Food Plot prep

Check out the Brushy Forum. We have been on about 6 inches of ice in the NE corner of the lake. Crappies and gills, most on the small side, have been going this week.

I was up there last Saturday, fished the north end with everyone else. I did venture a little further south than most, just off the main creek channel. I was in 28 feet of water and only about 3″ of ice. We got quite a few crappies that were suspended between 4 and 8 feet off the bottom. Used a jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head. Also got lucky enough to get a muskie around noon. It went 10 lbs. very healthy fish. It showed up 15 foot down and took a lot of time to get in with 2 pound test. No blue gills, but saw a few on the ice closer to the boat ramp. You definitely need a flasher to mark the fish. My dad got a few crappies hugging the bottom, but most were suspended. We had better luck between 10 and 2 compared to dusk and dawn. Good luck if you get out.

I’ll be fishing there on friday evening. I will try and put up an updated ice report after I’m done.

Welcome to the site Spoonie!

Thanks, Luke, glad to be here. A few of us from the Waverly area will be over there on Sat/Sun. Just hope for a few more inches of ice, would like to check out some of our “hot spots”

Cody26’s “Thinking about next spring” post got me thinking as well….see if anyone has any thoughts.

I have a stand that is in a willow swamp. In front of the stand going either direction it is grassy. Kind of a high spot in the willows. It runs probably a 100 yards either direction by about 20 yards wide. I’d REALLY like to get something planted in there. My problem is, if it’s remotely wet, there is NO CHANCE of a tractor getting out to it. Also, it has some small willow bushes starting to grow into and like I said, full of tall grass. I was fortunate enough to time it right this year and rented a bobcat with tracks and a brush cutter on the front. Worked great for cuttin the grass and willows down. Anyway, I believe they make a tiller attachment for bobcats??? Not sure where to rent it yet, but will check with the place that I rented the bobcat from. Do I need to mow the weeds down again in the spring and then run the tiller through it? Or, do I need to mow, spray and then till? Weekends are limited etc, so I’m trying to be as time practical as possible. I suppose I should also get the soil tested as well. On a normal year, the soil is probably damp, so it should grow fairly well. I’d like to plant something that will keep coming back for a few years so i don’t have to rent the equipment every spring.

Any thoughts would be great.

The first pic is looking to the south..kind of dark…the water hole was created when I scraped some of the grass away just to try it out. It filled up with water.

The 2nd is to the north…you can see where I cut the grass down etc.

I would mow early spring BEFORE everything starts greening up. Then let the weeds get started and round up the heck out of it. Because its a new plot and you want to do it right, I would then till it or disc it, let the seeds germinate, and spray one more time. This way it takes care of most of the weeds. The biggest thing in my opinion in starting a new food plot is 1. weed control and 2. proper ph. As far as what to plant in wet soil clover grows great even if it sits in water for a while it will still grow great. The plots I grow in the wetter spots I dont till at all but use my wheeler with a disc behind it, even for a new plot. Thats why I say mow all the grasses first. It is easier to disc/till with the weeds mulched up. Here’s a new plot this year I planted in a semi wet area and worked great…Good luck “farming”..Jay

Biologic has a new product out called “Bio Max” It consists of round-up ready corn and beans together.

RvRat…what kind of disk do you pull behind your 4 wheeler? The one’s I have seen do not look very heavy duty and I have always questioned whether they would work or not. When you mow, do you just use one of those trail mowers you pull behind the 4 wheeler?

My suggestion would be to go with something roundup ready the first year. It makes things so much easier, this is what I would do. You will see deer on this if you do it right.

First, get in there in May and burn it down with Round-up. Get the Generic from your Co-op, it is 1/2 the cost as brand name Round-up.

Two weeks late get in there with anything you can. An ATV and a disc, an ATV and a big log, whatever, you need to get the top of the soil disturbed a little. You do not need to work it deep.

After you have the soil worked up, plant some Round-up Ready beans. Just throw the things out by hand and use something to drag over the top after they are broadcast. They are cheap and will grow. The beans don’t need to be fertilized because they make their own nitrogen (basically).

Keep an eye on the plot and let the weeds start to take over the beans. When they do, burn it down with Round-up. If they get to bad, you may need to burn it down twice since it is a new plot. Don’t spray the beans after August 1st because the Rape will get planted to late.

Towards the end of July, one week after your last Round-up Spraying, go in and broadcast Dwarf Essex Rapeseed over the top of the plot. 5lbs per acre is plenty. I use a little more when brodcasting and not dragging it in. Just use your hand and throw it around the plot. The seed is tiny and vigorous, it will take after the first rain. The biggest mistake people make with food Rape is they plant it to thick.

Sit back and watch the deer come. You are set. You have a great summer food and one of the best hunting plots you can make.

If you want to put some extra money into the plot, you can add some 30-30-30 fertilizer when you plant the rape. Although if you do this, you may bring in to many deer

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Although if you do this, you may bring in to many deer

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I hate when that happens.

Here is a shot of the same plot I am referring to, two weeks ago. This one had pleny of fertilizer. Note, you can’t even see the beans anymore. They eat pretty much the entire plant, pods, beans and all. They really like them in the summer.

After a snow they will be digging for the rape that is left. Rape is very hardy and keeps growing even as they graze on it. As you can see there are pretty much just stems left, but there is new growth underneath all those stems.

Yep, they have my turnip /rape clover field down to the ground and still it. Like you mentioned Scott, I need to make my plots bigger next year as I ‘m attracting more deer then years past and they are overgrazing it, but still it. One thing I think people will find amazing is when you use a control cage on your plot (a super small Fenced area where deer can not graze). It allows you to observe how tall your plot would be with no grazing peressure. The difference will shock you and also will let you know if your plot grew or did the deer it.

Awesome ideas….I’m printing it out. Spring can’t come soon enough. I like that control cage idea as well. That would be cool to see and compare.

I’ll let you know the results for sure. Seems simple enough…I just hope I can get the ground worked up good enough. There are small little clusters of willows amongst the grass, but I’ll really hit them with the round up and hopefully that will take care of them.

What about testing the PH etc? Is that something that I need to do as well?

I actually just e-mailed the land management warden up in Bayfield county to see what the legalities are with planting food plots on national forest land. I’m excited to see what he says!

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What about testing the PH etc? Is that something that I need to do as well?

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To maximize your plot, yes this is a very important step. I highly suggest doing this however, even if you don’t check it out (PH) and don’t stabalize it. At least if you grow something it is better then nothing at all IMO. But, lime is pretty cheap you will find out and between that fertilizer and the right PH level, your plants will BOOM.

Remember, this is not an EASY and CHEAP project. Secondly, it is very addicting and will consume quite a bit of time.