QDMA Articles :
Spinner's Food Plot Secrets
By: Ed Spinazzola
SECRET FOOD PLOT FOR BOWHUNTERS
Corn is right up there with acorns as far as the deer’s number
one food choice. Let’s plant corn, but with a few twists.
Deer love corn as food, but also feel very comfortable using corn
as travel cover. Corn needs plenty of sun, moisture, and nutrients
for best results, so planting corn for bow hunting can be a challenge.
Here are some of my favorite set-ups for bow hunters.
If part of your hunting property is being farmed, work with that
farmer to improve your hunting. Any field planted with hay or
soybeans — anything other than corn — can be turned
into a great hunting spot. Just plant strips of field corn 30
to 45 feet wide along fencerows, along a wood’s edge, and
in between any public road and the field. Place your stands in
the mature trees along the fence line or just inside the woods
along the field’s edge. If you don’t have mature trees
along your fencerows, build an inconspicuous tower.
The corn along the roadside provides a shield and encircles the
field. The corn along the fencerows and woods provides deer a
“safe” travel corridor and source of food.Plant your
corn between the first half of May to the first of June with 85-
to 90-day glyphosate-ready (Round-up, GLYFLO) corn. If the field
has been in hay, I recommend spraying the 30- to 45-foot wide
strip the previous fall with a contact herbicide. You can plant
it with your ATV or have the farmer do it.
After spraying the previous fall or that spring, thoroughly disc
the strips in early May. Then broadcast 300 pounds of 20-10-10
and no more than 20 pounds of glyphosate-ready corn per acre.
Then double disc the field with the blades set at a depth of four
inches (the seed depth will average half of the disc blade depth).
The final, critical planting step is a pass with a cultipacker.
Four weeks later spray one quart of glyphosate with one quart
of ammonium sulfate per acre, followed immediately with an additional
broadcasting of 100 pounds of 20-10-10 per acre. Now that the
planting is done, just dream about the big bucks soon to travel
past your tree blind. If the field is going to be planted in corn,
plant the surrounding strips into glyphosate-ready soybeans around
August 1st. Four weeks later, spray the strips with a glyphosate
and broadcast four pounds of a brassica mix per acre. The deer
will come.
This plan, with a little creativity on your part, can be implemented
just about anywhere. You can even take it to the woods for a dynamite
bow-hunting spot. In the deep woods, make a fairly long, open
trail at least 60 feet wide with an east-west orientation. Plant
a strip of corn 30 feet wide in the center of the strip. In early
August, along each side of the corn strip, plant a narrow strip
of glyphosate-ready soybeans and a brassica mix. The trail should
lead from heavy cover to a major feeding area. Deer will travel
in the corn and you will be waiting in ambush.
MAINTAINING A LEGUME FOOD PLOT
It is possible to create and maintain a legume (clover, birdsfoot
trefoil) food plot forever without an ounce of tillage. I have
several plots, some over 10 years old, that I just spray, mow,
fertilize, and over-seed. I stumbled onto this maintenance method
over 20 years ago when I sprayed a harvested wheat field in August
next to an alfalfa field. Some of the Round-up drifted across
to the alfalfa field and it came back better than before the spraying.
One good frost seeding technique is the timely spraying of a contact
herbicide three times in one year, with the last spraying in mid-September.
Then, broadcast legume seeds in early March the following year.
One good frost seed formula is three pounds each of medium red,
alsike, and ladino clover and three pounds each of birdsfoot trefoil
and a grazing alfalfa plus one pound of chicory. With a few simple
steps we can maintain these frost-seeded or conventionally-seeded
legume plots.
Wait at least two years after establishing the plots. This allows
for a good root structure to develop and mature seeds to drop.
Between the first and middle of May, wait for the unwanted grass
and weeds to grow to a height of four to six inches. Then spray
with a glyphosate (Round-up, GLYFLO) along with ammonium sulfate
at one quart per acre each. If the plot is in poor shape overseed
with the same legume mix at half the rate right after you spray.
If you see a good covering of clover but you do not like the increasing
presence of grass, just spray. The spraying will hurt the clover
and possibly kill some of it, but it will do the job on the weeds
and grass. In three weeks you will want to strangle me, in another
three weeks you just may want to kiss me. The spraying sets back
the grass and weeds leaving open areas for the dropped seeds and
any overseeding you did to germinate. The almost dead clover and
birdsfoot trefoil should come back and sometimes very thick because
of their well-established root system. The dead grass and weeds
become a perfect mulch of shade and encourage the seeds to germinate
and the old legume root system to regenerate.
Repeat as necessary with a gap of at least two years between sprayings.
It is important to spray only during the first half of May. I
use Round-up because it kills the grass and broadleaf weeds and
opens up the soil surface for the old-dropped seeds and newly-broadcast
seeds to germinate, yet leaves enough cover for shade. If all
things work right, there should be a fairly clean legume plot
with little competition. Some feel unsure about using a glyphosate
because it does hurt and may kill the existing legume plot. The
secret is in the timing of the spraying in early May, provided
there is plenty of moisture to ensure preferred plant survival.
I have, with experimentation, killed the legume by spraying too
much glyphosate in late spring or spraying in drought conditions.
LOW MAINTENANCE COMBINATION BEDDING
AREA AND FOOD PLOT
I cannot count the times I have been asked if it was possible
to put in a food plot that needed little or no maintenance. Before
I give you the formula please remember it is very important, for
the greatest return, to plant both annuals and perennials and
to plant them yearly in both spring and late summer. Before you
begin planting, lime the site to a pH of 6.5.
I have been experimenting with the following method for some time
and don’t yet have it perfected. But, I know the deer like
it for several reasons. This type of planting serves the function
of a bedding, loafing, fawning, breeding, and major feeding area.
It should be a minimum of three to 20 acres and shielded from
public view. You need to start out with a weed-seed-free field
and plan to plant in the spring. Spray a glyphosate (Round-up,
GLYFLO) in early- to mid-May and then again in late June. Give
the plot two weeks and then disc and till every two weeks through
mid-September. That’s right — the plot needs a whole
summer of field preparation.
The following year, in early- to mid-May, spray again and do not
disc. Immediately following the spraying broadcast 200 per acre
pounds of 19-19-19. Broadcast the following seeds separately,
because of the differences in seed size and weight. Start with
three pounds of big bluestem (warm season grass). Broadcast these
seeds together, making sure all the legume-type seeds are inoculated
— three pounds of timothy (standard height); two pounds each
of medium red, alsike, and ladino clover; two pounds of birdsfoot
trefoil (Empire or Norceen type); two pounds of grazing type alfalfa
(alfagraze); and one pound of chicory. Make two cultipacking passes
in the same direction at around four to five mph (brisk walk)
for good seed/soil contact and germination.
Maintenance is minimal, with a mowing in late July every three
years and a broadcasting of 200 pounds of 19-19-19 per acre yearly
in early August. Expect six-plus years of productive use from
this combination field.
Keep the fun in hunting!
Ed Spinazzola of Ray Township,
Michigan has been a QDMA member for nine years and a member of
the National Board of Directors for three years. Ed, the author
of Wildlife Food Plots — Easy as 1 • 2 • 3, has
been experimenting with food plots on his Gladwin County, Michigan,
farm for over 25 years.
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