July 2008 Food Plot Update

A Favorite Picture

The Hiding Squirrel

July weather was probably about average for our neck of the woods so I can’t blame any of our food plot failings on the weather this month, but the latter part of the month has been dry so we could use some rain to keep things from burning up in August.

After a tough spring we were able to provide food for the local deer through the plots that were planted a year ago and we did have some success with our new plots. We planted two annual plots this spring and both of them are nearing the end of their useful life so we’ll be looking to disk them up and plant them again soon.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Durana is now doing fine in this food plot. After mowing the plot a couple of times the grass seemed to want to thrive so on July 22nd we sprayed it with Arrest herbicide. One week later you could see the grass starting to turn yellow and we spot sprayed the green areas. Under the dying grass you could see a pretty good crop of clover.

I now think this plot has turned the corner and should do well.

The deer have eaten almost all of the brassicas in this plot and I can’t find much in the way of wheat. Even the brassicas that were protected inside the exclusion cage never grew over about six inches tall. On the good side there is a little clover and deer have continued to visit the plot.

I think I’ll mow the plot soon and let the deer eat the clover and I’ll probably disk the plot and plant something for the fall.

In July the deer moved in and cleaned up most of the Lablab. The plot is now growing a good crop of grass and weeds along with some lablab here and there.

The strip of Provide looks pretty good after I sprayed it with Arrest on July 22nd. I can’t find any chicory but the clover is growing good.

I’ll disk this plot up and plant something for the fall some time in August.

The middle plot has some clover and chicory in it but it sure isn’t a thriving food plot. There is something there for the deer, but I may disk this plot up as well this fall if I get the time.

This will probably be the last plot on my list this fall so we’ll see how much time I have.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

Once again this month the whippoorwill plot has been impressive. For a small plot that is over a year old this plot is doing great.

I’ve done less to this plot than any of our other plots and it is still thriving.

We’ll just set back and see how things go in this plot and be happy it is doing so well.

Hayfield Food Plot

The hayfield plot isn’t a vast carpet of clover, but there is enough clover in the plot to provide a lot of good food for the deer.

The Durana planted the last two springs is growing and we’re trying to use herbicide to keep the grass at bay. It seems to me that if we can keep the grass back the clover should stay strong.

The area we planted last fall is rough. I’m not quite sure what to do with this area. There is some clover but it is very sparse and patchy.

Right Of Way Food Plot

I took a shot in the dark in this plot and planted it again on July 30th. This time of the year isn’t the best time to plant, but what did I have to lose here?

I disked the plot and sowed both lablab and Durana.

We’ll wait and see what happens here, hopefully we’ll be surprised.

I forgot to take a picture of the dirt in this plot. It was funny how nice the dirt seemed in this plot when we planted it this time. Hopefully we will get a picture of a thriving food plot next month.

Our plots seemed to have done better as spring turned to summer and deer are spending time in our plots. I guess I can’t ask for much more than that this year.

August should be busy as we plant for the fall and hopefully the weather cooperates. I have some oats and brassicas along with some leftover clover and lablab seed to work with this fall.

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 July that did not make the cut. Three turkeys obviously triggered the camera but we also caught a deer in the background eating leaves off of a tree.

You can take a look at our favorite deer pictures from July 30th here.

We have a squirrel that stays close to our barn and we often see him when we open the barn doors after being away for a while.

In mid-July Ryan went to the barn and saw the squirrel. He proceeded to chase the squirrel around the barn when the squirrel tried to hide in the top corner of the barn. He wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding since you could see his tail and back side sticking out.

I arrived back at the barn when Ryan showed me the stealth squirrel and we laughed at him until we started to think that he may be stuck.

After eating lunch and doing some other projects, the squirrel was still in the same position. Upon further examination we could see him trying to get traction with his hind legs to no avail.

Later, upon arriving back at the barn I saw Ryan putting a ladder up to the back of the barn but coming up way short. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was trying to get to the stuck squirrel. I then asked him what his plan was if he made it up to the squirrel at which he replied that he did not have a plan for that yet.

After realizing that we didn’t have a ladder that would reach over three stories high we moved to the inside of the barn.

We wrestled a ladder into position and could see the squirrel’s head using a spotlight. After using a half of a can of wasp spray Ryan finally got close to the squirrel.

His first attempt using a rag wrapped broom handle proved fruitless, the broom handle was just too big. He then found an old aluminum screen frame and headed back up the ladder.

One tap on the head with the rag wrapped aluminum stick and the squirrel found enough adrenaline to pull himself free and scrambled down the back of the barn.

As I rounded the back of the barn the squirrel hit the ground in front of me and quickly dashed into the basement of the barn.

Now, come fall Ryan will want to hunt squirrels, but he said that he felt responsible for this one getting stuck and wanted to help him out. I figure that we’ll soon rue the day we helped this squirrel once he chews into one of our corn containers. Maybe I’ll spend squirrel season in the barn.