Hi everyone. I am thinking of starting a food plot or a mineral lick such as Heartlands Lick Magic Mineral for this coming season. I hunt a section of a 2.5 acre property that is adjacent to thick woods a farm land. This past season, I put out deer corn and that worked. The draw back was that I was spreading corn every 2-3 days. I have never done it before as well. What can anyone suggest and when should I plant it? Thanks in advance.
If you're putting your eggs in one foodplot I highly recommend a good mix. Diversity is your friend when it comes to what to plant, security is your biggest friend when designing it. As for what to plant I have high success rate with mixing different kinds of brassicas (both forage and bulb kind) with some winter oats and wheat mixed in. The deer will graze through a plot like this in the early year, but when cold snaps move in and especially snow it will be some of the last green food sources around.
I'm going to give a food plot mix I saw on the Quality Deer Management Association Forums a try. A mixture of Oats, Winter Rye, Peas, Radishes, and Clover. This is to be planted late summer/early fall, about 6 weeks prior to first frost. The idea is the Rye and Oats will be a draw first heading into fall and season. Peas are like candy to deer for additional draw. Radishes will draw after frost and into winter. Come spring the clover will take over until replanting in late summer once again. Its not a cheap mix but I find it seems to provide everything a deer wants throughout the year.
I agree with Ty, in that a good variety with a lot of thought behind it will be your best bet. Variety is important for many reasons, you want to attract the deer to that food plot all year round. Make them develop a habit of feeding in that food plot as often as possible to insure that they make that area their home. (surrounding cover in the area will also play a huge role in this). Second each thing you plant has its own benefits that go above and beyond just feeding the deer. Rye for example as allopathic properties which help keep back competing weeds, while also creating a solid root structure which adds organic matter as well as helps with erosion. That just one example, but the list goes on and on! Third by planting a variety and stripping the food plot into sections it makes crop rotation much easier and requires less maintence and additives (fertilizers/chemicals) in the years to follow. The fact of the matter is you will find that there is no "magic bean" that attracts deer from miles away. Deer are opportunistic feeders. if you provide for them the proper nutritional values for each season and really concentrate on the surrounding cover so that they feel safe when bedding. Deer will come to that food plot all year round. The following combination is a food plot guide that I got from a guy who really knows his stuff. The thought processes behind it are amazing and each plant has many purposes. The guide can be tweaked here and there to fit your particular area/situation. Here's what we do: Combination Food Sources for year around attraction Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks Alice, KopuII (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests Brassicas in 45% of plot Purple Top Turnips 3# Dwarf Essex Rape 2# GroundHog Forage radish 5# Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch) Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel) Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel) Austrian Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils) Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year You will find that after providing a sanctuary with thick under cover near this food plot the deer will develop a pattern a visiting it quite frequently. I haven't even skimmed the surface of the whole thought process behind the above plan. I'd be here for hourse typing if that were the case, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. Good Luck!
