planting advice

[huntinfool]

Just curious what you guys think of this scenario. You can see where I've got my a stand now for early season bowhunting. I've seen several really good (and missed one that I'm still sick about) bucks from this stand over the years. But I've never planted the area. I've just relied on the fact that the area is a natural funnel and the deer seem to like to graze the CRP grass in the little cove that's created in the corner of that field. So this year, I'm planting a mix of peas and brassica in front of my stand location. Oh I forgot to mention that I've got a VERY active mineral station between the plot and the woods.

So my question is....I've got a bag or two of that "no-plow" type seed and I'm thinking of planting it in the corner of that upper field in the picture. The deer like to come from the left side of the picture, circle around the edge of the field I'm already in (assuming they don't come out there to feed) and work around in that finger of woods that shoots from the upper left to bottom right in the pic. I think they use it as a staging area before feeding in the fields at night. I've already got a bunch of trail cam pics in the lower field and am thinking I'll set one up above to see what's going on up there.

Any suggestions as to better places to put that seed? There is a very soggy bottom down below, but it's got tons of vegitation and I think they bed down in there, so I don't want to get too close to it yet. I was thinking, if I plant it where I've got it marked, that would encourage them to use that finger of woods even further as a staging area.

What do you guys think?

[Phishy]

it might not hurt, sounds to me like the deer are using the area already, you've got two inside corners, it seems there a certain comfrort in coners that naturally draw deer in.

how about setting a stand at the new seed area to give you some more options for playing the wind??

here's a little trick, for the no till seed, to get a better distributation mix it with sand or saw dust (medium coarse and slightly damp.) kitty litter works as well, but some is too coarse and the seed doesn't cling,. If you mix it you'll spend more time putting down the seed, but it will be a more even seeding. I mix my seed on a tarp then fire it on by hand using a five gallon bucket to carry it, a good ratio is about 250 lbs sawdust per acre, or 50 lbs per .2 acre, sand i haven't used, i have a real cheap source of dust from a sawmill, this guy makes log cabins and generates a large amount, check around at some local mills, by the way, mills are a great source of wood chip as well

also what kind of scale we have here, how much distance between the food plots, if they're too close to gether you may end up spreading the deer between the two, which i would venture to guess is not the objective, i can see it now you set up in one stand and the deer use the other food plot, so the next day you switch and they got to the other one

just some of my thoughts

[huntinfool]

phishy said:

i can see it now you set up in one stand and the deer use the other food plot, so the next day you switch and they got to the other one

Yeh, I was a little worried about that too. That actually happens already. I'd guess it's not more than 100 yds between the two plots. I hadn't thought about the idea that I want to make sure my big plot is my main draw. I don't want to put anything down in that bottom. But there is another funnel that I know they use that is further away. It's probably 500-600 yards away. That would give me a secondary food plot sight so that I wouldn't pressure one too much. Decisions decisions.

[Scott Kirsch]

huntinfool - I would not plant the No Plow where you have on your diagram. I suggest a small, long strip of the No Plow on the north side of the long finger of woods and creek extending into the higher ground. I would place 2 stands half way or 2/3 the way up the "uphill slope" on your diagram (one on the north side and another on the south side maybe 10 yards inside the fingers timber). Of course you'll need to pay attention to the wind but I would bet that you will see those bucks walking down by the creek or along the filed edges to get up to the No Plow at the end of the finger. You know how the deer move so place a trail cam where I propose the stand sites and see if the No Plow draws the deer up along the creek or the field edges to the plot. -Sloppy