food plot 2013

[Big wisky]

Ide like to start some conversation on food plots. I have 5 acres in cheese land with a small hunt shack on it. My first year hunting the land I was skunked during rifle season. The next year I half acre plotted brasicus and beats. overall this helped tremendously, harvesting a buck and a doe during bow season. My question is this. Would I be better of switching to oats due to their durability and nutritional value? The brasicus has kept them around during early (bow) season, but the beats seam to be a non issue since I don't muzzle load or late season bow.

[old guy]

Rutabagas!

John

[Big wisky]

And now we have a comedian....

[FJ540]

Brassica's are a genus of plants. I planted purple top turnips (a brassica) this year, and had good response to the tops in late September, but the bulbs are untouched as of last weekend. Other deer guys say that's normal, and they'll go for the bulbs later in the winter.

What does the neighboring land have to offer? Water, cover, food? With 5 acres, or even my 84 acres, you're not holding deer on your property for their entire day. You're just a travel route, or one destination of many. As such, you need to plan accordingly by providing something they're not getting elsewhere.

[old guy]

And now we have a comedian....

The only funny part is shineing a light out on the rutabaga patch at night and see the ocean of eyes out there and they will dig down thru the snow all winter to get at them, don't laff till you try it.


John

[Big wisky]

John, I didn't laugh...

Fj540, great point on the size of the lot. I'm not holding any deer and i am on a route. I have timber to my North,swamp to my east and a 50 Acer farm (corn) to my West. Im thinking of changing because the deer have eaten the leaves off the stems already and i hear won't be digging them up until December. Would oats be better to help antler growth? I was thinking oats because I have four different bucks on my trail cams with broken antlers or missing one side completely. As if there's a shortage of protein out here.

[FJ540]

How mature is the timber stand?

Swamp is prime buck bedding habitat. I need to thicken my swamp up to make it more attractive, and will be doing that with some selective harvest and hinge cutting of trash trees. I also have a lot of other swamp next door to me and the majority of our neighborhood deer hole up just off my lot line because my stand is too mature right now.

There's been a lot of broken antlers being reported all over the midwest this year. The consensus is that it's due to lack of water, not some other acute deficiency. We were dry for the last 2 months of antler development this year, while much of the midwest was dry for all of it.

You should look into a gallagher style two wire electric fence for whatever you do plant. This would keep the deer eating the neighbors corn until you were ready to start shooting them in September.

[Big wisky]

Yeah..... electric fences will come right after I put electricity in the hunt shack. Back to the oats! Has anyone had any luck with oats? I read that they are one of the more durable plants to grow vs. something like beens, and they are a better source of protein than other plants.

[FJ540]

Oats die as soon as it gets cold.

[Big wisky]

So, oats will die after the first freeze?

[old guy]

Depending on when you plant them they will die long before frost.

John

[FJ540]

I've had good luck with oats, and actually had them as my back-up plan if my turnips and clover failed this year; but if the deer aren't aware of them, they might not get eaten right away. Deer LOVE oats, they're cheap, they grow with nothing more than water (like - get them wet and they'll grow on a shelf absent of any dirt), but they do die when they get cold. They also won't regrow once they've seeded out.

Side issue/benefit is that turkey also LOVE oats. When I planted them last year, I did it early in the summer to give the deer time to discover them (which they needed, as it took a while before they figured out it wasn't just grass), and when I tried to re-seed them in early September, the turkey ate up all my seeds - total failure for deer season.

Turnips are the same price per acre, just as easy to grow (I broadcast them with a Scotts $12 hand held seed spreader over unprepared grass/debris), and don't get attacked by other critters like the oats did. Turnips also help break up hard pan, as their bulbs act like little plows pushing the soil around for you. The last bonus for turnips is that they keep growing down into the 40's!

[Big wisky]

I'm thinking of taking a little more softwood trees down in the spring to make room for a second plot of oats. I plan on setting it right on a commonly used trail where I've seen the bucks come out of. This way they will have a sustainable food source for most of the year, and will be in the habit of visiting my property come bow season. Turkeys would also be a plus. How big of a plot do I need to seed for it told up to 20 - 30 deer? My beet plot is 100 X 100 Ft.

[FJ540]

30 deer? Your whole lot - planted in high yield corn (disked, round up'd, irrigated, and fertilized). Even that's no guarantee they'll use it in daylight.

20-100 acres of alfalfa (different fields) is only good for about 9 deer at a time in my area, and deer LOVE cut alfalfa that's about a week old.

[Big wisky]

Well.... cross your fingers and hope for the best. Ill let you know how two 100 x 100 plots work out