"the pasture"....long read and pic heavy

[SwampRabbit]

We see the same behaviour on our lease on the other side of the state. What we see on cam in the offseason at the feeding spots is not what we see during the fall. The numbers drop and mainly the young one's stay, but the older/bigger bucks "disappear." Seasonal feeding like acorns, rut, pressure, etc play into that.

I'm personally taking the approach that the older/bigger deer are there, but I need to take the hunt more to them. Meaning, that I really need to shift focus away from hunting the permanent food source (feeder) directly. This to me means paying attention to tracks and where they travel, guessing where they bed and staying off of that as well. Sure, they might "slip" and show up, but at this point, after looking at lots of footage, I think my odds are just as good hunting off the food plot/feeder.

Since you say you have some good deer eating off of hand corn, I would suggest utilizing that in your strategy. Don't go all the way into thier bedding area, but meet them in the middle with temporary stands setup off of hand corn.

That is at least what I am "gearing" up for this season. Keep the feeder, feed the herd, take the hunt closer to them and use hand corning to slow them down and get thier attention.

[BoxKrancher]

get it my friend good luck

[jshouse]

We see the same behaviour on our lease on the other side of the state. What we see on cam in the offseason at the feeding spots is not what we see during the fall. The numbers drop and mainly the young one's stay, but the older/bigger bucks "disappear." Seasonal feeding like acorns, rut, pressure, etc play into that.

I'm personally taking the approach that the older/bigger deer are there, but I need to take the hunt more to them. Meaning, that I really need to shift focus away from hunting the permanent food source (feeder) directly. This to me means paying attention to tracks and where they travel, guessing where they bed and staying off of that as well. Sure, they might "slip" and show up, but at this point, after looking at lots of footage, I think my odds are just as good hunting off the food plot/feeder.

Since you say you have some good deer eating off of hand corn, I would suggest utilizing that in your strategy. Don't go all the way into thier bedding area, but meet them in the middle with temporary stands setup off of hand corn.

That is at least what I am "gearing" up for this season. Keep the feeder, feed the herd, take the hunt closer to them and use hand corning to slow them down and get thier attention.

this is exactly what i have come to as well, i am really hoping my plots work out and looking forward to the challenge of next season.

thanks guys

[jshouse]

i think i am going to go with the spring deer mix from turner seed:

COWPEAS (RED RIPPER) 15%
COWPEAS (IRON & CLAY) 15%
SOYBEANS (LAREDO) 15%
BLACK-EYED PEAS (CALIFORNIA) 15%
SUNN HEMP 12%
LAB LAB (RIO VERDE) 10%
BUCKWHEAT 6%
OKRA (SPINELESS) 5%
MUNGBEANS 5%
CHICORY 2%
COST PER ACRE $40.00 100%
COST PER LB. $2.00
POUNDS PER ACRE 20

i am hoping that the diversity will keep the deer from mowing everything down as soon as i t comes up and this should leave me with about 1/4 to 1/3 of an acre to plant in alyce clover as i try to get a year round stand of it going.

[ronny]

Looks like you got it going your way, good luck with one of the big bucks.

[Moose]

How did you apply the lime?

[jshouse]

i did it the easy but expensive way, pelletized lime from tractor supply broadcast in a spreader on my atv. i think i paid 3.75 per 40lb bag. the next time i do it, which should be in 2-3 years, i will try to rent a buggy from the co-op and use ag lime, should cut the cost in more than half.

[ETexBowAddict]

Great write up! I didn't want to miss any of the story. I will be following!

[viper3853]

following

[Aggieivy06]

i think i am going to go with the spring deer mix from turner seed:

COWPEAS (RED RIPPER) 15%
COWPEAS (IRON & CLAY) 15%
SOYBEANS (LAREDO) 15%
BLACK-EYED PEAS (CALIFORNIA) 15%
SUNN HEMP 12%
LAB LAB (RIO VERDE) 10%
BUCKWHEAT 6%
OKRA (SPINELESS) 5%
MUNGBEANS 5%
CHICORY 2%
COST PER ACRE $40.00 100%
COST PER LB. $2.00
POUNDS PER ACRE 20

i am hoping that the diversity will keep the deer from mowing everything down as soon as i t comes up and this should leave me with about 1/4 to 1/3 of an acre to plant in alyce clover as i try to get a year round stand of it going.

If you have a little extra money, you can use an electrical fence to keep the deer out of the food plot to allow it to grow up enough so it doesn't get scorched-earth by the deer. It sounds crazy--and I did not believe until I saw it--but it works. We used it for our spring/summer plots and the vegetation inside the fence was ten times taller than the food plot outside of the fence. It's pretty easy to maintain and easy to take down--you can even leave the fence posts.

Here is an article showing different diagrams of fences. We used the two-dimensional fence and it worked great!
http://www.wvdnr.gov/Hunting/DeerConHomGar.shtm

[jshouse]

thanks man, i am going to look into the fence, i am hoping my grandpa has some old stuff laying around i can use.

[Crazy Horse]

little slice of heaven right there!!!

[Tspurgin26]

Nice place!

[jshouse]

just got my order in with turner seed, easy to work with and helpful. since this is my first run at a food plot i am going to go with their spring mix which will hopefully give me a good idea what the deer prefer and what performs best on my place, if i want to narrow it down next year.

also ordered a mix of alyce clover and chicory that i am going to use for about .5 an acre, hoping that both will reseed and begin my attempt at a year round plot. i should have the ability to water this summer to keep things going but of course would love some timely rain.

[Sippy]

Good luck to you, we need rain bad out here. I cant even plow because it is so dry.