Very Small Food Plots

[flahunter]

this is for small pocket size plots and wildlife openings only!

I have a lease of 138 ac. in georgia most of it is very heavy wooded. Over the past three years my father and I have made openings in the pines and hardwood bottoms and thickets. We now have several (8 or10) small food plots that we keep going year round.

Tools of the trade:
A three wheeler
Garden disc from Home depot
Seed Rye, oats, Clover, Soybeans, Peas

you would be amazed at what a little food plot can produce for your game!

 

[Don]

We started the same way flahunter.  But the guys I hunted with went a liitle further.  We now have a small tractor with a disc that we do our plots with.  We still use the four wheeler and small disc on plots we can't the tractor to.

 

[Dbworld]

Was a good article in Bowhunter magazine about food plots.  It's pretty amazing how many deer can be sustained on just one acre of well managed food plot compared to your typical woods.  

I've been reading up on it a lot lately and really wish I had my own land or even someone elses (as long as I can hunt it) I could manage.  

Any thumb are michiganders willing to take me up on my offer?

 

[knobby]

(Edited by knobby at 9:43 pm on Feb. 17, 2002)

 

[MBullism]

I've also been considering planting this year, but am "acreage challanged".  Georgiahunter says in a similar thread that they manage small plots, and they do.  The smallest is 0.1 and the largest listed is just 1.7 acres.  But if you look at his map and do the math, they're working almost 14 acres in close proximity.  I would think that might have the advantage of being comfortable slots for the deer, and enable them to offer variety and stagger the timing...

Has anyone had "success" with 1/8 to 1/4 slits, either
east west cuts in existing trees, or hi-line r.o.w.'s?  I too would be concerned that small plots would be overgrazed before they started.

 

[flahunter]

Well when I say small i mean small! I think my biggest one is maybe 50ft long and 10 feet wide but most are just like 20 by 30 or something like that. What I like to do is take and area that is just about clear of tree and do a clean up of that area to get rid of the trash tree and grass and then plant it. The deer will eat it up fast if you do not plant alot of plots. the best thing to do is plant two or three different seeds in the same plot that way there is always something growing.

 

[knobby]

(Edited by knobby at 9:43 pm on Feb. 17, 2002)

 

[flahunter]

Knobby if you ever need help hunting those turkeys let me knowo  

 

[knobby]

(Edited by knobby at 9:43 pm on Feb. 17, 2002)

 

[Rooter]

I am planning to plant some small food plots on some acreage I have hear in south central Pennsylvania.  I have been reading the boards to see what peole like to plant.  I am excited about the possibilities of helping the deer along nutritionally.  

 

[Jon Bain]

Rooter, I think I get more enjoyment out of preparing and planting food plots than I do actually hunting.  Don’t get me wrong here, I still get excited in the hunt, but I really enjoy working the land and knowing that my efforts really put something back for a lot more deer and wildlife than what I take out.  I think you will find that you like it too.