Whitetail Madness' Food Plot Progress 09-10

[WhiteTail Madness]

Its that time again!! Got the corn in today (5-20)  By the beginning of next week i should start seein some pop through.  Made the corn field on this property a little bigger this year. Still not much, but i put in 2 acres of round up ready hybrid corn seed in this year. 

The greens wont be going in until June-August so i will be sure to keep you guys updated on that also...

I had good results with the Antler King Honey HOle product last year so i beleive i will plant that again for an early season green food source.  THen i think i am going to plant another acre of Imperial Whitetail green... The Imp Whitetail is a very late season food source.  Dont have the ingredients yet but when i recieve both the ANtler King and IMP i will update everyone as to what the ingredients are in those 2 seed types. 

Who says deer season is a seasonal hobby?? Heck no..... Year round for me! Been hanging stands and clearing trees since February, now food plots and maintaining shooting lanes and running trail cams! I havent dumped the trail cams out yet........  But im starting to see some good antler growth and im looking forward to finding the buck that i passed last year on this farm!  He'll be 4 1/2 this year... Otta be a REAL good deer.  I beleive i've been watching him all year already... GOtta split ear and i've been watching a split ear buck all year so he's still around!!!!!

[brace]

I've got my plot all plowed, but am waiting for another week before planting to guard against a late season frost.  I use Frigid Forage out of Minnesota - They specialize in cold weather plots.  Having said that, my buddy uses Whitetail Institute seed and it seems to work equally well.

[drobertsinMaryland]

Its that time again!! Got the corn in today (5-20)  By the beginning of next week i should start seein some pop through.  Made the corn field on this property a little bigger this year. Still not much, but i put in 2 acres of round up ready hybrid corn seed in this year. 

The greens wont be going in until June-August so i will be sure to keep you guys updated on that also...

I had good results with the Antler King Honey HOle product last year so i beleive i will plant that again for an early season green food source.  THen i think i am going to plant another acre of Imperial Whitetail green... The Imp Whitetail is a very late season food source.  Dont have the ingredients yet but when i recieve both the ANtler King and IMP i will update everyone as to what the ingredients are in those 2 seed types. 

Who says deer season is a seasonal hobby?? Heck no..... Year round for me! Been hanging stands and clearing trees since February, now food plots and maintaining shooting lanes and running trail cams! I havent dumped the trail cams out yet........  But im starting to see some good antler growth and im looking forward to finding the buck that i passed last year on this farm!  He'll be 4 1/2 this year... Otta be a REAL good deer.  I beleive i've been watching him all year already... GOtta split ear and i've been watching a split ear buck all year so he's still around!!!!!

That's what its all about. I wish I had enough land to do this on.  Do you fence in a little area to get a good idea how much the deer are eating? While deer like corn it does absolutely nothing for there antler growth. Deer need corn the most later in the winter. Do you have a mineral site in on the property? Depending on the size of the property you should put at least one in and get one of your cams on it. The bucks on that property will be hitting hard now through Mid August. You will not be disappointed trust me. Post some pics of that plot when it gets good and going.

[WhiteTail Madness]

cant run mineral blocks round here... THey banned baiting last year.... Which sucks b/c i do like to run mineral blocks on all the properties for the off season...  I havent caged in parts of the food plots yet..... I dont really see the need for it, i can tell if the deer are eating it by tracks and trail cameras.   Corn does do good things for antler growth, i planted special corn that is like a 30% protein, to cover 2 cause, late season food and antler development for the following season.  Just got home from a long fishin wknd, gonna go check out the corn and see how its doin.

[WhiteTail Madness]

Got to the plot tonight and figured id take a few updated shots for ya guys... No green in yet, but it will be planted by the end of this week.  Corn is looking good in spots, where the rain didnt hurt it, but for the most part im pretty happy with how its goin.  Been a cooler than average summer so it aint growin as good as it should be but good enough for the deer!! Here is a few shots.
corn height compared to my truck
another shot of the corn on the opposite end.
ready and waiting for either Imp Whitetail Or Tecomate seed, aint sure where to put what yet....
This is my newest addition to it......  Thought it would be cool to put a grain to green transition right with eachother this year, so i brush hogged and disced about $100 of my corn to put in a little green plot.  This way the deer have a nice secure area to hangout inside the corn without being spotted from the road.

Deer are already using this pretty good, tracks all over. Once my green is in and growing i will then start running trail cams.

[Stuck-on-Seven]

Lookin good.....do you have all of your own tractors and equipment or do you use four-wheeler attachmets?

[Deposit]

Looks good. Your corn came in better than mine. All this rain has really hurt my plot.

[WhiteTail Madness]

thanks for the comments guys!! Im really excited to get it finished off and get the green plots in!!!!

Seven...  It works out REALLY well for me, my grandpa is an old retired farmer, cant do much other than ride in the truck or tracter anymore......  He has a big garden about 1/8th mile down the road from my plots.  I DO NOT expect him to do any of this for me, and he knows that.  I told him when we started doing this project that he can work on it whenever he wants, and i'll do what he dont do, as long as there is no traffic in there from september 1st through december.  He has a small tracter that has PTO and Hydraulics, plus a brush hog, field cultivator, disc, and 2 bottom plow, everything we need to get to where we are right now!  It works out great, hes happy as a pig in SHI* when workin up that ground, and im glad that he has something to do to keep himself entertained and busy as he wants!  I do a little with the 4 wheeler but not much, i sprayed the corn with roundup using the 4 wheeler and a tank sprayer, whatever i dont spray with the wheeler i spray with a backpack sprayer.

Deposit my corn aint as good as it should be either due to the rain and cooler than average summer.......  THe spot that is plowed up in the corn used to be all corn, but got ruined by the rains and then weeds, weeds overtook the corn pretty good after the big rain b/c i couldnt even get in there with a wheeler to spray it.  Its all muck soil so when it gets wet... ITS WET!  This allowed the weeds to overcome the corn before i got a chance to get in there and spray it when it needed to be sprayed!!  I did save a good portion of the corn tho even after spraying it late, and im quite pleased with the way that it is coming up, the deer are using it already, plenty of cover for a place to hide, and yet will provide a good food source through most of late fall to early winter i predict..  Whenever the corn is gone there will be plenty of winter greens for them to mow on!!!!  Hopefully i'll have the plot planted this week thursday or friday, and within a week i'll be seeing some green shoots comin up.  I'll keep you guys updated with weekly growing shots once things start poppin!

Im learning a lot more as I go, but every year it seems to get more and more expensice as I continue to get more and more ideas to better the uses of this food plot...... THink last year i had under $500 stuck into it, i am now right around $1000 for this year...........  Btwn roundup ready corn seed, round up, n tense spray, green seed, gas, and regular round up.

Thanks for the comments again guys!

[WhiteTail Madness]

O and just an FYI for you guys, if you look to the right of the pic and see the tree that is in a Y shape??  THat is the stand location.  Its about a 40 yard shot down to the edge of the corn field.

[drobertsinMaryland]

Cool. Cant wait to see the trail cam pics of all the Boone & Crockett bucks you have running around.

[Stuck-on-Seven]

wish i had easy access to tractors all we got is the four-wheeler  .....oh well maybe once i get older if i am lucky enough to have money to buy my own land out in iowa or illinois i would be in heaven......i want to switch places with Lee Lakosky how can ya beat shooting huge bucks every year with Tiffany 

[WhiteTail Madness]

U read my mind seven!!!!!! Tiffany is a HOTTIE!! And Lee is one lucky dude!!!!  Its nice having easy access to all the stuff that I need, but its really not a necessity, just makes it a little easier ya know?  Just like property availability.....  Everyone thinks you need a bunch of property to put something together like this but ya really dont.  It would be great to have some property in Iowa or Illinois! I have relatives that live in northwest Iowa, some real nice property out there and giant bucks as everyone knows! 

[WhiteTail Madness]

Just an update for everyone..... I dragged, seeded and dragged today.......  Got out of work early so i could get this done today, calling for slight chances of rain all wknd so i figured it would be perfect timing!!  Got it all done with minor casualties.......    Lets see to start i was dragging the spot in the corn and the tractor was back heavy with the disc and drag, so dad hopped on the front, well he was standing on the bars that turn the wheels so his footing wasnt real solid, then hit a pretty decent rut, and off he goes and didnt get run over!  Just a lil dirty!!   THen i was dragging UP the hill and got to the top and started my turn, had the drag hooked to the tractor with chains and never thought twice, heard a noise and here comes the hole effin drag... Chain got under the tire and when that happend it pulled the drag right up onto the top of the tractor, luckily i seen this coming and ducked with the drag mearley missing my gourd, and whacked my shoulder........   No big deal, took the drag off unreaveld the chain and redid it!!!!  THen we were switchin drags and the dang bar popped up and whacked me in the shin, gashing my leg open, pants are full of blood along with my socks and boot.........  No dead people and no broken bones! Just a few minor scratched, but thats all part of the game!!!!!!
The bottom field was planted with Tecomate Ultra Forage, runs about $30 for a 9 lb bag that will plant 1 acre.
The Trail running up the hill was planted with Imperial Whitetail Winter Greens, obviously that is a late season seed that is supposed to stay standing and green through winter and many frosts, time will only tell if this is true or not! That runs around $35 for a 3 lb bag and will plant 1/2 acre.

Rundown of the Tecomate.......
39.95% Barkant Turnips
09.99%Barsica Rap
09.76%Lacerta Chicory
07.50% yellow leaf clover
07.48% Berseem Clover
04.96% Altaswede Red Clover
00.09% other crop seen
20.16% Imerty Matter and 20.00% Coating
00.11% Weed Seed

Rundown Of Imperial Whitetail
26.18% Winfred Forage Brassica
26.18% P1639274 Forage Kale
6.67% Dwarf Essex Rape Seed
3.29% Pulsar Forage Rapeseed
3.28% Dwarf siberian Kale
20% other crop seed
34.10% Insert matter includes 34% coating material
.10% Weed seed

 Heres the updated planted pic as of 8-05-09.
  This is where I planted Tecomate (bottom Field)
Where I planted the Imp Whitetail.......  (Trail going up the hill)
What I planted






I will be sure to give you guys weekly updates, I am excited to see this stuff start breaking ground!!!!!  Its gonnna look really nice and be very fun to hunt overtop this fall for whitetails and this spring for turkeys!!! 

[adksavage]

Whitetail any new updates??? I'm big into the food plots myself. Going on 8 years now. Huge fan of the imperial whitetail clover. I live in the Adirondacks, and you just can not kill this stuff. I have about four acres planted and the clover out performs everything I have tried. It holds up very well due to over grazing at least until a heavy frost. I have had everything from deer, bears to ducks and turkeys on the plots. There's nothing like watching your hard work turn "Green". As for "other" seed blends... I usually try a couple different types a year. Just for experiment purposes. The Brassica's seemed to have great potential, at least until the deer snipped off the new shoots. lol. Maybe you will have better luck than I.
 On a second note be sure to hunt these plots carefully. I tend to focus on the runways to and from the plots. Over hunting the actual plots tend to make the deer stop hitting it during day light hours.

[WhiteTail Madness]

I had TERRIBLE results with the imperial seed.............  Deer didnt touch it.  I have plots in this year again, same ol corn, with rhye grass and the antler king honey hole.  Season has been open here for 11 days (bow season), and i've only hunted this ground once.. Usually wait until later in the year to hunt it, unless i get a nice buck and his patterns nailed down early.  I rarely hunt over my plots, i like to hunt the bedding areas, travel corridors, staging areas, and all that other good stuff!  The food is there for the health of the deer, not for me to sit over and take my pick of what deer I want!! I know I know... I slacked with updated pics and what not this year, but we've been so danged busy at work I barely had time to get the plots in..........  Actually put all my plots in during dark this year cause work was taking up my daylight hours!