April 2007 Food Plot Update

Digital Trail Cameras

Hard Work

Welcome to the April 2007 Food Plot Journal. April had been a busy month for us in our food plots. The weather has cooperated a little better and we managed to get some disking done and seed sown in two plots. If all goes well we should get our planting done by the middle of May.

Oldhouse Food Plot

We finally got back to the oldhouse food plot on April 21st after poor weather kept us away longer than we would have liked. We had disked on Mar 31st and had hoped to get back in one week to disk again and plant but the weather would have nothing of this plan.

The ground that had been disked about three weeks earlier now worked up real nice and we planted Imperial Whitetail Institute's Chicory Plus. Before planting we dragged the plot with bedsprings to level it out and then just ran the ATV over it to push the seeds into the dirt. I’m working on a lighter drag for these small seeds but haven’t yet put it together. It's still in my mind, which can be a hard place to escape.

On May 1st you could just barely see some tiny plants starting to come up. Some rain and a few warm days should let it get a good start. I’m curious how well this chicory blend will grow for us.

The Imperial Clover was planted in this plot two years ago. Right now it looks like there is clover in about 50 percent of the plot.

The grass had sprung up ahead of the clover so I mowed the plot with a lawn tractor. Unfortunately the tractor broke down just before I finished, but I think this early mowing should help the clover catch back up to the grass.

This plot needed some grass herbicide but we didn’t have the time to get this done.

I think this plot should still provide a fair amount of forage although it still looks pretty sparse at this time.

I had intentions of taking a picture of this food plot but ran out of time when the tractor broke down, but there is a digital trail camera monitoring the plot so we should have some pictures the next time around.


Old Garden Food Plot

The old garden plot doesn’t very promising this spring. It was on the schedule to re-plant but the annuals in our other plots didn’t allow us the time to get to this plot this spring. Maybe we’ll get to it in the fall. None the less, there should still be some clover still in this plot and I think it will attract deer through the rest of the spring and summer. Right now it looks like it may only contain about 25 percent clover.

We had wanted to try to spray some grass herbicide on this plot but we didn't have enough time to get this done. If we had sprayed it there might not have been much vegetation left.

Middle Clearing Food Plot

We had began disking the middle plot in late March as well and finally got a chance to plant on April 21st. We disked the ground, dragged with bedsprings and sowed the seed. The ground tilled well enough that I just ran the ATV over it to push the seed into the dirt. If I had dragged it again with the bedsprings I was afraid that the seed may have went too deep.

We planted Tecomate Monster Mix. Need I say any more? I think we’ll just sit back and wait for the Monsters to show up.

On the serious side, Monster mix is Tecomate’s perennial legume and chicory mix.

On May 1st I couldn’t find any sprouts yet but I only looked on from the edges. Here, like the oldhouse plot, a shot of rain and some warm temperatures should do wonders.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

We were able to lightly disk the whippoorwill food plot on both April 24th and May 1st. As usual it is tilling up easily and we should get to plant in May.

Hayfield Food Plot

We started disking the hayfield plot on April 21st and then returned on May 1st to till the ground some more. It wouldn’t have taken much more to have gotten the plot tilled enough to plant but a few more days and another couple of passes with the disks should have it ready to plant.

We did get the opportunity to apply 500 pound of lime. This adds up to just over a quarter of a ton per acre plus this plot had 850 pound of lime applied last year.

On our next visit we hope to disk, fertilize and plant some clover and alfalfa.

The expansion that we had hoped to do likely won't get done this spring, but we hope get it done in the fall.

Right Of Way Food Plot

Like the whippoorwill plot we disked the right of way plot on Aril 21st and May 1st. Both of these plots are real small and it doesn’t take long to run the disks over them a pass. I expect that we should get this plot planted in May as well.

Although we still had snow in April the weather finally warmed up enough that we were able to plant two of our plots and get a good bit of disking done in three others.

After planting a lot of annuals last year we’re going back to perennials this year to cut down on our work load each spring and fall. Some day I’d like to try some annuals again but it takes a lot more time when you have to keep re-planting.

Everthing is greening up so I expect that we’ll see light activity in our plots for the first few weeks of spring and then they’ll come to our plots as they did last year.

As many of you may have figured out, our other focus on the site is digital trail cameras. We’ve been testing and using them now for over two years and have learned a lot in this time.

Unfortunately they are not all created equal. It would be nice if I could say that they’re all pretty good but this is just not the case. Due to a lack of quality there are some cameras that we no longer use or will only use when we need extra cameras. The axiom with digital trail cameras isn’t necessecarily that you get what you pay for. The better cameras do cost more but there are also expensive cameras that aren’t all that great.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or are looking to buy one.

For those of you that plant food plots I’m sure you will agree that sometimes it’s the hardest work that makes us the happiest. For me any good hard day playing in the dirt on our tractor is a good day.

The extra nutrition for the deer and other game is great but sometimes I wonder if I do it for the deer or just because I like to do it. It surely isn’t for the great success I’ve seen with trophy racked deer feeding in the lush green plots. The reality is more along the lines of sparse plots with spikes eating in them.

I surely don’t plant food plots to kill spare time. I don’t have spare time.

It has also become more and more apparent to me that small food plots are a lesson in frustration, but for some reason I toil on.

Whatever the real reason is, I think I’ll continue.