A corn patch for a food plot?

[treefarmer]

Day 264 Corn patch food plot
A very slow week in the woods. Last Saturday the 26th my friends son killed a pretty decent 8 point on our little lease. He was 14" wide and running 2 does, I was at a men's meeting at church that morning. Yesterday my friend was driving out of the lease and he told me he saw a buck running a doe down the road that goes to my stand, that was about 10AM, again I was some where else, hunting for a part for a tractor. Worked at the local food pantry from 2-4 yesterday and was able to get in a short hunt at the corn patch. One lone doe came out at 5:20 and stayed till 5:45 which was exactely 30 minutes after sundown. There is still hope for a good one to come out.
Retirement is a lot more work than I expected, each Wednesday my wife and I have been taking an elderly lady to dialysis at 6:30AM and picking her up at noon. So Wednesday mornings are pretty busy. Today the big front came through beginning about 2 o'clock. Several weather stations reported 50 mph winds. Power was off for about 4 hours. We sat on the porch and watched as the pines and oaks did their thing. 1/2 inch of rain and lots of limbs on the ground. Temperature was in the low 80's at noon and by 6 pm it was 53 degrees.
Rode down in the woods about 4:30 to exchange the card in the camera and noticed that quite a bit of the corn had been blown down, also saw 6 or 8 pines that had their tops blown out in the planted trees in that little block. Some where between there and here I misplaced my SDHC card in its' case so don't have any idea what went by the camera this past week. We've got 18 more days of rifle season, then 7 of M/L.
This is what the corn patch looked like last Wednesday afternoon, I'll post another tomorrow showing what the 50 mph wind did. Treefarmer

[treefarmer]

Corn patch food plot update 1/31/13

What a beautiful afternoon, light north wind, 50 degrees, but no deer this afternoon. A picture of the plot after the 50 mph storm and the fish pond next to the plot. The shooting lanes and quite a few rows have been picked by hand and then were bush hogged, the areas left show a lot of wind damage. Should make it easier for Bambi to eat, hopefully during legal shooting hours.

Treefarmer

[Iluv2hunt]

I just went and scanned thru the pics on all 13 pages. It sure has changed over the months. What a great thread this has been

[treefarmer]

Thank you Sir, I have never kept this close a watch on a food plot before. Just a little disappointed in the out come so far. There is still time but the groups of does that have frequented this site in previous years are not spending time in the corn at this critical time. In previous season bucks would be checking this plot during the rut as the doe and yearling traffic was something you could count on. Live and learn. Probably be something a little bit greener next lap. Treefarmer

[Triple Creek Reaper]

Live and learn. Probably be something a little bit greener next lap. Treefarmer

I wonder if the corn plot would of worked better in a different part of the state where the ruts kicks in while the plot is "greener". This has been an interesting thread to watch. I am still holding out hope you will cross paths with a nice buck in that plot before season ends.

[treefarmer]

Day 271 Corn patch food plot

Have hunted several afternoons for about an hour and a half before dark and am not having any deer show up in the patch, Saw a few feeding through the planted pines but unable to see them good enough to tell what they were. The corn patch has not produced near as many sightings during shooting hours as did the patch when planted to oats, rye grain or clover.

Haven't hunted the lease for a week or so as I would like to follow through with the corn patch.

Last week I lost my SDHC card by the time I got to the computer so I had no pictures from the game camera. A day or so ago, I found the card hiding in the paper tray of the printer above the computer .

This weeks pictures are all at night. A group coming out of the corn patch, an old man hunting his camera card late at night and a little feller that need to get off the nocturnal kick.

Have almost made up my mind to plant the south half of this plot in clover. The Whitetail Institute says you should not plant clover in Florida in the spring but you can in Alabama. Seeing how we are about 18 miles south of the line I think I'll take a chance. Their reasoning is Florida is too hot to soon in the spring to produce a good stand. I'll probably start on this in a couple of weeks.
Treefarmer

[davedirt]

Where ever he was at 5 hours before is where you need to be hunting........LOL

[9dawgs]

Man, that little buck in the last photo is a healthy one. If nothing else, you're growing some fine venison for later on. And I agree with Allen. This has been the most interesting and informative thread I've seen on here. Don't stop! I want to see how your clover does.

[lamehawk]

very good posts I enjoy seeing the deer in the corn and what type of results you are getting

[Iluv2hunt]

That buck's tarsals have no coloration at all..has your rut come and went yet?

[treefarmer]

Iluv2hunt, just got back from Atl., grandson's birthday. Noticed your observation and question about the rut last Fri. Historically, according to the biologist, our peak is the 3rd week of Jan. Most of the deer we kill in late Jan. and into Feb. late M/L season still have plenty of stain and odor like they're still going at it. Don't know about the little feller in the pic, but if I get the chance we'll check them tarsal glands real close! Treefarmer

[treefarmer]

Day 278 Corn patch food plot

Another slow week to report. Left home last Fri. morning, went to Atl. for grandsons' birthday. Came home Monday afternoon.
Went to corn patch yesterday afternoon about 4:45, light rain, had 3 come through the planted pines into the plot, right in line with a big bushy cedar tree. One was a button buck and the other two never moved enough to get a look at their heads. All the corn is now on the ground, there is an overabundance of dove birds!
Been checking prices of clover, was at Bass Pro in Atl. and didn't give it a thought.
We are getting wet in the woods, field work is on hold as it is "too wet to plow". We have had a little over 4 inches in the last week with another big band about an hour away this afternoon. Driving from town at noon today, we noticed "clouds" of yellow pollen in the air, have never seen such a quantity before, everything is yellow! There was a big spot of yellow pollen on the lens of the game camera that showed up in the pictures. Same old bunch crossing the fence, but one was really surprised by the camera as you can see in the picture! There has to be a noise that is made when it triggers that got her attention.
M/L starts next week for 7days then it's finally over!
Treefarmer

[Iluv2hunt]

Wish were were getting wet down here in Tampa. We are getting the first measurable rainfall since I can remember. I bet we have had less than 1" since October
As for the cameras, some definitely make a "clanking" noise when they take a pic in infrared mode. Something to do with the shutter. Not sure what brand Moultrie you are using. I have an M80 and a D55IR, and neither make the noise. However my two WGI cameras do make it. One of them is actually loud. I also know the Primos cams are notorious for it as well

[treefarmer]

Day 285 Corn patch food plot

Rifle season ended last Sunday and M/L started Monday morning and I haven't been in the woods with the smoke pole. When you are retired, old and it's cold or raining you just don't go at it like we did a few years back. We have had another 1/2 inch of rain yesterday morning, Monday morning the temperature was in the 20's. All the local rivers have made it to flood stage the last few days, Choctawhatchee, Chipola and the Apalachicola from the big rains in Alabama and Georgia. I have been working on some equipment that needed some attention. Took an axle out of a back section of a 10' disk and had it straightened after hooking a pine tree last fall. Still working on replacing the front axle pivot pin on my old MF 175 and there is a broken blade on my John Deere off-set harrow that I need to replace. Maybe I'll get to the woods a couple of times before its over. The doves are still thick in the corn patch and I had a couple of does in the plot last Thursday afternoon. There is still a lot of traffic by the camera, night and day. Looks like I need to hide behind the camera and catch him with a dip net.
Treefarmer

[treefarmer]

Day 292 Corn patch food plot

The season is finally over and if I were to give the Corn patch food plot a score on a scale of 0-10 it would probably get a 3 or a 4. There are a lot of things that effect the success of a food plot and I'm not sure I have understood all I observed during this season. This food plot has been very successful in the past, always seeing a lot of deer and killing at least 2 or 3 each season. Sometimes we gauge our success by comparing it to previous seasons, where everything went well. I killed 2 bucks in the corn patch and saw a few deer all along, then some dry spells but the camera revealed that there were always deer close by and tracks showed they were in the plot but not at the same time I was there. My conclusion is that deer don't seem to flock to the standing corn in the Florida panhandle as they do on TV in the mid west. I had "visions of sugar plums" when I decided to plant the patch last year. The night time sightings in the old Mennonite's corn field was enough to convience me that deer would go for it, but the reality is they seem to work it after dark. Rye grain, oats and clover has always provided early morning and late afternoon sightings in this plot, so maybe I learned something as far as a plot to hunt over. This being said, there is always enough agricultural crops and natural browse to raise deer but something like a green field seems to draw them during hunting season.

Since Friday the 22nd, we poured out 10.7 inches of rain from our gauge. All the big rivers are at least 5 or 6 foot above flood stage this afternoon. It will be several weeks before I can put a tractor in the food plot, even the 4-wheel drive tractor. I was hoping to get started on getting a seed bed for an acre of clover before it gets too warm. We are supposed to have a very cold week end, down in the 20's.

Nothing on the game camera worth showing but took a few pictures after the rain showing what the "mess" looks like after a big rain and proof that they are still working on it.

Treefarmer