food plots in the woods

[deerslayer79]

Has any of you members planted food plots in the woods,I planted some on logging roads but I waited a little late and when the leaves fell it pretty much smothered the plots,I think I am going to plant a little earlier to get a better stand before leaf fall,it did turn up some good results  though.

[Land_Owner]

Gotta ask you your definition of "in the woods"?  Around my land there is nothing but woods, 100's of thousands of acres of woods, savannah grasses, and forested flood plains.  When I put in my fields and plant my roads, isn't that "in the woods"?  Certainly, in farming country, where most acreage is planted in corn, alfalfa, wheat, oats, etc. plantings in the sparce hard timber stands that remain would qualify.

Another difference here is our trees don't shed bare, hince plots are not lost to dropped foliage covering, unless of course you account for palm tree and palmetto leaves occasionally dying and dropping into the plot.  That would be a "local" die-off of the plantings I suppose.  There is no real distinct season of Fall in East Central Florida.  Sure the days get shorter and cold weather and drier air conditions occur, but we're closer to the tropics and that has a lot to do with it.

I started planting Fall plots in July with glyphosate herbicide, bush hogging, discing, glyphosate, glyphosate, glyphosate, fertilizer, discing, glyphosate, seeding, chain link drag over new seed, and prayer for a light continuous wetting rainfall (received with Thanks).  I had an infestation of air potato http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AG112 and killed over 99.44% by burning it chemically to death.  "Now class, how do you think that felt?" (Mortisha Addams, The Addams Family).  By mid August I was planted.  By mid October the deer were all over the iron and clay peas, the sorghum had sprouted beyond my wildest imagination, and the poor pitiful white clover got choked out in most of the plots.

How is it a small dormant seed like clover doesn't germinate at all whereas a small weed seed like Johnson grass does.  Both were planted in the same location (one on purpose by man the other through dispersal by God) and none of the man's clover came up.  I don't get it.  Did the clover germinate and die?  Is it still out there dormant in the soil?  I want my $10.00 back!  Just kidding...

[K.K]

Hi Guys, I planted my first plot on a trail in the woods about 8 ft x 100 yards.  I planted it (Imperial Clover, rape) in early September. I fertilized with starter fertilizer left over from my lawn. We had a lot of rain, and it was simply awesome! I killed my first deer with a bow over it, and the deer literally mowed it to the ground. There are patches that get more sunlight than others, and they seem to do a little better.  Some judicious trimming/cutting might be in order. Also, Imperial N0-Plow works in these areas that you may not be able to work the soil really well. I think that the deer feel more comforatble visiting these spots during shooting hours as well, as opposed to exposing themselves in a big field.

I can only report what I've seen, but the does were around all fall, and my buddy killed a huge buck tending a scrape right on the edge of the plot.  I'm sold and planting everything that I can, both spring and fall.  Good luck

[Land_Owner]

There is a lot of empirical evidence that hard hunting over food plots and planted roadways will, over time, produce less deer seen and killed than the bedding and transitional areas leading to and from the plots/fields.  It is probably a function of the deer's instinct to remain as hidden as is permissible to maintain safety as well as it's sense of smell relying on the increased smell of man in or near the fields with respect to the lack of the scent of man in the corridors to and from the field.  Set up your climbing stand in the deer trails that are NOT adjacent to the plots and wait for the illusive deer that do not show themselves in the open fields.  Good Luck and let us know how if your efforts are producing up to your expectations.