Bowsite Food Plot - Spring Planting, 2003

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Follow along with our food plot in 2004

May 31, 2004	October 2nd, 2004

Summary of our Long Term History of the Bowsite.com Food Plot

Year	Overall Result	Commentary
1998	Good	New planting of Imperial Whitetail, did fairly well despite heavy grazing in summer and fall. No noticeable weed or grass intrusion.
1999	Excellent	Unbelievable second year results. The plot was as good as it could ever get. Deer really browsed it down in fall but held up well.
2000	Fair-Poor	Weed and grass growth took over plot. Imperial Clover all but gone.
2001	Poor	Had to plow under, installed Imperial whitetail again, but the weeds and grass took over quickly. Had to plow under in late summer and installed buck forage oats. Had marginal success with growth.
2002	No Plot	We decided to spend the entire spring/summer spraying roundup and killing existing vegetation. We planted peas in the fall but the deer over-browsed and killed it.
2003	Poor	We planted Imperial No-Plow. The Rape came up in abundance, but the deer never touched it during archery season. Our plot was a failure despite a successful growth of rape.
2004	Excellent	Plot was excellent. Heavy spring rains and cool summer temps produced very good growth. Our new plot installed on the West side of the existing plot initiated fast and was heavily utilized by deer.

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Results are fantastic. Hunting was fair to poor however...

October 2nd, 2004 - fall hunting

	Despite remnants of last years' rape crop, the chicory and clover came up very well. Here is a view of the East Plot which we planted in early spring.
	This close up shows the chicory with the tops clipped off by deer, and the remaining red and white clover in between.
	During the summer we had planted a west plot using Megabucks brand clover. This is a perennial seed made up of red, white and ladino clover. The results were spectacular even though we planted this in early August!!
	Here is a shot of the plot above during our august planting. We were very impressed with the lush growth and how quickly it appeared.
	Here's a close up of our new east plot. As you can see the clover is thick and healthy.

On a scale of 1-10 I'd give the plot a solid 9 during hunting season. We have some leftover Rape, however no bare spots, lush, green growth. And very few weeds or grasses.

Hunting Report

So now that we have a quality plot, how was the hunting? Fair to poor is how I would rate it but only due to unfavorable winds, high heat, and deer who went nocturnal after opening day. Here is a recap of what we saw on opening week:

Opening Day, Day 1	18 Different Deer in 1 afternoon hunt. 2 bucks were fighting in the food plot. Wind was poor, swirling and blowing from us to the food plot and into the bedding areas.
Day 2	0 deer. Wind was poor, swirling and blowing from us to the food plot and into the bedding areas.
Day 3	0 deer. Wind was poor, swirling and blowing from us to the food plot and into the bedding areas.
Day 4	Hunted elsewhere
Day 5	Hunted elsewhere
Day 6	1 button buck. Wind was favorable, blowing from the plot to us. Very windy.
Day 7	1 spike buck. Wind was favorable, blowing from the plot to us. Very windy.

We'd like to hear from you - Discuss our conclusions, 2004 choices, and perhaps other recommendations?