A success story of american farmer By Bill Marchel :Developing a food plot to attract wildlife can go from hobby to obsession quite easily

The popularity of implementing food plots to attract deer and other wildlife has grown vastly in recent years.
For more than a decade I've been planting food plots on my 70 acres of land near Brainerd. Even though I had no farming experience, my efforts have been successful and now, more than a decade later, I realize if I can grow productive food plots anyone can.
Here's how I did it.
To develop a one-half acre food plot I started during the winter. I cleared the trees and brush from what was a grown-over forest opening using a chain saw and a hand-held brush cutter. When the snow melted I obtained a soil test kit and followed the included instructions. Testing the soil is very important. The cost was only about $10, and I knew it would ultimately save me money in fertilizer and lime expenses.
In May I broke the soil using an ATV outfitted with a three-point hitch and cultivator. It took a lot of work to break through the thick sod and roots and to dig out hundreds of rocks, but a good seedbed is important and I knew my initial work would save time later and the end result would be a better food plot.
Then I waited about a month for the newly exposed weed seeds to germinate, and I cultivated the soil again to destroy them. A herbicide such as Roundup can also be used to kill the weeds, but once the original sod was broken, cultivating was relatively easy.
Next I applied fertilizer and lime according to the results of my soil test. For that I used a tow-behind spreader attached to my ATV. I lightly disked in the fertilizer and lime. For the best results, lime a food plot at least six months prior to planting since it takes time for the lime to become incorporated into the soil.
A few days later, following a good rain shower, I seeded the plot with a commercial deer food plot mix consisting of corn and soybeans. I spread the seed according to the seeding rate chart printed on the package. Finally I used a heavy drag to bury the seed and a cultipacker to firm the soil.
It was time for the fun to begin. Almost every day I hiked to the plot to monitor plant growth and to analyze which species of wildlife was using the plot. Just like in farming, growing quality wildlife forage is highly weather dependent. Timely rainfall can make or break a food plot.

If you are a landowner, prior to implementing a food plot on your acreage consider soil quality and moisture and then decide on the plot location. Don't plant a food plot where flooding will be a problem, nor should you plant a plot on a sandy hilltop exposing it to the wind and sun.

Meadows and forest openings are ideal places to plant food plots because the initial work of clearing the land is greatly reduced. Other good locations are the uplands immediately adjacent to the north side of a swamp or lowland. These locations allow a maximum amount of sunlight to reach the plot, and those areas warm up first during spring.
Always consider present habitats on your land before clearing for food plots. Try to preserve any nut bearing trees and save stands of winter thermal cover such as evergreen trees. Attempt to leave unique habitats undisturbed.

Most landowners that have implemented food plots find boredom during the offseasons a thing of the past. Like me, you too may discover that what began as a hobby can become an obsession.