stubborn1VT

Browning A-bolt synthetic Stalker in 7 Rem Mag. 150 grain soft point Federals. 3x9 Bushnell Elite on top. It's weather proof, accurate, has sentimental value, and plenty of good juju. I know it's alot of gun for whitetails, but none of the bucks I've shot with it complained! If I get the itch, I may put a new scope on my grandfather's Savage 99 in .250-3000 and carry that on a dry day or two. We'll see.

Sorry for the double post.

So I planted brassicas in a 1/4 acre of new ground, next to 1/4 acre of existing plot. The germination was spotty, but the plants that came up looked good. I overseeded some bare or thin spots with some leftover seed. Last weekend things looked decent. I went yesterday to spread urea and the deer had half killed the plot. There were actually 6 deer in there when I went to fertilize. Will the urea and rain help the plot bounce back? Has anyone had luck "saving" a late plot with cereal grains? Do brassicas change color normally, or do reddish leaves signal a deficiency? Separately, I planted WI Fusion in the other 1/4 acre with forage oats as a nurse crop. It's filling in nicely, but the deer are keeping it mowed down. Do you use a high nitrogen fertilizer to feed the oats and chicory, or a low nitrogen fertilizer to boost the clover? I didn't seed my oats at a high enough rate, so I'm getting grass already. Live and learn. I know it's a lot of questions, but I figured some of the food plot whizzes might have some sound advice. Thanks to anyone who bothered to read this rambling, as well as anyone willing to share their experience & thoughts.

So I planted brassicas in a 1/4 acre of new ground, next to 1/4 acre of existing plot. The germination was spotty, but the plants that came up looked good. I overseeded some bare or thin spots with some leftover seed. Last weekend things looked decent. I went yesterday to spread urea and the deer had half killed the plot. There were actually 6 deer in there when I went to fertilize. Will the urea and rain help the plot bounce back? Has anyone had luck "saving" a late plot with cereal grains? Do brassicas change color normally, or do reddish leaves signal a deficiency? Separately, I planted WI Fusion in the other 1/4 acre with forage oats as a nurse crop. It's filling in nicely, but the deer are keeping it mowed down. Do you use a high nitrogen fertilizer to feed the oats and chicory, or a low nitrogen fertilizer to boost the clover? I didn't seed my oats at a high enough rate, so I'm getting grass already. Live and learn. I know it's a lot of questions, but I figured some of the food plot whizzes might have some sound advice. Thanks to anyone who bothered to read this rambling, as well as anyone willing to share their experience & thoughts.

I think you should step up and dedicate yourself to hunting this season with a spear, like Tim Wells. Big guy like you should be able to get decent speed out of a spear, and you won't be short on energy! We all know that bow kills with compounds and releases don't count!

The first mornings where it drops into the 40's. I shoot the bow before I go to work. I got a picture of my first cruising buck! I don't know where he came from, but I got a single picture of him on a new log road I cut last winter. The weather must have him in the mood to look around too!

Patch cutting areas for firewood. I cut in September, October, and early November. I pile the brush high. The deer feed on the brush and feed on the regrowth in that area for 3-5 years. Some of these patch cuts led to food plots, but I saw an increase in deer activity way before I planted anything. I agree that mowing trails and certain areas is one of the best ways to steer deer. I want to do a combination of mowing and chainsaw work to funnel deer where they cross a big powerline. I was looking at the way they moved around the blowdowns in the edge of the softwoods. I don't want to get too crazy with the saw, but I want to give them a path of least resistance. I'm hoping to add some mock scrapes with grapevines for licking "branches" to survey what bucks cruise through too.

Easton 2117 as well. Never found a reason to change. Glad to see that I'm not the only one!

You can use most anything as a cover crop, but most of us feel that it doesn't belong in a food plot. It ends up in so many mixes because it grows and it's green, not because deer love it so much.

Ladino is ok, but gets tall. Deer cannot digest the stem well, so a shorter clover is better for them. With that said, it depends on how big a plot. In a small plot, a shorter stemmed clover will provide better forage and stand up to browsing better. A blend will help your plot succeed in a a variety of conditions. I planted White Dutch, Ladino, and Medium Red clovers. I couldn't get my hands on any Alsike clover, which is supposed to handle wet soil better than other clovers.

If it's tight at all it will make you torque the bow. Like Bowman said, it's just there to keep you from dropping the bow on the ground.

It should grow fine. The benefit of the inoculant is that it helps the new clover fix nitrogen. The rhizobia may already be in the soil. The inoculated red clover should help. I have planted untreated red clover in the woods before. It didn't do great, and established slowly. Since you planted a mix, you should be good.

Ladino is good, but White Dutch is better for deer. Red clovers establish faster, but whites stand up to browsing better. My vote is for White Dutch clover. I have found very good prices and varieties from an online store called "The Dirty Gardener". They offer raw seed, innoculated seed, and Nitro coated seed. They claim to bag alot of seed weekly, so that their seed an innoculants are fresh. I used it in a couple of plots this year and had very good germination rates.

I'm off all 16 days of VT rifle season. I will take 5-7 days off during bow season, and work half days around weather fronts. If the freezer isn't full, I will take off days during muzzleloader/ late archery. Self-employed. All the benefits and and all the headaches of being your own boss.

I have to agree with Jerry and Grow. If I feed 12 and shoot 1, I call that a fair trade. The deer don't have to come to a plot, or a specific spot on the property, and they don't have to do it during daylight hours. My reason for planting plots is to feed deer year-round, and to see deer. I grew up on a small dairy farm. Is a 19 acre hay field a food plot? Is hunting on it baiting? It's an interesting debate. Somehow I don't think Gringo is interested in a debate. Last year was the first time I shot a deer near a food plot. I killed a buck, with a bow, on the edge of a food plot. He was checking a scrape under an apple tree that is older than me. I don't know if the food plot played a role, and I don't care. I do care that several does raised fawns on a 12 acre property that I have access to. To each his/her own. If you don't agree with baiting or food plots or doe-in heat scents ... just do the noble thing and don't use them.

Looks fairly big! I'm hoping for something similar next year. Did you have to spray it? I'm a big clover fan because it comes up so early, and I've seen deer dig through snow to get to it.

Chestnuts are as big/bigger than your eye. They aren't all gone, just the majority. Most of what you see are imported, or descendants of disease resistant American trees.

Beech. Looks like a good crop. Critters love 'em.

Either WW or brassicas would work, but I would throw in some more clover seed too. The clover won't amount to anything this season, but it would be there in the spring.

I have a couple, and like them alot. The first one came with a ML as part of a package deal. I liked it so much that I got one for my heavy azz deer rifle. The sling doesn't slip, and it has a little stretch, which helps with comfort. I'm a big fan, and prefer it over my stretchy Uncle Mike's slings.

I have had success with a double fence with no power. I did two fences about 4 feet apart, with 2 strands each. Each strand was at a different height Used old tape style fence that was destined for the dumpster. It's very visible and it was free. Good luck with your fence. A friend of mine fences his small commercial veggie garden with 3 strands of poly wire. He powers it with a car battery. The battery also lasts about a month, but he says he never bothers to change it after the first month. The deer get bit by the fence and don't come back. That reminds me - I need to go look at my beans...

Trophy Rock already has a powdered/granular version. I saw it on Midwest Whitetail this spring.

I understand that you believe the soybeans are to blame. I'm pretty sure discbines kill more fawns than coyotes this time of year. So planting hay crops should be avoided, because it draws out does to feed and the fawns gets killed by mowers.

No closed season on coyotes here in Vermont. I'm not sure I get the connection between soybeans and coyotes. I'm pretty sure coyotes eat fawns no matter what.

I don't know what maturity group my soybeans are. The seed was free from a friend of mine who plants 90 acres to sell. My soybeans and fence didn't cost me a dime. I did burn a bit of diesel, but I would do that no matter what I planted. I know corn draws deer, but the costs and difficulty of planting it doesn't work for many people. No, deer don't abandon soybeans. I've seen them take a break from them when they first turn yellow. The Drury brothers have a specific hunting strategy for when their beans turn, and they count on them as a late season food source. Wolc and I are never going to agree. Corn works for him. He has tractors and a corn planter. A 2 acre plot of beans will provide more food for more months than a 2 acre corn plot. They take less from the soil, bank nitrogen, are easy to plant, and deer love them. They definitely aren't ideal, but many experts consider them one of the very best food sources for whitetail.