I have a nice spot I want to plant this upcoming season. I'm thinking the best choice is clover for turkeys, deer, and pheasant. Are there any other options or suggestions you would add to the plot to make it a general plot for wild game?
Clover blends are a general all around food plot. Of course deer feed on clover, but the turkey and pheasants will use the clover by bringing their young out there to forage for insects. A pheasant or turkey chick feeds primarily on insects in the first stage of life. If you are in a prime area or pheasants, I suggest planting native warm-season grasses and forbs. I'm not sure where you're located at, but in most areas food is not a great concern for upland birds. Quality nesting and brood rearing habitat is the number one limiting factor to pheasant populations. Turkeys also nest in the grasses and I have set up numerous native grass plots to serve as bedding areas for deer. Hope this helps. bleuswildlife
Also, I would check out Pheasants Forever's food plot program because I know they carry a blend of sorghum called "White Lightning" that is a quality food source for deer and of course is a preferred forage for pheasants. When I was a biologist for them I planted the blend on a couple of properties and the landowner's were always satisfied.
Native has it's place but food needs to be a greater concern for uplands than most biologists are currently admitting or realizing.
Nesting and brooding cover is a great concern and is excellent habitat for deer. There are many more programs funding native plantings than food plots. Could be a reason for natives being a greater concern.
Like I said, it has it's place. Biologists have a bad habit of overestimating it's importance though and as such...it gets grossly overused and over-relied upon. Deer need very little cover, uplands don't need nearly as much as believed to nest and brood, turkeys even less. Ideal habitat takes a balanced equation and the tendency is to plant grossly unequal amounts of grass as a cure all...doesn't work that way, dependable food sources are vastly more important than excessive cover.
There are certain companies who sell year old seed and or seed with poorer seed quality. On the farm because a neighbor bought seed from a company mentioned on here, we have a lot of weeds never seen before. It took the state of wisconsin 3 days to figure out what one of the weeds were. So, whenever i do seminars the first thing i discuss is how to read a seed tag and knowing what your buying. Now on to my answer for this question. The best mix anyone can plant on their ground is probably different than that of their neighbors and the guy in Northern Wisconsin or the fellow in North Carolina. I always ask these questions. What does your soil test say? Where do you live? What is your soil type? How much ground do you have? What is planted in your surrounding areas? What equipment do you have? What was planted previously on that ground? What is your deer densities? All these answers will give a more educated response that will lead one to success. Sure, there is certain mixes that are relatively full proof but why settle for average? Why don't work with someone who will help you understand it's not whats above the ground but what is below the ground. Without below ground discussions, you won't see much above the ground.
