June 2007 Food Plot Update

Digital Trail Cameras - Battery Life

Summer Hunting

Believe it or not we planted two food plots in June. We had done a lot of planting in the spring so I didn't expect to do more planting in June but a new set of disks and one failed food plot pushed me over the edge.

Since the wet conditions very early in the spring we've received much less rain. I'm not sure how much it has affected our plots, but it sure couldn't have helped them. Most of them are doing OK, but I think if we would have had more rain they would have been much thicker and in better condition today.

By the way, the new disks are working great.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Chicory Plus in this plot had failed so on June 22nd we disked the plot and planted Biologic Maximum and the Whitetail Institute's Power Plant.

To be more specific we disked the ground, dragged with bedsprings, sowed both seed blends together and then disked with our small disks and dragged with the bedsprings again. If I had it to do over again I would have sowed the Power Plant, lightly disked and then sowed the Maximum and ran our ATV's over it. We'll see how it goes; we're counting on something to pop up out of the ground.

One week later we already saw some plants coming up.

Hopefully this blend will provide some nutrition for the summer. I think I'll likely disk this ground up in the fall and plant something else. I'll wait and see how things go.

The cornpatch food plot is doing well even though I've done little to help it out this year. I'd say that it is at least 50 percent clover and we regularly get pictures of deer eating here.

I mowed the complete plot on the 15th and have mowed a little here and there on a couple other occasions. This plot is close to the barn so I cut the high spots in this plot each time I take the tractor out to mow another plot.

The clover in the old garden plot didn’t make any great strides in June, especially with the dry weather.

The big news in this plot was a small test area I did with our new disks. On June 14th I disked up an area about 12 feet wide and the length of the plot, applied 50 pound of lime and planted some Lab Lab Plus that I had left over from last year. I tried to use the three point hitch disks to burry the seed but wasn’t happy with this method.

Two weeks after planting, the Lab Lab and peas were about two inches tall. I was surprised the deer hadn’t eaten them yet so I put a good digital trail camera on them to see when the deer decide to mow them down.

Later this summer, after the Lab Lab Plus is gone, I’d like to disk this plot up and plant something else, most likely a perennial. I have some Monster Mix left over from the spring that may do well here, but I’ll wait and see.

Middle Clearing Food Plot

The Monster Mix in the middle plot has done well and we consistently catch deer in the plot with our digital trail cameras.

We did notice some of our friend, the little purple flowered weed, in the plot along with some grass. On June 22nd Ryan and I spent some time pulling grass out of the plot and on June 30th I brush hogged the plot. A couple of years ago I mowed the purple flower weed later in the summer in another plot and it died. I’m curious to see if it dies in this plot after mowing.

So far I’m happy with this plot, it’s providing food for the deer and they are taking advantage of it. We’ll see how the plot does over the long term.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

The Bucks and Bosses along with a little Durana are dong well in the whippoorwill plot. We mowed this plot with a brush hog on June 30th.

Similar to the other plots we regularly get pictures of deer feeding in the plot.

Hayfield Food Plot

The Durana and the Alfa Rack have done well, especially the Durana. The Durana has grown into a low, close to the ground clover that has carpeted the food plot. The Alfa Rack is a little sparser but is still doing well.

I put a good camera on the Durana over the last week of June and captured more than 200 pictures of deer in the food plot.

There were a few tall weeds and a little grass growing in the plot so I mowed it on June 30th.

Since our hay has been mowed I used our old pull behind disks and started to disk up about another half acre to extend our hayfield plot. I’m pretty sure I’ll plant Durana in this half acre.

Right Of Way Food Plot

The Bucks and Bosses is doing well in this food plot but we’re not getting a wealth of pictures here. This plot is adjacent to the hayfield plot so the deer may be picking the Alfa Rack and/or the Durana over the Bucks and Bosses at this point but it’s difficult to say for sure.

I mowed the plot on June 30th. It had started to get quite a bit of grass in one end.

We’ve managed to continue to plant into the beginning of summer and since I enjoy it, that has been just fine with me. I do have to say I was disappointed with the failure of the Chicory Plus in the oldhouse food plot. I’m not sure why this happened. We planted this plot the same day we planted the middle plot and it is doing fine. I tend to shy away from blaming the seed, especially since my farming practices are not optimal. It was likely a combination of things that brought on its demise.

Hopefully we’ll get a chance to continue to work the ground in our hayfield extension and be ready to plant in August. We could also use some more rain.

The second column in our chart is battery life. Battery life affects the operating cost of the camera, the nuisance factor and also the dependability of the trail camera.

Cost is an easy one. If you have to spend $10 per week to keep the camera in batteries then this is a poor camera. Our preference are the cameras that use rechargeable batteries that are capable of lasting for over two weeks and 400 plus pictures. Some of these cameras also use a 9 volt battery to power the electronics that last 6 to 9 months. These trail cameras are cost effective, hassle free and very dependable.

We have various trail cameras on the other end of the spectrum. We have one camera that uses a LARGE rechargeable battery that only lasts four days. This is the worst case scenario for cost, hassle and dependability.

We also have some that are in between these two and some that get very poor service with alkaline batteries but perform well with a separately purchased rechargeable battery, and of course one that doesn’t do well with rechargeable batteries but adequately with alkaline batteries.

I think that battery life is a very important consideration in digital trail cameras. I have our cameras out every day of the year and can only visit them weekly at best. This magnifies the need for dependable battery life and separates the good from the bad real fast.

You can take a look at our digital trail camera reviews here.

I remember back in the 70’s and early 80’s when we would routinely get chances to take shots at groundhogs in our hayfields all summer long. We shot at ridiculously long distances with .22 rifles and had very little success, but a lot of fun trying.

Over the last several years the groundhogs seemed to disappear as did our opportunities to take long impossible shots at them. This wasn’t all bad since we didn’t have to worry about them digging under the house, but I still missed the fun of chasing them around with a .22 rifle.

We're blaming the lack of groundhogs on the emergence of coyotes to our neck of the woods. We don't know this for a fact but it sounds good.

Somehow this year we’ve seen a revival in groundhog numbers, especially around the oldhouse food plot. One day early this month I went to retrieve one of our trail cameras and found five groundhogs in the food plot. Since this time Ryan and I have had a good time trying to track these groundhogs down one by one. So far we’ve bagged five. I say we, but most of them can be credited to Ryan, he’s much more diligent than I am.

I’ve also had to revert to using a shotgun. For some reason the sights on those .22 rifles aren’t as crisp and clear as they once were. Maybe it’s because those guns are getting old. Fortunately I can still point and shoot a shotgun; apparently the bead sight on that shotgun has held up better over the years.