I live next to a corn field here in NC by the coast. What would be a great food source to put next to it? Also when should I plant it. It's less than an acre. Thanks
Are you using the "food source" for attraction in terms of hunting opportunities, or to hold deer on your property and provide increased nutrition?
A clover/alfalfa plot would be my main interest. You could supplement with radishes and turnips too if you wanted another type of a food source.
Jeffacarp as an attraction. There is no way I can hold deer. I am only hunting a half acre. I am not allowed to hunt on the next property.
Half an acre is tough to hunt on. Do you have permission to retrieve on the neighbors? Hard to drop an animal on a half acre plot everytime.
Well then I still stand behind the planting of clover. It is a food source that unless you are surrounded by lots of other large legume fields, and you said that you have corn around you, the deer like that especially if you can get in to it in the late summer and cut it back so that during hunting season, it is a fresh source of food.
1/2 acre I wouldn't even bother trying to plant anything. I would try to keep it as thick as possible for cover. Perhaps lime and fertilize the natural growth to help it grow.
Plant hostas the deer love them. If I were you I would avoid planting anything that takes a frost for the deer to be attracted to it, chances are you won't get a frost till very late in the season if at all.
try a mixture of Oats, winter wheat and cereal rye. Get a Ph reading and add the necessary lime and fertilizer. For here in NC try planting around labor day weekend. spray for weeds with glyphosate about two weeks prior to planting. That should make a decent kill plot. Forget Turnips and radishes as from my experience deer here won't hit them till like Jan/Feb. Just not cold enough to get the sugars flowing.
Here is my little slice of heaven. The first pic is the big picture. The 2nd one is my exact hunting spot. Thank you all for your input. Merry Christmas Semper Fi
I'd go with a mix of clovers and alfalfa and plant wheat as a nurse crop with it. 2 pounds each of ladino and red clovers 2 pounds of alfalfa and then about 30 pounds of wheat. Easy to plant and care for and about as good an attractant as you can find.
Very good call. If the deer don't keep it eaten down and fresh/new, I try and bush hog it about a month before season begins.