July 2009 Food Plot Update

A Favorite Picture

Coyotes

Welcome to the July Food Plot Journal. There hasn’t been a lot going on in our food plots since our last journal, but I thought that a quick look at the plots could still be valuable.

Our rainfall for the year to date had been slightly under normal and early July was dry, but the last half of July saw a lot of rain and cool weather and our food plots seemed to thrive in the cool wet conditions. July can be a tough month on food plots but the late July rain has them nice and green.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Durana in the oldhouse food plot still looks pretty good. We’re now getting quite a few pictures of deer using the plot along with the mineral lick. This plot has some grass that could be mowed but it was too wet on our last visit so we hope to get to it in early August.

The Durana clover in the cornpatch still looks real good and is getting the benefit of the increased acreage in clover in the hayfield plot. The larger plots have taken the pressure off of the smaller plots.

We mowed this plot on the 31st. The plots we have been mowing with the lawn tractor seem to be doing very well. This is the fourth time this year we have mowed this plot and it seems to be coming back strong each time. When we mow with the lawn tractor we leave the deck all the way up, which probably cuts about four inches high.

The Durana clover in the garden plot is still doing well. It is common to see deer eating in the plot in the early morning and late evening. I mowed this plot with the lawn tractor for the third time this year.

The Monster Mix in the middle plot is still doing all right. This plot has become a good camera spot for seeing deer. I had thought about disking this plot up in the spring and it was a candidate for the fall, but the deer are sill eating in the plot. The plot needs mowed so I hope to get to it in early August. Right now it is not on the chopping block to get re-planted.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

The Monster Mix and Durana in the whippoorwill plot is doing all right. There is clover growing in the plot along with some grass and weeds and the plot needs mowed. I’m not sure what I have planned for this plot. Maybe I’ll put a summer annual here next year.

Hayfield Food Plot

The older Durana and AlfaRack areas of this plot are still providing clover for the deer to eat, but there is quite a bit of grass growing in them. Right now my plan is to disk up a portion of this area and plant oats for the fall. This could change since I still see clover but the wet cool weather has delayed the mowing of the hay in the field where I wanted to plant the oats.

The long strip of clover is doing very well and is a big draw for deer. I watched several deer including four eight point bucks feed in the clover on the evening of the 30th.

On July 31st I mowed a portion of the strip with a lawn tractor that had some tall grass.

Right Of Way Food Plot

The Durana in the Right Of Way plot has continued to grow well but is picking up some grass and weeds. It needs mowed and I hope to get to it soon.

The cool and wet weather in late July was good for our plots. July weather can be tough on them, but this year the weather has been on our side.

I’m still trying to come up with an overall plan for our food plots to try to provide year-round nutrition for our deer. I’m currently considering turning a couple of our smaller plots into annual plots to provide variety.

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. The spike is not bashful at all, but the eight point in the background seems to be playing peek-a-boo with the camera. You can take a look at our favorite deer pictures from July 31st here.

We hadn’t caught a coyote on camera since May but we had been hearing them on our visits. We couldn’t figure out why we weren’t catching them with our cameras. After moving a camera to the new strip in the hayfield plot we finally got several coyote pictures. Maybe we were just looking in all of the wrong places.

Since coyotes can be tough on the small game population their demise wouldn’t be mourned, but since they are here it’s nice to get a picture from time to time.