Facts from the Field 2009 An exclusive 4 season trail camera study of food plots and their effect in Ontario hunting strategies This program is brought to you by:             James Vanos' 2009 Food Plot Program Location: SW Ontario Deer Density: high Property Type: high agriculture/small bush Nutritional Target: late fall through to spring green-up    My family will certainly attest that one of my passions in life is the pursuit of whitetail deer. I've hunted them now for 25 years and have been really blessed to have my children get involved and show a great deal of interest as well. My oldest daughter, Janelle, and my son Clayton have both taken really great bucks in the last few years and I'm really happy with the hunters they've become.    Most recently, I have been spending a great deal of time developing my property for deer. My area has a lot of tillable, farmed land and not a lot of bush so I've turned almost 20 acres of my property into a mixture of conifers, hardwoods, apple trees and prairie grasses to help improve the habitat. My hope in doing so is to eventually provide enough cover that the deer will use this for bedding and security.    We have very good soil conditions here that are composed of flood plain loam that supports high volumes of cash crops such as corn and beans on the surrounding properties. The deer in my area are very well fed throughout the warm seasons but as with most cash crop areas, once the crops are harvested and the fields are turned under, there's very little left to support the deer during a very critical time in their lives; the weeks leading up to winter. This is where my major focus will be in my food plot strategy.    The seed sponsors for this program have some very high quality blends that should really boost the nutrition levels available to the deer before the snow gets too deep for them to dig down to it. This alone would be a success and that is ultimately my hope.    We have high deer densities here; in fact in the 1 square mile block around my property, we average about 15-20 antlerless deer harvested each year and 1-2 mature bucks. With the high deer density that we have, the blocks of timber are providing enough winter browse to keep the deer alive but it's far from optimal and for deer to reach their full potential, they need highly nutritious forage to help keep up their fat stores so they don't come into spring having depleted too much of their reserves.    I'm really looking forward to exploring some of the great products our sponsors have to offer and showcasing the process of turning my property into a more attractive place for whitetails to spend their time. The above picture shows one of James' plots after the ground was worked up for planting on April 18th. After a massive, multi-day rainfall, James' plots lay underwater for nearly two weeks. The picture above shows the plot well after the water had receded. Unfortunately, the water that was left standing on the plot after the huge amounts of rain, caused some lasting damage as shown in the picture above. The strip of plowed dirt on the right is a strip that James will be planting in brassica's like Biologic's Maximum, Backyard Wildlife's Sweet Success and Whitetail Institute's Winter-Greens. This is a great example of maximizing the use of space to benefit your deer.    Choosing the site for my plots was actually an easy one as my property doesn’t leave too many options. My decision was based on two factors, soil type and proximity to cover. My situation is probably a lot different from those in the more northern parts of the province but very common for people this far south; instead of clearing land to plant food plots, I’m actually putting trees back to increase cover and bedding. I have a 20 acre field that has always been used for agriculture and I am in the process of reforesting it with a combination of evergreens and hardwoods. At the back of the property was an area set aside for tall prairie grasses and a large pond. In early April, we disked a 1 acre plot adajacent to my pond to kill most of the existing vegetation and then turned it again two weeks later to prepare the seed bed.    The soil in this area is a sandy loam that tends to retain moisture well during the summer, and being on a flood plain means it is very rich in nutrients. A soil test showed that the pH level was 7.7 which is very good. There were no nutrients lacking so no additives were needed. This is not common for most areas but is one of the positive consequences of living on a flood plain…I don’t think I need to tell you about the negatives.    The plot was divided into sections and planted on April 26th, with a combination of perennial blends like Whitetail Institute’s Chicory Plus, Backyard Wildlife’s Superb-uck, and Biologic’s Clover Plus.    In mid-may, with the help of Alan Bruno, we rough plowed a long 400 yard by 8 foot strip that is adjacent to an existing fencerow and cornfield. This area will be planted in mid-July with brassica blends like Biologic’s Maximum, Backyard Wildlife’s Sweet Success and Whitetail Institute’s Winter-Greens. This plot, though small in size, is hoped to attract and supply deer with a late season winter forage as well as provide a late winter/early spring food source once the snow melts and before the woods green-up. Both sides of the food plot will be surrounded by cornfields this season which should make these green food plots an attractive alternative and provide some diversity in food selection.    Right now, there are does and fawns feeding each evening on the weeds and native clovers that are growing between the newly planted tree rows so I know these plots will serve to fill a much needed gap in the deer’s nutritional demands in this area. While most food plot programs involve removing trees to create more room for crops, James' program is doing the opposite. James is taking agricultural land and turning it into deer habitat while at the same time, introducing food plots that will provide nutrition for the deer during the periods when the cash crops surrounding his property don't. Return to Main Page