Idea for trails

[answerguy8]

I'm considering the following: after the leaves come off the trees I'm going to run over my trails with my brush hog to get the leaves off, then I'll disk up the parts of the trail that don't have anything growing on them. Then I'll broadcast some wheat onto the trail and disk this in and cultipack it. I've been told you can plant winter wheat until November first in this area and with the leaves off the trees the trails should get enough sunlight to grow the wheat.

My reason for using winter wheat is that I understand it will stay green all winter long. It should be a draw to deer in December and provide forage in the early spring after the snow melts.

[Luv2hunteup]

answerguy8

Why are you going to wait so long? I completed my trail planting 2 weeks ago and I feel I was alittle late.

Better late than never. I know I would rather try and fail than not try something new at all. You can learn alot from experimentation that's how I came across late summer planting de rape/clover.

[answerguy8]

I thought I'd get around to explaining my idea, finally.

I figure if I plant before the leaves fall that they would get suffocated by all the leaves. If I wait till leaf drop I can brush hog, hopefully blowing most of them off the trail and then disk under everything that's left on the trail. Then I'll broadcast the winter wheat seed, disk it in and cultipack it. The local farm store says wheat can be planted as late as November first in Bay County. I don't know how much growth to expect but it doesn't matter that much to me. At the worst it will be there for the deer after the snow melts next year.

[Ed Spin]

Answer Guy:

I have planted wheat in Gladwin county for many years and Bay county is right next to it. I planted wheat as a cash crop and it then becomes more important to be timly for maximum return of actual wheat grain. My planting window for wheat was from September 25 through October 12th. There are many reasons for this window from missing the hessian fly investation (prior to september 25th) to have sufficient roots growing to prevent soil heaving during the winter freeze (after Octobeer 12th). November 1st. planting date in Bay County would be pushing it for freeze safty.

I run into this too many times. The local farmer or seed dealer may know his timing for cash crops but dosen't understand the goal of a deer food plot. Yes, you may get the wheat to grow, but only the roots with little to no forage. I have pushed that late date (October 12th) more than once and each time i would have to wait for the spring green up to find out if I had any wheat growing.

You are not growing cash crops, you are growing deer food plots and what you are looking for is maximum forage growth for the hunting seasons ,winter carry over and if there is any left something for the deer during that crical early spring.

I would recommend when planting any grain throughout Michigan, target the first of September and set it up for the deer not a cash crop. Don't worry about the leaves. They may just blow away with the little blades of wheat not really holding them in place. Tip, Fertilize heavy and if the hessian fly invests the wheat, who cares?

Keep the fun in hunting!

[Hamilton Reef]

I have a hunt shack on a 2-track lane that can view from my big food plot to my neighbor property. Everything traveling N/S crosses this lane. We disked it a week ago. Yesterday I planted winter wheat and I'll finish it this evening. We've got 50//50 chance for rain Sat/Sun. This lane offers 200-yards of shooting and some wheat nibbling a minute or two is what is needed for selective harvest.