Late season food plot for deer

When we bought the Estate, the plan was to have a place where we could get away from the "city house" and all the stresses and annoyances that come with it. We wanted a place to camp, relax, play in the woods, hunt and ride ATV's. This was very much like the childhood I had growing up. The big difference was that we don't live at the Estate and there is no house or cabin there either. In the last 4 years, I have worked very hard to make it someplace to go. I have also worked hard to make it someplace the deer want to go. I've cleared trails, cleaned up invasives so native plants can thrive and I've cultivated areas for food plots.

If you have been reading the blog, you know I do like to hunt. I like to provide from the land and not rely on faceless corporations as much. Of course, we still go to the grocery store but not for everything. We haven't bought red meat from the store in at least 5-6 years. We purchase a beef quarter from a local farmer that is processed at a local meat processor and stored in our freezer. When it comes to venison, I try to get at least one deer every season. I process the deer myself and we use it throughout the year. Last year, I was only able to get one deer. That has put a bind on our venison supply. Luckily, it was a large doe, however, it's still not as much meat as we would like.

To boost my chances, I have planted a couple food plots at the Estate. These are to give the deer a food source after the AG fields have been taken in. In turn, this will hopefully give me a better chance to get a deer from the Estate. It also gives us a chance to watch the deer and see how the small herd is doing throughout the year. We can get an idea of how many fawns were born and how they are doing over the summer. Since our herd is pretty small, we also notice when new deer come through. Along with deer, we also see turkeys, fox and even an occasional coyote. The turkeys seem to love the food plots. They have a lot of insects and other invertebrates that the turkeys like to eat, so it makes sense.

This year, the "large food plot" went in on time and we had great weather - or so I thought - for it to be very successful. After a while, it became apparent that I was wrong. Some of the Sorghum I had planted just didn't seem to take. Normally, Sorghum grows very well in our sandy soil but this year it struggled. Around the middle of July, I decided I needed to do something to help the plot out and try to boost the appeal to the critters. I went out and disc'd up a small area, about 50ft square to put in a small late season plot. In the area where the Sorghum had really not done well at all, I turned everything over and planted some Brassica Blend. Radishes, Beets, and Turnips should do well to bring deer in throughout the late season, if it grows.

We have had a lot of rain this summer. Much more than last year. But, it's also been really hot. The rain is great for getting seeds to sprout and poke through the soil. The heat is pretty hard on them when they are small. This could be why the plot didn't do as well as I thought it might. Since I planted at the end of July, I should have plenty of time left for growing and since I've planted, we have had rain at least once a week. It's still been very warm, which is not ideal for new seedlings. Only time will tell what happens.

Stay tuned for updates as we head toward fall.

Be sure to check out the latest video on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3KxuyjPuNs