Food plots in Childress area ?

[mjhaverkamp]

We bought a piece of property near Childress, wanting to put summer plots in, when do you plant and what are some of the best things to plant for deer ? We will have up to 120 acres of plots. will have nice equipment to do the prep and planting, thanks for any tips, I know rain will be the most important part of it.

[Yak blue]

We never tried summer plots. Winter plots had wheat for the muley and whitetail. On good rainy years you’d have good hunting than good bird hunting in September before reworking and planting again after a few bird hunts. Dry weather or poor grain stands, the cows would get turned in after hunting season.

quite certain most years had we done a summer crop of green stuff planted solely toward deer, it would’ve burned up for lack of rain and heat.
rainiest month of the year in that portion of the panhandle is may and early June, it seems. Then the faucets turn off and July and august are very hot and dry.

i always wanted to plant cotton in our smaller food plots. Solely for the purpose helping out of mule deer. During mid and late summer, you will see muley in cotton fields all over that country. They’ll camp out in it and not leave. Must be good nutrition in those plants.

if you plant something in that dry land and get it to work for the summer and the deer hammer it, post up a report. I’d love to know and try it myself.

[mjhaverkamp]

We never tried summer plots. Winter plots had wheat for the muley and whitetail. On good rainy years you’d have good hunting than good bird hunting in September before reworking and planting again after a few bird hunts. Dry weather or poor grain stands, the cows would get turned in after hunting season.

quite certain most years had we done a summer crop of green stuff planted solely toward deer, it would’ve burned up for lack of rain and heat.
rainiest month of the year in that portion of the panhandle is may and early June, it seems. Then the faucets turn off and July and august are very hot and dry.

i always wanted to plant cotton in our smaller food plots. Solely for the purpose helping out of mule deer. During mid and late summer, you will see muley in cotton fields all over that country. They’ll camp out in it and not leave. Must be good nutrition in those plants.

if you plant something in that dry land and get it to work for the summer and the deer hammer it, post up a report. I’d love to know and try it myself.

I think if you can get something growing for April, May and June it would be a big benefit for the deer antler growth. We will be feeding protein year round, may even try some cotton seed, not sure on that yet. As far as planting summer plots, we will be using a no till drill application, I think it will be a great choice for wildlife plots, they do not need to be bumper crops as we are not harvesting or feeding any cattle, we may have to scale the amount of acreage back some, I imagine the cost of planting 100 acres would be pretty high.

[RMW]

Up there you are going to need something very drought tolerant and Tuff as nails. This is what I would plant

Spring time April 20-May1
Alyce Clover and Joint Vetch

Fall September15- October 1
oats and Cereal Rye

[RMW]

Would might even try some cows peas during the spring, they are tough

[Drycreek3189]

Sunn hemp is supposed to be very drought tolerant and it’s also supposed to outgrow a deer’s ability to browse it. I’ve had it in some mixes and it didn’t survive the deer but there may not have been enough of it. Radar plants it SE of San Antonio and he could probably tell you about it.

[mjhaverkamp]

Are you guys spraying to kill off all the vegetation or just mowing it really low ? This is for a no till situation, one of our fields ( 60 acres ) has been worked regularly, I think they plant cotton in it every other year or so, it does not have a lot of vegetation growing, the others have grass growing in them, they have not been worked in awhile. We are hoping to be mostly organic or regenerative as far as food plots go, was not planning on buying a sprayer, may have to rent one if I need to start out by killing everything.

[Top Of Texas]

Not bloviating here, but just so that my words might have some meaning to you - I grew up doing farm work in the Panhandle. I did my Masters degree on summer food plots in S TX, grew successful summer plots on a ranch I managed in S TX. Worked for TPWD for 23 years providing technical guidance to ranchers in the Panhandle.

My general advise would be - don't attempt summer plots. But much depends on your specifics, i.e. soil, total acreage, equipment, availability, knowledge of farming techniques, and financial freedoms.

But if you're talking about enhancing pastures and/or fields with high quality native forbs that will be self-sustaining for many years, then that's a totally different ball game.

[mjhaverkamp]

Not bloviating here, but just so that my words might have some meaning to you - I grew up doing farm work in the Panhandle. I did my Masters degree on summer food plots in S TX, grew successful summer plots on a ranch I managed in S TX. Worked for TPWD for 23 years providing technical guidance to ranchers in the Panhandle.

My general advise would be - don't attempt summer plots. But much depends on your specifics, i.e. soil, total acreage, equipment, availability, knowledge of farming techniques, and financial freedoms.

But if you're talking about enhancing pastures and/or fields with high quality native forbs that will be self-sustaining for many years, then that's a totally different ball game.

sent ya a pm , thanks

[Top Of Texas]

sent ya a pm , thanks

I responded with a PM

[mjhaverkamp]

I responded with a PM

Never received it, would love to chat with you about what you think we should do as far as food plots go, maybe try the message again if you have time, thank you.

[Top Of Texas]

Never received it, would love to chat with you about what you think we should do as far as food plots go, maybe try the message again if you have time, thank you.

So...I was born in 1967. Just call me.
806-662-3357
Jeff Bonner

[mjhaverkamp]

Yes sir, I will be giving you a call down the road just a little, headed out of state hunting and trying to get everything together, thank you !