Slightly O T Deer food plots

What do all of you if any use for food plots to get deer to come in and maybe stay? Its peat and a little low not to bad. Most likley use my H to work up and plant.(snuck the tractor in so should be ok)

Just plant a garden :roll: Couple of places over here where the tree huggers got about every seed you can think of (corn, sunflower, grains, herbs, and wildflowers mixed them up and planted some unused corners around the area. Kindalike welfare for lazy deer because everything they planted is grown in seperate fields within 5 miles or so.

Dave

Thanks dave2 Im not sure if I want to plant each year or hope it regenerates for a few years. I thought someone found something deer prefer over other things. kind of wondering. Thanks again for your time.

It all depends on when you want the deer there. If it's just for hunring, corn or any of the brassicas--turnips or rape (canola) work well. For summer graze, try cowpeas, clover, etc. An excellent book from the University of Tennessee is, "A Guide to Successful Wildlife Food Plots--Blending Science with Common Sense." It covers everything from Ph to what herbicides to use with which crops. Also covers food plots for quail, rabbits, dove, waterfowl, etc. Price is around $20.00. I forget the address, but you can google the title. I live in Michigan, but still found it excellent. Had deer using a mix of medium red and crimson clover, Austrian winter peas, and wheat all fall.

Larry

I have been planting deer plots for about 10 years now. Red Clover seems to work well. They love corn also, but if you have many deer around they eat it quickly. In talking to an old school game biologist,
I have come to the conclusion that simply adding lime and fertilizer to existing crops works well also. Believe me with the price of seed and fertilizers in todays world, you will go thru a bunch of money quickly. Good luck.

I fertilized planted a pasture mix from the local feed mill. I had more deer than ever in that field.

I would read up on this to get some basic understanding of what you may want to do at your place.

Whitetail Institute offers some excellent products, expensive seed, but some like the "No Plow" is really not all that bad when you think about it. I've used that, "Imperial Clover" and "Winter Greens". Follow the planting instructions, you can create a nice stand, PH is critical, so is nutrients and weed control.

Spring to early summer, is a good time to provide quality forage, for antler growth, overall health and growth, Fall, it is desirable to have succulent young or some kind of palatable forage, near bedding areas, (well that is an ideal scenario if your land can provide it) My place is set up like that and I have a lot of whitetail traffic, and or repeat customers. You can set things up in a variety of ways, I enjoy doing this and and watching them too, as they benefit from what I have planted. Whitetail Institute also publishes a magazine with some good articles on this, as well as what is illustrated on their website.

Some will say that their products are too expensive and or the same as what your feed store has for clovers, pasture mix etc. each to their own, but I will tell you that I did put in a stand of that imperial clover and it will last every bit of 5 years if you follow planting instructions, maintain the PH, nutrients and mow as required, don't forget weed control, it's aggressive so it kind of shades out most of those weeds, though some grasses may mix in.

There are other less expensive options like what has been mentioned. One that I think works very well and is a high in protein is Oats. Oat grass, when planted in late August, early September, is very palatable, cold weather tolerant, they just chow it right down. One of my stands over looks a 7 acre field planted in oats, it gets harvested mid summer, but that 2nd growth is outstanding, they just love it. I have plowed and disc'd strips though it and usually because there is no shortage of rain, it comes right back, no weeds, just unreal how well it works, when they graze it, looks like someone went through with a lawn mower. I also fill a couple of 55 gallon barrels from the harvest, and plant same, plow, and disc in. I broadcast the seed by hand, very heavy, the more you can put down, the thicker the stand, not like a crop grown for harvest as it will only get 6"-8" tall if planted late summer early fall, that is if they do not graze it down heavily. This year it was so dry, the oats planted for harvest went dormant, lot of weed grasses came up, but then the rains came and those oats came right back as well as what was left on the surface by the combine,germinated too! I checked the field and saw this to be the case, I think whole oats from the feed store would do here, should germinate, it's a cheap forage that works well.

I expand my plots with oats this year, so they are as big as I can plant without any clearing, most of our fields have been let go for 25 years, so its a haven for deer, so I carved out plots, next is to put in some Whitetail Institute products, so I don't have to re plant for a few years, some like the No Plow are aggressive, I plow anyway and it takes right off, but you have to plant it annually or when you want them to benefit the most from it, all in the timing there.

you got that rite...plant anything you dont want them pasture rats to eat and they'll be on it like stink on a skunk.
FWIW i dont plant food for deer but i do winter plantings for my cattle...winter wheat,oats and rye grass mix...gotta plant twice as much cause deer eat it so far down.

I'd use your land to feed a calf or to, they taste alot better than road goat!

I found that the turnip, clover, rape , mixes work very well here in Nw Wisconsin, but I am in a fairly wooded area, not a lot of farm fields around.

Whatever you plant, make sure it is something that deer just absolutely love to eat, and be sure to plant enough of it so that your local deer can invite all of their deer family and friends in for lunch, and maybe even offer them a place to stay.

I use a 270 with a 140 gn. boat tail. They come and stay never to leave. In real life I just use the neighbors alfalfa field. Works the best about 2 weeks after he cuts it. Yong and tender and they love it.

They really like rapeseed. I have planted every kind of plant for deer you can imagine and they polished off the rapeseed plants the fastest. I have planted much wheat, corn, sunflowers, turnips, clover, you name it. My choice would be roundup ready corn thats a good hybrid. The new stuff really yields very well. Then in the later summer in late august or september get the rape planted and they will flock to it. The corn may be gone before winter hits depending on how much you plant. Put the rape in front of the deer shack!