November 2006 Food Plot Update

Have We Done Any Good?

Hunting With Megan

Welcome to the November 2006 Food Plot Journal. We haven’t done any work in our food plots this month but we did sit in the woods staring at our food plots so we have some observations to pass on. Much of what we did this year was experimental and now that the first week of our gun season has come and gone I guess you could say we have some results.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Biologic Maximum and Tecomate Ultra Forage that we planted this fall grew well and drew deer from late October through the first half of November. If I’d had more time to hunt in this time frame the oldhouse would have been a good spot. On the other hand, the plot was used little by late November even though there was still a little bit of forage remaining.

I’m trying to decide what to do with this plot next year. The brassicas grew well and were eaten by the deer but the activity had ended by mid November. I would have liked to have seen more activity through this month. I’m not sure whether it was because most of the brassicas had been eaten or if the deer were simply no longer strongly attracted to them.

We’re still not sure what we will plant here in the spring but there is a good chance it will be a perennial.

The cornpatch had a few visitors from time to time but it isn’t the draw that it was back in the spring. It looks like we’ll have some work to do here with some grass herbicide. I’d also like to get some lime and fertilizer on this plot as well.

This plot will definitely not get re-planted in the spring. We’re going to try to keep it producing for a while longer.

Old Garden Food Plot

The old garden plot has continued to see limited activity through November. On the early morning of Saturday 11th two young bucks were sparring in the plot.

After seeing the performance of our annuals and the number of plots that will need planted in the spring this plot may not get planted until the fall. We’re still evaluating the success or lack of success in our plots this fall. I still think this plot will provide some good deer forage if left alone through next summer.

Middle Clearing Food Plot

The Evolved Harvest Shot Plot grew well and started drawing deer soon after it jumped up. We continued to get pictures of deer feeding in the plot through the first half of November but by the latter part of the month the activity had dropped off considerably.

I had hoped that this plot and the oldhouse plot would continue to draw deer through the late November deer season but deer activity dropped off in both plots right in the middle of the month.

We’d like to re-plant this plot in the spring.

Once again there isn’t much to report from this food plot but deer still continued to travel through it and our digital game cameras captured a lot of good pictures.

Since we have so many food plots to plant this spring this plot may not get planted until the fall. If the weeds with the purple flowers come back up the deer can eat those just as they have when these weeds overtook our food plot efforts the last two years. Maybe I’ll be rooting for the weeds in this plot this spring.

Hayfield Food Plot

The hayfield plot had little left for deer in November and provided little attraction for our hunting efforts. The sorghum in the LabLab Plus planted in late summer never developed seed heads and the Maximum and Powerplant were cleaned out. We did get some good pictures of deer traveling through the Maximum plot where a fence bottlenecked their travel route.

Right Of Way Food Plot

Similar to the other plots where annuals were planted in the spring this plot saw little activity in November.

It hasn’t been a banner year for our food plots but we did provide some forage for our deer and learn a lot along the way. I think we’re going to have to go back to a plan based more on perennial seed mixes. It is too difficult re-planting the majority of our plots every planting season. If they are planted in perennials it’s no big deal letting them go another growing season whereas the annuals are of no value once the current growing season has come and gone.

Most of the perennial mixes sold include some clover, alfalfa and chicory. This should be interesting since I’ve not yet panted much alfalfa or chicory. We can do some more experimentation.

The next couple of months will give us time to figure out where we want to go from here. We had hoped the annuals planted in the fall would provide strong attraction through our hunting season but that did not happen. They did draw deer in the early season but by mid-November the action had ended and the plots had been eaten down leaving little to draw deer.

We’ll get back to you again in the early spring when we get back out and start throwing some lime around.

I had stopped the deer feeders in the spring to allow the deer to fill their stomachs with green protein rich food instead of low protein corn. I’m afraid I don’t know for sure if we did any good with this plan but it does look like we were not providing much of a food source to draw deer after mid-November. The small sizes of our food plots make it difficult for them to provide forage for a long period of time when the deer start hitting them heavy. This left us with little to offer when deer season rolled around.

If we did increase their health and antler size it seems as though it may have just benefited the hunters on bordering properties. Next year we plan on offering more to keep them healthy and happy enough to stick around our neck of the woods.

We had unseasonably warm weather for the first week of rifle season which limited deer movement considerably but it was nice weather to be outside and the perfect opportunity for my daughter Megan to join me on an evening hunt.

She took along a .410 and we slipped into the woods below the house hoping to catch a doe headed for the hayfield.

A few minutes after setting down we spotted two does moving toward us two flats below. They worked their way below us and then started up the hillside right in our direction. When the lead doe came to within about 30 yards she stopped and stared right at us. She then proceeded to snort and stomp her foot at us to see if we would move. I told Megan to shoot if she wanted to and she replied with a short “no”. After the two does ran off she told me that she was scared and asked how I knew that the deer would not charge us. I told her that the deer were much more scared of us and that they wouldn’t hurt us.

Later we moved on around the hill and up a flat where we sat down to take a break when another doe came up to within 30 yards of us again. This doe caught us both off guard as both of our guns were leaning against a tree. Once again the doe saw us and eventually left.

It was interesting that both deer encounters were within a short time of our crunching leaves as we walked through the woods. It made me wonder if maybe the does were curious about what we were. Both times the deer came up the hill and looked right at us as though they were looking for us.