November Food Plot Update

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Middle Food Plot

It was obvious this week that the deer had finally started to eat the Imperial Whitetail Extreme. Up until this week the extreme had jumped up and grown but it did not look like it had been eaten at all. It made me start to wonder if the deer and other wildlife would eat it at all. I could now see the obvious difference inside and out of the exclusion cage.

The other observation was that there wasn't any difference inside and out of the PlotSaver. I had last sprayed the PlotSaver on October 23rd. It had just reached its 4 week effective limit.

We watched some turkeys and a spike buck go right past the PlotSaver and have a snack. The spike buck walked up to the PlotSaver, sniffed it and then ducked under it. After taking a few bites he spooked, turned and went right back over the top on his way out.

These turkeys did not mind the PlotSaver.

We reapplied the PlotSaver on the 23rd and will watch it again for the next month and see what happens.

I tried an experiment with the PlotSaver. We usually put a little corn in the yard for the deer to snack on in the evenings. I put about a 10 foot square PlotSaver fence up in the yard and placed some corn in the middle. I was curious whether or not the deer would cross the PlotSaver to get to the corn.

The first deer to come were a couple of spike bucks. They smelled the ribbon and then just ducked underneath and started eating. A doe followed behind them. Several other does stood around the perimeter and seemed afraid. The ribbon was blowing in the wind as well as being sprayed with the PlotSaver. It seemed to work on some deer while others just ducked under and started eating. One deer that came up was an 8 point buck that did not cross the ribbon to eat.

Later in the evening I removed the ribbon but left the poles that had held the ribbon up. It was interesting to see some of the deer smelling the plastic clips that held up the ribbon and had been sprayed with PlotSaver. It definitely gets their attention.

The extreme looked good inside the exclusion cage.

Oldhouse Food Plot

The food plot at the oldhouse is still the best looking plot of clover.

I have not been able to tell if the PlotSaver that I had put up in this plot had any effect. The clover has not grown a lot in the plot as can be seen in the exclusion cage. This was not a good test for the PlotSaver.

I also sat near this plot a lot during deer season this year. I didn't see many deer eating here, just on occasion here and there.

The clover still looks real good in the oldhouse plot.

Garden Food Plot

After the PlotSaver experiment in the yard I went ahead and put it up in the garden food plot. It probably won't make much difference here but I wanted to do something with it since I needed to do something with the remainder of the PlotSaver that I had mixed up earlier in the fall.

We had seen deer in the garden plot on several occasions over the fall.

The clover is sparse but is still there. Hopefully we can get rid of the grass and the clover will reestablish next summer. The clover inside of the exclusion cage looks pretty good.

I still plan on expanding the old corn patch plot this winter. It looks like I can triple its size. I have even considered connecting the two plots with a long strip of clover since they are only about one hundred yards apart with a hayfield between them. This would make one strange shaped food plot but would add to the size considerably.

As of right now I plan on planting Imperial Whitetail Clover again as well as the Extreme that I have left from this fall.

The majority of our hunting season is over and it's been a good season for us. Ryan has shot one doe during the youth doe hunt and a nice 8 point buck during rifle season.

I have shot a doe with both my compound bow and during rifle season.

There are also two bucks, an 8 point and a 9 point, that are pretty nice bucks. Both of them were seen or caught on our scouting camera late last week. Generally the bucks that make it through the first week of rifle season stand a real good chance of making it through the season.

It will be real exciting through this next year watching these two bucks grow.

Ryan and his nice 8 point buck.

I have a page elsewhere on the site that talks about the hunting blind that we bought and started using last year.

This year I have grown to like the blind even more. Ryan and I spent a good bit of time in it and I had a hard time staying out of it when the weather got wet and cold. I like the larger amount of territory that can be seen from a treestand but when the weather turns bad the blind makes it much more bearable.

The concealment of the blind also is a big help when Ryan is with me. It helps conceal our movements and keep us warm and dry. Ryan had learned a big lesson on Tuesday about how much you can move in a treestand when deer are close. Some of these things are just things you have to learn the hard way.

"Annual home ranges of resident does averaged 420 acres. Some were as small as 178 acres, while others were as large as 739 acres." Reported by John Ozoga in Deer and Deer Hunting magazine from a study conducted on Nebraska's Desoto National Wildlife Refuge by Vercauteren and Hygnstrom.

I have come to really like my hunting blind. Check out the good price on this blind from Bass Pro.

Eastman Outfitters Carbon Popup Blind - $69.00