sailinghudson25

I live over by the Schoharie valley in NY. Lots of vegetable farming. Pretty much every field is sewn with Rye after the growing season. Before winter comes, it gets maybe 6 inch tall or so without going to seed. And then it perks up before getting cultivated over in maybe late april or so. It grows fast so it chokes out the other plant. The mild discing they do wakes up the weed seed, then the rye drown them out for competition. Also, the rye does two extra things. It provides lots of organic matter that is easily compostable, which helps soil quality. As the rye breaks down, there is a chemical or two produces that ruins germination rates of certain seeds. They call it an alleopathic effect. There's tons of farms out here with extremely little to no weeds, with minimum row cultivator or hillers to turn the weed roots. I have been using rye for years in my gardens. It is also a great starter seed for a food plot to choke out initial weeds, or in places with poor soil quality. It is very pH and soil nutrient tolerant and seems to germinate well in poorly prepared beds. Buckwehat is also good for that too, although I never used it. I believe it's more of a warm season plant to grow, versus a cold season plant like rye.

The plain jane 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 garden fertilizer works just fine. No need for fancy stuff if you can't get it. A soil test is a great idea, but, if you put down 2-3 bags of the fertilizer and 6 to 8 bags of pelletized lime you'll be doing very well. I'd put the lime down now, and wait a week or two before planting the plot. Lime needs time, pelletized is quicker. IF you're planting really small seeds like a gallon sized amount of seeds per acre, like clover, then save 2 bags of fertilizer. Divide up the clover or whatever small seed per bag, then mix it in well. It's a ton eaiser to get an even coat of seed with much more volume. I like enough lime mixed in to make 2 passes, incase a spot got missed. Handheld spreaders work much better in smaller rough plots than wheeled ones. The ones with the canvas bag. They hold about a half bag of fertilizer or lime, maybe a bit more. When spreading the lime initially w/o the seed. Lime is important, its really not much different than fertilizer. Don't skimp out on it. I put 2 bags of lime per every bag of fertilizer when I am maintaining plots. IF you can get manure, let the pile sit. Put a bag or two of lime on it too. Coyotes and turkeys will pick through the manure. Not sure if it's legally baiting, but it can be bait like..... The manure will have weeds, but the horses eat plants that deer also like and that you'll buy seed to grow. Also, a bit of weeds in a food plot is not a bad thing. Deer enjoy those "weeds" and birds rely on those weeds for food too. I'd add a bit of rye, oats, or wheat. Don't confuse rye with ryegrass. Incase the plot is slow to grow or doesn't grow certains plants, those cereal grains will have a decent bit for the deer to eat. I really like plotspike forage feast. Don't seed it too deep if you get a good till on the plot.

location: Greene County NAme: Plotspike forage Feast & whitetail institute clover & plotspike annual clover mix Type: rye, wheats, oats, brassica, Austrians peas, and red clover in plotspike, Annual and Perennial Seeding rate: 2/3 bag of plotspike, 1/2 bag of whitetail clover, 1lb of plotspike clover mix (all 1/2 acre bags) Planting: 1st Week August and LAbor day weekend in another small plot 2014 Purpose: Bow Stand spot Soil Prep: Cut trees from mature maple stand, hand raked and burned brush, small 3ft tow behind disc, lots of hand picking of rocks Soil Type: Clay that holds water well, pretty rocky spot, but a decent organic leave derbris mix into the top 3 or 4 inches, no heavy leveling either Ph: Used home kit, got 6.0 twice, put down 12 bags of pelletized in 1/2 acre and 3 bags of Hyponex 10-10-10 Growing prior: Allowed it go fallow for 2 years after felling trees, usual war mseason grasses, weeds, and rose bushes, weedwacked monthly during summer Upweek: Monthly mowing or when weeds start showing flowers for a week, hand pick real invasive weeds, just spread 3 bags of pelletized, 1 bag of 6-24-24, and 2lbs of borax soap careful mixed into lime Results: Great Why I like it: My first attempt at a formal food plot, I got tons of clover, went from 1 spotting a week on a trail camera to seeing 2 or 3 spottings a day from my back porch. Complete day and night difference. Purchase location: Bought it all locally, tractor supply and gander mountain. Notes: Did this with a lawn tractor, a old 3ft tow behind disc I bought for $50, and some elbow grease. Plotspike made a perfect nursery crop until the whitetail and annual clovers start putting out. It grew worse where I disced down better. I think the seeds when too deep, or the better aerated soil areas dryed out too quickly. None the less, you don't need to go deep to get good results. Here's a pic of what It looks like today, roughly 1 year later. I did not use chemicals to kill the existing weeds, I weedwacked monthly for 2 years, which did help deer show up more often alone. I did disc, and then went over it 4 or 5 days later which could of helped kill freshly germinated seed that was dormant before I disced the 1st time. It's got weeds, but is very manageable. I may round-up in a year or two. I got creeping Charlie in the plot, which is tough to eradicated without chemicals. 1st photo is about 3 weeks after planting in august 2014 2nd photo is the overall spot 3rd photo is close-up of clover, there are still wheat, oats, and brassica growing in the plot, just not in that spot. I let the plot go un mowed until right before bow season in 2014. I still let spots by stumps and the fence line go to seed to keep the cereal grains and brassica alive in spots. 4th photo is a spot I left alone, This is the result of just mowing a wild spot and seeing what mother nature allows to survive. The deer hit this spot as much as the others during the summer. Acutaly my treestand is on this fallow corner, the food plot is about 35 yards away from the stand. 5th picture is what I used to make the plot. An old lawn tractor with Ag tires and a 70 year old single row 3ft disc I put an extra 80lbs or so of large rocks ontop of.

I have done a few food plots with a 3ft tow behind disc and a lawn tractor on mud tires. I also hunt on a remote spot way in about 3 hours from my home as well. No chance of getting a tractor there right now. Maybe an ATV next year. However, I want something there this fall. I was planning on going there in 2 weeks to spray with round-up, lime, fertilize, and probably put a mix of stuff there. The cereals will be 1/2 plotspike forage feast and 1/2 cereal rye. Then I will spice it up with plotspike annual clover mix and whitetail institute clover as well. Since I am going no till, I will add a bit more than usual. This is log skid trails in a more open spot on the woods. I already weedwacked there good the last weekend in june. A decent amount of grass. I weedacked in a few smaller spots here n there to maybe a total of 3/4 of an acre. I also spread some of the above seed in a small test spot or two, but scratched around a bit better with a rake than a true no till. Thinking the extra shot of rye over the typical cereal grain mix blend might help with germination.

IF you cycle a lever slowly, it is more prone to jamb. However, you don't need to cycle it coybow shootout speeds either. Sometimes the rubber nose of the hornadys can jamb my 336. Hornady makes good ammo, but I reload with Remington 150gr cor-lokt heads. They work great and I can shoot good groups at 200 yards with a scope, and decent 150 yard groups with my peep sighted 336. I have both the early ballard rifling marlins and the micro-groove versions, all of them 20" barrels. Some brand new, some worn in a bit, but still works good. I have not came close to their advertised velocities of the hornady ammo. I get another 75 to 100 fps over 150gr cor-lokt factory loads. IF you do get to reload, the hornady brass is designed for the leverevolution ammo. It is about ,020" longer even before you shoot them. So, if going back to regular bullet heads, trim back that brass. Hronady is real nice brass to reload.

I hunt over by inlet with a shotgun and dog. I really think I would be more successful with a rifle. The cover is real tough and you got to be lightning fast with a shotgun before they go into cover again. Enjoy.

Interested in the Mossberg 500.