So this video was shot with the plan of getting it up as a Food Plot Friday...but I wanted to get it up now. The video is actually Part I of a two part video I shot this past weekend out at my primary hunting spot. It's a small tour of our property showing you a couple food plot set ups we have, where we need to thicken up and shows you first hand (in Part II) how quickly just a few hinge cuts can thicken things up, create browse and encourage or discourage deer trails.
*Disclaimer!!!! This had to all be shot on my cellphone, explained at the very beginning. I realize quality isn't the best but trust me I'm going to be filming many more trips into the woods.
Part I:
Part II: is rendering as I'm typing (takes a while to get completely done and uploaded) and will be posted as soon as completed.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Food Plot Friday: Spring Waste
It's one of the most under appreciated plantings when it comes to food plots. Most guys overlook it and to be honest so have we (father and I), that is until this year. This year the Spring time will not be overlooked to provide not only great browse for the deer but a good source of green manure come the fall plantings we always have each year.
If you think about it Spring is when deer are confronted with possibly some of the hardest times of the year (outside of a terrible winter) to locate food. So why do so many hunters over look it? Honestly, I think it's tunnel vision. We've all focused so much on getting deer to our property during the hunting season that we fail to attract deer year round!
For years we've just let the Spring go untouched. Our food plots would set dormant unless they had annuals in them like clover or any winter rye. This sadly is wasting a prime time to get deer associated with where our food plots are and begin to realize that food is present year round on our property. And if you can create a place the deer use more throughout the year, they're naturally going to feel more secure there and you may see deer running to your property when hunting season starts up in your area.
The Spring will no longer be over looked at our property. This Spring we'll be planting quite a variety of things like clover, buckwheat and possibly some cereal grains. The following pictures are of the largest food plot on our property, they were taken with me standing in the middle of it, snapping photos as I turned in a circle. This entire plot as I have stated before is too open in our opinion, and where I'm standing will be getting some kind of sight barrier planted. This will be to divide the food plot up a little bit more and provide deer with just a little more security cover. Not only will a bush, tree or something like Egyptian Wheat be planted right there; we will also be doing a massive spring planting of buckwheat in this plot, which has been clover for over 3 years now. I'll be videoing this process as we tackle this plot with nothing more than garden tillers, rakes and a little elbow grease.
Now some of you may be wondering why are you getting rid of the clover this Spring in order to plant buckwheat? The clover has been in far too long and is really starting to not thrive like it should. Part of what Spring planting can do is help in your soil building efforts, in that tilled under it will add great green manure into the soil. Which obviously will help the soil be that much more productive come our fall plantings of soybeans, brassicas, cereal grains or whichever else planting we choose to plant.
This food plot is located mere feet from the road (to the left in photo) and as you can see butts up to our clear cut bedding area. While this plot isn't one we will ever hunt due to how close it is to the bedding area we do want it to produce better than it did this past season's attempt at turnips. The problem is this soil is very clay ridden and it just simply was either too dry or too wet when the water did come and couldn't drain. We will be planting this spring some buckwheat through out it just to get some stuff working the soil...then will till it under in the fall and plant groundhog radishes which if we can get them to grow will accomplish our goal of breaking up the clay soil.
So if you want to encourage deer to use your property more don't over look the Spring planting, it is a cheap way to provide food and build your soil all in the same step. I'll be sure to record all of our process as we finally capitalize on Spring planting for the first time.
*I realize I stated we'll be using buckwheat primarily as our Spring planting, that doesn't mean it's the best or only one to use. We're choosing it because we've heard great things, it's cheap and will supposedly grow in almost any soil type. We will though be planting some clover in a couple spots and may even experience with some wheat or oats just to experiment.
If you think about it Spring is when deer are confronted with possibly some of the hardest times of the year (outside of a terrible winter) to locate food. So why do so many hunters over look it? Honestly, I think it's tunnel vision. We've all focused so much on getting deer to our property during the hunting season that we fail to attract deer year round!
For years we've just let the Spring go untouched. Our food plots would set dormant unless they had annuals in them like clover or any winter rye. This sadly is wasting a prime time to get deer associated with where our food plots are and begin to realize that food is present year round on our property. And if you can create a place the deer use more throughout the year, they're naturally going to feel more secure there and you may see deer running to your property when hunting season starts up in your area.
The Spring will no longer be over looked at our property. This Spring we'll be planting quite a variety of things like clover, buckwheat and possibly some cereal grains. The following pictures are of the largest food plot on our property, they were taken with me standing in the middle of it, snapping photos as I turned in a circle. This entire plot as I have stated before is too open in our opinion, and where I'm standing will be getting some kind of sight barrier planted. This will be to divide the food plot up a little bit more and provide deer with just a little more security cover. Not only will a bush, tree or something like Egyptian Wheat be planted right there; we will also be doing a massive spring planting of buckwheat in this plot, which has been clover for over 3 years now. I'll be videoing this process as we tackle this plot with nothing more than garden tillers, rakes and a little elbow grease.
As always click on photos if you wish to see larger image size.
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| Notice all the tracks in the fresh snow! |
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| We will also be focusing on some edge thickening around this plot. |
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| Scrape opened up late into the year by a young buck in our woods... right on tiny finger of the food plot. |
 |
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| If you followed the tracks they'd lead you to another smaller (1/5 acre) food plot. |
This food plot is located mere feet from the road (to the left in photo) and as you can see butts up to our clear cut bedding area. While this plot isn't one we will ever hunt due to how close it is to the bedding area we do want it to produce better than it did this past season's attempt at turnips. The problem is this soil is very clay ridden and it just simply was either too dry or too wet when the water did come and couldn't drain. We will be planting this spring some buckwheat through out it just to get some stuff working the soil...then will till it under in the fall and plant groundhog radishes which if we can get them to grow will accomplish our goal of breaking up the clay soil.
So if you want to encourage deer to use your property more don't over look the Spring planting, it is a cheap way to provide food and build your soil all in the same step. I'll be sure to record all of our process as we finally capitalize on Spring planting for the first time.
*I realize I stated we'll be using buckwheat primarily as our Spring planting, that doesn't mean it's the best or only one to use. We're choosing it because we've heard great things, it's cheap and will supposedly grow in almost any soil type. We will though be planting some clover in a couple spots and may even experience with some wheat or oats just to experiment.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Trip out into the woods...video
Alright, Food Plot Friday is still going to happen, just later tonight. Right now I wanted to share a video I made (albeit not that great) on the day my father and I went down into the woods. I would have video from our actual trip in the woods and not just stills, but I absent mindedly left the stinking video camera in the truck and just settled for photos...which are still great.
Also thanks again for all who stop by this site from time to time...many of you follow via e-mail and not openly but still thanks.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Food Plot Friday: Plot Shaping
So, you've decided you want to put in a new food plot. STOP! Before you do anything layout the design, and please, please, please don't just start hacking an opening as big as you can! The biggest mistake my father and I ever made was making our biggest food plot way too open and not winding enough or giving it enough edge cover. We were too busy making the same mistake thousands of hunters make, we thought bigger was better...which is fine but it doesn't mean tons of open space.
You see deer have to feel secure to be comfortable feeding during daylight hours...something that mature bucks will rarely feel once they know hunting season is upon them. So we have to do all we can do to make them feel safe on our food plots.
Our largest food plot comes close to an acre total...sadly until recently its design is for lack of a better comparison a big circle with not much edge cover. This year we plan on doing multiple things to that food plot and some others.
-Hinge-cutting the edges some. This will allow a softer edge into our food plots, create browse and allow us to control where deer are more likely to enter and exit. Creating a safer feel to the food plot along the way!
-We will be either falling a couple trees across parts of the food plot, planting bushes/shrubs or sorghum as site barriers...making it less likely a buck will just walk up to the edge of the plot and be able to visually check it for other deer. He's going to have to hoof around the barriers to accomplish that task now. *Encouraging better movement habits!
-We will be putting in some new food plots as well, but not just cutting an opening and throwing seed. More than likely we will be using one of the two styles I am going to share below, just at a very small scale (these plots are not going to be bigger than 1/4 of an acre).
The following images are great examples of what I'd do with a too open food plot or pre-existing one that is deemed too open, followed by 2 of my favorite designs for food plots that allow deer to feel safer and force bucks to hoof around their bends to check the entire thing out. Other great designs are figure eights and the great 'S' or winding path plots.
Now remember if you have say 80 some acres and you can afford to create a 6-10 acre destination food plot (night time feeding primarily) THAT'S GREAT! You'll be providing deer a primary food source, however your smaller plots running between that big plot and the bedding area is when these shapes and tactics are the way to creating killer locations for catching a mature whitetail.
As always please e-mail me (working with two others right now actually on property ideas) at tylanmiller@gmail.com or feel free to hit me up at bowhunting.com forums under the name Tynimiller. Good luck to all as we lay the ground work now for what will come in the fall!
You see deer have to feel secure to be comfortable feeding during daylight hours...something that mature bucks will rarely feel once they know hunting season is upon them. So we have to do all we can do to make them feel safe on our food plots.
Our largest food plot comes close to an acre total...sadly until recently its design is for lack of a better comparison a big circle with not much edge cover. This year we plan on doing multiple things to that food plot and some others.
-Hinge-cutting the edges some. This will allow a softer edge into our food plots, create browse and allow us to control where deer are more likely to enter and exit. Creating a safer feel to the food plot along the way!
-We will be either falling a couple trees across parts of the food plot, planting bushes/shrubs or sorghum as site barriers...making it less likely a buck will just walk up to the edge of the plot and be able to visually check it for other deer. He's going to have to hoof around the barriers to accomplish that task now. *Encouraging better movement habits!
-We will be putting in some new food plots as well, but not just cutting an opening and throwing seed. More than likely we will be using one of the two styles I am going to share below, just at a very small scale (these plots are not going to be bigger than 1/4 of an acre).
The following images are great examples of what I'd do with a too open food plot or pre-existing one that is deemed too open, followed by 2 of my favorite designs for food plots that allow deer to feel safer and force bucks to hoof around their bends to check the entire thing out. Other great designs are figure eights and the great 'S' or winding path plots.
As always please e-mail me (working with two others right now actually on property ideas) at tylanmiller@gmail.com or feel free to hit me up at bowhunting.com forums under the name Tynimiller. Good luck to all as we lay the ground work now for what will come in the fall!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Better late than never...
First I owe everyone, especially D an apology. With the holidays and some personal health issues it's been far too long since my last post or sharing of any kind. However, I think as we head into the off season we all need to remember what we do now will have a big the biggest impact on our upcoming hunting season, which is why I'm hoping to post twice a week as my minimum for as long as I can. One of the things that will be new to the site is Food Plot Fridays, a segment devoted to only food plots. We (my father and I) are about to completely change our approach to our food plots, and I'm going to take you along with us each and every week.
All of that aside let's get to the purpose of this post...which is to answer an email I recieved far too long ago to have made D (full name will not be disclosed) wait. D emailed me one day a map of his hunting property, to which D is the only bowhunter on but does share it with a few other gun hunters. D's problem echoes many which I hear. "I'm seeing bucks, but they're all yearlings and juveniles...where are all the big bucks." It's something too many of us can relate to. Some of us don't have the problem of seeing bucks, we do, they're just simply too young...and it seems we can keep passing on them and they don't stick around once they mature?!
So I was tasked with trying to bring B&C caliber bucks onto D's property....little exaggeration, but to be honest isn't that the goal, to bring trophy bucks (define it as you may) on to your hunting grounds? Before I go any further I love how D is approaching his habitat improvement, not relying solely on one person. Sure he's asking my opinion, but he's already joined Whitetail Ambush Secrets (formerly known as Sniperbowhunting.com) and will seek all the knowledge he can from them as well. That is what each of you and myself even have to do. Ask around to the people you feel will truly research your area as best they can, give solid advice and even point you towards other sources of knowledge. *Also trust yourself in the end as well, no matter how much I or anyone else recommends...we haven't stepped foot on your property and little tweaks here and there may most definitely be needed.
Back to D, D's problem with his property doesn't seem to be it's just a terrible area or overhunted, it just simply isn't appealing to any kind of dominate buck. This is primarily due to one of the biggest keys all hunters need to address: bedding areas. As you may already know when rut comes around bucks are going to be where the does are, bottom line and that isn't up for debate! D admitted he doesn't really have any particular area the deer use as a primary bedding area...time to make one.
I actually went about my planning for D's property in a different direction than I ended up with, but both times the first thing that needs done if nothing else gets done is producing some bedding areas. After all if the deer aren't bedding close enough to those awesome food plots you put in or tree stands you hung it's going to be tough to see deer consistantly. I originally drew up something like this following picture for D:
As you may have already guessed this idea was scrapped for one reason and one reason only, wind. While the location of the bedding area may have been perfect for the deer, it was terrible for the hunter to be able to get on the deer no matter the wind direction (any Westerly wind and this design begins working against the hunter given the stand spots). So I redesigned it and through a ton of stuff at D on the final drawing, which looked like this:
Obviously this set up is quite a bit more involved, but can you begin to see how strategically placing every single entry trail, encouraged deer trail, food plots, hinge cuts and bedding areas one can truly create a template for increasing your odds? Now D has the option to get on nearly every single place (within reason) no matter what the wind is.
You may be in the same "dilemma" as D, in that you will always have to enter from the same direction. Key is minimizing you scent with proper scent tactics and not spending any time lingering on or around any trails you may have to cross in your entrance and exits. The biggest difference that I've learned recently is creating access trails, which you'll see I labeled in yellow. Yes the deer will use them as well some, but they allow hunters access to their locations without coming in contact with hardly any vegetation, A HUGE KEY TO KEEPING SCENT TO A MINIMUM.
I could continue to explain it all through words but I think I could explain it and lay it out better if I record me talking about the design and posting the video. THIS WILL BE RECORDED TONIGHT, and the plan will be to post it into this post tonight as well! Check back as the video will go deeper into how to go about doing all these things and truly changing a juvenile buck hang out into something appealing to the big boys!
Please e-mail me with any requests or questions regarding the site or your properties to tylanmiller@gmail.com and I'll respond as quickly as I can!
All of that aside let's get to the purpose of this post...which is to answer an email I recieved far too long ago to have made D (full name will not be disclosed) wait. D emailed me one day a map of his hunting property, to which D is the only bowhunter on but does share it with a few other gun hunters. D's problem echoes many which I hear. "I'm seeing bucks, but they're all yearlings and juveniles...where are all the big bucks." It's something too many of us can relate to. Some of us don't have the problem of seeing bucks, we do, they're just simply too young...and it seems we can keep passing on them and they don't stick around once they mature?!
So I was tasked with trying to bring B&C caliber bucks onto D's property....little exaggeration, but to be honest isn't that the goal, to bring trophy bucks (define it as you may) on to your hunting grounds? Before I go any further I love how D is approaching his habitat improvement, not relying solely on one person. Sure he's asking my opinion, but he's already joined Whitetail Ambush Secrets (formerly known as Sniperbowhunting.com) and will seek all the knowledge he can from them as well. That is what each of you and myself even have to do. Ask around to the people you feel will truly research your area as best they can, give solid advice and even point you towards other sources of knowledge. *Also trust yourself in the end as well, no matter how much I or anyone else recommends...we haven't stepped foot on your property and little tweaks here and there may most definitely be needed.
Back to D, D's problem with his property doesn't seem to be it's just a terrible area or overhunted, it just simply isn't appealing to any kind of dominate buck. This is primarily due to one of the biggest keys all hunters need to address: bedding areas. As you may already know when rut comes around bucks are going to be where the does are, bottom line and that isn't up for debate! D admitted he doesn't really have any particular area the deer use as a primary bedding area...time to make one.
I actually went about my planning for D's property in a different direction than I ended up with, but both times the first thing that needs done if nothing else gets done is producing some bedding areas. After all if the deer aren't bedding close enough to those awesome food plots you put in or tree stands you hung it's going to be tough to see deer consistantly. I originally drew up something like this following picture for D:
 |
| click to enlarge |
As you may have already guessed this idea was scrapped for one reason and one reason only, wind. While the location of the bedding area may have been perfect for the deer, it was terrible for the hunter to be able to get on the deer no matter the wind direction (any Westerly wind and this design begins working against the hunter given the stand spots). So I redesigned it and through a ton of stuff at D on the final drawing, which looked like this:
 |
| click to enlarge |
Obviously this set up is quite a bit more involved, but can you begin to see how strategically placing every single entry trail, encouraged deer trail, food plots, hinge cuts and bedding areas one can truly create a template for increasing your odds? Now D has the option to get on nearly every single place (within reason) no matter what the wind is.
You may be in the same "dilemma" as D, in that you will always have to enter from the same direction. Key is minimizing you scent with proper scent tactics and not spending any time lingering on or around any trails you may have to cross in your entrance and exits. The biggest difference that I've learned recently is creating access trails, which you'll see I labeled in yellow. Yes the deer will use them as well some, but they allow hunters access to their locations without coming in contact with hardly any vegetation, A HUGE KEY TO KEEPING SCENT TO A MINIMUM.
I could continue to explain it all through words but I think I could explain it and lay it out better if I record me talking about the design and posting the video. THIS WILL BE RECORDED TONIGHT, and the plan will be to post it into this post tonight as well! Check back as the video will go deeper into how to go about doing all these things and truly changing a juvenile buck hang out into something appealing to the big boys!
Please e-mail me with any requests or questions regarding the site or your properties to tylanmiller@gmail.com and I'll respond as quickly as I can!
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