Turnips?

Much of Minnesota experienced record rainfall this spring. Lake water levels were "feet" higher and people couldn't water ski or tube for the LOG due to wake restrictions. So the farmer that leases the land from my neighbor that I hunt didn't get to his beans this year because it was so wet and planted a couple of hundred acres of turnips a few months ago. Word was he was going to harvest them but yesterday, he disced them all up and they're laying on top of the soil, so it looks like they are a "cover crop." My question is, will these be attractive to deer? Did they need a hard frost yeat? Will a hard frost help make them palatable if they're sitting on top of the soil? Will they rot first? Can I ask anymore questions? Baiting is illegal in MN but not if the food source or "fertilizer" is the result of agricultural activities.

 

I'd say the farmer screwed you over a bit, even if it was unintentional. Deer and southerners love turnip greens, but nobody loves turnip greens until they're ripe. Until they're ripe, they're really bitter. I can't imagine anything would eat them until they're ripe.

 

What defines ripe, though? These looked as big as apples popping out of the soil before being disced up. Does a hard frost ripen them?

 

The deer will eat the heck out of them. At least they sure do here. I had deer eating turnips in one of my plots last night and they were planted late enough that they were only the size of a peach.

 

I just had some does in front of me eating them. It's one of my best plots right now. They are only eating the leaves right now and later in the year they will start eating the bulbs

 

It's a shame he tilled them up.

 

Deer didn't touch mine for a long time. So I didn't hunt my plot. Then out of nowhere they mowed the plot down and ate all the turnips in a matter of a couple weeks. I didn't even hunt it. Next year, I'm planting them again.


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Thanks and I'm just happy to be able to hunt the land period. Time will tell if they eat the turnips sitting on top of the soil I guess.

 

after a hard frost the turnips will become very appealing to the deer. not so sure it will work the same now that they were disked up though. sounds like a good field for a camera...