Food Plottin’ at an early age…too early! The One-Eyed Hillbilly and his 2½ yr old son on the tractor many moons ago.
I don’t know any young kids that don’t love riding on tractors. You want to see a kid light up with excitement, then put them on a tractor and let them ride with you for a few rounds while putting in the fall food plots. This year if you have a child that’s at the age to get in the woods, start them off with some excitement while teaching quality habitat management. Not only will you once again come to enjoy what has become just another chore for an outdoorsman prior to hunting season, but you will also endear the young’un to the chore at hand for at least the next few years. If they can ride on the tractor, they will want to help and you need to take advantage of that short window of opportunity, kind of like the window of time when they are old enough to mow the grass but young enough to still be fascinated with the chore. It won’t last but it sure is fun while it does.
August is the time to get the cool season food plots in the ground. It’s hot, it’s humid, and the bugs are out in full force. But kids don’t care about the heat and bugs. As August winds down our southern Missouri deer population is at the height of the summer stress period that subjects the animals to browse that is deficient in protein and minerals. If you have a properly designed management strategy the plots you planted in the spring will have supplied the wildlife population with supplemental forage providing these summertime dietary needs. However, during the winter stress period, the deer population is in need of energy to store fat, as opposed to protein and minerals, for the late winter months. To answer these energy needs a combination of cereal grains and legumes planted in late summer generally produces the best results. My advice to the prospective food plot maker is not to trust ads from your hunting magazines advertising the latest and greatest plot forage. Rather, visit your local seed and fertilizer professional and ask their advice. And the first thing they will tell you is to get a soil sample. Here’s another chance for you to endear the young’un to the food plot job. What kid doesn’t like to dig in the dirt? Throw in a cooler with some soda and snacks and this experience is just like a campout.
A word of caution about getting the kids involved – if you have a strong-willed child don’t start them out too young. We learned the hard way. I started giving my son, Alex, rides on the tractor when he was two years old. That fall he wanted to go along but I wouldn’t let him go as I left the house, got on the tractor, and headed down the driveway to the food plot. Alex had just gotten tall enough to open the front door of the house by himself. Ten minutes after I had left, my wife was doing the laundry while the boy played in the living room floor. As she came out into the living room to check on him he was nowhere to be found. After searching the house thinking he was playing hide-and-seek but not finding him, my older son Mitchell ran out of the house and by way of a short-cut, came to the food plot to tell me of the ordeal. I immediately jumped off the tractor and ran for the end of the driveway. Sure enough, Alex had followed where he saw dad drive the tractor. At the end of the driveway there were two cars pulled over and Alex was in the arms of a Good Samaritan who had spied him coming down the driveway in his diaper trying to find the tractor! In 60 seconds he had opened the door and closed it behind him and headed out in pursuit of dad on that tractor and almost gave us a heart attack!
August is the time to get the cool season food plots in the ground. It’s hot, it’s humid, and the bugs are out in full force. But kids don’t care about the heat and bugs. As August winds down our southern Missouri deer population is at the height of the summer stress period that subjects the animals to browse that is deficient in protein and minerals. If you have a properly designed management strategy the plots you planted in the spring will have supplied the wildlife population with supplemental forage providing these summertime dietary needs. However, during the winter stress period, the deer population is in need of energy to store fat, as opposed to protein and minerals, for the late winter months. To answer these energy needs a combination of cereal grains and legumes planted in late summer generally produces the best results. My advice to the prospective food plot maker is not to trust ads from your hunting magazines advertising the latest and greatest plot forage. Rather, visit your local seed and fertilizer professional and ask their advice. And the first thing they will tell you is to get a soil sample. Here’s another chance for you to endear the young’un to the food plot job. What kid doesn’t like to dig in the dirt? Throw in a cooler with some soda and snacks and this experience is just like a campout.
A word of caution about getting the kids involved – if you have a strong-willed child don’t start them out too young. We learned the hard way. I started giving my son, Alex, rides on the tractor when he was two years old. That fall he wanted to go along but I wouldn’t let him go as I left the house, got on the tractor, and headed down the driveway to the food plot. Alex had just gotten tall enough to open the front door of the house by himself. Ten minutes after I had left, my wife was doing the laundry while the boy played in the living room floor. As she came out into the living room to check on him he was nowhere to be found. After searching the house thinking he was playing hide-and-seek but not finding him, my older son Mitchell ran out of the house and by way of a short-cut, came to the food plot to tell me of the ordeal. I immediately jumped off the tractor and ran for the end of the driveway. Sure enough, Alex had followed where he saw dad drive the tractor. At the end of the driveway there were two cars pulled over and Alex was in the arms of a Good Samaritan who had spied him coming down the driveway in his diaper trying to find the tractor! In 60 seconds he had opened the door and closed it behind him and headed out in pursuit of dad on that tractor and almost gave us a heart attack!
So, start’em out young but not too young. Bring’em home with boots full of chiggers, pockets full of dirt, and bellies full of soda. Turn’em loose at the house and watch how proud their mother is of you for taking them with you while putting in the fall food plots! Remember, as one of my favorite sayings goes, “All that we are we will pass on to our children…let your actions stand tall in a child’s eyes. Just as fruit does not fall far from the tree, children do not stray far from their heroes.” And trust me, if you bring home the kids like that, your wife will swear you are a fruit! So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.
Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.
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