My dad, @short69, and I are planning a couple food plots for this coming off season. It will be our first go at it, so we are staying fairly small. We are on 40 acres, roughly 10 of which is an alfalfa field. To the south is nothing but timber till the road about half a mile away. To the west is nothing but timber and a couple open grassy areas for a long ways. To the north is where all the corn and bean fields are, but the closest one is about 300 yards away from the property line. Directly to the east is a small corn field, but a mix of housing and woods after that. My first question would be, with as many food sources as there are around us, is it worth putting them in? Second question is, we know that we are doing a No Till style seed for at least this first go round. We have a bag of Evolved Harvest Throw and Grow from when we though about doing this a couple years ago, but what experience does everyone have between them and Whitetail Institute Imperial No Plow?
Anything you do can only help your situation if nothing else you can plant kill plots which will get the deer to stand still long enough for a clean shot. I have used both EV Throw and Grow and Imperial No Plow in the past. if you get good seed to soil contact then they both will work. A couple of recommendations though. You can try to frost seed clover in Jan/Feb time. Just clear the area of any debris by raking it and then broadcast the clover seed in the area. Check it in the spring and spray for grasses and/or keep it mowed to 6-8 inches to control weeds. For the No Till stuff wait until the average daily temps are around 65 degrees if you want to plant in the spring and rake out and clean the area that you want to plant. If there is any vegetation in the plot spray it with Glyphosate and give it a couple of weeks to kill every thing off. Come back and rake the area again and broadcast your seed. Put down some lime and fertilizer and pray for rain. Its really all about how much effort you want to put into it. There are no silver bullets and if there is a better food source deer will hit that first. I have quite literally sprayed the ground with Glyphosate, raked it lightly and broadcast purple top turnips and oats and had good success. But whatever you decide to do good luck.
40 acres isn't really that much area. With the other food sources your land will probably never beat them as a food source. If you have existing areas that are open, go ahead and plant and you might be able to turn them into an area where they stop for a snack on the way to or from the primary feeding. Besides small kill plots, perhaps apple trees.
The kill plot idea is what we are going for, I think. Two spots about 1/4 acre each. Would the added variety do much, of would it just give them something else to look at?
With all that is around you, I'd use clover as your best bet. The deer are still hitting our clover plots right now. We've planted a mix of Crimson Clover, oats, and brassicas in our bottom areas that the deer are very rarely touching, but the clover is still being used. We live smack dab in the middle of ag country. The beans and the corn will always win but they are still using the clover ahead of the oats, crimson clover, and brassicas.
Also hit what ever you plant with a folitair fertilizer that you spray on. You will be surprised how much more activity that you will get by doing that. I use Antler King Jolt but there are others available as well.
I'll be the first to say it, perhaps food plots isn't the first thing that will benefit you. I don't know the property myself so take it as a grain of salt or place whatever value on my thoughts as you may...but with all the food sources around, including the alfalfa acreage you have on the property summer and early fall food is anything but lacking. So your two most stressful time frames for the deer I'd guess are late summer (beans turned, corn not quite ready) and winter. Now late summer depending on conditions of alfalfa will be covered by that alfalfa, deer on my one farm hit the alfalfa HARD mid-Sept to mid-Oct. With all that considered IF food plots is what I want to do I'm focusing on the winter time frame. I'm going to provide a cereal oat/rye mix with brassicas blended into it. The cereal grains will provide early season food, late winter food and of course the brassicas will as well. One could even mix in some clover with the fall planting (lightly) just to give something that will pop up in the coming spring with the rye/oats early for the deer during another stress time right before everything greens up coming out of winter. However, I would strongly consider increasing Native forbs and brows on the property more than food plots personally. With all the destination food elsewhere and even the alfalfa on yours I want that remaining 30 acres to be loaded with herbacious vegetation that will provide the brunt of the deer's diet which if you read studies and such even in Ag dominant areas a deer's diet is made up more by this than row crops. I'd log portions if able, run chainsaws in others and read up on encouraging native warm season grasses and other plants (legumes and such).
I took a look at the food sources that I was talking about. Other than the hay field, they are all farther away than I thought they were. The one standing spot of corn and the hay field are the only food sources within about a mile- a mild and a half of the bedding areas.
You still are blessed with incredible food sources and serious amount as well for a large chunk of the year with the alfalfa.
