After taking a few weeks off from blogging, I’ve got the urge to get writing again and today I have finished the first step in our new food plots.
Last weekend fellow Up North Journal Pro Staffer Matt Woodbury and myself conducted our soil sampling of the area we plan to plant and hunt this upcoming deer season. We surveyed the area as to where the best places would be to put a plot, then we got busy. We took several samples from just below the surface to obtain a good representation of the entire plot area. After getting plenty of samples we mixed the dirt together for a good mixture, then shook off the dirt and headed home.
Today I got busy obtaining the information from the Michigan State University extension office for soil testing in our area. I found out that they require just about a quart of dirt for the sample to send in to test along with a $12 fee for each sample sent in. This fits right in with what Steve Scott of the Whitetail Institute told us a couple of weeks ago during the interview I did with him on the Up North Journal Podcast. I also packaged up the samples to send to Whitetail Institute to see how they compare to the MSU extension office testing. It cost $10 for the testing at Whitetail Institute along with $7.10 for postage on each sample sent in for a total of just over $17. I sent in two samples since I obtained a soil sample from our property up north this weekend also. We are going to plant a test plot on the property we hunt up north to see how it compares to what we are currently doing.
So we are well on our way to getting ready to plant. We hopefully will clear the local plot this weekend and get it ready to plant as soon as the results come back in from our soil test. We will keep you updated on the progress!
