So I put a small oat plot mixed with some turnip, radish,and peas and they have literally not been touched. Plot looks awesome, oats are a foot tall, radishes are nice and big, I'm just not sure why they are not using the plot, normally deer tear up oats. This is a new plot but I have had oats on the farm before that they used almost immediately. We had our first light frost today so I hope that helps, but in the past they hit the oats almost immediately. All I can guess is accorns?
Have they been harvesting crops where you are at? The deer around here hit crops hard right after harvest and just kind of supplement with the Oats or other grasses in between feedings in the ag fields.
If you want to encourage more browsing you can try hitting it with a foliar fertilizer. But they like you said are probably on a more preferred food source like acorns. Once they run scare though they will start hitting your plot, especially late season. It maybe after dark but they will hit it.
It all depends on your area. We planted a comparable mix to what you are describing. The deer are in the acorns right now. They do walk through the mix getting to and from the oaks, but all they do is "browse" on the oats. The beans and corn haven't all be harvested around our place yet, so the deer are still hiding in the corn. I have trail cam pic's of a buck leaving the corn to get a drink out of the cattle water, at the pond, then turn right back in to the corn. At my in-laws place, the food is hard to come by, so they are hammering the oats currently. They've even been eating on the brassica's as well. The driving factor is going to be what you have around you. If it is ag related, that is going to win after the acorns. It if it isn't then they are most likely still in the oaks. The one other thing at our place, that has been taking a beating, is the clover.
