I have a friend who wants me to help him put in a food plot. He has alot of crop ground around him and I was wounder if anyone could give me some good advice on what I could plant that would compete with the fields around him. He does most of his hunting in late october and rifle season.
It depends on what is growing around him, but if you really want to have a premium food plot you have to start with the soil. Get a soil test and follow it to bring the fertility up. You can have a crop in average to poor soil and the same crop in a high fertility soil and the deer will prefer the crop on the high fertility soil. As far as what to plant. That depends on what part of the country your in and what type of ground your planting in (wet, dry, sandy, etc.).
The crop gound around him is all soybeans and corn. There is no alfalfa in the area but there is some acorns.
So he knows what crops but does he know what other hunters have planted? Then you never mentioned plot size very important to what to plant. Are the farm crops for grain harvest or silage? This tells you when those crops will no longer be available for food or cover. He'll want something that is green and fairly lush to transitioning deer. He could go with a grain,the brassica ,and even bean planting. Beans would be a quick draw before a frost the rest a later season crop. Winter greens great for a spring turkey draw. No RR needed so less expensive seed. I have found that when planting a good succession type plot deer won't drop it to dirt as fast. Especially on small plots.
