food plots in the hill country

[Triple 7]

I have two leases that we hunt on. One here in Nacogdoches and the other in Menard. The Nacogdoches lease we plant food plots every year, mostly b/c its easy to do in this soil. I cant say that it does any good but we do it any way. We dont have the equipment in Menard to plant food plots but we could if we thought that it would do any good. I just hate to break my equipment on all those rocks.

So I am asking if anyone has had any success with food plots in that part of the world and if so what did you plant and when did you plant it?

[BrandonA]

My family use to have a ranch in Menard. We had great success with food plots. We kept it simple oats and purple top turnips. We tried some of the other varieties but with no success. Good thing about oats and turnips is you don't have to plant to deep. We had 4 food plots 2 down in the creek bottom with no rocks and 2 up on top one with a bunch of rocks. Both turned out good.

[trophy8]

mason aint to far so i guess i will chime in....we planted about 10 acres worth this year, i forget what we planted....the neighbor gave us 15 bags of it that he had left over. it came up great, but the deer didnt seem to touch it, but then again they didnt even hardly touch the corn until about 3 weeks ago. our soil is mostly rocky but has a good amount of sand and red dirt in the mix...this was a sandy spot and gave us no trouble on equipment or anything. gonna try one more time thise next year with somethin else

[Triple 7]

ttt

[Krivoman]

I am curious to see what grows well in the Lampasas/adamsville/evant area.. Have tried several times before without much success.

[tookeymonster]

anyone used the throw and gorw stuff?

[clffrdfdge]

Far as a blend Turner Seed fall blend works really well. The standard oats or wheat works. Heres the link http://www.turnerseed.com/site/WildLifeMix.asp

[Triple 7]

Other than on "The Crush with Lee and Tiffany" I have never seen a deer eat from a food plot. Do they actually work? Maybe Lee and Tiffany can come down a show us. I will be happy to keep Tiffany company while Lee works.

[bar2hunter]

I am curious to see what grows well in the Lampasas/adamsville/evant area.. Have tried several times before without much success.

Planted oats, wheat and rye this season in Evant. Did real well with all the rain we had. Deer put intense pressure on plot but it held up well.

[Triple 7]

for the evening crowd

[Andy]

I been planting food plots for my boss now going on four years west of Rio Medina off county road 265 up in the hills where there is very little dirt. I have removed more rocks by hand out of these plots . Next time I be sure to get paid by pound of rock that I remove. I had problems at first due fact I could only plow 2-3 inches deep when down in this sand I can bury the plow. The first year they wanted turnips so I planted them and deer didn't touch them but everyone at boss company ate turnips. I put in some oat just to prove to them they would work and trhey did so now I can plant what I want to put into the ground. One spring I put lab lab plus and it worked great grew up bean made then deer hit them and wipe them out.....I can plow about 5-6 inches deep now in all four plots on the place......I like to use 15-15-15 fertalizer on winter plots but boss dosen't want to turn loose the money to buy it. This past year I planted oats in all plots and army worms wiped them out at different times and I had to replant them all............I plowed the field with a 8 shank chisel spring loaded shanks at a very very slow creep speed with extra weight on plow. I had tractor a case jx95 in 4 wd drive running at Idle this way I didn.t break any shanks on plow. Other people tried [plowing the plots there and broke severak shanks by going too fast ..........Hope this helps you out on trying to get your plots ready................OR you can buy this place from my boss it's for sale .........Andy

[Trinity Outfitters]

Winter wheat and oats in Gillespie County, but takes decent soil that is unfortunately not abundant throughout. Be site selective--clear out mesquite patches--should grow well in those areas.

[Krivoman]

Planted oats, wheat and rye this season in Evant. Did real well with all the rain we had. Deer put intense pressure on plot but it held up well.

More interested in summer plots.. winter are nice, but I want them eating horn growing forage.

[Mike Murphey]

One problem that I see in the Menard area is the lack of rainfall....most summers and some winters we just don't get the stuff from the sky....having hunted near Menard for 10+ years I have seen mostly drought, making food plots very costly unless you can irrigate. Most of the folks plant oats or wheat for the winter crop....

[bar2hunter]

winter are nice, but I want them eating horn growing forage.

True! We have limited-to-very little success with Spring/Summer plots because the cattle grazing intensifies. IF I could count on any success, I'd probably go with peas and chicory.