Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Mine was so dismal I laugh thinking back. Lol.
What stories you fellas can tell?
What stories you fellas can tell?
What was your very first foodplot experience?
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Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
My first attempt was a 1/4 acre DER plot.
Was a grassy spot on a ridge. I spayed, mowed and tilled it.
Did not know anything about fertilizer so none went on.
I spread 10lbs on that 1/4 acre.
Grew the thickest stand of purple/ yellow leafed plant you ever seen.
Heck, I didn't know and was proud of that plot. Hunted over it several times and couldn't figger out why deer weren't eating it.
Was a grassy spot on a ridge. I spayed, mowed and tilled it.
Did not know anything about fertilizer so none went on.
I spread 10lbs on that 1/4 acre.
Grew the thickest stand of purple/ yellow leafed plant you ever seen.
Heck, I didn't know and was proud of that plot. Hunted over it several times and couldn't figger out why deer weren't eating it.
deerhunter93
Well-Known Member
Maybe 1/10th of an acre. It was brome when I started and I used my parent's string weed eater to try and "mow" it. Hit it with a little roundup. Paid way too much for a bag of who knows what seed from a guy that had leftovers, and threw it out. The only thing that grew was some rye but it was cool to see something grow after the hard work.
Daver
PMA Member
Ha! Good thread topic. It has been enough years since my first foray that I am not 100% sure which one of these came first, but they are all from the "early days" AND share a theme of me being a complete noob. 
I got a bag of who knows what and just whipped it out by hand over standing brome CRP...nothing grew. Dang, this food plotting stuff might be more difficult than I thought.
Somehow, I came to understand that I needed to remove the standing vegetation, duh, kill it and then try again. So I hauled my lawn tractor down to the farm and tore it up trying to mow CRP, etc. Stupid. But, I got 'er mowed and then got a hand held sprayer and killed the sod, etc. Around this time I started to follow Paul Knox (Dbltree here on IW) and whipped some rye out on the bare ground and I'll be dagnabbed...it grew.
I still remember the first time I sat in a tree stand in the vicinity of that field and I watched a dadgummed herd of deer stage up in the nearby brush and then jog out there and start feeding in it. WOW! I was hooked. Now, tens of thousands of dolllars and years later...I am food plot making fool.
I got a bag of who knows what and just whipped it out by hand over standing brome CRP...nothing grew. Dang, this food plotting stuff might be more difficult than I thought.
Somehow, I came to understand that I needed to remove the standing vegetation, duh, kill it and then try again. So I hauled my lawn tractor down to the farm and tore it up trying to mow CRP, etc. Stupid.
But, I got 'er mowed and then got a hand held sprayer and killed the sod, etc. Around this time I started to follow Paul Knox (Dbltree here on IW) and whipped some rye out on the bare ground and I'll be dagnabbed...it grew. I still remember the first time I sat in a tree stand in the vicinity of that field and I watched a dadgummed herd of deer stage up in the nearby brush and then jog out there and start feeding in it. WOW! I was hooked. Now, tens of thousands of dolllars and years later...I am food plot making fool.
203ntyp
PMA Member
My first attempt I mowed a small 1-acre field short without spraying for weed intrusion. I disked it a spread a clover mix by hand and let it go. Started out pretty nice until the weeds started to dominate. I did get a lot of deer hitting that isolated spot, that November I killed my best to date in Pa, a 135" 8 point. I thought I was the man but found it hard to maintain a food plot without better equipment.
The second time I planted a 1/4-acre plot of that I tilled up in front of a fence row stand. Plot looked great that year, late October I had 5 bucks come in early one evening from different directions. Shot another nice 8, seconds later I looked over my shoulder and here comes my target buck that stopped 12 yards in front of me. Lessons learned but I still don't have equipment to do it correctly so that was my last attempt. Nice to have an orchard there though and it's been a good stand until all the apples and pears are gone, now it's strictly a travel corridor and best during the rut. I don't have the cash to get what I need so I'll stick to my old strategies.
Daver quote "Now, tens of thousands of dollars and years later...I am food plot making fool." I'm envious
The second time I planted a 1/4-acre plot of that I tilled up in front of a fence row stand. Plot looked great that year, late October I had 5 bucks come in early one evening from different directions. Shot another nice 8, seconds later I looked over my shoulder and here comes my target buck that stopped 12 yards in front of me. Lessons learned but I still don't have equipment to do it correctly so that was my last attempt. Nice to have an orchard there though and it's been a good stand until all the apples and pears are gone, now it's strictly a travel corridor and best during the rut. I don't have the cash to get what I need so I'll stick to my old strategies.
Daver quote "Now, tens of thousands of dollars and years later...I am food plot making fool." I'm envious
daniel93077
Active Member
Serving 24 years in the Air Force I was a long-time public land hunter. Moved to Iowa in 2020 after I retired. Started food plotting in 2022. Here are my first two plots. Clover (frost seeded) and Brassica. I had one with Cereal Rye and turnips too but no pics of that one. Following advice on here and YouTube made for some decent first year plots with an ATV sprayer, hand spreader and PackerMaxx cultipacker.
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Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
Nice Daniel.
So much info now, be almost hard to fail as long as the weather / rains are good.
I blame Whitetail Institute for those first adds in magazines.
Buy their seeds but no real instructions on how to go about it.
Good stories guys. Keep m coming.
So much info now, be almost hard to fail as long as the weather / rains are good.
I blame Whitetail Institute for those first adds in magazines.
Buy their seeds but no real instructions on how to go about it.
Good stories guys. Keep m coming.
Nightvision
Active Member
It’s probably around 1980. I had noticed that a lot of rabbits would come to my dad’s garden. I went and bought a bag of pea seeds from our local hardware store and planted a couple of plots in the woods to shoot rabbits with my BB gun. A cop saw me coming out of the woods with the rake a must have thought I was planting marijuana because he made me show him what I had planted. He said, huh, never heard of this before. I was about 12 or so.
If I would have had any idea what food plotting would have turned into I would have definitely made it a career. I was planting soybean/pea plots for deer back in the mid 80s.
If I would have had any idea what food plotting would have turned into I would have definitely made it a career. I was planting soybean/pea plots for deer back in the mid 80s.