Florida Outdoors Hunting & Fishing Forums - FOHAF.COM

Went up to camp this weekend for the first time in a while. I found it to be much drier than I anticipated, considering all the rain lately. Figured I would knock the plots down for the first time this season. I put another few hundred pounds of lime down as well

Plot #1


Plot #1, other end


Plot #2


Plot #3


Plot #4. This is a new plot and will take some work do get it ready. There's an old logging road that runs thru the pines that is over 500 yards long. Once I get it opened up I will be able to stretch out a rifle barrel on it. My box stand is looking down this road.

There is a boggy spot at about 150 yards from the box. I can't pull the disc thru there unless it dries up a lot more. I'll probably just plant up to there, and trim/mow the rest

At the bog looking back to the box


At the far end of the logging road looking back to the box. Can't tell in the picture, but this is over 500 yards away and a straight line of view all the way back to it. There will be some antler pics from this spot, guaranteed. I put a camera up facing down the road where they are crossing. matter of fact, I took all my cams off of feeders and put them in various places.


Still have one more plot to disc, but it was standing in water. Will be a while before I can mess with that one. I'm way ahead from where I was last year. I never was able to get a disc out there till June

Nice work... What are you going to plant?

I have found summer plots in Florida are nothing more than "weed plots". There is plenty of browse this time of year for me to not worry about planting. Last year I just kept the plots disked till labor day and planted whistler peas and iron clay peas then. What a disaster and waste of money. What the hogs and turkeys didn't eat of seed, what came up the deer devoured before bow season opened

This year I am going to try and plant my "summer mix" around August. Hopefully it will be good and healthy for archery. Also I am going to try adding some sunn hemp. I've heard really good things about it and it's easy to grow

Iluv2hunt wrote:This year I am going to try and plant my "summer mix" around August. Hopefully it will be good and healthy for archery. Also I am going to try adding some sunn hemp. I've heard really good things about it and it's easy to grow

I am planning on doing the same thing. I am going to spray the crap out of an area (+/- 1/3 acre) with weed killer over the next month, start the disc in late June/early July. Plant in August with a mix including sunhemp.

If you need weed killer....Rural King has 41% Glycophoshhate (2.5 gallon jug) for like $35. That is an excellent price

Oh, Boy, y'all are givin' me the fever!
It's been so wet in the panhandle, I've actually had to use 4-wheel drive to pull a cultivator through a few places in the garden, the food plots are still very wet. The statement about the weeds is pretty true, they will draw a lot of attention from the deer. The biologist call weeds forbs sometimes when discussing deer plots. Seems most any new growth, tender and juicy will help turn a deer's head at times. Mowing and disking will certainly help any food plot that is going to be planted later on in the late summer or fall.
Great pictures, Iluv2hunt, keep up the good work!
Treefarmer

Plot #1






Plot #2


Plot #3


I forgot to take pics of plot #4 by the box stand, and plot #5 was still too wet to try and disc just yet. Here is a very large rattlesnake skin. She had just shed as this skin was on top of the grass and had no dew on it. I could smell it..

Lookin' good! Continued disking is certainly a good way to achieve weed control and therefore have a better seedbed when you put out the seed for the fall plot. Eliminating competition from wild plants give the food plot seeds a better chance to make it to a point where Bambi will come lookin' for somethin' good when it's time to hunt!

On Saturday I started mowing the food plot I did last year, the one that was planted late. Should have taken a few pictures before and after but didn't. Also began mowing the fire killed junk between the pine trees that are next to the food plot. Pretty easy to get along between the pine rows but it is difficult to go perpendicular to the rows and get the junk that is in line with the pines. The only reason I'm doing this is to be able to see what's happening in the planted pines from the shooting house. Fire is a great tool but it also leaves a lot of dead junk that needs to be laid on the ground with a bush hog. Right now my intent is to repeat last years plot, a "Z" shaped planting within the tall volunteer weeds that will grow during the summer. The Rye grain brought the deer into the open and the tall weeds gave them security.
Treefarmer

Allen, you do all that plot work by yourself? That's good stuff man. I hope it pays off for you this fall.
From the looks of the ladder stand pic, it looks like you can cut a shooting lane through the little patch of saplings to the left of your feeder. Catch em while they're walking down that path.

Yeah Brian pretty much. I will say however, I have had to solicit the help of a couple buddies the last 2 years to put up stands. I cannot physically do the crap I did 10 years ago. Heck, putting up a 2-man stand by myself used to be nothing. Everything else I do by myself. Plus I do ALL of my hunting partners stuff. He just got a 4-wheeler so my work load will hopefully decrease. I feel like a kid at Christmas with him getting that

Man. I wish I had more free time. I would volunteer to help out just to see your setup and to pick your brain some.

Wow....Looks great. Now I'm thinking I should have made some of mine bigger.

Hey Iluv2hunt, looking at the third pic. The one from the stand. Looks like a lot of the view of the plot is blocked. Are you planing on cutting the brush and thin down the bottom of that tree? It looks like you would only have to cut the brush to about chest high. Just saying, you may have already thought of that. Anyway good work.

Yeah that's sweet gum suckers. I'll chainsaw all that mess in august

you dont need heavey equipment to put in food plots. How much sunlight will that area get? Our Droptine Trophy buffet would be good if you get 4 hours of sun. Tolerates low ph.