Food plot and a little work today

[unclefish]

I just read all 11 pages, and there is a lot of good information here. Your place looks great uncle fish. I am going to send you a pm with some questions if you don't mind!

Thanks. Glad to help if I can.

[ChaseNTheHunt]

good stuff

[unclefish]

For those that don't have the equipment... you can have a great plot without scratching the ground.

This is a rye/oats/clover plot that I didn't do anything to except spray and broadcast.



Those seeds are small enough to germinate with a good rainfall. Oats is marginal for this....but cereal rye and clover are great!

[DUKFVR]

Looks Great Steve! Where is a good place to get The rye & clover? We just had some dozer work done & would like to seed the areas & see if it would take.

[unclefish]

They are eating the chicory pretty well now too. Heck they are eating everything. This is the first time I have planted it...so far so good. Hopefully it takes hold and will last for several years.

[unclefish]

David the best place to get Durana is online at Amazon here. I ordered from Seed Ranch last time. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new

For the cereal rye I get mine from Producer's Coop in Bryan. They have the Elbon Rye variety. I don't know of any place else that has it. I'm sure you could get some up near your place in Coleman.

[unclefish]

One more thing I'm sick about.

I shot the big buck we've been after Friday evening at 21 yards. He ducked the arrow and hit him near the spine. Only went in 3 inches. He dropped like he was spined but got up right away...and ran off with the arrow still in him. Not much blood...we waited over an hour and blood trailed him for half a mile. Blood was very spotty at times. He never bedded down. He hopped the fence from two neighbor's over who I don't have permission to go. I feel like he will live since he the arrow didn't hit vitals and he wasn't bleeding much. I sure hope so.

I'm still sick about it.

[Daniel75]

One more thing I'm sick about.

I shot the big buck we've been after Friday evening at 21 yards. He ducked the arrow and hit him near the spine. Only went in 3 inches. He dropped like he was spined but got up right away...and ran off with the arrow still in him. Not much blood...we waited over an hour and blood trailed him for half a mile. Blood was very spotty at times. He never bedded down. He hopped the fence from two neighbor's over who I don't have permission to go. I feel like he will live since he the arrow didn't hit vitals and he wasn't bleeding much. I sure hope so.

I'm still sick about it.

It happens if you've done this long enough. I'll bet he'll be fine.

[DUKFVR]

THANKS Steve! Hopefully the buck will be OK! Fingers crossed he comes back to ya!

[viper3853]

uncle, are the deer eating your Radish yet?

[unclefish]

Well as fate would have it...my trail cam caught the incident.

The arrow fletching is in the middle of the tree with the arrow angling back to the front of the deer. Very little penetration. The deer was getting up from the initial knockdown.

[EastTexasMan]

I've got oats so tall they are over my top of my boots, and even growing in standing water....

[unclefish]

uncle, are the deer eating your Radish yet?

They are eating the crap out of the radish tops....but not the tubers yet.

Last night I counted 16 deer in the plots eating. Its become a hub of deer activity. I saw a fight the the other day and last night saw a buck make a scrape on the edge of the plot.

The one thing I need to do is to thicken up the surrounding cover....around the plot. I have not seen many mature bucks in the plot during daylight. Just alot of 1.5-3.5 year old bucks and tons of does. The only place I see mature bucks during the day is my feeder in the thick brush....not far from their bedding area.

I'm gonna be planting some permanent screening plants (bicolor lespedeza and switchgrass) to make the matures feel safer eating here during daylight.

One thing I have noticed is that mature bucks don't like the big doe groups. They avoid them except during the rut.

[viper3853]

well pulled out a Groundhog Radish yesterday. no signs of them eating them. couple of does and smaller bucks walking over them but not eating them. this is my first time planting a food plot, so maybe thats why.

Also i read that it has to freeze first so that the toxins remove from the leaves. true?

[unclefish]

That's a good looking radish. Last year was the first year I planted Groundhog Radishes and they ate the tops fairly well that first year....I was pleasantly surprised cause they had probably never seen a radish before.

A freeze supposedly makes the tubers sweeter...which makes the deer eat them better. They never did eat the tubers last year and I grew some whopper radishes...up to 16 inches and 5 inch diameter. I mowed them down in the spring after they bolted.
I've never seen or heard anything about toxins.

How many years have you planted this spot?