heading all the way through our place to that south plot. Directed movement to that food source is a huge success and I expect we should be able to actually expect to see/kill a good deer soon on its way to check that plot.

4. Banks 300 lb 4 port demand feeder...seems to have made a spot that used to be the go to place to being the avoid at all cost spot. I have fed corn in this spot for 3 years on the ground and had parades of deer coming to it including all but 1 of the mature deer we have taken off the place. Before I had to go in every 2 days and dump 100 lbs of corn and it would feed 20 raccoons, 15 turkeys, 10-12 deer, waves of crows, and the occasional feral hog for almost 2 days. I bought the Banks feeder because I don't like the neighbors hearing a spin feeder go off on my place and set up accordingly trying to intercept deer on the way to it or from it. I figured the banks would save me money on corn and I could stay out of the area until time to hunt it so lots less foot traffic...it took almost 2 months to get the first picture of a deer there and over 3 months to get a pic of one actually eating from it. I finally had a couple mature deer using it some at night and then acorns dropped and that spot has gone stone dead cold. I have a spin feeder in our South Plot and one behind our house and both see usage even though we have a heavy acorn crop...will have to access situation after acorns deplete but it certainly so far has made a great spot into a not so great area...
 
I got lucky this year. I planted Summer crops for the first time in years. Milo, cowpeas, clover and sunflowers. The milo will end up as Winter food and it protected the cowpeas from being wiped out. It worked out great and I still have cowpeas growing up the milo stalks. I over seeded my fall mix (WW,WR, oats, CC) into it in August just before a rain. Everything sprouted then died from lack of rain.
The lucky part is if I had done things as I normally do by nuking the field in august and planting my Fall mix I would have had a dirt field for the last 6 weeks. By leaving the milo standing I kept feeding the deer plus giving them the security of the standing milo.
I suppose unintentional success is still success right ? I just replanted my Fall mix Saturday and it rained all day Sunday. We'll see what happens next.
 
So far my best year was the 1st year with zero improvements. I stay out from August until last week in october, always hunt the wind and stay on the property perimeter....second guessing much of my habitat work. This is my third season on the property, so im hoping last yr was just a "bad year"...

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I expect to have a "normal" year, but I am looking at shifting directions when it comes to plotting and when I do some work. I won't do into detail of all the projects, but in general I think I am shifting to mast trees and turning perennial plots into orchards and backing off of annual plots some. I also need to focus more on cover improvement as well. I also need to do more work in the winter and spring and less in the summer and fall - I think my constant activity level is actually hurting me as far as actually holding deer on the property.
 
2017...did more hinge cutting, let small north plot go fallow, increased size of south plot x 3, placed on demand 300 lb banks 4 port feeder in a spot in the woods I always used to just go in and pour corn...

Results I am seeing thus far...

1. Hinge cutting - jury is still out because I am not sure I have given them enough time. It works great as a screen option and definitely diverts deer but have not noticed any bedding or fawning in it. Do have more small game like rabbits so it is helping in subtle ways.

2. Fallow North Plot - reason I let go fallow is because once neighbors realized it was there and only about 75 yards from the fence they camped out there. Deer used it readily the past 2 years at all hours and I had some decent hunts until the gig was up. Should have sprayed and terminated the clover because it grew in through all the weeds and seedlings that are coming in. Still gets deer usage more than I would like but over time I hope it grows into briars and brush and just makes a nice thicket...

3. Increased South plot size - goal was to have deer travel the length of our 90 to get to a major food source and cause does to bed mid property and up towards the plot. Lack of rain from mid August until late September and then only sparingly made me glad I went ahead and planted brassicas, WR, BFO just after our last rain in mid August into moist soil...roots formed and most survived albeit very small so when some more moderate showers returned and another over seeding of WR and clover and a good dose of Urea and I have a pretty good plot. Acorn crop is extremely heavy this fall with acorns dropping earlier than normal. Big bucks have mostly vacated the scene for the time being due to all the acorns. Doe groups and younger bucks are definitely utilizing the plot in daylight hours and mature bucks at night. I sat 1/2 way back into our property last night and had parades of does and small bucks heading all the way through our place to that south plot. Directed movement to that food source is a huge success and I expect we should be able to actually expect to see/kill a good deer soon on its way to check that plot.

4. Banks 300 lb 4 port demand feeder...seems to have made a spot that used to be the go to place to being the avoid at all cost spot. I have fed corn in this spot for 3 years on the ground and had parades of deer coming to it including all but 1 of the mature deer we have taken off the place. Before I had to go in every 2 days and dump 100 lbs of corn and it would feed 20 raccoons, 15 turkeys, 10-12 deer, waves of crows, and the occasional feral hog for almost 2 days. I bought the Banks feeder because I don't like the neighbors hearing a spin feeder go off on my place and set up accordingly trying to intercept deer on the way to it or from it. I figured the banks would save me money on corn and I could stay out of the area until time to hunt it so lots less foot traffic...it took almost 2 months to get the first picture of a deer there and over 3 months to get a pic of one actually eating from it. I finally had a couple mature deer using it some at night and then acorns dropped and that spot has gone stone dead cold. I have a spin feeder in our South Plot and one behind our house and both see usage even though we have a heavy acorn crop...will have to access situation after acorns deplete but it certainly so far has made a great spot into a not so great area...
#4 - I actually have a theory that non-target species activity and disturbance can attract deer. Having all those critters coming and going from one spot and the threat of losing an ever shrinking pile of corn spurs bold movements of deer. I'm sure your feeder will work the way you want it to once enough deer figure it out, but I'm not sure all those critters visiting the pile are hurting anything other than your pocketbook (of course that can hurt a lot!). Anyway, just an idea I have floating around...
 
My summer plot mix of sunflower, cow peas, sunn hemp, spring peas, and faba beans was planted via the throw 'n mow method. It did decent but was slow to establish. The sunflowers weren't as thick as the seeding rate but I have no idea what to attribute that to. We have a lot of critters that could have gotten the seed and young sprouts. I know deer didn't get it because I have an E fence.
Faba beans were new to me. My deer never touched them.
I'm starting to win my multi-year battle with Canada Thistle. I've spot sprayed it with gly for several years and the stuff just kept coming back.
I switched to clopyralid 3 and it seems like I may finally be getting ahead of the stuff. I was having the same lack of success spot spraying gly on Jerusalem Artichoke. The C3 is now kicking it's butt.

I've come to realize that the non-plot habitat in this area is under a horrible attack from invasives.
The newest problem is Mile-a-Minute. The stuff will smother pretty much everything along those edges that we work so hard to develop. And with the demise of the ash trees, M-a-M is spreading like wildfire. I cannot over state how fast M-a-M goes from not being present to completely overtaking everything.
Japanese Stiltgrass is another major problem. Areas that used to be comprised of native flora is now 100% Stiltgrass.
I've kept Japanese Knotweed at bay on my place but when I look around at the region, I see the crap everywhere. Literally thousands of acres of it.
But the Mile-a-Minute is what has my attention the most. It's seed remains viable for 6 years, so I know I'll be fighting the stuff for at least 6 more years. I'm thinking that a lot of my edge cover will need to be mowed for a few years in order to keep M-a-M from producing seed.
I'm hoping to get a weevil population established to help kill eradicate the evil stuff.

My fall plots are doing okay, I guess. I did an early planting of some of my rye/clover mix around the 3rd week of August because we had rain in the forecast. Seems like my area has been in a weather pattern the last few years of having dry Septembers, so I thought I'd try an experiment of and early rye planting. It established fantastic. The side-by-side rye that was planted on September 1st only got a tiny bit of rain right after I planted, and then nothing all the rest of September. We've gotten okay rain this month but I haven't seen any growth of the 2nd rye planting.
I have a feeling the 2nd rye germinated then dried out.
My brassica mix is growing great, but the deer are keeping it eaten down. I probably won't have much tubers develop.

Something else I learned... I should have bought my new Kubota MX5200 years ago. Got it last month. Love the thing!
 
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#4 - I actually have a theory that non-target species activity and disturbance can attract deer. Having all those critters coming and going from one spot and the threat of losing an ever shrinking pile of corn spurs bold movements of deer. I'm sure your feeder will work the way you want it to once enough deer figure it out, but I'm not sure all those critters visiting the pile are hurting anything other than your pocketbook (of course that can hurt a lot!). Anyway, just an idea I have floating around...
You may be exactly right on that. I had'nt thought of that angle...competition! I was thinking less intrusion by me has got to be much better...I guess it never really bothered the deer because I had many photos of me pouring corn out of a bag and within 30 minutes mature bucks standing there eating...may move the feeder out of my prime area to the edge of the south plot and go back to old ways albeit expensive ways...

Having said that I hadn't had a picture of a bear in 3 weeks so I set up a slinger feeder on tripod legs on Tuesday of last week and filled it with 200 lbs of corn...on Friday night a big bear came along and stood up and pushed it over folding up the legs and the hard plastic barrel fell on a rock and busted it open like an egg. The bear never even ate any of it...just walked off...have I ever mentioned how much I despise bears above all woodlands critters? Overgrown raccoons...
 
2017 was a resounding success for spring/summer plots with one exception. I planted IC peas on three properties. Two of them lasted until I planted wheat, oats, etc. In fact, I had to mow one property in order to plant for fall. The other lasted until the deer ate it up. I got about 5/6 weeks out of it. Instead of IC peas on this spot, I'm going with Sunn Hemp next year just to see if it will outgrow the browsing.

Fall plots were hit and miss. My 217 acre property did pretty well, because it's a wet natured place. The lease that I'm on was a bust. Planted early September and got hardly any rain, had high temps, and what little germinated burned up. I reseeded my spot with a hand seeder just before a decent rain last Friday. We'll see what happens there. Another place where I planted GRO's Mass Builder and Inner Sanctum did about 50/50. No rain there either until last Saturday. I haven't seen it since, but my expectations are not high. This has probably been my worst year for fall plots since I've been trying to grow deer groceries in earnest.

I select thinned timber on my place this year, and that's gonna hurt me in the short run, but next year I should have some better browse and the cover should improve for the next few years as it grows up.

A couple wet springs in a row seems to have doubled the hog population, at least where I hunt. We can't put a dent in them. :(
 
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My summer plot mix of sunflower, cow peas, sunn hemp, spring peas, and faba beans was planted via the throw 'n mow method. It did decent but was slow to establish. The sunflowers weren't as thick as the seeding rate but I have no idea what to attribute that to. We have a lot of critters that could have gotten the seed and young sprouts. I know deer didn't get it because I have an E fence.
Faba beans were new to me. My deer never touched them.
I'm starting to win my multi-year battle with Canada Thistle. I've spot sprayed it with gly for several years and the stuff just kept coming back.
I switched to clopyralid 3 and it seems like I may finally be getting ahead of the stuff. I was having the same lack of success spot spraying gly on Jerusalem Artichoke. The C3 is now kicking it's butt.

I've come to realize that the non-plot habitat in this area is under a horrible attack from invasives.
The newest problem is Mile-a-Minute. The stuff will smother pretty much everything along those edges that we work so hard to develop. And with the demise of the ash trees, M-a-M is spreading like wildfire. I cannot over state how fast M-a-M goes from not being present to completely overtaking everything.
Japanese Stiltgrass is another major problem. Areas that used to be comprised of native flora is now 100% Stiltgrass.
I've kept Japanese Knotweed at bay on my place but when I look around at the region, I see the crap everywhere. Literally thousands of acres of it.
But the Mile-a-Minute is what has my attention the most. It's seed remains viable for 6 years, so I know I'll be fighting the stuff for at least 6 more years. I'm thinking that a lot of my edge cover will need to be mowed for a few years in order to keep M-a-M from producing seed.
I'm hoping to get a weevil population established to help kill eradicate the evil stuff.

My fall plots are doing okay, I guess. I did an early planting of some of my rye/clover mix around the 3rd week of August because we had rain in the forecast. Seems like my area has been in a weather pattern the last few years of having dry Septembers, so I thought I'd try an experiment of and early rye planting. It established fantastic. The side-by-side rye that was planted on September 1st only got a tiny bit of rain right after I planted, and then nothing all the rest of September. We've gotten okay rain this month but I haven't seen any growth of the 2nd rye planting.
I have a feeling the 2nd rye germinated then dried out.
My brassica mix is growing great, but the deer are keeping it eaten down. I probably won't have much tubers develop.

Something else I learned... I should have bought my new Kubota MX5200 years ago. Got it last month. Love the thing!

Canada Thistle is evil. Takes years to exhaust all the stored energy in the deep roots. I fought it in my yard and won using the strategy below:

Best advice is to spray gly spring and fall (not mid summer). Spring application makes plant waste energy used to push up new leaves. Fall application will transport gly down into roof structure just as plant is trying to store energy for next year.

All about exhausting the underground energy reserves.


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I have not updated my Property Tour thread in a long time for two reasons.

#1 I have not been at the farm in well over a month as I am recovering from a fracture at the top of my femur and a grade 2 tear of my Gluteus Medius aka my butt. Outside of doctors appointments I have not left the house in 24 days. I can feel my body turning to something other then what it was.

#2 A friend swung by to make sure the tractor and all of the implements were still on the property and did not get pillaged, as well as to check my plots. The good news was all was still there but both front tires are flat. Most likely hawthorne needles like last year. The thing that got me really down was that my friend confirmed my fear that none of my brassicas grew. Naturally I feel like a total failure as a food plotter and hung my head in shame, but to their credit Native Hunter and Chainsaw lifted my spirits by telling me that I was not a failure as we cannot control mother nature and everything is a learning experience. Thanks guys!

Now I am assuming there are deer in the rye and the clover that is present, but based on the card pull my buddy did for me it looks grim, real grim. Out hundreds of pics and vid clips there were only three bucks on camera, a one pointer, a spike and a four pointer. This is a far cry from last year where I had a lot of small racked bucks on camera from Sept on. I hope to be healed by opening day and be able to make it into the elevated blind.
 
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I have not updated my Property Tour thread in a long time for two reasons.

#1 I have not been at the farm in well over a month as I am recovering from a fracture at the top of my femur and a grade 2 tear of my Gluteus Medius aka my butt. Outside of doctors appointments I have not left the house in 24 days. I can feel my body turning to something other then what it was.

#2 A friend swung by to make sure the tractor and all of the implements were still on the property and did not get pillaged, as well as to check my plots. The good news was all was still there but both front tires are flat. Most likely hawthorne needles like last year. The thing that got me really down was that my friend confirmed my fear that none of my brassicas grew. Naturally I feel like a total failure as a food plotter and hung my head in shame, but to their credit Native Hunter and Chainsaw lifted my spirits by telling me that I was not a failure as we cannot control mother nature and everything is a learning experience. Thanks guys!

Now I am assuming there are deer in the rye and the clover that is present, but based on the card pull my buddy did for me it looks grim, real grim. Out hundreds of pics and vid clips there were only three bucks on camera, a one pointer, a spike and a four pointer. This is a far cry from last year where I had a lot of small racked bucks on camera from Sept on. I hope to be healed by opening day and be able to make it into the elevated blind.
Sorry for you bum luck CT. As for the deer mine have been scattered in woods with good acorn crop this year, fields somewhat ignored. I know it can be depressing when laid up at hunting season. I once had surgery before the season and really messed up the year. Dang friend went hunting without me! Hard to get sympathy. LOL. Hope you get better soon and I'm sure all will be well at the farm. Deer faired quite well long before anyone planted plots.
How'd you get this damage to your self or should I ask.? Good luck friend.
 
I have not updated my Property Tour thread in a long time for two reasons.

#1 I have not been at the farm in well over a month as I am recovering from a fracture at the top of my femur and a grade 2 tear of my Gluteus Medius aka my butt. Outside of doctors appointments I have not left the house in 24 days. I can feel my body turning to something other then what it was.

#2 A friend swung by to make sure the tractor and all of the implements were still on the property and did not get pillaged, as well as to check my plots. The good news was all was still there but both front tires are flat. Most likely hawthorne needles like last year. The thing that got me really down was that my friend confirmed my fear that none of my brassicas grew. Naturally I feel like a total failure as a food plotter and hung my head in shame, but to their credit Native Hunter and Chainsaw lifted my spirits by telling me that I was not a failure as we cannot control mother nature and everything is a learning experience. Thanks guys!

Now I am assuming there are deer in the rye and the clover that is present, but based on the card pull my buddy did for me it looks grim, real grim. Out hundreds of pics and vid clips there were only three bucks on camera, a one pointer, a spike and a four pointer. This is a far cry from last year where I had a lot of small racked bucks on camera from Sept on. I hope to be healed by opening day and be able to make it into the elevated blind.
Sorry if this has been covered and I missed it; but what the heck did you do? Femors don't break easily!

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Here's hoping you can make opening day. My best hunting buddy just had gall bladder surgery and he's gonna miss the first excellent cold front of bow season. But, being the selfless person that I am, I will suffer through it alone and send him numerous texts about the deer I see. Get well soon !
 
Hey Guys,

dogghr, I was laughing after having read that your buddy went hunting without you because my hunting buddies simply said "hey if our not going to be in your elevated blind can I hunt from it. I told them they are always welcome to hunt but even if I have to have someone lift me into my blind via the tractor bucket I will be in that come opening day, and if not I will at least be at the base of it.

As far as how I got the injury, that is just another one of my dumb luck stories.
On my first night back home after being down state for a long spell I was stepping up on the back deck (big step up) while carrying the cooler and my foot slipped and went under me which caused my leg to over rotate and caused the tear of the butt muscle. I then fell backwards off the deck onto the bluestone so the Doc's think it was just the angle I hit at that caused the femur to fracture at the greater trochanter.

The funny part of the entire thing, although I can assure you that the pain was not funny, not at all. I have a wooden step that sits on a large bluestone slab at the edge of the deck which makes stepping up onto the deck easy, but I took it to use to food plot. It just happens to be the perfect height to place inside my rear quad basket which allows me to place the sprayer on it. Normally when I am done using it I put it back, but in my infinite wisdom I left it on the quad over that the farm. The moral of the story is that I am a danger to myself and my own worst enemy.

Thanks for the well wishes guys, and remember never leave a brother behind unless they broke their behind. ;)

Good luck!
 
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Hey Guys,

dogghr, I was laughing after having read that your buddy went hunting without you because my hunting buddies simply said "hey if our not going to be in your elevated blind can I hunt from it. I told them they are always welcome to hunt but even if I have to have someone lift me into my blind via the tractor bucket I will be in that come opening day, and if not I will at least be at the base of it.

As far as how I got the injury, that is just another one of my dumb luck stories.
On my first night back home after being down state for a long spell I was stepping up on the back deck (big step up) while carrying the cooler and my foot slipped and went under me which caused my leg to over rotate and caused the tear of the butt muscle. I then fell backwards off the deck onto the bluestone so the Doc's think it was just the angle I hit at that caused the femur to fracture at the greater trochanter.

The funny part of the entire thing, although I can assure you that the pain was not funny, not at all. I have a wooden step that site on a large bluestone slab at the edge of the deck which makes stepping up onto the deck easy, but I took it to use to food plot. It just happens to be the perfect height to place inside my rear quad basket which allows me to place the sprayer on it. Normally when I am done using it I put it back, but in my infinite wisdom I left it on the quad over that the farm. The moral of the story is that I am a danger to myself and my own worst enemy.

Thanks for the well wishes guys, and remember never leave a brother behind unless they broke their behind. ;)

Good luck!
That sounds painfull. I did something similar this spring. I was stepping down off my one ton onto the hitch ball (like I've done many times) and my foot slipped off and went straight to the ground. My other foot, of course, was still on the truck bed, about waist high. Well, old people don't bend that much and it tore something in my knee and hurt my foot really bad. I though I was gonna throw up it hurt so bad. My foot is ok, but my knee had to have fluid drained and it's not 100% yet, maybe never will be. But I can walk, so there's that. Good luck on your healing !
 
The payoff? Well, aside from hearing the masterful story-telling of CTM1 (his accolades on the old forum were reason enough to keep that site up! but, I digress), the reasons we do all of this crazy food-plotting and "habitat" stuff are many, I hope. I consider each germination of a seed to be a miracle of the highest order, so just seeing a field of such is payoff enough for me. Seeing the leaves turning on trees that began life as a seed that germinated in my refrigerator is another benefit I almost can't put a value on. However, I would have to say that the biggest payoff for me, being one of the "Up North" guys, is seeing very healthy does and fawns, cavorting about in fields of green, each summer. They are why I plant and my biggest goal, each year.
 
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