Thank you for the update.
I like that shoot house.
What will you do with the corns till the deer season?
Do you just leave them on the stalk and let it dry out?
kc45, If we were going to utilize the corn, it could be picked in the ear with a picker or by hand(the very old way) or it could be combined as shelled corn.
The ear corn, shuck and all, could be ground at a feed mill and to it would be added salt, sugar, minerals to make a cattle or hog feed. Some folks choose to feed ear corn to their livestock just as it is.
The combine run corn can be sacked and sold to us hunters, it can be ground into corn meal, it might be added to some horse feeds as whole kernel, all sorts of animal feeds contain corn, chicken feed, dog food, etc...
Our plan is to allow it to completely dry before we pick any of it. We will probably drive a tractor across the rows to create the needed shooting lanes, then we will hand pick the stalks we knocked down and salvage enough for seed to plant another patch next year. Also some will be gathered and ground into corn meal, just somthing to do, probably be cheaper to buy it off the grocery store shelf.
As the season advances we may need to mow some with a bush hog or even run a disk over some of it in order to be able to see the entire field. Hopefully the stalks will deteriorate on their own and lay over as the weather works on it. This is all rather new to me as our food plots have usually been green fields planted to oats, rye, ryegrass or clover. Years ago we did some intentional soybean plots and they turned out good.
Might not even see a deer in the patch, time will tell. Treefarmer
Thank you for the updates on this, treefarmer. This has been a very informative thread
Again, awesome and a great informative learning thread! Photos are great and yes, I'm jealous treefarmer! You are the man....
Day 110 Corn patch food plot
As we have kept our eye on the weather for the last few days, I want to say I'm thankful to the Lord that most of Florida didn't have to endure too much severe weather. We could have used some of the south Florida rain inland in the panhandle, only .05 inches here at our place, lots of clouds, some wind and terrible humidity.
Checking around the corn this morning, I noticed that most of the green is gone from the leaves, stalks and ears. It would be ready to pick or combine if it were a cash crop. Noticed an ear that somebody had feasted on next to the disked perimeter.
On the south side I noticed a bunch of stalks that were knocked down. I waded off into the corn rows to see what had happened, and all of a sudden the corn patch reminded me of the sound of a central Florida palmetto patch exploding when a deer breaks and runs! Didn't see the deer but sure heard it. The dog heard it too and jumped from her place on the cart and ran to the sound. I called her back and then another jumped and ran the other way! They were either bedded down or standing there watching us ride by and got spooked when I stopped. Got a picture of the interior of the patch and also where Bambie ran along the perimeter. Still only random entry points, no definite trails yet to set a camera up. Pictures cont'd on next page. Treefarmer
