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Small food plots #7100609 03/04/18 03:47 PM
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Mike Mathena Offline OP
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We have a couple of small spots on the new lease that might work as small food plots. Just wanting some opinions, the two smaller spots in the pic are the ones I'm talking about, the one on the left id's roughly 250sq yds

We have not ventured into this part of the lease yet, only seen it from space. They seem like a good spot to plant and hunt from a bordering tree.

Last edited by Mike Mathena; 03/04/18 03:50 PM.

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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7103648 03/07/18 01:12 PM
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Looks like a hot spot. Those pine plantations have great cover but not much browse. Opening up as much as possible will bring in the deer.


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7103654 03/07/18 01:21 PM
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It sure wont hurt to try a food plot for a year or two. So on the big one you are guessing 10 yards by 25 yards. Looks like a good place to try "no till" and see what happens. From the air it looks like it is going to be hard to get any equipment to the openings. I'd also put a corn feeder by the pines, not out in the middle on both.

Last edited by Mr. T.; 03/07/18 01:25 PM.

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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7105027 03/08/18 06:32 PM
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I had good success last year with openings about that size. Spread oats and clover by hand and kicked dirt around to cover them before a good rain, went back after the rain and used a piece of rebar to make 1” deep holes and dropped soybean seeds in them then covered. 2 weeks later 50 lbs of 13-13-13.
I’d put about 150-200 pounds of lime out right now so it can start working into the dirt. up



Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7106821 03/10/18 11:34 AM
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Thanks for the response guys, it's all going to have to be done by hand, for now. Going back out tomorrow to locate these areas from the ground and get sd cards etc. the surrounding property's have some pine stands but are mostly open so, I'm pretty sure they use our lease to bed down in cover. We have some dry creek beds with hardwoods that need to be cleared enough to get a good shooting lane in them. I have a pound of greens and a pound of turnup seeds to spread(Thats what the local feed store had available) as a summer forage in these spots and also along the power line that gets good sun all day. I was concerned about these open spots being a sanctuary but, from what i understand they bed down in the thick underbrush and use these spots as "staging" areas. Either way there's plenty of water and not a lot of forage on this place so I'm hoping to rectify that.

Last edited by Mike Mathena; 03/10/18 02:24 PM.

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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7137179 04/10/18 02:27 AM
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I put a 8x10 food plot out on an east Texas lease were no one else did food plots, I had deer coming in before the crop was an inch tall

Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7139680 04/13/18 12:01 AM
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Bump this up. Im interested to see how this turns out for you. Would love to see pics of the place. Its like putting together pieces of a puzzle. I love it.


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7141711 04/15/18 11:24 PM
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Following. Just startin out in Cass County, S. of Atlanta. Need to read up about the soil in our area. Maybe we are lime-deficient too?


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7141744 04/15/18 11:52 PM
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I've had very good success with green strips that were nothing more oats planted in 10-15 yards of old logging trails. Deer seem to like the seclusion they provide over larger plots, and for that reason, will hit them in daylight when they would otherwise hit larger plots only after dark.


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7141987 04/16/18 05:40 AM
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Hunted im east texas for 4 seasons and we planted several small plots. One place was All pines the other a mix of pine and good hardwoods. Sometimes the deer ate the oats most times not.

Property specific but we didn’t have a lot of luck hunting over them.


South Texas I love a good oat field however


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7142004 04/16/18 11:07 AM
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Last week we have gotten the bigger area on the left seeded (just spread by hand, no tilling) and they are already sprouting, also got a feeder in place and we saw a big doe grazing around it yesterday morning. Also got a light installed yesterday.

I had the perfect pic to post, i tried splitting it and all but still won't upload

So, now we have 3 auto feeders, a pig pipe and a gravity pipe feeder put out on the property. Going to get more lights up next week. On one side of the property we have a rub line with some 4 and 5 inch trees that have been scraped up.

Last edited by Mike Mathena; 04/16/18 11:12 AM.

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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7142570 04/16/18 09:53 PM
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Are the hogs not tearing up the seeded area? Figured it would be a wast to try as the hogs would tear it up as soon as they found it.

Re: Small food plots [Re: rjd] #7142726 04/17/18 01:48 AM
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Originally Posted By: rjd
Are the hogs not tearing up the seeded area? Figured it would be a wast to try as the hogs would tear it up as soon as they found it.


Not yet, i can tell they have rooted around the opening in the past but, not not in the last couple months. Not alot of signs of them being in this part of the prop. Most hog signs are on the east side that has dry creeks that hold puddles.

Last edited by Mike Mathena; 04/17/18 01:53 AM.

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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7146848 04/21/18 02:43 AM
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following

Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7175004 05/20/18 07:26 PM
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How'd this work out for you?

Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7186293 06/02/18 07:51 AM
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This was mine last fall.
This was planted in the the small 20 foot wide strips after they thinned. Bucks don't come to feeders at my lease, but they come to plots and does. This plot had several scrapes down it and is the spot where my buck dropped last year.
Hogs don't bother it too much when its sprouted. They just graze it like cows.

Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7186299 06/02/18 09:49 AM
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Not as good as i had hoped, I'm not sure that all the little sprouts were the seeds that i spread. I have a couple of mature bucks and does and quite a few young ones coming to the feeder. We are about to have "proper access" so we can get some small equipment in there to plant for fall.


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Paydirt] #7186305 06/02/18 10:49 AM
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Originally Posted By: Paydirt
This was mine last fall.
This was planted in the the small 20 foot wide strips after they thinned. Bucks don't come to feeders at my lease, but they come to plots and does. This plot had several scrapes down it and is the spot where my buck dropped last year.
Hogs don't bother it too much when its sprouted. They just graze it like cows.


Good looking plot Paydirt, I like how you have good separation from your blind to where your food plot starts to help prevent the deer from getting to close to the blind and possibly busting you up


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Re: Small food plots [Re: Mike Mathena] #7210045 06/27/18 06:52 PM
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Paydirt, looks good...What did you plant at your place and when did you plant it? Did you have a soil test done or put any lime down?

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