August 2009 Food Plot Update

A Favorite Picture

How Big Will He Be Next Year

Welcome to the August Food Plot Journal. I had big plans for August in our food plots and I actually got a good bit done. We were able to disk up an older section of one plot and plant two seed varieties and we also disked up some new turf and planted two seed varieties there as well. Now it’s up to the weather.

The rest of our plots are looking pretty good due to cooler than normal temperatures and adequate moisture.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Durana in the oldhouse has been eaten a lot by the deer this summer and it is now a low close to the ground carpet of clover in most of the plot. The weeds and grass have come on and the plot needs mowed again after being mowed on August 7th.

The Durana clover in the cornpatch still looks real good. It is a plot that is relatively close to the house and the larger plots in the hayfield are taking the pressure off of it. There are some grassy spots so I hope to mow it over the Labor Day Holiday weekend.

The Durana clover in the garden plot is still doing well. I’m pleased with the performance of the clover in this plot. It gets visited regularly each evening, but has stood up well under the pressure. I mowed the plot on August 22nd.

The Monster Mix in the middle plot is still hanging in there. There is a lot of grass and weeds but there still seems to be a good bit of clover and we keep getting pictures of deer browsing in the plot.

We mowed the plot on August 7th.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

The Monster Mix and Durana in the whippoorwill plot may be starting to lose the battle. The grass and weeds have come on strong in the late summer so this plot could get disked up in the spring and I almost disked it up a couple of weeks ago.

I brush hogged the plot on August 7th and it needs mowed again.

Hayfield Food Plot

All of our activity this month has taken place in and around the hayfield plot.

The Durana clover we planted this spring is doing well and we see deer in the plot each time we visit. This clover has taken the pressure off of other plots and given us the opportunity to rotate some other crops in other areas of the plot.

On August 7th we started disking the oldest areas of the plot accounting for about one half acre disked up. On August 13th we disked, applied 480 pounds of lime and 100 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer. After dragging with bedsprings we then planted Evolved Harvest ShotPlot and a small strip of PlotSpike Forage Oats.

ShotPlot is a brassica blend of rape and turnip. Last year we planted a brassica blend on September 4th and they didn’t seem to have enough growing season left to grow and we got disappointing results. That is why we planted the brassicas 22 days earlier this year. As of the end of August they were one to two inches tall.

We planted a small strip of Forage Oats at the edge of the brassicas but as of the end of the month there seemed to be very few shoots. When we planted them we did not cover the oats in any way and I’m thinking that the seed may have been eaten. We’ll see what happens.

On August 22nd we started disking a new area of the field that is alongside the clover that we planted this spring. We also applied 440 pounds of lime. On August 28th we disked, applied 40 pounds of lime and 100 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer. We then planted PlotsSpike Forage Oats and Whitetail Addiction Buckhunter’s Blend. We dragged the plot both before and after planting.

This new plot will expand our hayfield food plot by about another half acre.

The Whitetail Addiction Buckhunter’s blend constists of wheat, triticale and berseem clover with wheat accounting for the majority of the seed.

Since I thought that the oats we had planted earlier may have been eaten we dragged this plot to try to cover them a little. Now we need to wait and see what the weather will do for us.

Right Of Way Food Plot

The Durana in the Right Of Way plot has been overtaken by grass and I need to mow it. It was mowed on August 7th and I hope to mow it again this next weekend.

Next spring I may turn this plot into a summer annual plot.

I got all of the planting done that I wanted to do in August but I did fall short in mowing. Hopefully I can get the mowing that needs done next week and the clover will still have some time to pop back up again.

We’ve had a favorable summer for food plot growth and hopefully the late summer and early fall will follow suit so that our new plots can get started. If these new plots can jump up they should provide good forage and a good opportunity to see deer during the season.

We get thousands of pictures each month with our digital trail cameras but we narrow down each set of pictures to our favorite six or seven and these are usually buck pictures. As you can imagine there are always several more that are very good but don't make the cut.

Below is one of our favorite pictures from August. From time to time a deer will decide to take a nice close look at one of our cameras. You can take a look at our favorite deer pictures from August 28th here.

I think I have an illness called the what will he look like next year illness. There doesn’t seem to be a buck that I can’t apply it to. We have pictures of two nice ten point bucks and I can’t say much more than, wow, those bucks will be huge next year. I’ve never seen a buck get old enough around our place to see a decline in antler growth due to age so from what we’ve seen they just keep getting bigger.

Will I shoot a buck on our property this year? It’s going to be hard because, just think how big they will be next year!

Now Ryan wants to take a shot at the biggest ten point real bad, but I’m wondering, just how big he could be next year.

Is there a cure? I’m not sure, but it sure is fun watching to see just how big they'll grow next year.

The buck in the picture below is a nice ten point that was a nice nine point last year. I sat and watched this buck on the first day of rifle season last year. Obviously I didn’t pull the trigger and wondered how big he would be next year.