Some hunters would say that it takes a lot of acreage to grow big bucks. While I would not argue that this certainly helps, not all of us have been blessed to have such expansive (and expensive) parcels. For many of us, we must make the most of the small acreage that we have to work with. And for me, this is a tiny 7.2-acre property along the edge of the Mississippi Delta in Leflore County that I call home. In jest, we call our home place the GR3, short for Grimmett Ranch 3, although it is far from a true ranch.
Even so, we make the most of the acreage by planting trees, creating
habitat improvements, providing abundant nutrition, experimenting with new
products and trying to minimize pressure and stress on the white-tailed deer.
This past fall I read about Whitetail Institute’s Ravish Radish, and I was eager
to give it a try. Everything got off to a great germination and grew
vigorously, in spite of hot and dry Mississippi weather conditions. I was
actually quite surprised that the radishes could continue to grow with the less
than ideal rainfall and sustained hot days.
I was fortunate to take a 215-pound 10-point buck with archery
gear in early October, as a bachelor group of three bucks came into the radish
plot and fed toward my tree stand. Later, in the first Mississippi firearm
season, I also harvested a fine 225-pound 8-point in the center of the food
plot early one morning. The excellent forage in the plots had bucks showing up
on trail cameras just about every day.
It was quite remarkable to again have a great hunting season
on such a micro-sized property. I am very thankful for Whitetail Institute’s
development of quality seed products that work well in my area of the country,
where sometimes soil composition and weather elements can be quite harsh.
