Was out bowhunting last night and walked by my plot for first time in a week, this is 7 days after first rain, did see a nice little 8 pointer that came by me and heading towards the plot. Does anyone have any experience when deer should start to use it? Scoot
They will generally start grazing on it immediately and I expect they are. This time of year though there is no shortage of food, acorns, crop residue or crops standing so pressure will probably stay fairly light. I'd expect them to increase usage of it pretty fast in November.
I would say they are probably using it now but like Covey said, there is no shortage of food at the moment. Try putting a seclusion cage up. This really shows how much they are using it. Mine has been in the ground for over a month and it looks like someone took a lawn mower over it.
I'll second the exclusion cage. Pretty cool to see the usage. My end of August planting of rye/clover/oats is greened up, but only having a 1/2 inch of rain since that planting date (except for the past few days) hasn't helped. They all but destroyed my brassica mix. Not an overabundance of acorns on our property this year.
I will 3rd the cage idea But with this weather, probably wont see a frost till November, and timely rains and a some decent temps means growing food plots!.
and first thing in spring this plot will be the only green stuff around. Hard to beat winter rye for ease of growing,soil building qualities,attractiveness, winter hardness just to name a few.
Hunted over mine last night. Deer were hitting that before the brassica and rape. It's struggling at the moment due to the lack of rain lately, but it will pull through (I think).
