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2015 Field of Dreams

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
This is my 3rd year of planting my food plot that I call a Field of Dreams. The first 2 years of planting have been great. I did have one 1/2 ac. planting problem that I received some type of grass seed with the radish, beet, turnip seed. The grass smothered out 99% of the radish and turnip planting. Then the grasses matured early and died off before summer end. This seed came from one of the 2 highly recommended seed companies on this forum that shall remain un-named. I've never have had a problem with WT Inst. and Evolved Harvest seed and shall continue with that in the future.
My 2015 plans.

1. Frost seed clover on my 2 clover plots I put in 2013. Plus I'm clover seeding the new small 1/4 ac. plot I put in 2014. That 1/4 plot proved to just too small and when cold weather hit it was ate off in couple weeks.
2. I will be enlarging that new plot to about 1.0 ac. by removing about 20-25 cedar trees and honey suckle bushes. I will plant WT Inst, cover with a cover crop of WT Inst. No Plow. Need to get the trees removed and grass sprayed with Roundup.
This plot is in the middle of a over grown pasture where there is a main N-S trail comes across the road, passes through the pasture area and crosses my creek to the neighbors property. The nice thing about this plot is it's only 100 yds. from the house and will make a great quick setup for evening hunts.
3. I may put in another 1/2 ac. of clover for a total of 1.5 ac. in my bottom 3.0 ac. food plot. After watching the deer for 2 yrs. feed on the clover as the 1st choice I'm convinced that good clover is the main attraction in my food plots. I plant WT. Inst. only and have had great success with it and will continue to plan on using no other clover.
4. Plant 1.0 ac. of WT Inst Forage Oats in my bottom plot. This will be the 3rd year for planting WT. Inst. Forage Oats and after the hard frost and the clover is gone its a great deer food drawer. Easy to grow and grows high fills in good.
5. That leaves me with 1/2 ac. of radish. beets. and turnips. The 1st year the deer only ate the green tops off but the 2nd year the deer started eating the bulbs of the few turnips that didn't get crowded out the the grass. Besides I love to eat turnips.
6. I need to do a better job of mowing my clover patches and may use some broadleaf killer on the weeds in the clover.
7. I plan to bush hog that 1/2 ac. bad grass plot and rake it into piles and burn the damn stuff. Then I'll wait till I get some greenup and Roundup the new growth.

Well that's today's plan and will post as I advance through the year.
 
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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I had a slight change of mind on the planting of the new west side food plot. Instead of WT Inst. No Plow which is a annual I ordered WT Inst. Chicory Plus which is a perennial. The Chicory already has their clover in it plus I will over seed WT Inst. clover.
Plan on frost seeding clover tomorrow.
 
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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I frost seeded clover in the new 1/2 ac. clover plot in my bottom plots. I re-measured the plot and it's 175X175 and is actually about 3/4 ac. and that's even better.

I viewed 75 days of Plotwatcher Pro time lapse pictures of the plot and I was amazed at the deer traffic on the WT Inst. Forage Oats. Almost every day there would be 3-13 deer feeding in the oats. Morning and nights. I'm well pleased at the results and plan to plant WT Inst. Forage oats every year.
The way the time lapse camera is set up I can only see about 1.5 of the 3.0 ac. plot. So I assume when I see that many deer on the south end of the plot there are deer on the north end I don't get on camera.
In 2013 I planted only 1/2 ac. and it din't last the winter so in 2014 I planted 1.5 ac. and it's holding up under the deer grazing pressure. I had planted some WT Inst. Winter Greens in the 1/2 ac. oat plot and it's been all eaten.
Also I noticed every one of the turnips and beets that didn't get smothered out in the bad planting have been eaten off to the ground. That's good to know that the deer finally know they are good to eat. The 1st year only the green tops were eaten and the bulbs never touched.

It was kinda neat to view the pictures and watch the deer dig through the deep snow to get to the oats. One night there was 8-10 deer feeding when the camera shut down due it getting dark. The next mornings pictures showed large spots where all the snow was scraped out of the way and there was bare spots showing.

I feel good that the food plot plantings are a real benefit to the deer herd during this tough cold winter. The wife even watched the large number of deer feeding. She doesn't understand spending the money on the food plot but it's my wheeling and dealing money and not household money.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
Good stuff Frank. I enjoy following along. Not always a comment which fits, but know I am reading it.

Curious: Is your son interested in doing these plots with you? Or is this just your personal project?
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Good stuff Frank. I enjoy following along. Not always a comment which fits, but know I am reading it.

Curious: Is your son interested in doing these plots with you? Or is this just your personal project?

Not really it's just me. Everybody is too busy doing nothing at times. Everyone will stop and help me when I ask but I would rather just do it myself. I suffer from it at times but that is just the way it is. If I can't do it myself I ask one of the grandsons and they come a running.
 
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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I went out and dug up some soil sample for a soil test for the new west food plot I want to put in. But damn I looked at some of the cedar trees that are 5-6" that I have to remove. Smaller ones I just push them over with the tractor front end and hook a chain to them and pull backwards. May have to have my son use the bobcat to push over. I'll know this weekend since it's drying up some so the tires won't spin out.
FYI that WT Inst. has been running specials on seed with free shipping. Plus on the clover it was a special of buy 2 and get free shipping, free soil test, and a free bag of their 30-06 mineral suppliment.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I went down and installed the wide angle lens on my Plotwatcher Pro camera. Looks good from the preview pictures.
While I was there I put a hand hold at the top of the stairs for when I turn around to put the lock on.
Also I put a 2x12" cap on the top step. My brother pointed it out to me last year that the step distance was about 10" between the step into the tower and a little dangerous. So now it's 8 1/2" and about a normal step distance and the step is 12" deep. A lot better. I need to install a gutter over the door and steps to prevent the ice on the steps. When I do that I'll insulate the inside and cover it with black woven driveway cloth. Damn a hideout away from home.

Forgot to mention when I was down there 5 days ago the 2 clover plots were just brown dried up plots of stubble. Having little experience with clover (1 yr.) I didn't know what to expect if I lost it due to the hard cold winter and would have to replant.
Well what 5 days difference makes in the spring warm up. Both plots are nice and green with 1" clover covering them. Looks like it's going to be a good crop for the deer again.
 
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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Since the ground is wet but had couple days of drying the surface I went out and bull dozed the cedar trees down in my new west food plot with my Ford 420 industrial tractor.
I pushed over 20-25 cedar trees except one 6" cedar. But unlike the smaller 3-4" cedars I have pushed over to put a fence row in some of the big ones snapped off and left a sharp stumb. So I won't be able to roto till it completely so I'll roto till around the stumps and be careful not to puncture a tire.
I'll need help with the log chain work as I'll wear myself out getting on and off the tractor 2 times for each tree moved.
And I was told no way would I push over the trees.
I'll probably clean up the bigger logs for fence post.
Then I'll spray the evil RU to kill off the grass.

Tomorrow I'll frost seed clover in the 2014 1/4 ac. plot adjoing the one I'm doing now. I may seed some No Plow annual as a cover crop for the clover.
Been fun so far.
 

yotehunter

Member
1,527
36
spencerville oh
Sounds like you have been busy. I would love too be able to make my own field of dreams. I have been hinge cutting some of the dead ash in my parents little 4 acre patch. Trying to get some new under growth going and some bedding areas started. The deer trickle through there but nothing I would hunt on a regular stand but I'm working on that. Keep up the good work.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
3-15 frost seeded clover onto my 3/4 ac. plot in the bottom.
3-21 pushed over 20-25 cedar trees in my new west side plot.
3-22 frost seeded clover, and fertilizer onto the 2014 1/4 ac. west side plot.

Plan to do a little at a time as I tire easy due to my MS. Plus the Dillon 1050 press parts are coming in so have to get on the 44 mag. & 45LC contract.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I was bringing down the turkey decoys down to the tower on the food plot.
The 2 clover plots are about 4" high and has filled in better than last year. Didn't see much on the 1/2 ac clover I frost seeded in the forage oats as it was too wet there. The forage oats is coming on strong is about 8" tall.
I pulled my Plotwatcher Pro card today and I'll check on the deer feeding in the clover and forage oats.

WOW. I viewed the Plotwatcher Pro pictures from 4-1 to 4-17. There are groups of 5-12 deer every day in the forage oats and now the clover since it's up and growing.
There are large flocks of turkeys everyday all day long. Always with 3-4 Toms displaying. As of 4-17 the groups of turkeys still number 10-15 birds.
 
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hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
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248
Ohio
That is a great card pull and update of your daily activities! You might have to buy some neighboring farms to keep the deer all fed. haha
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
My soil sample came back on my new West plot. The soil PH is great at 7.2.
The P phosphorus is very low.
The K potassium is low.
The Ca calcium is adequate,
The Mg magnesium is very high.

So for clover and chicory I need lbs. per acre. Lime 0, Nitrogen 30, Phosphate 120, Potash 120, Magnesium 0.
From research the growing plant can only use the minerals up to the lowest mineral there is and the other minerals are not used except by weeds.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
5-8
I went down and checked my 2 clover plots as I haven't seen them for 2 weeks. They are growing great and filling in better than last year. I planted both of them in 2012 so I've had 2 good growing years.
The clover is knee high already. I plan on a better mowing program to keep after the weeds and help the clover mature better.

The WT Inst Forage Oats is waist high already. I plan to let it grow and mature out like in 2014 then mow it down late summer and till it under and replant oats. I'm sold on WT Inst. Forage oats as it last all winter and the deer feed on it all spring.

Kicked up 3 hen turkeys.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
The 2014 west side food plot that I frost seeded clover on 3-22-15 has clover 1-6" high growing. Not a full crop but a fair amount. The brassica is 6-8" also. Looks like a good new plot coming along nicely.
Re-thinking my idea of clover being 'next year' crop. Plant clover in early spring and there will be a great 1st year crop. In 2012 I planted the clover as a summer crop in June and didn't get much of a crop until the spring of 2014.
 
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