They aren't supposed to eat turnips and rape before frost hits them and sweetens em up. I checked my food plots today and I'm not gonna have any left by the time the season opens on the 1st. They are tearing up my Antler King Honey Hole and Biologic Full Draw. Apparently nobody told the deer they aren't supposed to like em yet. Anyone else had this problem? Its not like they don't have anything to eat in the neighborhood. There is a corn field right across the creek and a soybean field a 1/4 mile down the road. Whats up???
I dont think they did jmbuck. my brother in law had to put a hot fence up around his to keep them out.
Yep, time to put the scent barrier up until the plants get fully established. Stupid deer....can't even read and surely they are going to get punished for it! :evil:
I can honestly say John that I've never had that problem. We always put in other things in our food plots that mature at different stages or are there for them all the time. This year I tried buckwheat for the first time, and the deer are pounding it. The cold weather mix I use is already 6" tall and going strong, and I'm guessing they'll have a lot of great forage later this year. I've only heard of a problem like yours once before, and that was from a friend of mine with property about 50 miles north of us. Everything in your post was almost so verbatim it was kinda creepy. The only answer I could give him was that his plots were the only GREEN fields anywhere around close. I mean yeah there are some corn and bean fields around, but I've always understood deer will go for the greens more times than not. As I said before, this is the first year for buckwheat as the last couple of years we planted oats for the early draw and simply for the tonage of forage. We used BFO the first year, and last year we just used certified seed oats from the local co-op.....the deer didn't know the difference. I don't know what's all in the mixes you mentioned as I've gotten away from the big name seed places the last 3 years since we've been using stuff from a local I guess you'd say fledgling(sp?) company. I've great luck with their stuff, and their prices are far better than the national brands for the most part. I know one of the companies out there makes a spray you can apply to keep the deer away as well. I've also heard that the fertilizer Malorganite will keep the deer away for a while as well being it's nothing more than dried up SEWAGE! Good luck with figuring out what to do to keep them away....they know where it is now...lol
