I spent the weekend at our lease in northern Kentucky with my step-dad and brother in law. During the early season up until the end of November we would see deer there. Now nothing. We didnt even see any sign that there were deer still there. No tracks in the snow at all other then rabbit, fox and squirrel. We came to the conclusion that this is due to no food source for them right now. The property has cover and water but lacks the food. Before we give up on this property we want to see if there is something we can do to fix this issue via food plot. Would putting a few plots in help keep the deer on the property throughout the winter? If so, what would be a good thing to plant? The land owner really likes us and wants to keep us there. He said he would be willing to put the plots in and/or do anything else to help us, so he is on board with the idea.
I like corn most of all, great for deer to hide in, and is a magnet for late season deer. early season i like beans and clover, most of the hunting shows are over corn fields.
Corn, turnips, brassaicas (sp?), there are several fall blends out there, winter wheat, cereal grains, etc.
Winter wheat is good but deer need to browse.When was the last ime it was logged? If you have it logged it will bring back new growth along with deer browsing in it.
The problem with logging is these guys are after oak and other mast bearing trees, after your mast threes are gone say buy to your turkeys first and then the deer, deer love acorns, i have 90 acres that i care take was logged two years ago,they took all the mast trees and left every thing else where it fell, also left three foot ruts in the fields so even the farmer bugged out. it looks like a tornado went thru there, whats left of the woods you cant even walk thru. the deer and turkeys are gone. and the landowner does not want the bulldozer work to fix it.$$$ just my 2 cents
My food plots are meant to hit all seasons. Beans-summer/early season. Brassica's blend-fall/mid season after frost has hit. Corn-late season. Corn=carbohydrates energy and deer need energy during these late season months when food is scarce. We plant about 4 acres of food plots on our 90 acre farm and have had great success. In between our rows of trees we also have planted Ladino clover and the deer were hitting this in Dec. They were actually digging down to get to it every single day.
This is only our first year on this lease so I don't know when it was last logged, if at all. Besides deep drainage's, there is not a ton of timber here, but there is some.
Lots of things you could do there, but I would start out with corn and mix some soybeans right in with it. I would also put in a small amount of brassica's to see if the deer will eat them. Sometimes it takes a couple years for the deer to start eating them so I wouldn't plant much at first. Since you have such a good relationship with the landowner you may want to consider getting a long term lease (if you can get it for a reasonable price considering the lack of habitat there) and build up the place if there is enough available land for you to plant. You could probably get help from local organizations like Pheasants Forever, etc to get it done and keep costs down. It looks to me like there is not much there for the deer. If you want to make it a great piece of property I would add both cover and food plots. Warm season grasses like Switch grass, Big Bluestem and Indian grass are great for bedding area's. You can also add food producing trees and shrubs that double as both food and cover. If your not looking to get to serious though and just want to keep it simple then I would just stick to the Corn, Soybeans and a few Brassica's for this year.
A pictures worth a thousand words. Nothing there to browse on. Open country without near by cover is hard in the winter. I wouldn't give up on it, alot what DEERSLAYER said would help. Plant some cedar trees and a few acres of winter food and things should pick up. It might take a few years though.
Great info, thanks. I will pass it along to the other guys and see what they have to say if they are willing to give it a few years.
