Sandy soil presents enough problems without having to contend with hogs, too.
QUESTION: I have 500 acres that has a lot of sandy soil. I've planted stuff every year, and nothing seems to grow. The other thing is, I have hogs at the feed all the time. I have seen some really good bucks, but they won’t come to the feeder, so I'm trying to plant something that will bring them in. Can you help?
ANSWER: I can offer a few suggestions. From an agricultural perspective, “sandy” typically means very well drained soils. That creates the dual problem of insufficient moisture and excessive leaching of lime and nutrients. First, you should test your soil annually and apply lime and fertilizer as prescribed, which will likely require more than wetter soils.
Next, you need to plant something that is relatively drought tolerant. One example is Whitetail Institute’s Imperial Whitetail Extreme, which was designed to thrive in harsh conditions. If you go with a blend, look for something with a fair proportion of chicory. It grows a very deep taproot that will reach soil moisture other plants won’t. Other options include alfalfa, sorghum and chufa. The latter does very well in sandy soil, and turkeys love it. Unfortunately, so do hogs.
There’s not much you can do to keep hogs out of your food plots short of aggressive hog control. However, you can keep them away from your feeders by putting up a low fence. Deer can still jump over but the hogs won’t be eating up your supplemental feed.