I want you to talk about if you could redesign or design the ideal food plot layout, and, you know, you could give it a dimension, you could give it kind of like a form that makes sense, something that explains an ideal situation that you've seen in the landscape, whether on your own property, clients that you've worked with, something that's really done well, and it could be your system, um, the system that you've created, um, or things that you've seen from your clients.

I think we just did that two years ago.

What we designed on one of the grounds that we hunt, I was always, um...

The destination food plot's gotta be big, open, so I can wheel a tractor in and out of there.

But up here, that's very unnatural, okay? It's just, you know, like, if you're in Iowa, big bean fields everywhere.

Alpha- I don't know so much about Alpha, but big, you know, big food everywhere.

Illinois, big food everywhere.

... work well for many people?

pretty little odds, but I just, I just love watching deer.

That being said, when we designed this food plot with edge in it, that tremendously increased the amount of bucks on the property, the amount of bucks using the food plot, but more specifically the amount of bucks using the food plot during the day.

Now, Did we hit on something? I don't know.

But going forward, every one of my food plots, there's going to be separation in it.

You know, it created spots where they could rub.

We had, you know, 30 scrapes on the food plot.

It might kind of go against conventional thinking on a lot of the managers where you want one scrape, you know, one licking branch.

Do you have a rotation process that you go through amongst your strips that you think would work well for many people?

Because

our HD screen is such critical to a successful hunt.

Okay.

A successful, like, you know, if you've done some land management plans, obviously there's screening involved on a lot of properties, myself included.

And this HD screen is so finicky to grow that we've actually sent a half page of very detailed instructions.

You know, the seed has to be buried.

You have to have 65 to 70 degrees soil temperature.

What are you seeing in the field that might, you know, help folks out with planting switchgrass as it relates to that topic specifically?

You

have to have 65 to 70 degrees soil temperature.

And I think the biggest, and I see this with switchgrass, I see this with a lot of the bigger seeds, is folks do not pay attention to seed depth.

And, you know, we've got a saying on our YouTube channel, size is the depth of seed.

And I think there's something very critical to that.

I think soil temperature, people don't pay enough attention to that, myself included, but I'm becoming more and more patient with it.

You know, planting switchgrass, I think soil temperature is becoming critical.

What are you seeing in the field that might, you know, help folks out with planting switchgrass as it relates to that topic specifically?

Okay.

I, I look at if I'm... and we'll just take here in upper Michigan, okay, we get frost first, we get snow here first before, you know, Ohio, Kentucky, uh, you know, Iowa, the big whitetail states.

I'm looking for, you know, something that's, that's gonna attract in September that gets them coming to our property, okay, and that's gonna be some, some cereal grains.

Um, I'm really falling in love with fall-planted buckwheat right now up here.

Uh, it is, it's an unbelievable underrated draw.

Um, you know, beans, but the, you know, buckwheat won't make it past the first frost, so now we have to take something in that blend that's gonna carry from, uh, first frost October 10th to, you know, maybe mid to late October, early November, and then we need something in that blend that's gonna pick up November, uh, and take us to, to the first of the year or, or into Christmas.

Okay, can I do a blend like that? Maybe.

Do you wanna just quickly just chat about that just briefly?

Maybe walk us through some of your thinking around that topic.

Diversity.

There's no one seed that you can plant.

In my opinion, that's going to keep your, well, Yeah, there's a blend maybe, but we'll get back to that.

Okay.

I look at if I'm, and we'll just take here in Upper Michigan.

Okay.

Do you want to just quickly just chat about that just briefly?

How do plant diversity and species interaction improve a food plot?

How do they improve a food plot? Well, I think you're looking for, you're looking for, um...

We'll take our Brassica blend, okay? We've got seven different species in it that attract deer from September until all the turnips are gone.

So that's kind of like when I was talking about testing.

You have to find something that creates, one, deer attraction, and two, they play nice with each other, meaning they're not gonna crowd each other out.

They're not going to, um, stunt other plants.

You have to have the right ratios.

So maybe you could talk a little bit about blends that you have created that you think would be a, a great resource for folks this fall.

I think a lot of people appreciate the products that you offer, and so we just wanna exploit your knowledge and experience.

Um, well, experience is, um, I started deer hunting in the '80s, and you never heard of food plots before, and, you know, that was never a thing.

And I think I kinda...

It was...

I was drawn to it by one of my coworkers was planting rye, and he's like, "You can't believe how well this works," and this was maybe the late '90s that he was planting rye, and I, I thought that was really cool because, you know, I...

Full disclosure, I'm in Upper Michigan, which is really not the whitetail mecca of the world.

I mean, the four, or the three other individuals you're, you're talking to are all from big buck areas.

the seed choices that you're, you would recommend with the products that you have for this fall?

I think a lot of people appreciate the products that you offer, and so we just wanna exploit your knowledge and experience.

Um, well, experience is, um, I started deer hunting in the '80s, and you never heard of food plots before, and, you know, that was never a thing.

And I think I kinda...

It was...

I was drawn with by one of my coworkers was planting rye, and he's like, "You can't believe how well this works," and this was maybe the late '90s that he was planting rye, and I, I thought that was really cool because, you know, I, uh, full disclosure, I'm in Upper Michigan, which is really not the whitetail mecca of the world.

I mean, the four, or the three other individuals you're, you're talking to are all from big buck areas.

I am not from a big buck area.

the seed choices that you're, you would recommend with the products that you have for this fall?