- By Rich Miller
Though technically they are not supposed to get here until August, I think the dog days of summer are officially here. I think I picked the wrong to time of the year to try to start getting in shape for my upcoming Colorado elk hunt. I try to keep reminding myself that I am going to be in the mountains and hopefully the temperatures are not going to be in the upper 90’s.
Here where I live we haven’t had any rain at all in almost a month. Everyone’s gardens are drying up and my food plots are doing the same thing. Fortunately, we had enough rain earlier in the summer and I think that has helped my food plots hang on until now. This past fall we planted a lot of food plots that have been a great benefit for us this dry time of year. The mix that I used has oats, arrowhead clover, crimson clover, blue lupine and German winter peas. The peas and blue lupine are gone but the rest of it is still hanging in there. I am so glad that that we had these plots in because for the last month the deer have been wearing them out.
Early this spring we planted another mix that has soybeans, sunflowers, sorghum, iron and clay peas, and lab lab. As soon as we got the summer plots in the ground we got some rain; after that, the rain was over and they have struggled ever since. The deer wore the beans out as soon as they came up but then they went back to the fall plots shortly after. That is the reason I always like to have a lot of variety in my food plots. Planting them at different times where you have year-round food plots is great because you have stuff growing all year – of course, when you have good conditions. Then again, when you don’t have good conditions, the wildlife we are trying to feed will have the food plots from the previous planting season.
Every afternoon we have a good chance of thunderstorms, but when they get to the lake they split and go right around us. There is one thing for sure that you can count on, though, and that is I am already getting my plots ready for this fall’s planting. Whether it is raining right now or not, I want to be prepared when September gets here and it’s time to get seed in the ground.
No matter what your plots yield, look to Moultrie's Game Nutrition System to help you out.
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