Next year for me

sugar pie pumpkins
ru·ta·ba·ga

I want a 3rd crop

planting them in 6' rows

Radishes?

Acorn squash rates right up there with pumpkins.
Actually, deer love them but tend to eat them a bit earlier then pumpkins.

For 5 years now we plant in 4 different plots. ( Crimson clover and radishes)(winter wheat)
( Turnips canola radish blend) and every year no matter where we plant it the (crimson clover and radishes) get the most deer late into the year. However this we did one with Australian winter pease with clover mix and that is the winner this year. Typically try and plant them in beginning to middle of August here in northeast Wisconsin

rape

I planted buckwheat this year and the deer mowed it down like crazy. Seriously I planted it too early because they had cleaned out the entire 1-acre field before the deer season even began. I'm going back to turnips next year, the deer don't eat too much until after a hard frost then they hit them better.

Alot of guys down here plant soybeans and when the leaves start to turn brown they go in and sow winter wheat over top of the beans,when the leaves fall off the cover the seeds up and will start to grow.deer love the beans and the young sweet wheat.

Huge selection of choices out there not like 40 years ago before it was Whitetail Institute’s selection now they take up little space on the shelf at Cabelas. Beets, radishes, chicory, clover, buckwheat, soybeans, grasses and a lot of mixed choices out there to choose from. My fear with pumpkins is they won’t eat them or won’t touch them until way late in the season making the effort less rewarding.

In SD I think I can grow about anything in MO it’s another story the ground is more gravel pit like than any planting type of soil. Buddy planted radishes and clover this being the first year he had limited success everything was small and stunted but did green up a bit. After soil sampling and new equipment he purchased we will do better next year. I limed the soil in MO when I was hunting down that way and just limed my SD plot yesterday.

Turnips

Rape for later in the season.

Deer eat Rutabagas ?

I like soybeans because they eat them as they grow and late in the winter, they eat them when there is nothing else growing. They wrap their tongue around the bottom of the stalk and strip all the pods off in one motion. I planted turnips on July 25th and they ate the greens as they grew and then really started eating the turnips later.

Is this food plot to be bait for the bullet and bow.......or to help them thru winter? If the latter, you may want to also include a patch of plain old field corn. Years ago, wife of a big time operator (BTO) inherited an 80 acre farm near us. It was about 30 miles from his base of operations. He planted it to corn, then must have forgotten about it as he never came back to harvest it. By late winter, every deer for miles around had moved into that patch of standing corn. They were thick as grasshoppers. Don't think he ever harvested anything as by then, there was nothing left.

Would also try a mix of clover and winter rye. A few years back I planted a small test plot for a hay crop.......about 40' s x 200'......and by mid Oct a deer scrape had appeared in the middle of it. Had 4 to 6 does in there nightly.......all winter long. Looked like a hog lot.

I was talking to several old time. Farmers that used to grow them for their family and they said the deer plowed into them

I broadcast turnips on selective edges of my wheat fields after I drill the wheat.

For Bow and especially for Muzzleloader

Turnips plant by July 15 to July 20th,Conola plant by August 15th and Soybeans plant by mid May.

One thing I wonder is what crops will change the taste of the venison if any. Those acorn fed MO deer are the best eating deer I’ve ever eaten. After 2 years of great acorn crops I’m a little spoiled in the eating part. LOL

Oats, winter peas, radish, vetch, and buckwheat

If it gets late and nothing has done well you can top dress everything with 150-200lbs of Rye grain (not ryegrass) per acre. Just kill it off in the spring before it gets too tall or you'll have to deal with tilling it under

Jerry I know since the soybeans have became one of our main crops the deer are heavier overall and better tasting.

Thanks

When food plots got popular a neighbor planted
deer clover and rape seed. Several times I watched
them travel through it to feed on regular alfalfa.
Some things like crown vetch, they hit after hard frost.
With no acorns, apples were tops early..

Great info

If you want an early season plot, clover,alfalfa,rape,radish.
If for later/ cold season, pumpkins,sqush,corn,beans,turnips.
I would not waste time planting beans,corn on less then 3_4 acres.

Question for the ones that plant pumpkins in food plots, how do you keep the deer from mowing down the vines during the summer?

There's a couple people here in the county I live in that raise pumpkins to sell in the fall and if they don't keep them sprayed with something all the time the deer eat the vines down to the dirt during the summer, and from what I've herd it's pretty expensive stuff they have to use.

I plant about 40 acres of food plots each year. I am in the south, so it would for sure be different up north. I also did this at work for 34 years. After doing this for 45 years, I have determined for me and my ground, simpler is better. In the south, our stress period is late summer - hot and dry and often succulent native vegetation will die during that period. Stress period up north is winter time and different plant choices are required.

I dont like corn in the south because it provides little sustenance during the summer - and the hogs will eat it all. Soy beans are great, but if you have high deer density, you have to efence, and hogs can also be a problem, and they require spring planting - which it may be too wet in a lot of planting areas. Brassicas must be planted around 1st of Sep - which is usually 100 degree heat and dry as a bone - and doesnt produce most of the time for me. It is also too early to plant cereal grains because the army worms will get them. Buckwheat requires its own planting date and higher deer density. Cowpeas will be eaten as soon as they come out of the ground. Pumpkins provide no benefit during the summer stress season. Milo is a summer crop that requires a spring planting and the hogs will rip the seed heads in the milk stage. I could go on.


I like wheat and clover. They are planted at the same time - in early fall. Cereal rye is ok if you dont turkey hunt - but in my ground, it gets tall mid spring and my gobblers will not get in it at that time. Oats are ok, but they dont produce a seed head that doves prefer in the summer. I use no fertilizer because the clover fixes nitrogen for the wheat to use. This combination provides a good quick fall greenup for me to hunt over, and provides a high protein food source during the summer when does are nursing fawns and bucks are growing antlers. Even the ducks will feed on the wheat and clover when flooded.

I grow pretty good food plots but the dog hunters keep the deer nocturnal. If they would just let us bowhunt and muzzelloader hunt, it would be OK, but they don't so no more food plots for me.

Deer love turnip greens, but, feral hogs love the root.

in WI alfalfa , a nice hay crop grows nice deer it grows for years it is high nutrition forage almost any time it isn't covered in snow
you can take cuttings off of it to help pay for the planting

it greens up early and keeps nutritional value even after a freeze till it is covered in snow

a small not visible from the road hay field is a deer magnet with a few good areas for bedding down near by

Not sure what your soil is like there but if it's sandy like it is here, you'll need lots of fertilizer. I put at least 500-pounds to the acre of something like 10-10-10 and plant around the 1st of August. The best plants for bow season (Sept-Oct) have been turnips and daikon radishes. They do well if they get good rains, and then when they get a couple hard frosts the deer attack them like crazy, which usually happens the end of September during archery season.

Until we get the soil where we want it I’ll most likely be planting No Plow as that’s what I have worked with in the past. In SD No Plow does OK but I’ll do more prep this season as I’m learning more about what needs to be done. MO is a different story that’s a whole new challenge with the soil we have to work with.

I agree with bucks n bears on soybeans,if your food plot is less than 5 acres it will be gone before your ready to hunt on it.

I had good results with purple top turnips and daikon radish mix this year.

… I hate to give away all my secrets.. but deer like to eat these things… and the best part is they’re free

… that thing should be in the freezer already

The best results I ever had were with oats. Had about a half acre in a pasture. Deer would run across the pasture and slam on breaks when they got to the oats.

Hahahaha letting him grow one more year

Growing oaks may take a little patience as I was told that oaks grow slower than clover and you have to make sure that your food plot has enough head room as they are taller than clover as well. I have a bunch of oaks here on my property and planting food plots is a waste of time as the deer are ankle deep in acorns this time the year

Every one of my eight plots has part of them in winter rye daikon radish and purple top turnips. Those are my big 3 and never fail for me here. I think if I could only have one thing for a late november December plot it would be Winter Rye with Radish a close 2nd . Now the last 2 years Bayou Kale has been coming on strong in some test strips along side the other 3. Next year the kale is going in the mix.

Thanks

I will expand a little. The last 3 days I was in a blind from dark till dark (hr short of dark tonight dropped a 10 pointer at 4pm ) and out of 35 does almost everyone ate rye while in the plots. Most ate the leafy greens also but always rye. Ive done wheat in the past but rye stays green all winter and pops up before the clover in march. Hope this helps.

Anyone planting foodplots should realize how far north/ south they are and what time of season they plan on hunting. Hence my advice.
I only hunt with archery for deer and seldom sit over food plots. I like the thick stuff.
There is a learning curve to planting plots and I've made every mistake in the book.
Proper fertilizer is very important. Timing is very important. I'd rather plant 2 weeks past prime time with good chances of rain soon then planting on optimum date in dry soil.
And I HATE turkeys!

which rye seed do you get

330, there are 2 types of rye. Grass/ Cereal. Cereal/ winter rye is good.

Do you have a co-op close? Ours has couple different blends they bag up.
I planted one that had 2 types of clover, turnip soybeans rape kale wheat and couple other type seeds in it I put some sunflower seeds around it but turkeys got them Put 100 lbs 19-19-19 and 100 lbs of pelletized lime on 1/2 acre Deer pounded it all summer mid September I mowed it back some Deer in it every night . Nice 10 point was there earlier

Wow...
Nice Buck

Thanks.I do have a co op within driving distance.

***Thanks BB

Deer Creek Seed Co has a good variety: Winter Rye/Secale Cereal but any co-op will have winter rye blends.
You just want to make sure you're not planting Perineal Rye.

I will see what Rye later today. All my seed comes from Welterseed.com Onslow Iowa

I thought I was the only one that HATES turkeys. They are a scourge around here.

They bother me while Hunting for other species

I can't hit one to Save my life when I actually hunt them.

Ragweed
Partridge pea
American Beauty Berry

All provide food and plenty of cover year round.

The deer like winter rye and buckwheat.

On the cereal ryes - there are also different strains from the south vs the north. Again, get something local if you can of a northern variety for you all up north. A southern grown VNS rye will winterkill in Iowa as I saw it happen with our covercrops we planned for NRCS in Iowa. Cereal rye in a corn/soybean rotation is still very much underutilized. Cereal rye can be immediately drilled after corn harvest and baled up before soybean production the following spring around the midwest. Livestock love the wet bales, carbon is added, soil structure improved, excess nitrogen tied up, erosion reduced, and winter cereal rye is about the best attractant I have seen around here for deer. Only negative I have seen is if too wet a spring - can be a bugger to get off without being 8' tall when planting soybeans.

Our ragweed is seasonal and frost kills it. Left with tall thick useless stalks. Partridge pea is underutilized and in most conditions hard to maintain a stand with fescue competition. Does well if converting to warm season mixes around midwest.

Anyone have experience with food plots on hillsides? There's not a flat area on my property. I'm wondering how much slope is too much?

I will need tonnage as we only have a little over an acre of cleared plots to keep up with the pressure if the plots become popular with the wildlife. We had some visitors this year with the limited crop that did come up in the freshly cleared areas but that was pretty light pressure.

They wander around aimlessly in the acorn woods with no defined deer trails like other places I’ve hunted in the past. You find faint trails but nothing that’s down to the dirt type travel ways. This is rocky ground but tracks are found in the lower spots on the roads and cleared areas but the woods are mostly faint trails nothing that reminds a guy of a cattle trail out west, no cattle in this tract of land just oak ridges.