(Ron Sinfelt photo)
May 02, 2018
By Gordon Whittington
The quest for better deer hunting has driven interest in food plots to dizzying heights. But that's not the only thing behind the trend. We hunters and landowners likewise are seeking greater overall satisfaction from our outdoors experience. The satisfaction we get from helping the land while also filling our tags makes food plotting a win-win for hunters and the environment alike.
Yes, growing plots is a noble endeavor, one that interests folks across North America. But being interested isn't enough. For the unprepared, plot success can be elusive. And the challenges extend well beyond deciding what to plant. It doesn't matter which crops you want to grow for wildlife if you can't find an efficient, reliable way to grow them. So even as you're searching for the right location and the right seeds, you also should make sure you have equipment that can get the job done .
Unlike commercial farmers, we're usually trying to grow crops on marginal sites with tricky access. Most of our plantings aren't in big, flat fields that have been cultivated for generations -- they're cleared spots in the woods, grassy powerline rights of way, awkward field corners, etc. We're often trying to figure out how to farm the "unfarmable."
Doing this with full-sized farm equipment can be tough, even if you're fortunate enough to have it at your disposal. You need equipment small and nimble enough to work in tight spots but also designed and built to handle real work. And if you can perform every task with a single machine, that's the ultimate solution. Find a piece of plot equipment meeting this full description and you'll have a handy tool indeed.
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Fortunately, that tool exists. It's the Firminator G-3, made by Ranew's Outdoor Equipment .
All models in the G-3 lineup , including one small enough for a 500cc ATV to handle with ease, offer 3-in-1 function. You can easily and effectively disk, seed and cultipack, all with the same machine. Start out by simply setting the adjustable disks to produce the seedbed you need. Whether that takes one pass or several, it's a breeze. Then make another pass to drop the seed of your choice into the soil, cultipacking behind it to get great seed-to-soil contact at the proper depth. After that, simply wait for rain.
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Not only can the G-3 do the work of three traditional pieces of cultivation equipment, it does so without requiring you to add or remove parts. Everything is self-contained, easily adjusted and built like a tank. There's no cumbersome swapping of bulky implements, no need for a large storage area. It's hard to fathom a plot machine being simpler or working better -- much less being designed and built to do so for many years to come.
With a Firminator G-3, food plotting becomes as much fun as it should have been all along. No other machine can match its adjustability or functionality. Just as nothing else can match the pride you'll feel in harvesting a trophy buck from your very own plot.