Keeping deer on my land!

Here is an outline of the land I am hunting. I am in Kentucky. I just sprayed round up where I am planning on planting my plot in the next few days or so. As you can see there are some nice pieces of land surrounding where I hunt as well(which I dont feel are pressured that hard either, that I am aware of). My question is what would anyone suggest I plant to pull and keep deer on the land that I am hunting? Or any other ideas or suggestions in general with my food plot. Thanks!

 

Doesn't look like there is really anything but pasture around there now? Just about anything you can get in there will work. Combination of rye, wheat, oats, winter pea, radish/tunips, clover (I like crimsons fast growth) at this point you can still plant buckwheat as well as it grows fast.

If the ground in the plot has never been worked before and you don't have no-till equipment, I'd spray it down, spread the seed and then mow over the top and wait for a rain. Or insert a tillage cycle in the middle of that instead of mowing. I know it seems redundant to spray and disk but the residue will work better if it's melted down with spray first...if the residue is heavy. If grass is short just disk it and spread and lightly disk in. Around here, most FSA offices (farm service agencies) rent no-till drills for $5-10 per acre.

 

Good suggestions here, I'd personally drop the turnips - it takes awhile for the deer to really get use to them in my area and they are usually a last resort crop. Doubt you see a ton of snow fall in Kentucky?! I've seen areas that deer will tear up for turnips in extreme weather conditions when food is at a premium.

 

Habitat and security has more to do with keeping deer on one's given property over food source hands down.

 

1) Visual screens needed? EW
2) Thermal bedding areas? Norway spruce
3) Great food plots.

 

Food sources are part of the habitat.
You could plant a tall crop for some screening, egyptian wheat, sorghum sudan, pearl millet, sun hemp will all work. Sun hemp is also a nitrogen fixing legume...it's little known at the moment outside of the cover crop and organic community but it's incredible stuff. Can grow up to 10' tall and is dense, deer love the leaves while it is under 3' tall or so and the leaves are around 30% protien.

Caution, seed is expensive but for screens it's not too bad. It's late but it still has time to hit maybe 6' tall'ish.

 

Lots of cover, water, good access and then look at food.

 

It is indeed just pastures. Had cows on it for the last 10+ years and just sold them last year. This is first Summer with no cattle. There is great cover, the woods where the yellow road is is extremely thick! Access from the woods to the field is simple, especially for the deer. We get snow, but on average nothing major. Might have one good snow storm, but chances are hunting season is over here. Really crops is the only thing that I don't have. Good news is I dont think none of the surrounding lands do either. I know for a fact 3 of connecting pieces of land dont.
I have a tractor, bush hog, and disk, along with a rake and a shovel about it. I sprayed the area with roundup today, and planned on disking it end of the week. Will this due or is it wasting my time by just doing this? (if need be i might check on the no till drills).
As far as food sources, this is great. I'll be honest I got some Whitetail Institute that I was planning on planting. A mixture of a few of their products. All of this sounds good though. Can I get these at local farm store, or do you prefer a specific brand?

As always, thanks for the help and feedback!

 

You're about all setup then, most people are doing good to have ATV tools, lol. Cover sounds fine and you're going to have more trouble with over browse than anything with a surrounding lack of food. Plant plenty!

As far as method of planting, do whatever you prefer and can get done. No-till certainly works but so does disking and harrowing in the seed. No-till will probably result in less weeds but tillage is faster where you don't have a no-till. Matter of six of one or a half dozen of the other, lol. Important thing is to get some food in and going. Also after so many years of pasture, I'd suggest lime and fertilizer if time and budget allows at all. 200 pounds per acre of 13-13-13 wil lwork without soil sampling and can't go wrong with a 1000 pounds of lime per acre. Sounds like a lot of material but it isn't...truck can spread it and it's fairly cheap but logistics can be a problem with that.

I'm actually a fan of Whitetail institutes seeds and mixes, don't know what you got but as long as it's fresh it's probably fine. My thing is I love diversity and so do deer. I also like to mix and match some of the blends with some other options strategically placed, like on the edges for example. Maybe your mix and some of the tall stuff for extra cover on the edges with a shooting lane from your stand or a tree stand that can see over the edge cover. But any of Imperial stuff is good, IMHO.

There is a place called "Green Cover Seed" >>clickable>>>Green Cover Seed - No-till cover crop seed
That has tons of options, they are generally a cover crop intended use but so happens deer love most all of it too. They will have a mix calculator tool on the website and prices and will custom mix your order if you like.

 

Okay, I will see what I can do. I did a soil test and ph level came about 6.5, so i was happy with that. It does seem overwhelming a little at times, but fun and relaxing also. Yea, i got several of the trial packs of WI but was going to order some of the bigger bags of the clover and one other maybe. I think with such a low supply of food in the area any of the suggested food sources would work. I will look at the green cover seed and sun hemp along with the rest of it. A person can drive their self crazy over thinking all of the decisions to be made. Wanting to make sure you give yourself the best opportunity at the big buck along with good deer management. But either way I got to get to work on this plot asap. 4 Saturdays away until opening morning.ha.

 

Experienced cover cropper told me once, "Son, it don't matter how you get it out there...just get it out there". lol

6.5 is tolerable PH, I try my best to run my PH 6.9-7.2 with ag lime, I firmly believe it ups the calcium content of the forage and contributes to faster antler growth with less consumption of material (antlers grow faster with less). Some bucks don't have as good an appetite and even they will have better growth. 7 PH is optimal for fertilizer uptake and I like to push that to the calcified side. But that's really a long term stategy.

Need at least 10% of a property in food, otherwise need to try to produce as much tonnage per acre as possible. That might help you decide on varieties. In your case, there's basically no annual crops so yours is going to get absolutely hammered.

 

This is how I look at food plots, first you can’t compete with large agriculture fields so this is what I do. First I put in spring and summer plot of clover and chicory to give deer good nutrients they needs after winter and all summer. Secondly I place my kill plots (plots I will be hunting) just outside bedding area so when deer get out of their beds they can feed in my plots on their way to large agriculture fields. Third I plant fall plots of Turnips, Kale, and Rape in Wisconsin it’s around the last week of July or the first week of August. Then in late August I’ll plant Oats, all of these fall plots give you greens that the deer like and at this time off year you can bring in deer looking for a green food source. The last reason I put in food plots is to give deer food for winter. Turnips work very well for the deer in my area. I hope this help answer your question. Also keep in mind there’s no magic food plot so plant different types and once you find what the deer like you can put more. For more information and ideas on food plots look at my videos on YouTube channel at ScrapeLineHunters - YouTube
__________________

 

Man there is a lot to this , which I kind of knew. But still, don't realize it like you do when you are actually taking action. I do enjoy it and can't wait to see the end product. I feel like this will be about a 3 or 4 year project to get it to the point that I would like it. I will admit, right now I only have about an acre to work with. I am going to try to remember to keep taking pictures to see how it progresses, but we will see.
I have looked at all sorts of different food sources. I think I am going to use the WI that I have along with oats and possibly the sun hemp. But not totally for sure yet. You all have been more help than I could have ever hoped for. Appreciate it and hope you all have great hunts this season.

 

Could plant alot of apple trees in that big field and have a little orchard.

 

First off I have the same thing. I have 60 acres and the property behind me is about 1,000. The deer travel between the big property and the state park, which is about 15 mins from us. The deer go through our land. I set up food plots so that they will drop in for a snack on the way.

Hope this helps a little.

 

Yea, but its my parents land. Don't know if he'd go for that. I am thankful that he is letting me do what I am. If he ever decides to get cattle again I'm hurting.

 

Yea, I don't have to worry about them really traveling through to another plot or big field of crops. They bed in the dead center of all the fields, so it's just a matter of keeping them come my direction as much as possible. Out of the 60 acres how much of it is a food plot? How successful is it?

 

An acre will do the job you need it to, not everyone is fortunate enough to have as good a setup as you'll have at that. It is rough to compete with a lot of ag crops, to have the only food crop in an area, like you will have, is a thing of beauty.

 

Well hopefully I can take advantage of it!

 

if your planning on planting now, you want something that will make it through the colder nights of fall. Id really suggest clover. It will come in fast and it will hold up through the cold for a while. A few apple trees actually arent a bad idea for next season.