What to plant in the food plot this year

[Brad H.]

I have about a 1/2 acre food plot down in the creek bottom of my property. The creek bottom has several acres of crops on either side. Last year it was soybeans on both sides, so I planted clover to mix it up and the deer and turkeys loved it.

This year I am going to be in between corn and alfalfa. Two deer magnets. Any ideas on what to put in to pull some deer away from the crops?

[farmertrappe]

I really like oats for a foot plot for everything. Easy to plant and grow, will reseed itself if any seed is left. You do need to cover the seed, not just broadcast on top of a seed bed. I have no idea what those folks at the Whitetail institute do to their seed to make it grow like it does. Cost A LOT more than conventional seed, but darn it grows like crazy.
I'm going to get some clover seed that is coated, broadcast it and let it freeze/thaw into the patch to reseed this week hopefully.

[Brad H.]

Feb 20, 2016 9:17:53 GMT -5 farmertrappe said:

I really like oats for a foot plot for everything. Easy to plant and grow, will reseed itself if any seed is left. You do need to cover the seed, not just broadcast on top of a seed bed. I have no idea what those folks at the Whitetail institute do to their seed to make it grow like it does. Cost A LOT more than conventional seed, but darn it grows like crazy.
I'm going to get some clover seed that is coated, broadcast it and let it freeze/thaw into the patch to reseed this week hopefully.

I use Whitetail Institute products as well and so far am pretty impressed. I was going to frost seed some clover as well, just need the snow to go way. I was wondering about leaving the clover and no-tilling some beans in. Figured when the beans die in the fall then the clover is there for them. Thoughts?

[nytrapper23]

I know guys here plant greens and grains , they seem to really hit the greens early on after frost kills them off they move to grains , corn being the big draw here.

The guy that owns the property where I rabbit hunt puts in sugar beets , they eat the green tops early then at frost when the tops die off I guess the beets really sugar up and we have seen while rabbit hunting where they dig thru a lot of snow to get to those beets.

[farmertrappe]

Around the Chesapeake Bay watershed conventional tillage is out and no-till is about all you are able to do. About 5-6 years ago a bunch of farmers in my area tried beets as a cover crop. Tap root opens up the hard pan under the top soil, good organic material ect. The only problem was it was a warm winter and they did not frost kill off, had to be sprayed in the spring. I have seen deer hammering the beets in fields late in the winter after hunting season is over and they move again.

[trapnewbie]

Feb 20, 2016 11:21:14 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

I know guys here plant greens and grains , they seem to really hit the greens early on after frost kills them off they move to grains , corn being the big draw here.

The guy that owns the property where I rabbit hunt puts in sugar beets , they eat the green tops early then at frost when the tops die off I guess the beets really sugar up and we have seen while rabbit hunting where they dig thru a lot of snow to get to those beets.

I tried mangel beets last year, along with some commercial bio-logic type radishes.  The next door neighbor also used some of the Whitetail products with some type of cold tolerant peas.  The deer hit my plot some, but they tore up the carrot tops I left about as much.  Once everything was well frozen and buried in snow the deer hit the neighbors plot and left mine.  I guess its true that their tastes change with the seasons.