I'm planning on planting a couple food plots next year, but with all the different types of plants, I can't decide on which ones to plant. Here is the property The yellow line represents the property line. The areas inside the white lines are bedding areas. The blue area is a clover/chicory food plot that I planted last year. I would like to replant it next year with something that I can hunt over in the fall. This plot is about 1/8-1/4 of an acre in size. There is another 1/8 of an acre directly beside this one that I could plant something in, but it would probably be a summer plot. The green area is where I would like to plant something for the summer months that will improve herd health and hold the deer on my property. The red area is where I want to plant something that will attract the deer during the fall months. I need a plant that is highly attractive and will withstand moderate to heavy browsing. I'm open to any suggestions and will greatly appreciate any help.
for fall/ winter plot if you wanted to go with a perrenial you couldnt beat standing corn or soybeans. a mix of clovers wouldnt be bad either. I would maybe recommend planting some winter wheat in the green area for late winter/ early spring when there is very little browse left and the wheat will be fresh and green.
i always plant wheat fields in mid october. usually finished growing by thanksgiving and the deer are already settled in with their normal routine of browsing it morning and night. great for the pig hunting too!!!
I have had TERRIBLE luck with Antler King and would never use any of their stuff again. If you look at the ingredients it is mostly inert matter and weeds
My vote goes to a blend, but always have turnips or radishes on the property somewhere! Our turnips are getting ridiculously trampled and killed right now as is the winter wheat and snow peas. I know we will be throwing some daikon (sp) radishes in a clayish spot next year to break up the soil, these radishes grow to ridiculous lengths and thickness is incredible. They get hit just like purple top turnips and turn sweet after frosts. I mentioned blending...and I believe this is the key especially if you don't have thousands of acres. We work with only like 10 acres we can do with as we may (father owns) and we hunt all the surrounding parcels (none are bigger then 3 acres of woods). By planting a blend you're creating a great pre-night feeding spot that the local deer have learned they can feed at prior to heading to their destination food plots and provides great mid-day snacks as we try to not make our plots bigger than 1/2 an acre. This year we have two types of clover, chicory, snow peas, winter wheat, small bit of rye, purple top turnips, oats...and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. This next season we will be making 3 more 1/4 acre food plots and throwing down some new stuff in the larger plot we have (touch bigger than 1/2 acre prolly, but odd shaped) with some forage soybeans which will be fenced electrically till established. We are going to circle the soybeans with some purple top radishes and misc. clover. Also as I mentioned we will be putting in some daikon radishes (also called trophy radishes) in a plot. We'll be seeding atleast 2 plots with this mix: Winter oats and wheat, snow peas and radishes. We also are going to experiment with sorghum and Egyptian wheat for sight barriers and late season food source. My biggest advice to anyone is to keep the plots small and oddly shaped....connect them with paths that are curved and try to make it so a buck can't check the next one without going to it. (it's these paths that you hunt). Now if you have say 80 acres and can create a destination plot (corn is a great one) go for it, but those of us with small places have to be smart, if you have crop fields around use them as the deer destination plots, and build your area as the "holding" area prior to and after going to the larger destination fields/crop. My site is actually going to document my father and I as we transform our property over the first 3 months of 2012 and on into the summer...I'll try to post some of it here as well.
That is some excellent information tynimiller I have 2 100 acres properties but with the big ag fields on the neighbors I plant my plots so they are staging areas on the way to the ag fields where mature bucks feel comfortable hanging out during shooting hours so I hunt right over them. It's all about location as much as it is what you plant.
CLover early an somewhat throughout, millet early mid, Kale(or Rape)-for after first frost, Turnips later- getting hit hard right now in UP of MI, Corn for whole fall season(needs fertilizer and lots of it-rotation too- and squirrels and turkeys and bears and raccoons eat most of it), soybeans we never get to really produce as they get grazed early and all throughout so benefit is neutral(attract but don't get the beans/highprotein). sunflowers, cowpeas, snowpeas early to late in order but same issue as soybeans. Oats for late and winter wheat if you can get em' to grow. Thats what I've seen for last 5yrs on our 230+ acres
I'd kill just to have 30 haha! Sounds like it doesn't matter what you guys plant...you got everything and plenty of space!!
Well we have 3- 4 hunters for bow and up to 8 for gun on the property so its not as wide open as you would think. We have about 40 acres total in Corn, soybean/turnip/clover/kale, and clover/millet/sunflower/oats plots, 30acres of mature oak, and a lot of apple trees in old cow pastures. I bowhunt here at home-mostly for meat(does)- leave the bucks for Mom, Dad Sis and family. Brother and I usually only ones bowhunting and we pass on about 15-20 bucks(multiple times) for the season and the big ones always seem to get hit by cars while chasing does the 1st couple days of the rut and we also have a lot of guys who surround the property and don't let anything legal walk...I mostly gun hunt at my camp which is basically public land hunting near Lake Superior - an area the local tribe calls thier happy hunting grounds(shining at night legal for them). But I do have room to walk. I grew up still hunting big woods and used to be able to cover 4-5 miles without seeing another human track unless I wanted to...so I still have problems confining myself to a stand and smaller areas- I think I may have to start hunting the Porcupine Mtns wilderness area as its the only place left near here without the baiting and pressure(less deer also -but big ones).
