July 2011 Food Plot Update

A Favorite Picture

First Buck of 2011

Welcome to the July Food Plot Journal. Our clover plots fell into their usual summer lull as the hot weather of July came upon us. No big surprise here.

We did get to experiment with more herbicides this month and preliminary results look promising.

Hopefully we'll get into our plots more in August and have a chance to get some fall annuals planted so that we have the opportunity to pray for rain the next couple of months.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Durana in the oldhouse plot is hanging in there. We got the chance to spray Slay on the plot on July 15 and we mowed the plot as well. I was encouraged to see that it looked like the Slay had knocked back the wide blade grass. In the past this weed would come on strong after we mowed it, but it didn't look like it had grown at all and much of it had begun to yellow. We have a pretty nice carpet of clover left in the plot.

The Durana clover in the old garden plot is still doing well. On July 15 we mowed the plot with a lawn tractor and hit it again with Arrest. I think that I can safely say that mowing the clover with the lawn tractor isn't having any ill effects.

The Monster Mix in this plot didn't continue to impress through July. We mowed the plot on July 15 and sprayed it with Slay. There hasn't been any grass or weeds growing tall and strong, but the clover hasn't taken over. Right now this plot may be half clover at best.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

The Monster Mix and Durana in the this plot is still doing well. We didn't do anything in this plot in July and we should mow it soon, but it is still a nice plot of clover.

Hayfield Food Plot

The Durana in Area One is still doing well, but the summer lull has allowed some grass and weeds to come on. I did get to spray some Slay on part of the plot and it looks like it has done the job on the weeds. We mowed the whole area on August 1 to knock some of the weeds back.

The Imperial Whitetail Clover we planted in Area 2 about a month ago is doing well with only a few weeds growing over the month.

The Honey Hole we planted on July 2 grew to about six inches and I already saw a small buck eating it by the end of the month. I'm curious how much taller it will grow and if the deer will leave it alone.

The Durana in Area Three is back to a two condition plot. Half of it still looks like a decent clover plot while the other half isn't as impressive. I sprayed this area with some Arrest and Slay on July 15.

The Durana in Area Four is still doing well, but it did start to pick up some grass. On July 15 we used some Arrest to try to knock back the grass and it looked pretty good by the end of the month.

The Monster Mix in Area Five picked up quite a bit of grass and weeds. On July 15 I sprayed Arrest to kill the grass and we mowed the plot on August 1 to knock the weeds back. The grass was yellow by the end of the month and we'll see if the weeds come back after mowing. If the weeds jump back I'll hit them with some Slay.

Right Of Way Food Plot

The Durana in the Right Of Way plot is doing pretty good and the Slay has done a good job on the grass-like weeds that had invaded the plot. Somehow this plot just keeps limping along.

July wasn't a very active month in our plots.

The Slay performed well on the dreaded grass-like weeds and we did a little mowing.

One item of note is that we have no fruit on our trees. Last fall our plots were put on the back burner with the large acorn crop and abundant apples. So far this year we know for sure that there won't be a single apple and the acorn crop is still unknown. Seeing a deer eating the young brassicas is making me wonder if our plots may be a favored dining area this fall.

We also got a chance to brush hog some of the hayfield. This put a couple more acres into new growth. These areas have not been planted but they still draw deer with new growth in the days after they are mowed.

Hopefully we get the opportunity to experiment some in August. I'd like to use some Round-Up on the field and put in some fall annuals.

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. I think I've showed you birds in flight in the past, but the clarity of the pictures still amazes me. You can take a look at our favorite deer pictures from July 31 here.

Unfortunately we have our first buck kill of 2011. On July 12 we got a picture of the buck walking past a mineral lick and on July 14 Ryan found the buck lying dead on the old logging road about a hundred yards from the mineral lick. We couldn't see any evidence as to why the buck died. When we returned on July 31 Ryan was able to pick up the skull and antlers. Nature made quick work of the deer.

This buck wasn't going to be our biggest buck, but it was still frustrating to find it dead. The long sticker point would have been interesting to watch over the next couple of years.

This is what he looked like when Ryan found him on July 14.