September 2010 Food Plot Update

A Favorite Picture

Deer Food

Welcome to the September Food Plot Journal. We didn't do much at all in our food plots this month except a little mowing. We got very little rain in September until very late in the month. Needless to say our plots are doing poorly and those that we planted in August have pretty much failed. This was the worst late summer weather for food plot growing that I can remember. We did have a tough one a few years ago when I first planted Area 2 in the hayfield plot, but this one seems worse, probably because is it much fresher in my mind.

With all of that complaining we did get rain the last couple of days, maybe a little warm weather could help bring back a little green.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The Durana in the oldhouse plot is now mostly grass. I need to mow the plot, but the hot weather and a tough allergy season have kept the tractor in the barn. Hopefully I can knock back the grass next spring and the clover will jump back up.

The Durana clover in the old garden plot finally lost out to a lot of grass as the dry, hot weather continued. We mowed it with a lawn tractor over the Labor Day weekend.

Our experiment of mowing this plot with a lawn tractor each time we mowed that grass showed me that the clover seemed to like it. This plot was one of our best looking plots until the weather got the best of it. I'll probably continue to do this next year and see what happens.

The Monster Mix in this plot seems to have lost much of the battle with grass and weeds. I mowed this plot early in the month as well.

One thing about this plot is that it is shaded and stays a bit damper than the others so it still has a good bit of green.

Whippoorwill Food Plot

The Monster Mix and Durana in the this plot have lost out to grass for the most part. I finally got to mow the plot on September 11.

I may try to put an annual in here, but we'll wait and see.

Hayfield Food Plot

The Durana in Area One is still doing well despite the dry, hot weather. This plot is somewhat shaded and was just planted in the spring. I would say that these factors have helped this plot stay green. I need to get rid of some grass next spring and this plot should thrive.

Area Two contains Wildgame Max Brassica Mix, Wildgame Max Perennial Mix and Whitetail Addiction BuckHunters Blend which were planted August 10. The Brassica Mix popped up and grew but hasn't thrived. I've already seen some deer eating the young plants. I'm not seeing much at all from the other two blends.

The Durana in Area Three is feeling the heat. It seems to now be mostly grass. Hopefully I can get rid of the grass next spring and see the clover come back strong.

The Durana in Area Four is there but not impressive. As with some of the other clover plots, I'm hoping this plot comes on strong next spring.

Area Five contains Evolved Harvest Winter Pz and Evolved Harvest Buck'n Oats. I am seeing very little growth.

I did these planting early in August hoping to get rain and have a longer growing season. As it turned out it wouldn't have helped to wait since rain didn't show up until very late in September. I bought more brassica seed and thought about sowing over the bare ground, but the lack of rain kept the seed in the bag.

Right Of Way Food Plot

The Durana in the Right Of Way plot still looks pretty bad. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put an annual here next spring.

It may get old reading about how the weather has affected our food plots, but this year the hot, dry late summer weather has just stopped us in our tracks.

Food plotting is done for us now and this will be our last Journal of 2010, but I'm still thinking about what I want to try next spring. Right now I would like to get a sprayer to try to get rid of the grass. I would also like to get some annuals planted in the spring in some of our smaller plots. I will need to get perennials planted in the two areas in the hayfield plot, which will be my first priority.

Thanks so much for reading our Journal and have a great hunting season.

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 September. How about another owl. This one showed up at a mineral lick for some reason. You can take a look at our favorite deer pictures from September 23 here.

It is amazing each year to see what the deer find to eat. This year the oaks and wild cherry trees are loaded. I joke that I need a helmet on when I'm in the woods to protect myself from dropping acorns. The apple trees also have a nice crop, but I have noticed that the deer are not sticking around the apple trees as they have in the past. I believe this is due to the abundance of other food available to them.

When I saw the full apple trees I thought the deer would be running in every time an apple dropped just like a couple of years ago. Much to my surprise the deer are not living under the trees. They move in at night and have a snack, but we're not seeing them in the daylight.

It is amazing how deer use food sources. We have also noticed that they visit our feeders less now that there is a lot of other food available to them.

Although this can make hunting more of a challenge by spreading the deer feeding activity out it is great for the health of the deer. I would rather have this variety of food sources because it can also help set the deer up for a better winter which then can help them into the next year.

Our food plots are floundering, but the acorns, cherry seeds and apples are providing a lot of great food for the deer.