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Electric fencing Spring/Summer food plots

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    Electric fencing Spring/Summer food plots

    I currently plant between 5-8 acres of food plots in Houston county during the fall and then again in the spring/summer. My fall plots work just fine, but in the summer I get great germination and growth, but can't keep the deer off them long enough for the plants to mature and maintain growth after initial grazing. I plant iron/clay peas mixed with sunflowers and occasional lab lab. I am debating about doing the standard planting, but then e-fencing to try to establish a mature stand that can withstand grazing. But, I am also considering trying Eagle forage soybeans based on comments I have seen here and other sites.

    Who has e-fenced their food plots and how did it work out? What did you learn afterward that you wished you had known before you started? Do you think its worth the effort to string the wire, etc after its all over?

    Thanks for the input.

    #2
    It works great for me. I e-fenced eagle beans last summer will definitely do it again. I'll find some pics and post later

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      #3


      Link to a pea patch I did a couple of years ago

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        #4
        QDM those are some nice pics. To save some money I was going to use straight up hot wire with flagging tape for visibility instead of the fabric wire. Any issues with going this route?

        For the eagles, what's the benefit if you are already fencing them off? Do they make more than twice the coverage than other forages? What about lab lab?

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          #5
          Never done an e-fence but from all the pics they definitely work.

          But that being said....if your deer population is wiping out 8 acres of cow peas you certainly need to get the population in check. A gallagher type e-fence to fence off 8 acres is alot of money ~ $1500 easy.

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            #6
            I agree its an expensive endeavor, and my plan was to try it on a 2-3 acre test to see how hard it is to deploy and maintain.The population issue is nothing new. We are.MLD 3 and shoot the does and culls as we can. My neighbors don't shoot any does and we plant the only food plots so we get plenty of deer coming to eat. The secondary browse, camera counts and body weights indicate we are not overgrazed or overpopulated, but the difficulty getting summer plots to mature says different.

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              #7
              Several of us on here are trying Sunn Hemp this year as a trial. Its a tropical legume so it loves the heat and is very drought tolerant...and its 30% in protein. It also fixes 100lbs of N into the soil for use with your fall plots. Some of the QDMA guys have tried it with really good success (the deer love it) so I'm gonna try it. Ordered seed last week for a 2 acre plot.

              Its also grow extremely fast and can withstand tons of browse pressure. It will grow 10 feet tall if you let it. It might be worth a shot this summer. Its alot cheaper than eagle beans and there is no need to fence it off because the deer supposedly will not be able to keep up with its fast growth.

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                #8
                Originally posted by unclefish View Post
                Several of us on here are trying Sunn Hemp this year as a trial. Its a tropical legume so it loves the heat and is very drought tolerant...and its 30% in protein. It also fixes 100lbs of N into the soil for use with your fall plots. Some of the QDMA guys have tried it with really good success (the deer love it) so I'm gonna try it. Ordered seed last week for a 2 acre plot.

                Its also grow extremely fast and can withstand tons of browse pressure. It will grow 10 feet tall if you let it. It might be worth a shot this summer. Its alot cheaper than eagle beans and there is no need to fence it off because the deer supposedly will not be able to keep up with its fast growth.
                I'm interested in this. What's the price of it for say a 50lb bag?

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by unclefish View Post
                  Several of us on here are trying Sunn Hemp this year as a trial. Its a tropical legume so it loves the heat and is very drought tolerant...and its 30% in protein. It also fixes 100lbs of N into the soil for use with your fall plots. Some of the QDMA guys have tried it with really good success (the deer love it) so I'm gonna try it. Ordered seed last week for a 2 acre plot.

                  Its also grow extremely fast and can withstand tons of browse pressure. It will grow 10 feet tall if you let it. It might be worth a shot this summer. Its alot cheaper than eagle beans and there is no need to fence it off because the deer supposedly will not be able to keep up with its fast growth.
                  How do you think a 2 acre plot with cow peas and sunn hemp would do? Could I mix them or maybe sun hemp on the outside with peas in the middle?

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                    #10
                    Planting rate is 15lbs per acre looking at the petcher seeds site. 50lbs is $90 with free shipping on the Hancock seeds website. So its alot cheaper than Eagle beans per acre.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by txjustin View Post
                      How do you think a 2 acre plot with cow peas and sunn hemp would do? Could I mix them or maybe sun hemp on the outside with peas in the middle?
                      I bet you could mix them together if you go light on the sunn hemp and the peas will stalk up the hemp. If not I'm sure the sunn hemp outside and peas inside would do great.....the sunn hemp will completely screen off the out side from view.

                      Sunn hemp as a screen looks very impressive.

                      These are pics from a guy on QDMA that planted sunn hemp as a screen.

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                        #12
                        Thanks Unclefish, that is good info. I was not aware that the deer would utilize hemp much if at all. I will definitely give this some serious thought, especially since it doesn't appear to have issues reaching maturity and its pretty inexpensive from a per acre standpoint.

                        Were the guys on QDMA drilling, broadcasting or doing anything special? Based on Hancock's website, it can be incorporated either method.

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                          #13
                          Back to the OP. I don't like the idea of keeping deer out of an area (that I'm really going to want them to be) by shocking them. It might not make a difference but it's just not what I would do.

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                            #14
                            Is this a "cash crop" or "deer crop"? I would be worried DEA would visit my lease unclefish! LOL

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by EastTexun View Post
                              Thanks Unclefish, that is good info. I was not aware that the deer would utilize hemp much if at all. I will definitely give this some serious thought, especially since it doesn't appear to have issues reaching maturity and its pretty inexpensive from a per acre standpoint.

                              Were the guys on QDMA drilling, broadcasting or doing anything special? Based on Hancock's website, it can be incorporated either method.
                              I think most drilled them in but either way will work but may have to up the seeding rate for broadcasting to maybe 20-25lbs per acre.

                              Yeah from the pictures I've seen they eat the heck out of it. Mowing it fairy high helps promote young tender growth....which will continue them feasting on it.

                              For me its worth a shot to see how well it works. Got to wait til the soil is warm though ~ 70 degrees. Planting too early will not produce a good crop.

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