Dirt is ready.....been burning fuel thru the New Holland. Very enjoyable to ride the tractor in the deer woods!

Planting 5 acres of pure stand sun hemp (no it's not that kind of hemp...lol)...in 10 plots. Seeding tommorrow morning. Been getting rain showers every day....so it's go time!

I've been plotting for 20+ years. Tried everything but sun hemp. Why did you pick that?

… ahhh the life of a farmer lol

What’s the ROI for cost per pound of deer meat harvested?

Food plots don’t make sense here, since the whole state is a food plot.

That's pretty dirt Swamp.. Couple questions Have you planted your Chufas yet ?And have you ever plan sorghum for deer and turkey. We just put ours in last weekend before the rain.
We are gonna try some sorghum this year because the hogs hurt our chufas in early spring. We are hoping the hog will not demolish the sorghum like they do the chufas .But will see.They ain't much they will not tear up.

Nicely done but Illinois is one big food plot

Food plots do work in pine plantations. They keep the does around. Find any artifacts in that dirt SW?

Have planted sun hemp a couple times past few years.

It withstands browse pressure. Deer bite top and it keeps growing.

It grows rapidly after a few weeks....stays well ahead of a high deer population.

Its is 20+% protein.

It will grow tall (8' to 10') but it can be mowed to keep it about 18" high and producing new growth. Shades out weed and grass growth.

When its time to fall plant cereal grains.....the sun hemp will be mowed close and tilled under.....puts 100 to 150 lbs acre nitrogen into soil.

Resists nematodes and diseases.

Puts down a long tap root that can/will bust thru hard pan. This makes it drought tolerant.

These deer in this riverbottom eat the heck out of, so I have to plant it in every plot to divert the extremely heavy pressure.

Its great brood cover during the rest of the summer for the turkeys.

It can be used as a screen to hide entrance to stands and provide sense of security for the deer. It grows tall and thick if not mowed.......can mow strips in the bigger fields like shooting lanes.....for a great setup.

Its is expensive but need no fertilizer. It is much better in deer plots than peas or any other legume.

Deer may resist eating it in regions with ag field soybeans and such. I dont have any ag.

BTW... was gonna mix in cowpeas and browntop millet, but decided the hemp will do all I'm after....and saves me money.

For sure.

If I was in the midwest....I could save some money.

Not gonna plant any chufas this time. I had a 3/4 acre that has volunteered from last year. Just roto-tilled them this afternoon. Once they re-sprout, I'll broadcast nitrogen and see how they do.

I have planted sorghum many times in the past. Deer and turkeys here hit the mature seed heads in early fall.

I dont have any more hogs on my local place.....

For sure! I prefer the long linear shooting lane setup when the rut is approaching.

Yesterday, I did till up a softball-sized spall of agate coral that had blanks chipped off of it. Also, picked up 2 pieces of pottery, and a broken point base.

Yeah....deer farming is enjoyable to me. I do my best scouting from the seat of my tractor.

GameKeeper!

I definitely go in the red and stay there...lol

But, I do enjoy planting for the deer and turkeys. It is my only "hobby" ....other than a little trapping.

I can ride that tractor all day in the woods and not be tired.

I’m a little bit late this year in getting my buckwheat in. Coming up good though.

Never tried sun hemp. Always been a brassica man with rye and clover. Allows me to plant once at the end of summer and have green plots through fawning in the Spring and gobbler season.

I’ll have to look into the hemp a little bit deeper.

Good plan on the rye, clover, brassicas at end of summer....once and done.

I usually have to wait until 1st week of October to get the rye, wheat, oats cool weather needed. We'll still be having 90° days here in October some years.

Yah but other than that?? Maybe ill give that a try. Might top seed it with cow pea. thanks

Buck browsing sun hemp...

Get r dun Mr. Swamp. I bushogged and chisel plowed my last years plot recently and had a ton of lime/ac applied. Will wait til about end of august early sept to reseed. Good luck with yours.