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New House and food plot

Rutin

Senior Member
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Ina Duck Blind
Well I bit the bullet and bought a new house..... Nice little 11 acre mini farm. The deer and pheasants are thick on the property already. The back half of the property is a crp field with mowed trails where the prior owner used to walk their mutts. My plan is to take 2-3 acres off the tree line and put a plot in over the next month. We are moving in tomorrow and Monday, so that leaves Tuesday to mow and spray this area before I go back on duty. I've outlined the area in red where the plot will be. The yellow will be a mixture of Sunflower & Sorghum (too late this year), the two 1 acre plots I'm still on the fence with, what are some suggestions? I was going to do a clover mixture with chicory, and one late season with turnip and brassicas. I've also got some red/green dots (5 to be exact) which are apple trees I will be getting in Oct during fall shipment to help supplement the property. This isn't a spot I plan on hunting but more to draw deer in and watch (unless a 150"+ shows up). The blue is a major creek that's about 25 yards wide and always holds water with a THICK creek bottom that runs for miles both directions without a house in sight along it except for one farmer (I'll be working on getting permission from him SOON). Once the condo sells the black box will be the new barn with the driveway extending out to it. The nice thing about this plot is that where the crp starts in the middle of the property is the high point and rolls downhill to the creek so its very secluded back there.

So back to the topic, what are some suggestions on Aug. planting?

 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Looks like a heck of a place, Zach. Congrats! I'm partial to plots with cereal grains... winter rye, oats. But I mix in clover and brassicas as well. What are your goals with the sunflower and sorghum? Bird food/habitat I'm presuming? Looks like you have quite a bit of space between the plots and the house. Have you considered planting winter wheat? You still have time to put that in the ground. Next summer you could mow it and have a farmer bale it (or burn it) and you'd be set up with a nice little dove killing field. It'd be a nice preseason warm up for Sarge. Plus deer like to consume young winter wheat, and they bed in it like crazy in the summer.
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
Thanks bud! Yea the sunflower and sorghum would be for the pheasants and used as a plot screen for visibility protection. We have A LOT of birds out here, they are cackling all day long which I love, I find it peaceful! I just wanted to do a green on green plot I guess (should have stated that earlier). So more or less a clover field for summer action and then a brassica mixture for late winter after the frost, so there's ALWAYS something green for them to munch on. I like the Winter wheat idea but I haven't looked much into it. I've always been told oats were the way to go but the more I think about it the deer are always in W.W. fields when they are sprouting up to 4-5" tall. I'll have to find the local co op and see what they have available still and start pricing some things out.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Thanks bud! Yea the sunflower and sorghum would be for the pheasants and used as a plot screen for visibility protection. We have A LOT of birds out here, they are cackling all day long which I love, I find it peaceful! I just wanted to do a green on green plot I guess (should have stated that earlier). So more or less a clover field for summer action and then a brassica mixture for late winter after the frost, so there's ALWAYS something green for them to munch on. I like the Winter wheat idea but I haven't looked much into it. I've always been told oats were the way to go but the more I think about it the deer are always in W.W. fields when they are sprouting up to 4-5" tall. I'll have to find the local co op and see what they have available still and start pricing some things out.

For deer, I'd definitely go with oats or rye instead of the WW. However, if you want birds to benefit from the planting as well, I think WW would be a happy medium. If you mow a mature stand of wheat, and then bale or burn the thatch, you'll have more seeds on the ground than the birds can eat. It's unreal. The doves goes nuts for it... and I'm sure pheasants would too. I think you've got a good plan, though. It's pretty tough to go wrong really.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Congrats on the property Zack! Looks awesome. Not much help on the plot suggestions but the oats and rye combo sounds like a great idea.
 
Nice looking place
I tryed Sunflowers 3 years in a row a few years back
First year all was good and the doves loved the feild

By the 3 year , I only got 10% of the sunflowers to get heads
As the deer figured out the "bud" was good to eat
I would watch the deer walk into the sunflowers and bite off just the bud and move on to the next plant
After a few days the feild was eaten out early

Same reason I was told the ODNR were going to drop sunflowers at the dove feilds

I now plant Millet for the birds
Deer will bed in it and eat a little
But not enough to be a problem

John
 
OH
If you go the WW way

Stop into the CO OP and ask what they do with the wheat spilled and left overs from cleaning farmers wheat

As that is a cheap way to get wheat to plant

As Dad and my Brother both farm
And I sometimes haul loads in , they know me
Last fall before wheat planting , I got 12" of wheat in the bed (8') of my truck for free
Yea there were a few stones , chaff , beans , corn and wheat that would never sprout
But I worked up the food plot with the ATV and spreaded it on

And it grew fine

John
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Nice looking place
I tryed Sunflowers 3 years in a row a few years back
First year all was good and the doves loved the feild

By the 3 year , I only got 10% of the sunflowers to get heads
As the deer figured out the "bud" was good to eat
I would watch the deer walk into the sunflowers and bite off just the bud and move on to the next plant
After a few days the feild was eaten out early

Same reason I was told the ODNR were going to drop sunflowers at the dove feilds

I now plant Millet for the birds
Deer will bed in it and eat a little
But not enough to be a problem

John

Yep, millet is great too! The deer absolutely destroy sunflowers. Some wildlife areas do still plant them, but only in areas where the deer density is lower. Honestly though, I think WW is more appealing to the birds than sunflowers. I think the sunflowers draw in the hunters more than the doves. People just assume, "Oh there's sunflowers in that field! There must be doves there!"
 

beaston

Junior Member
Nice property. Nice to have a place to fix up to your likings. When you explained the layout of your property the thing that sounded the best about it was the fact that it sloped towards the creek. Gives them deer that added security to come out a lil earlier.. Congrats
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
Sorry for the late reply.... don't have internet at the new house yet so I have to wait til I get back to work to use the computer. I will get some pic taken this Fri/Sat when I'm off. The woods is just a thick creek bottom about 60-75 yards wide. After talking to several people I may move the plots out from the wood line about 50-75 yards so the deer don't have to hold up in the woods and can feel safe in the field as well. With painting ALL day Sunday, moving ALL day Monday, and unloading ALL day Tuesday it pretty much chewed all my free time up. Got the sprayer and mower ready for Friday and Saturday though.... hope to make some head way this weekend. The woods "creek" is about 100 yards wide on my property but goes for several miles in each direction without a house. There's several woodlots that branch off this creek line and I need to get in touch with these farmers so that I have access out my front door to local hunting. I did manage to get a trail camera set out so hopefully I can see what's roaming around.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
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SW Ohio
Looks like a nice setup and good luck. I only wish I would have started 22 yrs. ago when I bought the farm. But like you I got a good start this year.