...I need help. I have a property to hunt that has a creek and a small pond near the center, This property is a valley with some rugged terrain (relatively) and is COMPLETELY surrounded by agricultural fields such as corn, beans, alfalfa, and clover& hay. Here is the question, I hunt with someone that is not physically able to hunt on the tops of some of these ridges, since the access is at the bottom of the valley. I would like to plant something around the pond and in various places in the valley bottom so that he can hunt with me. What should I plant? I have tried many of the seed mixtures that you can buy online and at the retail outlets but the deer have so much to eat already. It seems as though the beans are one of the best, but once they are harvested??? Would it work if I was to plant beans and NOT harvest them?? Will they stay standing long enough?? I thought I had sen this before but?? Thanks for any information, and as a reminder, whatever it is has to work well in Wisconsin's cold months.
Absoultely, if you plant any crop and it is the last thing standing, you'll have to beat the deer off with a stick. Just kidding about beating them off with a stick. But you should draw some of them in after the other crops have been harvested. The problem you might run into tho, is if you don't plant enough you may not have any left come late season either. The deer will hang out in your secluded field before making their way to the big ag fields. You might try planting turnips. The deer aren't supposed devour them untill after a frost sweetens them up. Sometimes the deer forgot to read the book and eat them anyways. But this would be something different than what all the ag fields have planted. There have however been occasions where the deer just don't find turnips to their likeing.
I don't know about the cold temps but I've found Ladino Clover to do very well in low lying areas. It's very hardy and can tolerate dry weather pretty well. If you have a problem with lots of rainfall or even occasional shallow standing water (for a short period of time), Yucchi Arrowleaf Clover works very well. Carefull though, it will shade out the ladino if planted together. The arrowleaf grows pretty tall but creates a lot of very nutritious food. We used the Pennington Rackmaster Elite this year and it seems to be a good mixture. It has oats, wheat, winter peas, rye and durana clover. I think we had to add brassicas to it but we just used purple top turnips and rape. Another good crop is the Austrian Winter Peas, they grow pretty fast and produce a lot of forage for all types of wildlife including turkey. They will grow pretty hard until February here. Then again, it doesn't get below about 25* where I hunt. It's too late this year but next you can plant some pearl top millet, it grows to be about 6 feet tall and I plant iron and clay cowpeas with them. It allows the peas to mature and have a chance to start running up the millet stalks. The only disadvantage is that they only last through the beginning of bow season and the peas die out. You can do this with the winter peas but you just have to plant them a little later. Like jmbuckhunter said, the brassicas may be a good addition to your plot. Our herd loves them and they create a lot of forage as well. They just nibble on them until the first frost and then it's like you'd sprayed C'Mere Deer on the leafs The only thing about all the above listed plants is that they are all annual with the exception of the clover, which will last you about 3-5 seasons if you fertilize it well and take proper precautions with weed control. You can plant a combination of just about all the above products. You just have to be cognizent of the rates of seed combinations and yield per acre. Again, I'm not very knowledgeable about your climate but hopefully I can suggest some things that have worked for me. Hope this helps and good luck this season. Josh
Dang, thanks guys. It is not really a big deal for me since I can haul mu butt up the hill and into the thick cover. But as I hunt with someone that has trouble with this I want to allow him to hunt with me. I can plant about ten acres, so I have a little land to deal with. In fact i may get more of it, just have to ask the landowner. Again thanks.
[QUOTEYou might try planting turnips. The deer aren't supposed devour them untill after a frost sweetens them up. Sometimes the deer forgot to read the book and eat them anyways. But this would be something different than what all the ag fields have planted. There have however been occasions where the deer just don't find turnips to their likeing.[/QUOTE] X2, this would be my suggestion. I planted some last year and again this year. Last year they tore them up. I planted them mixed with winter wheat or winter rye which ever it was, anyways it worked really well. This was the #1 foodplot I put out, the deer seemed to like it better than the clover and chickory. Especially after the first frost.
The turnips are wonderfull. The only thing is that they don't have good palatability (sp) until the frost hits. If your deer are as hungry as mine, they will be gone within 3-4 weeks after 1st frost and that's with 13 acres planted with it. You can never go wrong with clover and small grains (oats, wheat and sorghum). The clover will come back and then you can do a light discing over the clover next year and oveseed again. It's always best to cultipac it afterwards to help cover the seed just a tad. The chickory is a great suddestion as well.
Since we are on this topic, I was looking at some Winter PZ seed. We have 2 small food plots that we need to till and fertilize, but are unsure as to what to plant. I came across this Winter PZ ( http://www.tomarmstrongoutdoors.com/images/71007WPZ.jpg ) but am unsure as to it's success. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Sorry to thread hijack.
