Season Reports

Food Plot Pay-off: by Lee Gatzke

In early October my food plots, which were planted on Labor Day, started to sprout rape to go along with the oats which had come up a few weeks before. The oats had drawn so much attention that when the rape sprouted it was being eaten before it got more than a few inches tall. The three plots that Reed & Hoppes Wildlife Food Plots had planted for me, were all being hammered by deer. Jim Reed and Brian Hoppe had both told me that planting the plots in a blend of seed that would furnish a variety of food over an extended period of time, each timed to sprout as the other matured, would draw deer to the new growth that deer preferred. Different seasonal foods provide the nutrition necessary for growth and good health during the course of the whitetails year. Based on the factors these professionals described, oats, rape, winter wheat and rye were mixed together and planted on Labor Day. The timing of this planting would ensure that the new growth would draw deer during the hunting seasons, something that I never would have considered since I’m a novice at food plotting.

By mid-October the winter wheat was also making it’s appearance, however, it was also being eaten so quickly that it was hard to notice it. Growing season was now pretty much over and the rye seeds will remain dormant until springtime, when they will sprout to provide a needed source of food as the deer come out of winter. Looking over the plots in Mid-October they appeared to be a well kept lawn that a grounds-keeper was mowing and fertilizing, not a food plot. The grounds-keepers were the deer, and as autumn turned everything else brown, my food plots were green and busy with deer. It became obvious that since the deer had over-grazed my food plots that the rape would never be able to mature to the point where it would provide a worthwhile food source once the snow covered the landscape. The plots stayed green until the snow covered them, but all the plants had been trimmed to about one inch tall, so they would not be worth digging through a foot of snow to provide food later during winter. This was definately a problem worth dealing with, since it meant that the deer knew this new food source was something they would have to hang around and keep tabs on for as long as it produced.

Even though the deer ate up all the rape and winter wheat pre-maturely, the deer still remained active on my property right up until late November. Bow season was by far the best we’ve ever experienced. We had 4 bowhunters on my property this fall, and 3 of them scored on bucks between 140″ to 157″. I was the only one who didn’t let an arrow fly, only due to the limitations of not being able to get a clean shot at the shooters I did see. Two of the bucks taken were killed on one of my two properties that rarely produced a buck over 140″. This property had been a nursury for bucks until they reached 2&1/2 years old, then they relocated somewhere else. Since we do Quality Deer Management, we limit ourselves to bucks of at least 140″ or better so we are real happy with the way the food plots have drawn and retained older bucks. It was interesting that we saw so many older bucks this year and only a few 1&1/2 and 2&1/2 year old bucks. The best explaination I can give is that the older bucks are out-competing the younger ones for the food that is now available, and won’t tolerate them hanging around the food plots. Just like they out-compete them for a doe during the breeding season.

I expect that in the springtime the rye will green up before anything else and continue to attract hungry deer. The variety of plants found in my food plots are different from what the neighboring farms are offering, namely; corn, beans and alfalfa. This unique blend in my plots has really drawn deer to my place and has held them here during the hunting season. The only failure I can see with my plots is that they are not large enough to withstand the numbers of deer eating them. The food plots were eaten to the point of being over-grazed by late October. A larger plot would have been able to withstand the numbers of deer better and been able to grow it’s forage base longer and provide food well into December. This year, my plots ranged in size from 1/8 to 1/2 acre, next year they will be bigger. I expect that with bigger plots the hunting will get even better, maybe even I will score next year!

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