OT- Food plot

Many people bait deer, which is illegal here in NY but is legal in some places, I do not know about PA. The whole food plot idea seems silly to me, it is just a way of making the baiting of deer legal. They like old apple trees, at least around here.
Zach
 
I agree. It would be nice if these folks would quit teaching wildlife that our crops and gardens are there for the benefit of them. If you can't hunt deer in this day and age without some type of bait, you are not much of a hunter. The things are everywhere.
 
They sell many types of food plot stuff in any good farm and home or Wal-Mart etc. Or you can plant corn and milo in the spring and turnips and winter wheat in the fall
 
They like my garden best around here. Cleaned up my Swiss chard yesterday - can't even see where the roots were. There are way to many deer in my opinion.
 
We put an 8' high fence around the vegetable garden 7 years ago after major deer problems and have not had one deer in there since. It was around 600' of fence so it was a bit of work and expense but it paid off in the end.
Zach
 
I would feed them poison-I am sick and tired of worrying about hitting one of those suicidal idiots while trying to drive to and from work.Total a few of your own vehicles and you will agree.The government should make it open season on them,day or night all year.These things cause more damage than any terrorist.The roads I drive are littered with dead deer.And car parts.Mark
 
Actually, I have hit them more than once. The first time I was coming home from work and a doe just walked out, head down, right in front of me. I veered but she just kept walking. I hit her square on the side of the head with my left parking light. She spun around kicking and took out the entire side of my car to the tune of $6K. The second time I was able to stop but as I came to a halt I hit the deer. No damage to car but it knocked that doe about 30 feet thru the air. She was flopping all over. I figured I would come back and shoot her but apparently...she recovered and left.
 
My wife and I both have hit about 4-5 each one of us-no joke.Totaled her Monte Carlo last time,the deer rolled up the hood kicking the windshield up the roof and back down still kicking(I am so glad he did not kick thru).Another previous time I hit one,got car repaired, picked up on Friday,and she hit another on Monday.My Ford Ranger almost totaled(surprised when insurance fixed it); 8 monthes later hit another.I skid to avoid them on average about 1-2 times per month,stop for them 2x per week.But you never see the one you hit til you hit it!Mark
 
(quoted from post at 09:44:36 08/31/14) We put an 8' high fence around the vegetable garden 7 years ago after major deer problems and have not had one deer in there since. It was around 600' of fence so it was a bit of work and expense but it paid off in the end.
Zach

My neighbor who is in his 80's calls my a few times a year as they jump over his fence (which is about 8 feet), but they cannot jump out.
Just plant what you do not want them to eat and they will eat it.
If you hunt over or near any plot technically you are breaking the law, just ask my neighbor the warden.
 
Minnesota doesn't allow hunting over bait but does allow hunting over food plots.
Their reasoning is that food plots help wildlife - deer, turkeys, geese, bunnys, whatever - to find forage year round.
I keep a couple of plots going where I hunt.
We don't have the abundance of deer like some states. In fact after two bad winters here we are back to having to apply for the doe lottery to get a doe tag.
Otherwise it's bucks only.
A deer plot does give you a little better chance of getting one.
 

I sure hate those pests,too. I have over 100 pear trees on about 6 acres,surrounded by houses, and I have a herd of 12 or more living around here. There's no hunting (it's a densely populated suburb), so these deer are fearless-I can walk almost right up to them. The only things I can grow in my unfenced garden are garlic and hot peppers-nothing bothers them. All summer, they eat the leaves off my pear trees, and in the fall, the buck thinks my young pear trees make great rubs for his antlers-I have fencing around all the trees, but sometimes he breaks down the fence and tree together-I've lost a number of trees that way. Having an idiot neighbor who keeps a big deer feeder filled all winter sure doesn't help things,either. I've had deer come right up onto my deck to get bird seed.
 
First off, what does this have to do with IH tractors?

Second off, the "food plot" is one of the biggest scams ever foisted on the hunting community. They sell you overpriced seed and overpriced miniature farm implements that you tow behind your overpriced four wheeler, so you can pretend that you're a farmer.

What's worst about it is that the people who can least afford it are the ones who spend the most on it. "I'm saving money on meat." Yuh-huh, and how much have you spent on equipment (ten$ of thousand$), and how many deer have you shot (0)?

The deer go where the food is. By the time hunting season rolls around there won't be anything edible on your "food plot" so the deer will have moved on.

You want a food plot? Let the local farmers do the work. They already are. During hunting season the best source of food is spilled grain in the corners of corn fields and deer know this. Get the farmer's permission. I'm sure he won't mind you hunting there if you ask first and take a couple.
 

You use a tractor to prepare a food plot, so this is a valid post.
Over the years I have learned that deer eat almost anything.
Plant anything and they will probably eat it. I am in western, pa and all I do anymore is apply fertilizer and lime to my existing property.
 
I use a tractor to run the generator during power outages, and the power went out one time while I was running the washing machine. Does this mean I can ask questions about laundry detergent?

...and no you don't use a tractor. You use your big expensive "quad" or "UTV."
 
(quoted from post at 08:07:24 09/02/14)
...and no you don't use a tractor. You use your big expensive "quad" or "UTV."

Two guys I know that "tend" food plots have 85 to 100 HP tractors and do several plots. It would be a full time job with a quad or utility vehicle. They use a disk and drill like any farmer would in this area.
As for asking a farmer here in Kansas to hunt, any decent deer habitat is leased and there is no way you will find a place to hunt on unless you are a family member on un-leased ground. One of the guys I know that works plots has a guide service and puts them on leased farms... the other is a hunter himself with family members that hunt the plots.... his actual farm land is leased to another farmer. Most of the plots are small acreages that are not economical to farm with the big equipment most farmers have these days.
I have quit raising a garden due to the deer eating everything. It's not as bad now as a few years ago when a neighbor lady was feeding them all the time. I live on the edge of town and the lots here are 2 to 3 acres, with open fields behind me and a lot of deer habitat. Have counted over 20 deer at a time out the house windows, but usually 2 to 5 is more normal.
 
No sense planting corn, soybeans or grain sorghum. If you have any deer at all the crop and grain will be stripped clean and gone by the time deer season rolls around.

I would go with wheat in the fall, then in Feb. sow red clover. the clover will last two or three years.

If you want a spring type crop, try regular old feeding oats.

And dont go buy all the fancy seeds that hunting outfits sell, like their special clovers, etc. Just go to the local feed store and buy whatever they sell for cheap. Get the "brown bag" seed, no need for brand name, hybrid or fancy seeds.

Gene
 
I look to folks here for more than my tractor every now and then. Got good advice and info on my Johnson outboard and repaired it.
 
Hard to beat alfalfa. And you can mow and bale it tice for a little profit. I make about $2500 selling alfalfa off three little plots. ANd the deer are on them year round.
 

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