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This coming Spring I plan on planting a food plot that is about 5 acreas. After Doing some research I still haven't decided on what to plant. The land is full of deer and Turkey, but needs a food plot to provide adequate antler growth, so more bigger bucks can be havested. I would like to hear testimonials from anyone that has experience doing this in the past. If you can provide me the name of the product, what the pros and cons are, and if you reccomend it for purchasing.
Thanks,
Aaron
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I would suggest using Bio-Logic for your plots. It is the best on the market.
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I put in my first plot this year about 1/4 acre plot this spring. these are some of the things I did for my reg garden and the deer were all over it, wished I had taken the same care of my plot as I did with the garden cuz the deer were all over the garden and not in the plot untill the very end of the year.
my garden turned out well, my plot didnt because I did not put in the same quality of work. but mostly because I did not kill off the original groth prior to tilling. every thing that was there all came back and strangled my deer plot stuff. Sugar beats was in the mix of what I planted, the biggest one was only 2-3 inches. the deer did kick and paw at them trying to dig them up, but there was not a lot for them to dig up size wise..
major draw backs are.
weather conditions was not favorable,
soil conditioning is a must. even after planting. especialy if your putting in corn. Deer will eat the young corn plants when they come up and about half grown.
these things I strongly recomend,
[ul][li]What ever product you use, unless you like replanting your plot every year make sure your product says perenial.[/li][li]If you have time, till or disk your plot now.[/li][li]come spring get a gallon of round up and spray all groth in your plot area to kill the root systems of existing plants.[/li][li]wait about a week then disk or till your feild and plant[/li][li]after the new groth has begun "aprox 2/3 weeks" perchas one gallon of fish emultion follow directions on for application. you can use a watering can or a hand heald sprayer, "if using a sprayer mix your emultion in a seperate bucket and filter it in to your sprayer using a coffee filter. "some times I find chuncks in the emultion and filtering it will make for a problem free application." [/li][/ul]
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YOU WOULD NEVER BELIEVE ME. This year the biggest buck of the county was killed directly across our property.... Now this brings me to the food plots and what needs to be done to keep the antler growth going forward for the future....
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food plots are great for body mass production. deer will also keep food plots in their traveling circle.
Antler production is generated by available minerals naturaly found. A good food sorce dose aid in the productioin of bone groth but it is the minerals that cause masive antlers.
In michigan year after year the same areas that are noted for masive antlers continue to produce great antlered harvest.
the minerals the deer find are found mostly by the water supply, "ground springs" Not all areas are fortunate to have these springs to suport the groth of antlers
so if you are looking for horns, I sugest that to put out a mineral block. They are the best and greatest sorce of calsium and other esenctial nutirents needed for bone groth.
This dose not mean that if you put out a mineral block or a food plot or both you are going to get a boon and crockett set of horns. Genetics also plays a big part of getting good horns. But years of this pratice will help to imporve your chances of one day getting that prized set.
point is it takes several years to produce a good set of horns. It starts in the whoom of a doe, wich means you need to keep the available minerals avilabe before birth to the time of harvest, so you should know that deer dont start getting the best racks untill they get to 4-5 years of age.
lessen you own a big tract of land it is probably a good idea to talk to your neighbors and start a selective hunting pratice. several people can do this more afordably and help with plot maitance and make sure mineral deposits are available year round.
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STATES WITH MONSTER WHITE TAIL DEER:
I'm going to explain this as best as I can.... Minerals in the soil are the no.1 thing that helps create big antler growth.... Certain states will never be able to harvest white tail deer as Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, illinois, indiana and canada.... The nutrients and minerals are not in the soil say for example Tennessee.... You can find charts on the internet that show soil samples in nearby area.... Food plots do help provide adequate antler growth in area that you have harvested little deer, but you can grow corn, food plots, wheat or whatever, but the deer still will never reach the full potential of the Northern deer..... Some of the biggest deer I ever harvested in Ohio came from corn fields probably because they prefer corn or that crop is able to provide the most nutrients and minerals for the deer to make them mature faster....
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