How to Make Last Minute Food Plots
Bob McNally 10.05.15
Time is tight, and you’ve had a full plate with work, family, friends, and summer activities. There’s simply been no time to tend to important hunting duties that should have been fulfilled.
Now bow deer season is on tap and you’ve done nothing to get your hunting property ready for a banner bow beginning.
But don’t despair. New developments in fast-growing and simple food plot science is your much-needed bow bail-out. With a spare Saturday and about as much money needed to take a family to dinner, you can have a top-notch deer food plot ideal for bowhunting, sure to pull in whitetails looking for a free meal.
“For $30 or less and a couple hours of outdoor work, a hunter can establish a jam-up food plot just perfect for bowhunting deer, and it’ll be ready for the season,” says Steve Scott, vice president of Alabama’s Whitetail Institute of North America. (www.whitetailinstitute.com; phone 1800-688-3030).
“We developed a product called ‘Secret Spot’ that’s a food plot seed mix having 12 to 15 different fast-growing and easy-to-germinate plants that produces a great deer attractant in just a few weeks with minimal preparation and work.”
A four-pound bag of “Secret Spot” costs $13, enough to cover a 4,500-square foot area–ideal small size for a bow food plot measuring 45 by 100 feet. Add 25 pounds of 13-13-13 fertilizer and a 50-pound bag of lime, and the now $30 plot is ready for rain and soon will draw deer from far and wide.
Food plot site preparation is easy, too, as “Secret Spot” only requires an open area getting just three to four hours of directly sunlight daily. This makes it perfect for logging roads, woods fire breaks, old home sites, pond dam areas, and even small clear cut.
“Once a spot has been chosen, the ground needs to be scratched a bit to expose the soil with leaves, limbs, and debris removed,” Scott continues. “This can be done with a rake or hoe in just a couple hours or with a ground tiller. An ATV dragging a log or piece of chain fence does a great job of removing leaves and limbs and breaking up topsoil.
“A soil analysis is the best way to learn what food plot ground needs in terms of lime and fertilizer, but most people with small plots (or near the deer season opener) don’t do that. That’s why we recommend putting down 13-13-13 and lime. Pretty much does a good job from Maine to Minnesota, Texas to Florida.
“You can mix it all together–seed, fertilizer, and lime–put it down on the plot site, pray for a little rain, and you’re in business for hanging a stand downwind of the spot.”
