March 2007 Food Plot Update

Bobcats

Feeder Follies....Again

Welcome to the March 2007 Food Plot Journal. I had been looking forward to getting back to our food plots all winter and we finally got to do some work on the last day of the month. We didn't get anything planted yet but it sure was fun to play in the dirt again.

We've purchased a few different varieties of seed blends to plant this year and we have some left over from last year. This year we purchased Durana Clover, Imperial Whitetail Alfa-Rack Plus and Chicory Plus, Tecomate Bucks & Bosses and Monster Mix. These seed blends are all varieties of clover, chicory and some vetch and trefoil.

Oldhouse Food Plot

We disked up the oldhouse plot on the 31st. The ground worked up nice but we decided to wait and plant on our next visit. There was some grass and I was afraid that when we dragged and ran over the ground that we would just compress the grass into the dirt and we would allow the grass to get a jump-start on us. If the weather holds up we'll disk it again and plant next week.

We applied 350 pound of lime and 40 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer. I'm not too wild about this fertilizer but it was our only choice. All of the seed we have requires low nitrogen fertilizer but the local Co-op didn't have what we needed. 350 pound of lime in this plot is equivalent to over 1000 pound per acre.

The cornpatch plot hasn't yet jumped back from the winter, but we did see deer visiting the plot off and on through the last few months. Since we have so many plots to plant this spring we're counting on this plot to come back strong. I need to hit it with some grass herbicide if I get the time and some lime and fertilizer would also help.

Old Garden Food Plot

I had hoped to disk up and plant this plot this spring since it had been planted three years ago and wasn't a star performer last year but this probably won't get done. I have five other plots that were planted in annuals last year and need to be re-planted this spring or they won't provide much good forage at all. Maybe it will surprise us and jump up strong. If not I hope to get to it in the fall.

This plot could also use some grass herbicide, lime and fertilizer.

Middle Clearing Food Plot

We also spent a little time with the disks in this plot as well. I didn't spend enough time here to get it ready to plant but I did get it busted up a little so next week we should be able to disk and plant if the weather allows.

I applied 200 pound of lime and about 25 pound of 19-19-19 fertilizer in the plot as well. Again the fertilizer wasn't the optimum but sometimes you just have to go with what you have.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

We haven't had much going in this plot since mid-summer last year and since this is a very small plot I'm not sure when I'll get back to it. One good thing is that the dirt is so good in this plot that it doesn't take much disking to get it ready to plant. We'll have to wait and see how the planting goes in our other plots before we get to this one. If you remember this plot from the last couple of years you’ll remember the plant with the pretty purple flowers that seems to always take over this plot. Fortunately the deer seem to like it so maybe we have a healthy purple flower plant crop here.

Hayfield Food Plot

I have big plans for the hayfield food plot this year including an expansion. I'm hoping that the weather and time allow me to carry out these big plans. I'd like to make this plot into a full acre if possible and at the very least I'll plant the area we used last year, which may be close to half an acre. If I don’t get to expand it in the spring I’ll give it a try in the fall.

Right Of Way Food Plot

This plot is on the list along with the Whippoorwill plot and will be one of the last to get planted. It is also very small but since it's so close to the hayfield plot it's easy to work on both of them at the same time. It should also be easy to disk if it doesn't start to weed up too fast this spring.

Last year we did a lot of experimenting with annuals and that has left us with a lot of work to do this spring but it’s fun work as long as we get the time. I’ve seen the forcast for next weekend already and it looks like we may be dodging snowflakes to get something planted. Hopefully the weather lets us get something done.

After not getting many bobcat pictures for over two years we have captured several over the last few months. It would be interesting to know just how many bobcats we actually have roaming around our area. Make sure you check out our bobcat pictures page to see our visitors.

We started our deer feeders up again last fall and have purchased a new feeder and put our original homemade feeder back together and put it out to do some testing. And can you believe that the raccoons have returned?

When one of our feeders was blown over last fall it damaged our homemade varmint cage and we haven’t repaired it yet. The new feeder spinner we bought has an option to hook up a varmint zapper to deter the little thieves. This last weekend we got pictures of raccoons stealing from us so I made the trip to Cabela’s today and have a varmint zapper in hand.

We’ll let you know how the zapper does. We’ll have the cameras on it.

Here is a picture of one of the little critters stealing from us.