THE BIGGEST FOOD SOURCE FOR DEER WE ARENT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HD 1080p

In this video I go over the biggest food source for whitetail deer that very few deer hunters are taking advantage of. We hunt large amounts of land, plant corn, soybeans, alfalfa, clovers, brassicas, and cereal grain to help feed our deer herd year around. The majority of our acres are in our woods, and most woods are now being managed for hardwood timber, not for whitetail deer production. large mature trees do offer benefits to the deer for a month or 2 out of the year as they drop nuts, but for most of the year the woods have very little food or cover to offer whitetails. A thinning cut, or TSI can be the difference of having very limited food for whitetails to browse on and having a surplus of food available year around

[@rfb7117]

Wes....makes perfect sense. We had some tornados come through the area this year and did the same thing, and we also dropped some larger trees. They both really worked together to give us openings and produced thick areas with the downed trees. Bob

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thanks Bob! I love those pockets of thick areas throughout the woods! So many good things come from them! Thanks for watching

[@joesoutdoorexperience]

Good morning Wes, first time to your channel! Great info I met an old farmer a few years back he said “ you wanna see a lot more deer cut down trees” probably some of the best info I have ever received!

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

I am glad to have you on the channel!! That is some great advice….any time an old farmer talks, we ought to be taking notes! Ha. Thanks for watching!

[@thebadboo4875]

Wes, good visual and reminder. There are alot of excellant TSI videos. Hack and squirt can also be useful and easier then cutting. Some considerations: just like food plots you need a multi-year TSI plan. If you have invasives, cutting will allow those to explode. You must control invasive before cutting. To maintain the deer haven "savanna" you created, consider prescribed fire in staggered years. Locate your cuttings carefully, decide where the "natural" bedding areas that deer would prefer are. Know how and when to hinge cut. Use cutting to control lines of travel. Feather your food plot/field edges by felling trees (some into the field). Know when to cut and when to hack and squirt. Just like food plots, knowing what to do and when is key.

[@dbmail545]

Prescribed fire is how we maximize wildlife friendly woods in Florida. I always love seeing the fire fern springing up first rain after a prescribed burn.

[@nathanlester5054]

Great information as usual Wes, and great visual example between the open canopy area and the closed canopy hardwoods.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thanks Nathan!! I certainly appreciate you watching and hoping your food plots are doing well!

[@Mark-oq5pf]

Great information Wes. Food plots set up travel destinations for deer but without thickets of browse/ security cover the deer will live off your land. The first purchase I made after buying my hunting land was a chainsaw! Thanks Wes

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

That’s exactly right Mark! And those are 2 great investments you made there with land and a chainsaw! Thanks for watching and good luck with the plots

[@tripleh8979]

Really putting it into perspective wes I need to get into the woods more. Good video

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thank you sir! I think we are pretty much all in that boat….only so much time for food plots and habitat work! Thanks for watching

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Yes sir, invasives are major problems, fortunately in this section of my woods I’ve never seen any. I do have a tremendous amount of treee of heavens I’ve been battling in a different area. The only reason I like cutting instead of hack and squirt, is the cutting is instant and there isn’t a ton of dead large trees falling around my stand location. I have a farm that has had a ton of hack and squirt done on it and it makes me extremely nervous going to that farm when the wind is blowing at all. Like you said, there are many different options and different scenarios require different strategies. Thank you for sharing your insights! Thanks for watching

[@dbmail545]

I live in North Florida on 75yo second growth. This property was mature longleaf pines tapped for turpentine until the late 1940's. Still pretty thick and the whitetail deer are something of pests here. By the time hunting season kicks off deer bedding down on the property is a daily thing. How does lab-lab bean grow in Kentucky?

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

@@dbmail545 lab lab grows really well In KY, I planted late summer for a early fall food plot last year and got very good growth off the 2 plots! Thanks for watching

[@Brandon-uo1rv]

Great video as usual bud. What's your protocol for fertilizing clover plot throughout the year? How do you feel about foliar fertilizers vs granular?

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thank you sir! The best way is a split application of spring and fall fertilizer. I would fertilize for p and k per my soil test, and then I would maintain the plot after I got it built up in the adequate range. Clover will pull different amounts every growing season, i would recommend taking a soil sample every year that way you can visually track what your soil needs and give it exactly what the test is calling for. I don’t mind using liquids for several of the nutrients that don’t require high amounts of LBS per acre. For the heavy lifting of adding significant LbS per acre I’m going with granular, it’s cheaper and in my opinion less of a hassle. Once you get to the point of maintaining the soil fertility, if you choose you can switch to liquids. One of the downfalls of liquid is they are much more expensive on a LB for LB basis when compared to granular. Thanks for watching, good luck with the plots!

[@floridawoman25]

I put sweet potatos in the ground. And I also put water out for them. The deer eat the leaves and come for the water.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

That’s awesome! Glad you’re having success pulling the deer in! Thanks for watching and good luck this year!

[@seankeeney7051]

Where at in Western KY? We are in Henderson, very good information! Thank you!

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Sean, I’m located in Calloway county, far western part of the state! Thanks for watching!

[@blueridgerider7954]

I raised meat goats for years, after an accident and life changes i gave up on the goats. An explosion of browse took over after resulting in high protein food sown for goats. I let ditches and hard to mow spots go. The forested area quickly reclaimed it's undergrowth( bedding area). This reforestation was very similar to a clear cut regrowth. After two years the deer population has exploded, with twin fawns being the norm now. I've drawn in deer by accident and couldn't be happier.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

That’s a great success story! It’s amazing how we want everything to look so perfect on our farms, and many times the key is letting things grow up….deer 100% relate to cover, especially mature bucks! Thanks for watching

[@Goodellsam]

Really, No acorns and lower tree leaves? They are very important for deer. They need more than field crops.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thanks for watching!

[@MrRABland]

What basal area would you recommend for a mature hardwood forest of 100 acres with 70% red oaks, 15% white oaks, 10% sugar maples, and the rest aspen, birch, basswood, and ash? I'm having it logged through a forester from 80-120 to 60.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

For whitetail hunting, I wouldn’t recommend cutting the entire farm for bedding….that makes it much more difficult to hunt and to effectively move deer to where it’s advantageous for you as the hunters. A good timber harvest, along with patches of clear cuts in correct areas, or near clear cuts works really well to put deer exactly where you want them. Thanks for watching and good luck with the timber harvest!

[@MrRABland]

@@DIYfoodplotpro Thanks. I'm putting in six strategically placed plots of between 1/2 and one acre with two one-acre clear-cuts. My access areas will not be logged to avoid creating bedding areas and for scent control.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

@@MrRABlandsounds like you have a well thought of plan! Good luck with the timber harvest and food plots

[@davidfleer5307]

How long do you wait to reopen a clear cut if it’s primarily oaks, hickory,cedar and then all the sticky thorny bushes have started growing in 2-3 years?

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

David, I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking? Thanks for watching

[@davidfleer5307]

@@DIYfoodplotprocutting the new growth

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

David, I won’t cut the new growth, I’ll simply let it turn into a thicket. I have multiple spots like this that I cut, so I always have thickets at different stages, these are small patches of near clear cuts, so there is always plenty of room to add more! I’ll have some young and some entering into large timber stage.

[@janitorialguy4436]

Thanks Wes

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thank you for watching! Good luck with that alfalfa plot, can’t wait to hear how it turns out!

[@personalprojectile]

Wes! See any seng in those hills ?

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

I never have found any….but I’ve never looked really hard. I’ve always heard those are more numerous on the east end of the state! Thanks for watching

[@personalprojectile]

@@DIYfoodplotpro but would you tell me if you did 😉

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

⁠hahaha that’s fair….but I really never have seen any around my part of the world.

[@robertcope7873]

Sounds good but our landowner does not want us to cut any trees.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Yeah that’s definitely a tougher battle when you’re on land that is leased or someone else owns. Alot of times there are natural thickets on properties, old fields that the farmers let go work great for these areas as well. Thanks for watching.

[@ericc155]

50 acres here ...I'm listening

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Good luck with the food plots and TSI! Thanks for watching

[@donniedowell3787]

You can bait in KY on private. Your not gonna be cutting trees on public.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

In my part of ky there is 100% no baiting. Most of the state baiting is legal but we are in a cwd surveillance zone so no baiting. Thanks for watching

[@jonathanwalda811]

Hackberry is wildlife food

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

I’m providing much more food to wildlife by putting it on the ground. Thanks for watching

[@MikeFerguson-yq2jh]

You must be talking about honeysuckle

[@Larryw-o2k]

poison ivy is a favorite food of deer

[@archersexton1009]

Guess there is a permanent mast failure

[@royguidry1311]

Do you have whitetail eating acorns on your property right now? We all know and obviously Wes knows that acorns can be the primary food source for a few months in the fall. He talks about it in a pile of videos. But feeding deer all year and creating bedding requires those clear ground areas be filled in.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

Thanks Roy! I appreciate that a lot! I get a ton of negative comments on mistakes I make on the videos. I did forget to mention the acorn production side of the mature Forrest! It’s so hard to remember everything that I want/need to talk about in a video! Thanks for watching!

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

I did forget to mention acorn production as a food source, though it’s a temporary one, there is no doubt the power of fresh acorns falling on the forest floor. It was a mistake to not mention in that in the video…for me it is very difficult to remember to mention every thing that I should when shooting a video! Thanks for watching!

[@steventhomas524]

I hacked and squirt a 2 acre plot, got rid of all non-productive trees, leaving only oaks and hickory trees. Gives same response as what is shown in this video, but leaves the mast producing tress that are beneficial for deer / turkey. Opened up the canopy, now I have a large amount of "greens" growing on the forest floor and nuts in the fall. Best of both worlds.

[@DIYfoodplotpro]

@@steventhomas524 That’s awesome!! I did leave a couple of large white oaks, one right in the middle of the cleared section and other was on the edge. Always good to release those desirable trees, and like you said have the best of both worlds! Thanks for watching!!