Food Plots Need A Good Soaking

A good food plot, with enough rain, can produce fine bucks.

I'm a bit too young to remember The Dust Bowl days of the early 1930s, but well remember talking to people who lived through that era when the ground was baked under a brutal sun, hardened, cracked and turned to chalk-like dust from an ongoing drought.

Crops were impossible to grow for a few years, and dust storms covered roads, seeped into houses, and some people with respiratory problems did not survive those years.

Things aren't that bad right now. It's not even close but people who have put in food plots or gardens or are trying to establish them are having a tough way to to go to make things sprout.

"Last year was a bad year for me with Purple-Top turnips," said a friend. "I planted after a nice rain, but then the rains ended and the turnips weren't any good. They came up small and rather woody looking on the inside. The deer didn't pay any attention to them."

I've had good and lousy food plots, and often the difference is the amount of rain.

Anyone who plants a food plot is subject to all of the very same problems as any farmer. Some years the weather turns against us. Many people are getting ready to put in their fall crops now, but the soil is hard, cracking, and lacks enough moisture although we did a light rain last night. A series of rains are still needed, and we usually get some rain in late August to jump-start our fall planting season."

One can only hope the weatherman cooperates. If not, some fields and crops will be useless.

Two fields of mine were ready to plant in early August, and we got a good rain right after planting. There was green growth within six days, and some good rain since. But this is what makes fall planting so tricky, and admittedly, this will be my fourth fall planting. Two produced a lush crop and one could barely grow weeds. Only time will tell how this year's fall planting will fare.

Many people like fall plantings or annual crops while others like some favorites when the soil conditions are conducive to growing a crop of brassica such as Dwarf Essex Rape and Purple-Top turnips. Poor soil conditions can be built into good organic soil by planting buckwheat, oats and rye, and discing it into the ground for two or three years in a row.

Good soil and rain are two key ingredients to a good food plot.

"This is called 'green manure,'" an elderly farmer told me. "Two or three seasons of a green manure crop will usually build enough organic residue into your soil to produce a good high-protein crop such as alfalfa, clover or rape.

He did caution me to keep records of what is being planted every year. Keeping records of planting dates, crops planted, and what kind of a yield it produces is very important. He says a lack of records means that sportsmen have no way of knowing what they did right or did wrong.

He said the ideal plan is to provide for a year 'round food source for animals and birds. Proper planning means soil tests before anything is planted. Some soil is so poor that nothing but weeds will grow until the soil mineral content is built up.

One should never consider a food plot as a replacement for baiting. One problem with food plots on large tracts of land is the land is heavily wooded in many cases, and it takes time to build a good soil content that is capable of growing high-protein crops. It just doesn't happen overnight.

Many food plots that are planted to legumes (beans and peas) are literally destroyed by deer eating the crop as it begins to grow. A small food plot will be quickly annihilated by hungry deer.

Try mixing crops that go together well. Talk with seed companies.

One suggestion for sportsman is to mix other things that will grow in the fall and come back early in the spring. A mix of winter wheat offers good green food and cover in the fall, and it comes back up as soon as the snow melts. Rape and Purple-Top turnips, with some alfalfa and clover in other nearby fields, will produce good fall and early spring food for hungry deer.

If you see a man with a white beard standing outside about this time of year, and gazing skyward, it probably means I'm either praying or scanning the skies for sign of rain clouds.

A bit of each may be needed late this summer and in the early fall. I know that my food plots are in better shape than most, but they can use a good drink, and the sooner the better.

Plant It Right And The Deer Will Come

Dave Richey (left) checks his clover plot.

More and more people are putting in food plots every year. Some people use them to attract deer so they can watch the animals from their house, and some people hunt over them. Either way, putting in a food plot is good for all wildlife in the area.

So what is a perfect food plot? Perfect means it grows well and provides extra nutrition.
This question was put to Bruce Grant of Rogers City. He’s become the expert at putting in large and small food plots in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula, in the so-called Club Country.

Food plots can grow well in northern counties if properly planted.

"What is a good plan for a year 'round food source?" Grant asks, before answering his own question. "Some type of plan that will carry our wildlife, such as deer and wild turkeys, through all four seasons and still provide an excellent food source during hunting season.

"We need a plan and must keep good records. We need to know what does and doesn't work. Remember, it takes a whole growing season to learn what may have went wrong."
Grant breaks down his food plots in various ways. Alfalfa/clover is high in food value and important for fawn development and antler growth. It is good in the spring, and most valuable in January and February. He does not cut his crop after Aug. 1 because he wants all the growth possible before cold weather and snow sets in. His alfalfa/clover fields provide a food source while annual plantings are getting started.

He wants his ground pH to be at 6.5-7.0, and warns people not to buy seed in the spring. It often is last year's inventory and may be outdated. Chicory is a good crop but requires 18 months to produce. It doesn't grow real well the first year. He also warns sportsman that a primary diet of pure clover can cause deer to bloat. He suggests mixing clover with orchard grass.

In early May, Grant works the fields he wants to plant by June 1. This could be a small patch of rape and turnips. His major spring planting will be a soybean, forage peas and brassica mix. It grows fast and makes an excellent summer and early fall mix. It also keeps the deer off new alfalfa/clover or chicory plantings. Soybeans and forage peas have a protein rating of 38 percent, much higher than corn.

He said that in early May he works all the fields he plans to plant, and lets them sit for two or three weeks before reworking the fields to be planted. He spreads fertilizer and seeds the same day in hopes of getting ahead of the weeds. He uses herbicides, but only on new fields to be established.

Fall plantings should be planted sometime in August, and the earlier the better.

Fall plantings, he said, begin in early August when oats, wheat or rye mature. He will disc them, spread 200 pounds of fertilizer per acre and let them grow. This is a soil building crop.

This crop also will provide excellent fall grazing. Oats and wheat planted in the fall, and handled in this manner, offer a place for spring fawns and turkey poults to hide. It also is a great food source.

Aug. 1-30 is when he does his fall plantings. He works his fields two to three weeks prior to planting for weed control. His major fall crop will be a brassica mix.

Dwarf Essex rape and purple top turnip are the magic crops for many hunting camps. It they are planted by the first of August, by October 1, there will be a very good crop of rape and turnips. Deer normally will not eat this crop until the first heavy frost. After that first frost, the animals won't stay out of it.

Kay Richey poses with a nice 12-point.

Grant said deer first eat the turnip bulbs and tops. They also feed in a brassica field until the ground freezes so hard that they can no longer dig or they have completely destroyed the field, usually by early January.

"Fall is a great time to plant a mix of winter wheat and oats," he said. "The oats come up first and fast. The first hard frost freezes out the oats but the wheat will be the first green crop next April.

Plant a mix of annuals and perennials for attractive food plots.

"A good plan includes both annuals and perennials. When you consider the cost to maintain perennials, like mowing, fertilizing and weed control, I believe the cost between annuals and perennials is a toss-up."

He is a strong believer in diversification. He says it is best to rotate crops between areas, and change what is planted in each field from year to year.

"Go plant it," he said. "The deer and turkeys will come. Diversify, maintain and rotate. Just don't expect a perfect food plot the first year. It often takes two years to get growing well. Hope for some rain and warm weather."

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

A touch of spring fever

George Richey unhooks an 8-pound Manistee Lake walleye.

A breeze, as soft as an angel's kiss, drifted through the warm air. The temperature hovered around 40 degrees, but it felt like summer.

The ground is still a bit too soggy to sit outside under a tree and luxuriate in the perceived warm of a gentle sun. The sun rays beat down, and instead of sitting, I sprawled out on my deck railing to stare up into the sky.

Today was the my first taste of spring fever, and with it came thoughts of life, death and renewal. The end of a tedious winter, and hopefully the beginning of a new growing season.

Relaxing and thinking grand spring outdoor thoughts.

It felt nice about 2 p.m. to lay back for nearly an hour and do nothing. Sure, I could have been writing my blog or whatever, but I was doing what I most wanted to do -- nothing, but be outside in the sunshine.

Laying back and thinking. Remembering the past, and looking forward to the future. Mixing some good and not-so-good thoughts. Thinking of other days when I would sit on the bank of a steelhead stream in drowsy warmth, and spend an hour watching two steelhead spawn.

I didn't feel like a voyeur; instead, it was as if I were watching the rebirth and renewal of steelhead at that one point in time when fish eggs were fertilized and covered with gravel. In time, those eggs will hatch, and of the multitude of fertilized eggs from one hen steelhead, only a few fish will live long enough to return to recreate their kind.

I was momentarily touched by thoughts of twin brother George, and how he and I enjoyed this special time and place on the Platte River, sharing a wild spectacle of spawning fish, and knowing full well we could be fishing for and catching those fish. However, we also knew that watching the spawning act was more important to the future of this fishery than us catching those fish.

Remembering 63 years of outoor life with twin brother George Richey.

George is always in my thoughts, and even though it is closing in on eight years since his death, I think of him daily. I wish we could have shared today, but I know that we shared many other days when fishing was far less important than us being on the stream.

I heard the brief put-put-put of an early but ardent male ruffed grouse practicing his love song on a drumming log. In the distance came the throaty gobble of a turkey, and a few whiny sounds of a hen turkey complaining about something.

I thought about getting the second-season hunt in this heavily hunted Area K, wondered about the apathetic folks who own land but can't draw an early-season tag. I wonder why more people don't complain to the DNR and ask why private-land tags are available in the U.P. and the southern Lower Peninsula, but not here.

There were fleeting thoughts of trolling for spring brown trout off the piers at Manistee and Frankfort, and the chance -- albeit slight -- of catching a 25-pound brown. Only had one that size hooked, many years ago, and it was lost at the boat. Caught thousands of browns to 18 pounds, but never personally cracked the 20-pound barrier.

There were somewhat pleasant thoughts of upcoming work that must be done to lime and fertilize our food plots this spring, and try to get rid of the grasses and weeds that invariably grow with the clover. That is coming up in the next month or so, and it is a busy back-breaking time.

This year will mean cleaning out some overhead limbs on some food plots to allow more sun to hit the clover. Our crops were new last year, and while they produced, it seemed the weeds came and choked out the other crops. Planting food plots means a major investment in sweat equity, but my neighbor and I believe in helping nature thrive.

Some thoughts about spring fishing and hunting.

Now, if only we could make Mother Nature rain enough so we didn't have to water our plantings. We, along with other farmers, either get too much or too little rain.

My tranquil hour on the deck railing delivered several thoughts on the upcoming turkey season, the upcoming trout and walleye opener in about about six weeks, and then it's fixing up ground blinds and tree stands once again. One or two tree stands may have to be moved.

A sportsman really has little time to kick back and relax, but an early spring day like today is a wonderful time to take a well-deserved break, and think about what we have and how we can make it better.

Thanks for sharing some of my spring fever dreams with me.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Look for some new deer areas

Hunters who want good deer land will probably wind up paying plenty for it.

Deer hunters are creatures of habit. Many staunchly resist any form of change.

Many will sit on the same tree stand, along the same runway, as they did 10, 15 or 20 years ago. It's difficult for many sportsmen to break their old habits or traditions, and some deer hunters never try. It becomes a tradition to again hunt where a buck was killed sometime in the far distant past.

They often wonder: If it was good 20 years ago, it should still be a good spot now. Right?

That’s not always true. In fact, it is seldom true with whitetail deer.

Maybe yes and maybe no. That tradition of returning, year after year, to the same stand has probably saved the life of more bucks than poor shooting or a lack of preseason scouting.

Sadly, clinging to a traditional spot, even when it no longer is hot, is a lesson in frustration and futility. It also leads to fiery claims by skunked hunters that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reports of abundant whitetails are inflated.

Well, they no longer are. It's true that Michigan's deer herd is down in numbers, and that should be a good enough reason to start using the old noodle for something other than a place to store a camo cap. Changing stand locations is probably long overdue.

Perhaps this season is the time to cast aside the traditional old haunts, and think about trying a new area. Too many people never realize that food and habitat conditions can and do change over time for a number of reason, and if the landowner doesn't do something to make the land produce more food and offer more cover, the deer will move on. It's as simple as that.

Deer are animals of farmland and woodland. Granted, some deer live in deep forest and many live on farms, and that's a fact of life in this state.

If you agree that a new hunting location should be tried, where should hunters start in their search for a new spot to try their luck or skill?

Finding good deer areas isn’t as easy now as it was 20 years ago.

Hunters can start with the DNRE. They keep track of deer trends, and know which counties have the highest deer numbers and which ones produce the largest deer. The county extension agent often deals with farmers and other landowners, and they also can help find a spot.

Determine if you want to hunt the Upper or Lower Peninsula, but if you've read hunting reports elsewhere about deer hunting prospects, the U.P. is not the place to go. The area with the most deer is south of an east-west line from Bay City to Grand Rapids.

Start asking questions. Learn which counties produce big bucks and lots of deer, and learn why deer numbers are high in such areas. Determine the availability of state or federal lands nearby, but both state and federal land is quite sparse and overhunted in the southern Lower Peninsula. It's not as heavily hunted in Region II because deer numbers are way down from four years ago.

Spend time scouting two or three different areas. Determine which ones offer the best combination of land, cover, deer foods, bedding cover and access. Walk around the land, and check for well-used deer trails leading from bedding to feeding areas and back.

Look for buck rubs and deer scrapes in late October. Check barbed wire fences for bits of hair that indicate deer passing through the area.

Talk with nearby landowners to determine their idea of hunting pressure. Often, in agricultural areas, the major hunting pressure is from the landowner and his or her family and close friends.

Leasing land can be done, but depending on habitat & deer, the cost can be high.

Consider the possibility of leasing hunting rights. Fees vary depending on length of the lease, property size, whether it is ideal or marginal deer habitat, and what it offers the hunter.

No one owes today's sportsman anything in terms of hunting private property. I manage my 20 acres to produce deer and hopefully one big buck will move through my land on occasion.

Crop lands are rotated and some timber is cut. Doing so helps maintain good hunting, but it's a never-ending learning process to keep up with where whitetails travel after crop rotation and timbering takes place.

I spend many hours every day, 365 days a year, scouting my land. Deer habits change, food supplies change, and hunting pressure can make deer seek quieter areas. A hunter doesn't know these things unless they spend time in the field on a regular basis.

Public lands feature too many hunters in narrowly confined areas, and the hunting pressure is too high. Food supplies are far better on private land than state or federal lands. Private property holds deer, and, in many areas, it supports more whitetails than public land. For this reason it's easy to understand why more people lease hunting land even though the price of leasing acreage is rising.

Whether a hunter leases private land, hunts on public land, or manages to wangle an invitation from a landowner, scouting is a never-ending problem. Hunters who don't scout old land or new land run a major risk of not being successful.

Knowing what lies over the next ridge and why deer travel one trail and not another is why some sportsmen bag whitetail bucks year after year, and why some hunters never tie their tag to the rack of a good buck.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Look for some new deer areas

Hunters who want good deer land will probably wind up paying plenty for it.

Deer hunters are creatures of habit. Many staunchly resist any form of change.

Many will sit on the same tree stand, along the same runway, as they did 10, 15 or 20 years ago. It's difficult for many sportsmen to break their old habits or traditions, and some deer hunters never try. It becomes a tradition to again hunt where a buck was killed sometime in the far distant past.

They often wonder: If it was good 20 years ago, it should still be a good spot now. Right?

That’s not always true. In fact, it is seldom true with whitetail deer.

Maybe yes and maybe no. That tradition of returning, year after year, to the same stand has probably saved the life of more bucks than poor shooting or a lack of preseason scouting.

Sadly, clinging to a traditional spot, even when it no longer is hot, is a lesson in frustration and futility. It also leads to fiery claims by skunked hunters that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reports of abundant whitetails are inflated.

Well, they no longer are. It's true that Michigan's deer herd is down in numbers, and that should be a good enough reason to start using the old noodle for something other than a place to store a camo cap. Changing stand locations is probably long overdue.

Perhaps this season is the time to cast aside the traditional old haunts, and think about trying a new area. Too many people never realize that food and habitat conditions can and do change over time for a number of reason, and if the landowner doesn't do something to make the land produce more food and offer more cover, the deer will move on. It's as simple as that.

Deer are animals of farmland and woodland. Granted, some deer live in deep forest and many live on farms, and that's a fact of life in this state.

If you agree that a new hunting location should be tried, where should hunters start in their search for a new spot to try their luck or skill?

Finding good deer areas isn’t as easy now as it was 20 years ago.

Hunters can start with the DNRE. They keep track of deer trends, and know which counties have the highest deer numbers and which ones produce the largest deer. The county extension agent often deals with farmers and other landowners, and they also can help find a spot.

Determine if you want to hunt the Upper or Lower Peninsula, but if you've read hunting reports elsewhere about deer hunting prospects, the U.P. is not the place to go. The area with the most deer is south of an east-west line from Bay City to Grand Rapids.

Start asking questions. Learn which counties produce big bucks and lots of deer, and learn why deer numbers are high in such areas. Determine the availability of state or federal lands nearby, but both state and federal land is quite sparse and overhunted in the southern Lower Peninsula. It's not as heavily hunted in Region II because deer numbers are way down from four years ago.

Spend time scouting two or three different areas. Determine which ones offer the best combination of land, cover, deer foods, bedding cover and access. Walk around the land, and check for well-used deer trails leading from bedding to feeding areas and back.

Look for buck rubs and deer scrapes in late October. Check barbed wire fences for bits of hair that indicate deer passing through the area.

Talk with nearby landowners to determine their idea of hunting pressure. Often, in agricultural areas, the major hunting pressure is from the landowner and his or her family and close friends.

Leasing land can be done, but depending on habitat & deer, the cost can be high.

Consider the possibility of leasing hunting rights. Fees vary depending on length of the lease, property size, whether it is ideal or marginal deer habitat, and what it offers the hunter.

No one owes today's sportsman anything in terms of hunting private property. I manage my 20 acres to produce deer and hopefully one big buck will move through my land on occasion.

Crop lands are rotated and some timber is cut. Doing so helps maintain good hunting, but it's a never-ending learning process to keep up with where whitetails travel after crop rotation and timbering takes place.

I spend many hours every day, 365 days a year, scouting my land. Deer habits change, food supplies change, and hunting pressure can make deer seek quieter areas. A hunter doesn't know these things unless they spend time in the field on a regular basis.

Public lands feature too many hunters in narrowly confined areas, and the hunting pressure is too high. Food supplies are far better on private land than state or federal lands. Private property holds deer, and, in many areas, it supports more whitetails than public land. For this reason it's easy to understand why more people lease hunting land even though the price of leasing acreage is rising.

Whether a hunter leases private land, hunts on public land, or manages to wangle an invitation from a landowner, scouting is a never-ending problem. Hunters who don't scout old land or new land run a major risk of not being successful.

Knowing what lies over the next ridge and why deer travel one trail and not another is why some sportsmen bag whitetail bucks year after year, and why some hunters never tie their tag to the rack of a good buck.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

All puzzle pieces must mesh properly

Don’t shoot just yet! Wait for a quartering-away shot.

After hunting whitetail deer for more than 50 years, this time in the field has given me many thoughts about hunting these critters. Those experiences can be confidence builders.

Whenever I encounter a specific wind or weather situation, my mind slips back through the years to when a similar situation occurred. The next step is to analyze that experience, and if it worked once, we try it again.

Fortunately, we tend to remember those times when things work and forget those times when they didn't. Usually that allows us to make the proper decision based on important  previous experiences.

Wise decision are needed when choosing where to hunt.

I always have, and probably always will, play hunches. A person's gut instincts are normally correct, and over many years of studying deer and why they do the things they do, it gives me an insight on choosing the proper stands to hunt on a particular day.

Deer move around a good bit, and sometimes move more than many hunters believe. This is especially true now, during the rut. Deer also move from one food source to another. We all grow tired of eating corn, sugar beets or whatever.

There are few oaks on my land but there are many food sources. Over the years I've planted Imperial Whitetail Clover, countless other types of clover, alfalfa, brassica, purple-top turnips and many other truck crops. Some of these food sources are planted near ground blinds and tree stands.

Corn and soy beans are wonderful truck crops, and everything I plant is left for the deer, turkeys and other birds and animals. That means that I know when deer switch from one food source to another. Turnips often produce well once we've gone through one or two hard frosts, and they become more sugary.

Know all natural and planted food sources, and how deer travel to them.

Choosing which stand to sit in is a matter of knowing where the deer happen to be traveling, and which food source is present in that area. Obviously, wind direction plays one of the most important roles in choosing a hunting stand.

I haven't counted the number of stands on my land, but there is probably at leas would guess there is probably at least a dozen although some are seldom used anymore. Certain stands remain good year after year while other locations go flat, and I'm inclined to think that hunting pressure is the main reason why deer change their travel patterns.

Each year I look at my stands, whether they are tree stands, elevated coops,, pit blinds, tent blinds or whatever, and determine their relattionship to the closest food sources. I seldom place stands extremely close to food plots but prefer them to be near trails that lead from one food plot to another or from my land to a neighbor’s food plot.

Know why some deer stands suddenly go dead.

Study and learn why deer come to one area, and why that location suddently goes dead. In most cases, it is hunted too often and deer may spot the hunting moving to or from the stand. Once a deer patterns a hunter, they seldom return to that spot except long after dark

Food plots, bedding areas and travel trails are an important part of the whitetail equation. Each part of the puzzle must fall into place. If it doesn’t, whitetail wind up going somewhere else and your hunting spots dry up.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors